Positive functioning as an outcome in its own right.
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4051 to 4075 of 6,178Social capital and the course of depression: six-month prospective cohort study.
Background: Previous research has found an inverse cross-sectional relationship between an individual's access to social capital (defined as resources embedded within social networks) and depression, but this relationship has not been rigorously tested in prospective research. This is the first longitudinal study to evaluate the effect of social capital on the course of depression and subjective quality of life in a clinical population.
Methods: This was a six-month prospective cohort study of people with depression in primary care achieving a follow-up rate of 91.3% (n=158). Depression was measured with the HAD-D and social capital using the Resource Generator-UK. Potential confounding variables including socio-demographics, socio-economic status, depression history, social support, life events and attachment style were also measured.
Results: Social capital had no independent effect on…
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Quality of life: a key variable to consider in the evaluation of adjustment in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders and in the development of relevant support and assistance programmes.
Purpose: Our primary objective was to identify cognitive and behavioural profiles that affect adjustment, in order to make relevant recommendations about support and assistance for parents of autistic children.
Method: One hundred and sixty French parents completed a battery of questionnaires and self-report measures developed or adapted to assess (1) the child and family situations; (2) perceived stress; (3) perceived social support; (4) perceived control; (5) coping strategies; and (6) quality of life.
Results: The psychometric properties of the instruments we used proved to be adequate. Our results support the pre-existing data and our findings may prove to be of interest to clinicians. Our primary finding was that emotion-focused coping strategies seem to be less effective. Parents who employed emotion-focused strategies were more stressed and more disturbed in most parts of their li…
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Normative data for the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC-sexuality items in the general Dutch population.
Aim: The aim of the present study was to generate Dutch reference data for the EORTC QLQ-C30 and for five sexuality items from the EORTC QL-item bank. Furthermore, to evaluate the relative impact of self-reported health problems on these outcomes and compare the Dutch normative EORTC QLQ-C30 overall QoL with available Scandinavian and German normative data.
Methods: QLQ-C30 and sexual item normative data were obtained from the Health and Health Complaints project from CentERdata. The CentERpanel is an online household panel consisting of more than 2000 Dutch households, representative of the Dutch-speaking population in the Netherlands.
Results: The questionnaire was completed by 1731 (78%) CentERpanel members. For both men and women, functional health (except emotional functioning) decreased with age, and the symptoms pain and fatigue increased with age. Men scored statistically but nev…
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O'Connor EJ, McCabe MP (2011)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usQuality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation49 citations Predictors of quality of life in carers for people with a progressive neurological illness: a longitudinal study.
Purpose: The aim of the present research was to determine the predictors of quality of life (QOL) among carers for people living with a chronic degenerative neurological illness, with comparisons of the differences in significant predictors of QOL between illness groups.
Methods: Psychosocial and economic variables were examined among 192 carers for people living at home with motor neurone disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's, over a twelve-month period, to determine their contribution to the prediction of carer QOL.
Results: Mood was the only consistent predictor of carer QOL across groups; however, marital relationship satisfaction, social support satisfaction, income, and economic pressure significantly predicted carer QOL for at least one of the illness groups, in addition to mood.
Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of recognising the var…
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Haas BK (2011)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usCancer nursing46 citations Fatigue, self-efficacy, physical activity, and quality of life in women with breast cancer.
Background: More than 192 000 US women faced the challenge of living with breast cancer in 2009. Although exercise may help combat treatment-related symptoms, cancer-related fatigue has been identified as a potential barrier to engaging in physical activity. Self-efficacy has been proposed to mediate the impact of cancer-related fatigue on physical activity and subsequently improve quality of life (QOL).
Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the linkages among the concepts of an introductory model of fatigue related to cancer, self-efficacy for physical activity, physical activity, and QOL in women being treated for breast cancer.
Interventions/methods: Women currently receiving treatment for breast cancer were asked to complete 5 instruments: demographic profile, Piper Fatigue Scale, Physical Activity Assessment Inventory, Human Activity Profile, and McGill QOL Questionn…
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The relationship between trauma, post-migration problems and the psychological well-being of refugees and asylum seekers.
Background: There is growing evidence of the impact of post-migration factors on the mental health of refugees. To date, few UK studies have been conducted.
Aims: The study investigated the relationship between trauma, post-migration problems, social support and the mental health of refugees and asylum seekers.
Methods: Refugees and asylum seekers (n = 47) were recruited mainly from clinical settings. Self-report measures of post-migration problems, mental health problems and social support were completed in an interview.
Results: Bivariate associations were identified between increased symptoms and number of traumas, adaptation difficulties, loss of culture and support and confidant support. In multivariate analyses post-migration problems were significantly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and emotional distress. There was no significant association of symptoms a…
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Long term posttraumatic growth after breast cancer: prevalence, predictors and relationships with psychological health.
This study evaluated the prevalence and predictors of long term posttraumatic growth (PTG) after breast cancer, and relationships of PTG with psychological health in a random sample of 307 currently disease-free women 5-15 years after diagnosis. This cross-sectional study reveals long term posttraumatic growth scores comparable to those found in shorter term studies. Prevalence of a better appreciation of life is especially noteworthy. With the exception of perceived current sequelae of disease associated in a somewhat curvilinear fashion with PTG, demographic and medical variables are poor predictors of the issue. On the contrary, dispositional positive affectivity and adaptative coping of positive, active, relational, religious and to some extent denial coping have a strong effect on growth. Finally, PTG is slightly associated with mental quality of life and happiness. Findings are dis…
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Pardo Y, Guedea F, Aguiló F, Fernández P, Macías V, Mariño A, Hervás A, Herruzo I, Ortiz MJ, Ponce de León J, Craven-Bratle J, Suárez JF, Boladeras A, Pont À, Ayala A, Sancho G, Martínez E, Alonso J, Ferrer M (2010)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usJournal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology147 citations Quality-of-life impact of primary treatments for localized prostate cancer in patients without hormonal treatment.
Purpose: Earlier studies evaluating the effect on quality of life (QoL) of localized prostate cancer interventions included patients receiving adjuvant hormone therapy, which could have affected their outcomes. Our objective was to compare the QoL impact of the three most common primary treatments on patients who were not receiving adjuvant hormonal treatment.
Patients and methods: This was a prospective study of 435 patients treated with radical prostatectomy, external-beam radiotherapy, or brachytherapy. QoL was assessed before and after treatment with the Short Form-36 and the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite. Differences between groups were tested by analysis of variance. Distribution of outcome at 3 years was examined by stratifying according to baseline status. Generalized estimating equation models were constructed to assess the effect of treatment over time.
Results: Comp…
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Impact of positive psychological capital on employee well-being over time.
The recently recognized core construct of psychological capital or PsyCap (consisting of the positive psychological resources of efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) has been demonstrated to be related to various employee attitudinal, behavioral, and performance outcomes. However, to date, the impact of this positive core construct over time and on important employee well-being outcomes has not been tested. This study meets this need by analyzing the relationship between a broad cross-section of employees' (N = 280) level of PsyCap and two measures of psychological well-being over time. The results indicated that employees' PsyCap was related to both measures of well-being and, importantly, that PsyCap explained additional variance in these well-being measures over time. The limitations, needed future research, and practical implications conclude the article.
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Allotment gardening and health: a comparative survey among allotment gardeners and their neighbors without an allotment.
Background: The potential contribution of allotment gardens to a healthy and active life-style is increasingly recognized, especially for elderly populations. However, few studies have empirically examined beneficial effects of allotment gardening. In the present study the health, well-being and physical activity of older and younger allotment gardeners was compared to that of controls without an allotment.
Methods: A survey was conducted among 121 members of 12 allotment sites in the Netherlands and a control group of 63 respondents without an allotment garden living next to the home addresses of allotment gardeners. The survey included five self-reported health measures (perceived general health, acute health complaints, physical constraints, chronic illnesses, and consultations with GP), four self-reported well-being measures (stress, life satisfaction, loneliness, and social contacts…
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Telomere length and psychological well-being in patients with chronic heart failure.
Background: psychological stress and depressive symptoms have been implicated with accelerated ageing and increased progression of diseases. Shorter telomere length indicates a more advanced biological age. It is unknown whether psychological well-being is associated with telomere length in patients with the somatic condition of chronic heart failure (CHF).
Design: a cross-sectional analysis was used.
Setting: patients were admitted to the hospital with signs and symptoms of CHF.
Objective: the study aimed to assess the association between telomere length and psychological well-being in patients with CHF.
Methods: telomere length was determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 890 patients with New York Heart Association functional class II to IV CHF. We evaluated the perceived mental health by the validated RAND-36 questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Cent…
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Sexual bother following radical prostatectomyjsm.
Introduction: The literature on sexual bother in men with prostate cancer is conflicting. While some data indicate high bother from erectile dysfunction (ED) following prostate cancer treatments, other results suggest the life-saving nature of the treatment may mitigate ED concern.
Aim: (i) To determine if sexual bother increases post radical prostatectomy (RP); (ii) To determine if men psychologically adjust to diminished erections; (iii) To identify baseline predictors of post-RP sexual bother.
Methods: We identified 183 men treated with RP who completed inventories including Erectile Function Domain (EFD) and Sexual Bother (SB) preoperatively and at 12 and 24 months postoperatively. Statistical analyses included repeated-measures analysis of variance and linear multiple regression.
Main outcome measures: The EFD of the International Index of Erectile Function and the SB subscale from …
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Social capital as a determinant of self-rated health and psychological well-being.
Objective: To examine whether specific dimensions of social capital are related to self-rated health and psychological well-being.
Methods: Cross-sectional data from a health survey representing the adult Finnish population (N = 8,028) were used. Logistic regression analysis was used to reveal and quantify the possible associations between three dimensions of social capital (social support; social participation and networks; trust and reciprocity) and two general health indicators (self-rated health and psychological well-being). The roles of age, gender, education, living arrangements, income, type of region, functional capacity, and long-standing illness were also assessed.
Results: Good self-rated health was associated with high levels of social participation and networks and trust and reciprocity, but social support did not remain statistically significant after adjustment for socio-…
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Home-based palliative care services for underserved populations.
Background: Kokua Kalihi Valley is one of the first federally qualified community health centers offering home-based palliative care (HBPC). Kokua Kalihi Valley serves low-income, immigrant populations from Asia and the Pacific Islands, whose end-of-life needs are rarely addressed. Our team includes a palliative medicine physician, nurse, case manager, psychologist, interpreter, and volunteers.
Objectives: The purpose of this Institutional Review Board-approved study was to measure symptom relief and quality of life, resource utilization, and satisfaction with HBPC.
Methods: Over 12 months, 91 people including 46 patients with chronic advanced illnesses and 45 corresponding primary caregivers were enrolled. Data were collected prospectively, upon admission, and repeatedly thereafter, using the Missoula-Vitas Quality of Life Index, the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale, and the Palliative…
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Factors associated with resilience to and recovery from burnout: a prospective, multi-institutional study of US medical students.
Context: Burnout is prevalent among medical students and is a predictor of subsequent serious consideration of dropping out of medical school and suicide ideation. Understanding of the factors that protect against burnout is needed to guide student wellness programmes.
Methods: A total of 1321 medical students attending five institutions were studied longitudinally (2006-2007). The surveys included standardised instruments to evaluate burnout, quality of life, fatigue and stress. Additional items explored social support, learning climate, life events, employment status and demographics. Students who did not have burnout at either time-point (resilient students) were compared with those who indicated burnout at one or both time-points (vulnerable students) using a Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test or Fisher's exact test. Similarly, the differences between those who recovered and those who were c…
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Individual and dyadic predictors of body image in women with breast cancer.
Objective: Previous studies examining the body image among breast cancer (BC) patients have primarily focused on their psychosocial adjustment or on the predictive value of body image on quality of life. Little is known about predictors of body image.
Methods: The present study investigated how much body image in women with BC is determined by individual factors (surgery type, medical treatments, disease stage, women's age, depressive symptoms) and by dyadic variables (relationship satisfaction and duration, dyadic coping). Furthermore, two different aspects of women's body image were assessed: self- acceptance and perceptions of partners' acceptance. Ninety-eight German women with early stage BC and their partners participated.
Results: Individual and dyadic aspects of body image were differentially related to body image. Women's depressive symptoms and men's marital satisfaction predic…
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Implicit self-stigma in people with mental illness.
People with mental illness often internalize negative stereotypes, resulting in self-stigma and low self-esteem ("People with mental illness are bad and therefore I am bad, too"). Despite strong evidence for self-stigma's negative impact as assessed by self-report measures, it is unclear whether self-stigma operates in an automatic, implicit manner, potentially outside conscious awareness and control. We therefore assessed (i) negative implicit attitudes toward mental illness and (ii) low implicit self-esteem using 2 Brief Implicit Association Tests in 85 people with mental illness. Implicit self-stigma was operationalized as the product of both implicit measures. Explicit self-stigma and quality of life were assessed by self-report. Greater implicit and explicit self-stigma independently predicted lower quality of life after controlling for depressive symptoms, diagnosis, and demographi…
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Religion, health, and psychological well-being.
This study compares the effects of religiosity on health and well-being, controlling for work and family. With 2006 GSS data, we assess the effects of religiosity on health and well-being, net of job satisfaction, marital happiness, and financial status. The results indicate that people who identify as religious tend to report better health and happiness, regardless of religious affiliation, religious activities, work and family, social support, or financial status. People with liberal religious beliefs tend to be healthier but less happy than people with fundamentalist beliefs. Future research should probe how religious identity and beliefs impact health and well-being.
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Changes in proposed mechanisms of action during an acceptance-based behavior therapy for generalized anxiety disorder.
Based on the theory that generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is maintained through a reactive and fused relationship with one's internal experiences and a tendency towards experiential avoidance and behavioral restriction, an acceptance-based behavior therapy (ABBT) was developed to specifically target these elements. Since ABBT has been shown to be an efficacious treatment in previous studies, the current study focuses on proposed mechanisms of change over the course of therapy. Specifically, the current study focuses on session-by-session changes in two proposed mechanisms of change: acceptance of internal experiences and engagement in meaningful activities. Overall, clients receiving ABBT reported an increase in the amount of time spent accepting internal experiences and engaging in valued activities. Change in both acceptance and engagement in meaningful activities was related to resp…
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Eudaimonic growth: Narrative growth goals predict increases in ego development and subjective well-being 3 years later.
We examine (a) the normative course of eudaimonic well-being in emerging adulthood and (b) whether people's narratives of major life goals might prospectively predict eudaimonic growth 3 years later. We define eudaimonic growth as longitudinal increases in eudaimonic well-being, which we define as the combination of psychosocial maturity and subjective well-being (SWB). College freshmen and seniors took measures of ego development (ED; to assess maturity; Loevinger, 1976) and SWB at Time 1 (T1) and again 3 years later (Time 2). ED levels increased longitudinally across that time for men and T1 freshmen, but SWB levels did not change. Participants also wrote narratives of 2 major life goals at T1 that were coded for an explicit emphasis on specific kinds of personal growth. Participants' intellectual-growth goals (especially agentic ones) predicted increases in ED 3 years later, whereas p…
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Evaluation of the FICA Tool for Spiritual Assessment.
Context: The National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care includes spiritual care as one of the eight clinical practice domains. There are very few standardized spirituality history tools.
Objectives: The purpose of this pilot study was to test the feasibility for the Faith, Importance and Influence, Community, and Address (FICA) Spiritual History Tool in clinical settings. Correlates between the FICA qualitative data and quality of life (QOL) quantitative data also were examined to provide additional insight into spiritual concerns.
Methods: The framework of the FICA tool includes Faith or belief, Importance of spirituality, individual's spiritual Community, and interventions to Address spiritual needs. Patients with solid tumors were recruited from ambulatory clinics of a comprehensive cancer center. Items assessing aspects of spirituality within the Functional Assessment of …
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Daily experiences among mothers of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder.
In the present study, 96 co-residing mothers of adolescents and adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participated in an 8-day diary study and reported on their daily experiences. In comparison with a nationally representative sample of mothers of children without disabilities, mothers of adolescent and adult children with ASD spent significantly more time providing childcare and doing chores, and less time in leisure activities. Fatigue, arguments, avoided arguments, and stressful events were also more common among mothers of individuals with ASD. However, mothers of individuals with ASD reported similar levels of positive interactions and volunteerism as the comparison group. Daily experiences were subsequently related to well-being in both groups. These findings highlight the need for family support services.
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Memory dysfunction, psychomotor slowing, and decreased executive function predict mortality in patients with heart failure and low ejection fraction.
Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether dysfunction of specific cognitive abilities is a predictor of impending mortality in adults with systolic heart failure (HF).
Methods: A total of 166 stable outpatients with HF completed cognitive function evaluation in language, working memory, memory, visuospatial ability, psychomotor speed, and executive function using a neuropsychological test battery. Demographic and clinical variables, comorbidity, depressive symptoms, and health-related quality of life were also measured. Patients were followed for 12 months to determine all-cause mortality.
Results: There were 145 survivors and 21 deaths. In logistic regression analyses, significant predictors of mortality were lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and poorer scores on measures of global congnitive function Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE], working memory…
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Quality of life, symptom experience and distress of lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Unlabelled: The diagnosis of lung cancer in the advanced stage of illness, the poor prognosis associated with the disease, and the side effects of chemotherapy all have an impact on various dimensions of quality of life (QoL).
The purpose of the research: The current study was designed to describe the QoL and symptom distress of lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and to explore the relationships between demographic/treatment-related characteristics and QoL.
Methods and sample: The sample consisted of 154 lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The symptom experiences and QoL of lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy were evaluated using the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale and Quality of Life Index - Cancer Version.
Results: The lung cancer patients had low QoL scores. The scores on the Health and Functioning subscale were the lowest (20.33 ± 5.59), while those of …
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Neurobehavioral symptoms in ALS are negatively related to caregivers' burden and quality of life.
Objective: To evaluate the frequency of neurobehavioral symptoms related to FTLD in a consecutive series of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients and to assess their influence on patients' and caregivers' mood, burden, and quality of life.
Methods: A total of 70 couples of ALS patients and their caregivers consecutively seen in our ALS clinic were separately interviewed using a battery of tests assessing frontotemporal-related neurobehavioral symptoms, emotional status, and quality of life. Patients' behavioral abnormalities were assessed with the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe). Caregiver burden was assessed with the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI).
Results: According to caregivers' evaluations, 34 (48.6%) patients had FrSBe pathological scores at the time of the interview. According to patients' evaluation, 9 (12.9%) patients had pathological scores at the time of the in…
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