Preferências pelas decisões compartilhadas em pacientes com depressão

Neste estudo, analisaram-se os processos psicológicos associados com as preferências dos pacientes com depressão na tomada de decisão sobre seu tratamento psiquiátrico. Participaram 462 pacientes diagnosticados com um transtorno depressivo agudo ou recorrente. A maior parte preferiu assumir um papel colaborativo-passivo ou totalmente passivo. Os resultados não mostraram diferenças significativas entre pacientes em função de sua cronicidade na preferência por tomada de decisões, embora um maior tempo de tratamento tenha sido associado com um estilo mais passivo. O MANCOVA aplicado ao total de participantes, controlando a idade, o nível educativo e o tempo de tratamento, indicou que os pacientes colaborativos e passivos mostraram maior lócus de controle centralizado na confiança no psiquiatra do que os ativos. Constataram-se diferenças de gênero que mostraram nos homens maior lócus de controle interno e reatância psicológica, e, nas mulheres, maior lócus centralizado no aleatório, o lócus centralizado no psiquiatra e uma percepção de menor autoeficácia. Os achados indicam a necessidade de estudar, sob uma perspectiva diferencial, a participação dos pacientes na tomada de decisão de acordo com os processos psicológicos e a repercussão que esta tem na aderência ao tratamento médico.En el presente estudio se analizaron los procesos psicológicos asociados con las preferencias de los pacientes con depresión en la toma de decisión sobre su tratamiento psiquiátrico. Participaron 462 pacientes diagnosticados con un trastorno depresivo agudo o recurrente. La mayor parte prefirió asumir un rol colaborativo-pasivo o totalmente pasivo. Los resultados no mostraron diferencias significativas entre pacientes en función de su cronicidad en la preferencia por la toma de decisiones, aunque un mayor tiempo de tratamiento se asoció con un estilo más pasivo. El MANCOVA aplicado al total de participantes, controlando la edad, el nivel educativo y el tiempo de tratamiento, indicó que los pacientes colaborativos y pasivos mostraron mayor locus de control centrado en la confianza en el psiquiatra que los activos. Se encontraron diferencias de género mostrando en los hombres mayor locus de control interno y reactancia psicológica, y en las mujeres, mayor locus centrado en el azar. Los análisis de regresión indicaron que en el caso de los hombres, la preferencia pasiva por la toma de decisión es explicada por el locus centrado en el psiquiatra. Sin embargo, en las mujeres tuvo mayor peso la edad, seguida del locus centrado en el azar, el locus centrado en el psiquiatra y una percepción de menor autoeficacia. Los hallazgos señalan la necesidad de estudiar desde una perspectiva diferencial la participación de los pacientes en la toma de decisión de acuerdo con los procesos psicológicos, así como la repercusión que esta tiene en la adherencia al tratamiento médico.This study analyzed the role of psychological processes predicting depressed patients’ preferences in clinical decision-making about psychiatric treatment. 462 patients diagnosed with depressive disorders, acute or recurrent, participated in a crosssectional survey. Most participants preferred collaborative-passive or totally passive roles. Results showed no significant differences between acute and recurrent patients in their preference of participation in decision-making, but longer treatment duration was associated with a more passive style. MANCOVA, controlling age, educational level and treatment duration variables, showed that collaborative and passive patients had a greater locus of control focused on their psychiatrist than active patients. Gender differences were found. Men showed greater internal locus of control and psychological reactance, while women showed greater external locus of control focused on chance. Regression analysis indicated that, for men, passive preferred role was explained by external locus centered on their psychiatrist. However, age registered the highest weight for women’ passive decision-making, followed by the locus focused on chance, locus focused on the psychiatrist and lower self-efficacy. Our findings suggest the need to study shared decision-making from a differential perspective that involves psychological processes and the impact of these processes in adherence to medical treatments

Experiences With Chiropractic Care for Patients With Low Back or Neck Pain.

BackgroundMusculoskeletal disorders are the second leading cause of disability worldwide.ObjectiveExamine experiences of chiropractic patients in the United States with chronic low back or neck pain.MethodObservational study of 1853 chronic low back pain and neck pain patients (74% female) who completed an online questionnaire at the 3-month follow-up that included Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) items assessing their experiences with care.ResultsWe found similar reports of communication for the chiropractic sample and patients in the 2016 CAHPS National Database, but 85% in the database versus 79% in the chiropractic sample gave the most positive response to the time spent with provider item. More patients in the CAHPS database rated their provider at the top of the scale (8 percentage points). More chiropractic patients reported always getting answers to questions the same day (16 percentage points) and always being seen within 15 minutes of their appointment time (29 percentage points).ConclusionsThe positive experiences of patients with chronic back and neck pain are supportive of their use of chiropractic care

Coping and Management Techniques Used by Chronic Low Back Pain Patients Receiving Treatment From Chiropractors.

OBJECTIVES:The purpose of this study was to describe coping strategies (eg, mechanisms, including self-treatment) that a person uses to reduce pain and its impact on functioning as reported by patients with chronic low back pain who were seen by doctors of chiropractic and how these coping strategies vary by patient characteristics. METHODS:Data were collected from a national sample of US chiropractic patients recruited from chiropractic practices in 6 states from major geographical regions of the United States using a multistage stratified sampling strategy. Reports of coping behaviors used to manage pain during the past 6 months were used to create counts across 6 domains: cognitive, self-care, environmental, medical care, social activities, and work. Exploratory analyses examined counts in domains and frequencies of individual items by levels of patient characteristics. RESULTS:A total of 1677 respondents with chronic low back pain reported using an average of 9 coping behaviors in the prior 6 months. Use of more types of behaviors were reported among those with more severe back pain, who rated their health as fair or poor and who had daily occurrences of pain. Exercise was more frequent among the healthy and those with less pain. Female respondents tended to report using more coping behaviors than men, and Hispanics more than non-Hispanics. CONCLUSION:Persons with chronic back pain were proactive in their coping strategies and frequently used self-care coping strategies like those provided by chiropractors in patient education. In alignment with patients' beliefs that their condition was chronic and lifelong, many patients attempted a wide range of coping strategies to relieve their pain

Why do people lose their friends after a stroke?

Background: It is well-known that people lose friends after a stroke; what is less well understood is why this occurs. Aims: This study explored why people lose contact with their friends, and whether there are any protective factors. It also examined how friendship loss and change is perceived by the individual. Methods and Procedures: Participants with a first stroke were recruited from one acute stroke unit in the UK. In-depth qualitative interviews took place between 8 and 15 months post stroke. Outcomes and Results: 29 participants were recruited of whom 10 had aphasia. The main reasons given for losing friends were: loss of shared activities, reduced energy levels, physical disability, aphasia, unhelpful responses of others, environmental barriers, and changing social desires. The subset of participants who experienced the most extensive loss of friends were those who described a sense that they were ‘closing in’ on themselves leading to a withdrawal from social contact and a new preference for meeting only close friends and family. Those with aphasia experienced the most hurtful negative responses from others and found it more difficult to retain their friends unless they had strong supportive friendship patterns prior to the stroke. The factors which helped to protect friendships included: having a shared history, friends who showed concern, who lived locally, where the friendship was not activity-based, and where the participant had a ‘friends-based’ social network prior to the stroke. Conclusions and Implications: Given the link between depression and loss of friends post stroke, supporting an individual in maintaining a social network is likely to be beneficial. For intervention to be effective, however, it may need to take into account not only the impact of new physical and language disabilities, but also changing social desires

Measuring the health impact of human rights violations related to Australian asylum policies and practices: A mixed methods study

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund - Copyright @ 2009 Johnston et al.BACKGROUND: Human rights violations have adverse consequences for health. However, to date, there remains little empirical evidence documenting this association, beyond the obvious physical and psychological effects of torture. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether Australian asylum policies and practices, which arguably violate human rights, are associated with adverse health outcomes. METHODS: We designed a mixed methods study to address the study aim. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 71 Iraqi Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) refugees and 60 Iraqi Permanent Humanitarian Visa (PHV) refugees, residing in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to a recent policy amendment, TPV refugees were only given temporary residency status and had restricted access to a range of government funded benefits and services that permanent refugees are automatically entitled to. The quantitative results were triangulated with semi-structured interviews with TPV refugees and service providers. The main outcome measures were self-reported physical and psychological health. Standardised self-report instruments, validated in an Arabic population, were used to measure health and wellbeing outcomes. RESULTS: Forty-six percent of TPV refugees compared with 25% of PHV refugees reported symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of clinical depression (p = 0.003). After controlling for the effects of age, gender and marital status, TPV status made a statistically significant contribution to psychological distress (B = 0.5, 95% CI 0.3 to 0.71, p </= 0.001) amongst Iraqi refugees. Qualitative data revealed that TPV refugees generally felt socially isolated and lacking in control over their life circumstances, because of their experiences in detention and on a temporary visa. This sense of powerlessness and, for some, an implicit awareness they were being denied basic human rights, culminated in a strong sense of injustice. CONCLUSION: Government asylum policies and practices violating human rights norms are associated with demonstrable psychological health impacts. This link between policy, rights violations and health outcomes offers a framework for addressing the impact of socio-political structures on health.This research was supported by an Australian National and Medical Research Council PhD Scholarship (N. 251782) and a Victorian Health Promotion Foundation research grant (No. 2002-0280)

Exploration of a cognitive model to predict post-traumatic stress symptoms following childbirth

Women can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following childbirth. This study investigated the application of a cognitive model to PTS symptoms following childbirth and explored the addition of social support to the model. Methods: Women (N=138) completed questionnaires in pregnancy, three-weeks and three-months after birth, measuring prior trauma, beliefs, and coping in pregnancy; and birth interventions, social support, post-traumatic cognitions, and PTS symptoms post-birth. Results: Using structural equation modeling, a cognitive model explained 23% of the variance in PTS symptoms three-weeks postpartum. Three-months postpartum, the model explained only 9% of the variance in PTS symptoms. The addition of social support, partially mediated by post-traumatic cognitions, increased the variance to 16%. Discussion: Results suggest that a cognitive model accounts for early PTS symptoms after birth. Social support after birth increases the explanatory power of the model at three months. A test of the model on a larger sample is warranted

Predictors of acceptance of offered care management intervention services in a quality improvement trial for dementia

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93528/1/gps2830.pd

The role of social support, family identification, and family constraints in predicting post-traumatic stress after cancer

Objective: We compared social support with other potential psychosocial predictors of post-traumatic stress after cancer. These included family identification, or a sense of belonging to and commonality with family members, and family constraints, or the extent to which family members are closed, judgmental, or unreceptive in conversations about cancer. We also tested the hypothesis that family constraints mediate the relationship between family identification and cancer-related post-traumatic stress. Methods: We used a cross-sectional design. Surveys were collected from two hundred and five colorectal cancer survivors in Tayside, Scotland. Results: Both family identification and family constraints were stronger independent predictors of post-traumatic stress than social support. In multivariate analyses, social support was not a significant independent predictor of post-traumatic stress. In addition, there was a significant indirect effect of family identification on post-traumatic stress through family constraints. Conclusions: Numerous studies demonstrate a link between social support and post-traumatic stress. However, experiences within the family may be more important in predicting post-traumatic stress after cancer. Furthermore, a sense of belonging to and commonality with the family may reduce the extent to which cancer survivors experience constraints on conversations about cancer; this may, in turn, reduce post-traumatic stress

Raising Reading Rates in Foreign Languages

I have long been interested in applying rate-reading techniques to the reading of foreign languages. At one time a student who had made an excellent record in Reading Workshop brought her French books into the reading laboratory and succeeded in raising her French reading rate. But I had my first opportunity to apply these techniques to a group during our 1966 winter term. Although we were handicapped by a lack of material and by my own inexperience in working with languages other than English, results were encouraging

Metallic tube type energy absorbers: a synopsis

This paper presents an overview of energy absorbers in the form of tubes in which the material used is predominantly mild steel and/or aluminium. A brief summary is also made of frusta type energy absorbers. The common modes of deformation such as lateral and axial compression, indentation and inversion are reviewed. Theoretical, numerical and experimental methods which help to understand the behaviour of such devices under various loading conditions are outlined. Although other forms of energy absorbing materials and structures exist such as composites and honeycombs, this is deemed outside the scope of this review. However, a brief description will be given on these materials. It is hoped that this work will provide a useful platform for researchers and design engineers to gain a useful insight into the progress made over the last few decades in the field of tube type energy absorbers