摘要:

Objectives.Using a self‐regulatory framework, this study aims to identify how couples perceive a partner's support style after myocardial infarction (MI), and whether this predicts the patient's health‐related quality of life (HR‐QoL) and self‐management (S‐M) 9 months later.Method.This longitudinal dyadic study includes 73 couples (86% of patients were men), recruited from two cardiac rehabilitation programmes in the Netherlands. Mean age of patients was 54.8 (SD= 9.6) and of partners 52.5 (SD= 9.8). Participants were interviewed and completed questionnaires at baseline (T1). Repeat questionnaires were returned by 69 and 67 couples after 3 (T2) and 9 months (T3), respectively.ResultsSupport by partners is conceptualized in this study as ‘active engagement’ (AE), which involves the extent to which a partner engages the patient in conversations which focus on emotional support and problem solving. Levels of AE do not change over time, nor do they differ between members of the dyad. Levels of overprotection (OP) diminish with time, whilst patients consistently perceive more OP than partners report providing. Patients' experience of goal hindrance (at T3) due to the MI is associated with a decreased HR‐QoL at T3 (controlling for baseline measures). The perception of having a supportive (AE) partner at T1 contributes to enhanced patient HR‐QoL at each subsequent time point, although not to physical functioning. Perceiving a partner as overprotective (at T1) predicts worsened physical functioning in patients (at T3). Improvements in S‐M at T3 (controlling for baseline measures) are reported by patients whose partner displays active engagement at T1.ConclusionsCardiac rehabilitation should aim to redress the experience of goal disturbance and advise partners on how

ISSN:1359-107X    

DOI:10.1348/135910706X118585

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2007

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Objectives.Previous research has established that women can develop childbirth‐related post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the effect of this on a couple's relationship has not been examined. This study aimed to look at the experience and impact of childbirth‐related PTSD in women and their partners.Design.This was a qualitative interview study of six couples, where at least one partner had clinically significant symptoms of childbirth‐related PTSD.Methods.Semi‐structured interviews were conducted separately with each partner and interview transcripts subjected to thematic analysis.Results.Analysis identified four themes with 18 subthemes as follows: (1) birth factors (pain, negative emotions in labour, perceived lack of control, lack of choice or lack of involvement in decision‐making, restricted movement or physical restraint, and expectations not being met); (2) quality of care (information provision, staff factors, continuity of care and environment); (3) effects on relationship with partner (impact on physical relationship, communication within the relationship, negative emotions within the relationship, receiving or giving support from partner, coping together as a couple and overall effect on the relationship); and (4) effects on relationship with child (perceptions of the child and parent‐baby bond).Conclusions.This study suggests that PTSD may have a negative impact on the couple's relationship and the par

ISSN:1359-107X    

DOI:10.1348/135910706X120627

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2007

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Epidemiologic studies on hypochondriasis are very rare and have not been included in large North American community surveys until now. In order to gain information on the prevalence as well as the socio‐demographic characteristics of hypochondriasis, the following community study was carried out. Analyses are based on an assessment of 1575 subjects selected by socio‐demographic representation criteria for the German community. All subjects completed the Illness Attitude Scales (IAS) and responded to several additional questions on sociodemographics and diagnostic criteria pertaining to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM‐IV) hypochondriasis. The IAS is internationally one of the best‐established self‐rating questionnaires for the assessment of hypochondriasis and health anxiety. Results reveal a 0.4% point prevalence rate of DSM‐IV hypochondriasis. In contrast to that, 6% of the German population suffers from severe health anxiety. There are small positive effects for female gender, higher age and lower school education on health anxiety. Subjects with high health anxiety report a much lower health‐related quality of life and a higher risk for a type of psychotherapeutic or psychiatric treatment. These results support the development of less restrictive criteria for hypochondriasis and place emphasis on the clinical and socio‐economic relevance of

ISSN:1359-107X    

DOI:10.1348/135910706X146034

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2007

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Objectives.In health education, the design of written materials is seldom subject to experimental tests. Using insights from cognitive‐ergonomic literature on usability we tested a brochure against three stepwise improved versions. Effects were assessed of pictorials that flagged references in the brochure text, the use of tabs and colour coding of these pictorials and tabs, on finding information in the brochure.Methods.One hundred Dutch adults from the general population were videotaped while looking up search items. Dependent measures relating to search effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction and learnability were extracted.Results.Results showed a general inferiority of the original brochure. The presence of coloured tabs and pictorials contributed to a more usable brochure design, although errors were still made.Conclusion.It is concluded that this kind of research may provide valuable insights for more effective health education material design and thus contributes to the effectiveness of health education practic

ISSN:1359-107X    

DOI:10.1348/135910706X132930

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2007

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ObjectiveIn order to determine if easy–difficult item measures attitude or perceived behavioural control (PBC), we used structural equation modelling of 10 cross‐sectional data sets.DesignCross‐sectional design was used.Method.Ten studies that examined health‐related behaviours and used the theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical framework were analysed. Samples totallingN= 4,552 participants were employed. All studies involved multi‐item measures of attitude (Aact) and PBC items derived from pilot testing.ResultsConfirmatory factor analysis confirmed the discriminant validity of Aact and PBC. Structural equation modelling of relevant path indicated that in three studies, easy–difficult item is an indicator of both Aact and PBC. In the other seven studies, easy–difficult item belongs to PBC. The indexes of meta‐analysis suggest that overall, easy–difficult item is an indicator of PBC.Conclusion.Findings from 10 studies converged toward the conclusion that the easy–difficult item is an indicator of perceived PBC. However, since the easy–difficult item is sometimes classified as both Aact and PBC, and only the perceived difficulty dimension of PBC captures a significant increment in the variance of intention, it appears important to develop and validate a set of items devoted to measure the perceived difficulty

ISSN:1359-107X    

DOI:10.1348/135910706X147781

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2007

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Objective.To compare the exposure to psychosocial factors associated with cardiovascular risk in UK South Asian and white European men.Design.Interview study of 63 healthy UK South Asian and 42 white European men aged 35–75 years, randomly selected from a larger study group in West London. Interviews were administered in Punjabi and English. Measures of psychosocial and cardiovascular risk factors were obtained.Setting.Ealing Hospital, West London.Results.The South Asian men had lived in the UK for an average of 27.9 (SD11.6) years, and had higher educational attainment than the white Europeans. Compared with the white Europeans, the South Asian men lived in significantly more crowded homes, experienced lower job control, greater financial strain, lower neighbourhood social cohesion and more racial harassment. They received less emotional support, and were more depressed and less optimistic on standard questionnaires. These men also had higher waist/hip ratios and were more sedentary, but there were no significant ethnic differences in biological risk factors.Conclusions.South Asian men living in London showed a higher risk profile in psychosocial factors thought to contribute to cardiovascular disease risk. This preliminary investigation is consistent with the possibility that psychosocial adversity contributes to increased vulnerability to coronary heart disease in South Asians resident in the U

ISSN:1359-107X    

DOI:10.1348/135910706X144441

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2007

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Objectives.Walking is poorly represented in memory, making it difficult to measure using self‐report and even harder to predict. To circumvent this, we used the affective priming paradigm (Fazio, Sanbonmatsu, Powell,&Kardes, 1986) to assess implicit attitudes towards walking.Methods.Royal Air Force trainee aircraftsmen (N= 188) wore pedometers for 1 week prior to completing the affective priming paradigm, questionnaire and interview. The affective priming paradigm involved a computer‐based response latency task containing physical activity words as primes followed by adjectives as targets to be evaluated. Targets were drawn from two bipolar dichotomies, good–bad (the original Fazioet al.items) and happy–sad (mood).Results.Priming for mood items was related to levels of physical activity with high frequency participants priming for the positive (happy) pole and low frequency participants priming for the negative (sad). Both groups primed for the negative element of the Fazio (good–bad) dichotomy. Regarding walking and running, there was no differentiation on the basis of participation level. Instead, facilitated responses to happy targets contrasted with inhibited responses to sad targets for both types of locomotion. There was weak evidence that intentions to run were associated with priming of positive target items, irrespective of category.Conclusions.The relationship between implicit attitudes and behaviour is complex. Whereas implicit attitudes were related to overall exercise participation, they were not related to the specific activity of walking, despite the behaviour being mainly under automati

ISSN:1359-107X    

DOI:10.1348/135910706X153775

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2007

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Objectives.This study examined relationships between quality of life (QoL) in older people and cognitive functioning in both abstract and real‐world problem solving.Design.Contributions of levels of mental, physical and social activities, self‐rated and objective health status, self‐rated cognitive functioning, socio‐economic status, gender, real‐world and abstract problem solving were examined in a regression study of factors related to QoL in older people.Method.Participants (N= 145) were 70–91 years of age. The current cognitive functioning was assessed by psychometric tests and real‐world problem‐solving tasks. Prior functioning was indexed by crystallized ability measures. QoL was assessed using the Leiden‐Padua questionnaire (LEIPAD), Faces scales and Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale. A single QoL factor was derived.Results.Simultaneous multiple regressions indicated that QoL was related to real‐world but not to abstract problem‐solving ability. Separate contributions to QoL were also found for health and self‐rated cognitive functioning.Conclusions.The present study replicates previous findings that abstract problem‐solving ability is not related to QoL and supports the hypothesis that real‐world or everyday problem‐solving ability is associ

ISSN:1359-107X    

DOI:10.1348/135910706X154477

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2007

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Objectives.This paper compares multiple measures of walking in two studies, and the second study compares how well Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) constructs perform in predicting these different measures.Methods.In Study 1, 41 participants wore aNew Lifestyles NL‐2000pedometer for 1 week. Subsequently, participants completed a questionnaire containing measures of the TPB constructs and two self‐report measures of walking, followed by two interview measures of walking. For Study 2, 200 RAF trainee aircraftsmen wore pedometers for 2 weeks. At the end of each week, participants completed the questionnaire and interview measures of walking.Results.Both studies found no significant association between questionnaire measures of walking and pedometer measures. In Study 1, the interview measures produced significant, large correlations with the pedometer measure, but these relationships were markedly weaker in the second study. TPB variables were found to explain 22% of variance in intention to walk in Study 1 and 45% of the variance in Study 2. In Study 2, prediction of subsequent measures of behaviour was found to be weak, except when using a single‐item measure of walking.Conclusions.Recall of walking is poor, and accurate measurement by self‐report is problematic. Although the TPB predicts intentions to walk well, it does not predict actual amount of walking, as assessed by pedometer. Possible reasons for these findings include the unique nature of walking as an activity primarily used to facilitate higher order goals. The use of single‐item measures may exaggerate the effectiveness of the TPB model for walking, and possibly other forms of physical

ISSN:1359-107X    

DOI:10.1348/135910706X160335

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2007

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Objective.According to the common‐sense model of illness behaviour, illness representations are directly related to coping and, via coping, to adaptive or maladaptive outcomes. However, it may be more appropriate to conceptualize coping by assessing what patients actually do – i.e., their coping behaviours – rather than what they say they do in coping scales – i.e., their coping cognitions. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between illness representations and the relative importance of coping cognitions and coping behaviours in the context of the management of type 2 diabetes.Design.The relationship between illness representations and coping variables was explored within a prospective design.Methods.The illness representations of 134 patients were assessed with the IPQ‐R (Moss‐Morriset al., 2002) along with coping cognitions and coping behaviours (medication, physical activity, diet).Results.Illness representations predicted coping cognitions and coping behaviours but coping cognitions did not mediate the relationships between illness representations and coping behaviours.Conclusion.The results demonstrate that illness representations are direct predictors of both coping cognitions and coping behaviours in patients with type 2 diabetes. In addition, coping cognitions and coping behaviours appear to be distinct mechanisms that operate independently. The findings suggest that rather than manipulating patients' coping cognitions to improve patients' health behaviours it may be beneficial to focus on their beliefs abo

ISSN:1359-107X    

DOI:10.1348/135910706X164935

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:2007

数据来源: WILEY