Biopsychosocial rehabilitation for repetitive-strain injuries among working-age adults. (49/1316)

The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of biopsychosocial rehabilitation for upper-limb repetitive-strain injuries among working-age adults. Studies were identified from electronic bibliographic databases, reference checks, and consultations with experts in rehabilitation. Four blinded reviewers selected randomized controlled and controlled trials. Two experts evaluated the clinical relevance of the findings. Two other reviewers extracted the data and assessed the main results and the methodological quality of the studies. Finally, a qualitative analysis was performed. Only 2 studies satisfied the criteria. They were both considered to be low-quality trials. The clinical relevance of the included studies was also unsatisfactory. The level of scientific evidence was limited, showing that hypnosis as a supplement to comprehensive treatment can decrease the pain intensity of acute repetitive-strain injury in short follow-ups. There appears to be little scientific evidence for the effectiveness of biopsychosocial rehabilitation with respect to repetitive-strain injuries.  (+info)

Quality of life among stroke survivors evaluated 1 year after stroke: experience of a stroke unit. (50/1316)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We sought to study overall and domain-specific quality of life in stroke survivors 1 year after stroke and to identify variables that could predict quality of life after stroke. METHODS: We followed up for 1 year a cohort of 118 patients consecutively admitted to our stroke unit at San Carlos University Hospital in Madrid, Spain. The final series at 1-year follow-up consisted of 90 survivors (41 women and 49 men; mean age, 68 years; range, 32 to 90 years). A cross-sectional, descriptive design was developed. Patients completed a questionnaire that included socioeconomic variables, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), Short Form 36, Frenchay Index, Barthel Index, Rankin Scale, and Scandinavian Stroke Scale. Independent variables were sex, age, functional status, motor impairment, and depression. We developed an ANOVA model for statistical analysis. RESULTS: We interviewed 79 patients with ischemic and 11 with hemorrhagic stroke. Thirty-eight percent of patients scored in the depressed range. Variables related to depression were status as a housewife, female sex, inability to work because of disability, and diminished social activity (P:<0.0001). Mean total SIP (24.3), SIP psychosocial dimension (27.5), and SIP physical dimension (21.2) were correlated with disability, female sex, motor impairment, and depression (P:<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Functional status and depression were identified as predictors of quality of life. Patients independent in their activities of daily living suffered from a deterioration of the psychosocial dimension of the SIP.  (+info)

A model of psychosocial hypertension showing reversibility and progression of cardiovascular complications. (51/1316)

The sequence of pathophysiological changes that can result from the stimulating effects of a sustained disturbance of the social environment was studied in ten colonies of socially deprived mice. Sixteen formerly isolated males were placed with 16 normal females in population cages consisting of seven intercommunicating boxes. Six of these socially disturbed 32-member colonies were terminated after periods of interaction ranging from 2 days to 9 months. The remaining four were terminated a month or more after the males had been returned to individual isolation. Indirect blood pressure measurements, body and heart weights, and sections of hearts and aortas were studied in the males. Following the shorter exposures, blood pressure reverted to normal in a few days. Exposure of 6 months or more were associated with unchanged body weights and sustained increases in heart weight and blood pressure readings. In addition, there was a significant development of aortic arteriosclerosis and myocardial fibrosis. These changes persisted despite prolonged return to isolation.  (+info)

The impact of oral health on people in the UK in 1998. (52/1316)

Knowledge of the extent of dental disease gives a clinical indication of the experience of dental problems but it does not necessarily reflect the problems that people experience as a result of their dentition. It is becoming increasingly appreciated that the way a disease affects people's lives is just as important as epidemiological measures of its prevalence or incidence. The 1998 Adult Dental Health survey is the first of the decennial series of UK adult dental health surveys to use and report a measure of the self-perceived impact on people of the dental and periodontal diseases and other oral conditions. Over half (51%) of dentate adults said they had been affected in some way by their oral health, and in 8% of cases the impact was sufficient to have reduced their quality of life.  (+info)

Does reported health promotion activity neglect people with ill-health? (53/1316)

Considering health as an alternative to ill-health ignores the multidimensionality of both concepts and invites neglect of health promotion as a multidimensional activity in persons with known ill-health. Drawing on the Ottawa Charter and Maori perspectives of health, we interpret (ill) health according to people's ability to function in their environment by developing physical, psychological, social and spiritual resources for living. We use this framework to test empirically our hypothesis that although the concept of health promotion has always included people with ill-health, the practice of health promotion has continued to neglect them. Our exploratory review of articles published during 1989-99 and indexed on three electronic databases suggests widespread omission of people with ill-health from research on interventions for health promotion. Of 881 citations, approximately three-quarters included people without ill-health in any dimension. This finding could reflect a failure to include these people in health promotion, to describe activity to improve their health as health promotion, or both. Supporting the latter interpretation is uncertainty over the meaning of health, and the targeting of health promotion at groups at high risk of ill-health and 'all' persons. We need therefore to enable health promotion activity to include ill people explicitly.  (+info)

Parental failure and consequences for children. The drug-abusing mother whose children are in foster care. (54/1316)

The developmental progress of children of drug-abusing mothers was assessed in a study of foster children. Cognitive abilities and personal adjustment appeared to be normal but significantly poorer school adjustment patterns were observed. Such children are disproportionately locked into foster care.  (+info)

Psychiatric sequelae and psychosocial adjustment following ocular trauma: a retrospective pilot study. (55/1316)

AIMS: To identify the prevalence of psychiatric and adjustment problems after ocular trauma and those factors related to a poor outcome. METHODS: 47 patients were assessed by structured interview, of whom 45 satisfactorily completed three standardised self report measures of psychological functioning, subjective distress, and social adjustment. RESULTS: 33% of patients displayed psychiatric "caseness". A number of features of the victim consistently resulted in poor outcome including a psychiatric history and peritraumatic dissociation. CONCLUSION: These preliminary findings suggest ocular trauma is associated with psychomorbidity and problems of adjustment. The improved management of such patients would benefit from a more detailed analysis by means of a longitudinal study involving larger samples.  (+info)

Antecedents and behavior-problem outcomes of parental monitoring and psychological control in early adolescence. (56/1316)

The early childhood antecedents and behavior-problem correlates of monitoring and psychological control were examined in this prospective, longitudinal, multi-informant study. Parenting data were collected during home visit interviews with 440 mothers and their 13-year-old children. Behavior problems (anxiety/depression and delinquent behavior) were assessed via mother, teacher, and/or adolescent reports at ages 8 through 10 years and again at ages 13 through 14. Home-interview data collected at age 5 years were used to measure antecedent parenting (harsh/reactive, positive/proactive), family background (e.g., socioeconomic status), and mother-rated child behavior problems. Consistent with expectation, monitoring was anteceded by a proactive parenting style and by advantageous family-ecological characteristics, and psychological control was anteceded by harsh parenting and by mothers' earlier reports of child externalizing problems. Consistent with prior research, monitoring was associated with fewer delinquent behavior problems. Links between psychological control and adjustment were more complex: High levels of psychological control were associated with more delinquent problems for girls and for teens who were low in preadolescent delinquent problems, and with more anxiety/depression for girls and for teens who were high in preadolescent anxiety/depression.  (+info)