Family, religion, and depressive symptoms in caregivers of disabled elderly.
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STUDY OBJECTIVE: To explain the variations in depressive symptomatology among primary caregivers of community dwelling activities of daily living disabled elderly and to evaluate the role of family and religiosity on the mental health consequences of caregiving in Spain. DESIGN: Cross sectional study. SETTING: City of Leganes in the metropolitan area of Madrid, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: All caregivers of a representative sample of community dwelling activities of daily living disabled persons, aged 65 and over were approached. The response rate was 85% (n = 194). Depression was assessed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale. MAIN RESULTS: Controlling for caregivers' income, education, health status, and caregiving stress, religiosity was associated with more depressive symptoms among children caregivers while for spouses the association was negative. Emotional support was negatively associated with depression, but instrumental support was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptomatology is frequent among Spanish caregivers of disabled elderly. This study concludes that religiosity and family emotional support play an important part in the mental health of Spanish caregivers. The role of religiosity may be different according to kinship tie and needs further investigation. (+info)
Suicide, religion, and socioeconomic conditions. An ecological study in 26 countries, 1990.
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STUDY OBJECTIVE: Relative risks are frequently assumed to be stable across populations but this may not apply in psychiatric epidemiology where sociocultural context may modify them. Such ecological effect modification will give curved associations between aggregated risk factor and outcome. This was examined in connection with the ecological association between suicide rates and an aggregate index of religiosity. DESIGN: Ecological study of associations between suicide rates and an index of religiosity, adjusted for socioeconomic variation. The effect of stratification of the study sample according to levels of religiosity, was examined. SETTING: 26 European and American countries. SUBJECTS: Interview data from 37,688 people aggregated by country. OUTCOME MEASURES: Age and sex specific (1986-1990) suicide rates. MAIN RESULT: Adjusted for socioeconomic variation, negative associations of male suicide rates with religiosity were apparent in the 13 least religious countries only (test for interaction F (1, 25) = 5.6; p = 0.026). Associations between religiosity and female suicide rates did not vary across countries. CONCLUSION: The bent ecological association was apparent only after adjustment for socioeconomic variation suggesting that, rather than confounding, ecological modification of individual level links between religion and male (but not female) suicide risk is the responsible mechanism. This concurs with micro-level findings suggesting that suicide acceptance depends not only on personal but also on contextual levels of religious belief, and that men are more sensitive to this phenomenon than women. In psychiatric epidemiology, relative risks vary with the exposure's prevalence. This has important implications for research and prevention. (+info)
Jerusalem syndrome.
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BACKGROUND: Jerusalem's psychiatrists expect to encounter, as the millennium approaches, an ever-increasing number of tourists who, upon arriving in Jerusalem, may suffer psychotic decompensation. AIMS: To describe the Jerusalem syndrome as a unique acute psychotic state. METHOD: This analysis is based on accumulated clinical experience and phenomenological data consisting of cultural and religious perspectives. RESULTS: Three main categories of the syndrome are identified and described, with special focus on the category pertaining to spontaneous manifestations, unconfounded by previous psychotic history or psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: The discrete form of the Jerusalem syndrome is related to religious excitement induced by proximity to the holy places of Jerusalem, and is indicated by seven characteristic sequential stages. (+info)
Experiences of older women with cancer receiving hospice care: significance for physical therapy.
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The number of older adults with cancer is growing, increasing the need for professionals who are able to meet these patients' special needs. In palliative care settings, physical therapists strive to promote quality of life. Minimal research exists, however, to guide therapists working with patients with terminal illness. The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge that can be used by physical therapists to more effectively assess and treat older people with cancer receiving hospice care. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A qualitative single-case study with replication was conducted with 3 older women with cancer who were receiving hospice care. Interview data were analyzed using grounded theory techniques. RESULTS: Four themes emerged as central to the experience of the informants: social relationships, spirituality, outlook on mortality, and meaningful physical activity. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: In addition to maintaining physical function, physical therapists, who attend to nonphysical as well as physical aspects of care, may foster social cohesion, help maximize life's meaning, and support stabilizing strategies of older women with cancer who receive hospice care. (+info)
Influences on day-to-day self-management of type 2 diabetes among African-American women: spirituality, the multi-caregiver role, and other social context factors.
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OBJECTIVE: Many African-American women are affected by diabetes and its complications, and culturally appropriate lifestyle interventions that lead to improvements in glycemic control are urgently needed. The aim of this qualitative study was to identify culturally relevant psychosocial issues and social context variables influencing lifestyle behaviors--specifically diet and physical activity--of southern African-American women with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We conducted 10 focus group interviews with 70 southern African-American women with type 2 diabetes. Group interviews were audiotaped and transcripts were coded using qualitative data analysis software. A panel of reviewers analyzed the coded responses for emerging themes and trends. RESULTS: The dominant and most consistent themes that emerged from these focus groups were 1) spirituality as an important factor in general health, disease adjustment, and coping; 2) general life stress and multi-caregiving responsibilities interfering with daily disease management; and 3) the impact of diabetes manifested in feelings of dietary deprivation, physical and emotional "tiredness," "worry," and fear of diabetes complications. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that influences on diabetes self-management behaviors of African-American women may be best understood from a sociocultural and family context. Interventions to improve self-management for this population should recognize the influences of spirituality, general life stress, multi-caregiving responsibilities, and the psychological impact of diabetes. These findings suggest that family-centered and church-based approaches to diabetes care interventions are appropriate. (+info)
Spirituality and psychosocial factors in persons living with HIV.
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AIM OF THE STUDY: This pilot study was designed to examine the relationships among spirituality and psychosocial factors in a sample of 52 adult males living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease and to determine the most reliable spirituality measure for a proposed longitudinal study. BACKGROUND: HIV disease is among the most devastating of illnesses, having multiple and profound effects upon all aspects of the biopsychosocial and spiritual being. Although research has suggested relationships among various psychosocial and spiritual factors, symptomatology and physical health, much more research is needed to document their potential influences on immune function, as well as health status, disease progression, and quality of life among persons with HIV disease. METHODS: This descriptive correlational study explored the relationships of spirituality and psychosocial measures. Spirituality was measured in terms of spiritual perspective, well-being and health using three tools: the Spiritual Perspective Scale, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and the Spiritual Health Inventory. Five psychosocial instruments were used to measure aspects of stress and coping: the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale, Dealing with Illness Scale, Social Provisions Scale, Impact of Events Scale, and Functional Assessment of HIV Infection Scale. The sample was recruited as part of an ongoing funded study. The procedures from the larger study were well-defined and followed in this pilot study. Correlational analyses were done to determine the relationship between spirituality and the psychosocial measures. FINDINGS: The findings indicate that spirituality as measured by the existential well-being (EWB) subscale of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale was positively related to quality of life, social support, effective coping strategies and negatively related to perceived stress, uncertainty, psychological distress and emotional-focused coping. The other spirituality measures had less significant or non significant relationships with the psychological measures. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings support the inclusion of spirituality as a variable for consideration when examining the psychosocial factors and the quality of life of persons living with HIV disease. The spiritual measure that best captures these relationships is the EWB subscale of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale. (+info)
How important is intrinsic spirituality in depression care? A comparison of white and African-American primary care patients.
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We used a cross-sectional survey to compare the views of African-American and white adult primary care patients (N = 76) regarding the importance of various aspects of depression care. Patients were asked to rate the importance of 126 aspects of depression care (derived from attitudinal domains identified in focus groups) on a 5-point Likert scale. The 30 most important items came from 9 domains: 1) health professionals' interpersonal skills, 2) primary care provider recognition of depression, 3) treatment effectiveness, 4) treatment problems, 5) patient understanding about treatment, 6) intrinsic spirituality, 7) financial access, 8) life experiences, and 9) social support. African-American and white patients rated most aspects of depression care as similarly important, except that the odds of rating spirituality as extremely important for depression care were 3 times higher for African Americans than the odds for whites. (+info)
A motivational interviewing intervention to increase fruit and vegetable intake through Black churches: results of the Eat for Life trial.
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OBJECTIVES: This study reports on Eat for Life, a multicomponent intervention to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among African Americans that was delivered through Black churches. METHODS: Fourteen churches were randomly assigned to 3 treatment conditions: (1) comparison, (2) self-help intervention with 1 telephone cue call, and (3) self-help with 1 cue call and 3 counseling calls. The telephone counseling in group 3 was based on motivational interviewing. The primary outcome, assessed at baseline and 1-year follow-up, was fruit and vegetable intake as assessed by 3 food frequency questionnaires. RESULTS: Change in fruit and vegetable intake was significantly greater in the motivational interviewing group than in the comparison and self-help groups. The net difference between the motivational interviewing and comparison groups was 1.38, 1.03, and 1.21 servings of fruits and vegetables per day for the 2-item, 7-item, and 36-item food frequency questionnaires, respectively. The net difference between the motivational interviewing and self-help groups was 1.14, 1.10, and 0.97 servings for the 2-item, 7-item, and 36-item food frequency questionnaires, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Motivational interviewing appears to be a promising strategy for modifying dietary behavior, and Black churches are an excellent setting to implement and evaluate health promotion programs. (+info)