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Psychosocial Benefits (psychosocial + benefit)
Selected AbstractsSocial judgements made by children in relation to visible incisor traumaDENTAL TRAUMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Helen D. Rodd This study sought to determine how children view other children with visible incisor trauma. Material and methods:, Year 7 (aged 11,12 years) and year 10 (aged 14,15 years) school children (the participants) were invited to look at colour photographs of four different children's faces and to make a social judgement about these children (the subjects). Participants were randomly allocated either: (i) pictures of children with visible incisor trauma or, (ii) pictures of the same children whose photographs had been digitally modified to restore incisor aesthetics. Using a previously validated child-centred questionnaire, participants rated subjects using a four-point Likert scale for three negative and six positive attributes. Total attribute scores were tested for significant differences, according to whether the subject had visible incisor trauma or not, using multivariate analysis of variance (P < 0.05, manova). Results:, 291 children completed the questionnaires, giving a response rate of 73%. Year 7 children viewed children with visible incisor trauma more negatively than the same child with normal incisor appearance. However, the converse was true for year 10 participants. Conclusion:, Findings from this study concur with those from adult populations in that negative social judgements may be made on the basis of poor dental appearance. Interestingly, this would not appear to be the case in adolescence, which may relate to high levels of self-monitoring in this age-group. In view of the importance of appearance in adolescent social interaction, aesthetic dental treatment for children with incisor injury may yield important psychosocial benefits. [source] Implementing cash for work programmes in post-tsunami Aceh: experiences and lessons learnedDISASTERS, Issue 3 2006Shannon Doocy Abstract Cash for work (CFW) programmes are utilised in various disaster and emergency contexts and were a prominent component of the tsunami response in Aceh province, Indonesia. This paper describes Mercy Corps' CFW programme, discusses CFW implementation experiences and provides key recommendations for similar programmes in future emergencies. For the majority of CFW participants and their households, CFW was the only source of household income and 93 per cent of household incomes were attributable to it. The CFW programme empowered displaced populations to return to their communities; 91 per cent of participants indicated that CFW facilitated their return. Other reported psychosocial benefits included providing productive activities and giving communities an opportunity to work together. Mercy Corps' experience in Aceh demonstrates that cash disbursements can be safely delivered in a widespread manner in emergencies, and that when implemented on a short-term basis, can have positive impacts at the individual and community level. [source] Effectiveness of brief structured interventions on risk factor modification for patients with coronary heart disease: a systematic reviewINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE BASED HEALTHCARE, Issue 4 2007Ritin Fernandez RN MN (Critical care) PhD Candidate Abstract Background, The physical and psychosocial benefits of participation in cardiac rehabilitation following a coronary event have well been established. Despite these benefits there is strong evidence that participation in traditional cardiac rehabilitation programs remains low. Various models of cardiac rehabilitation have been implemented including the use of brief structured interventions to enable modification of coronary risk factors. Objectives, The objective of this review was to determine the effect of brief structured interventions on risk factor modification in patients with coronary heart disease. Search strategy, A literature search was performed using the following databases MEDLINE (1966,2006), CINAHL (1982,2006), EMBASE (1980,current) and up to the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Issue 2, 2006 of Cochrane Library). In addition, the reference lists of relevant trials and conference proceedings were also scrutinised. Company representatives, experts and investigators were contacted to elicit further information. Selection criteria, All randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials that compared the effects of brief structured interventions on risk factor modification in patients with coronary heart disease were considered for inclusion in the review. Data collection and analysis, Eligibility of the trials for inclusion in the review, details of eligible trials and the methodological quality of the trials were assessed independently by two reviewers. Relative risks for dichotomous data and a weighted mean difference for continuous data were calculated with 95% confidence intervals. Where synthesis was inappropriate, trials were considered separately. Main results, Seventeen trials involving a total of 4725 participants were included in the final review: three trials compared the effects of brief structured interventions on diet modification; seven on smoking cessation; and seven on multiple risk factors. Two trials involving 76 patients compared brief structured intervention versus usual care for dietary modification. Although there was a tendency for more participants in the intervention arm to lose weight at the 12-week follow up and achieve target cholesterol levels at the 6-month follow up, these results were not statistically significant. Only one small trial involving 36 patients compared brief structured intervention and extensive intervention for dietary modification and demonstrated a significant reduction in the percentage of energy obtained from fat and saturated fat intake among participants receiving extensive intervention. However, no difference in fish, fruit and vegetable intake between the groups was evident. Six trials involving 2020 patients compared brief structured intervention versus usual care for smoking cessation. There was no difference in the smoking cessation rates at the 3- and 6-week follow up, however, there was evidence of a benefit of brief structured interventions for smoking cessation at the 3-, 6- and 12-month follow up. In the only trial that and compared brief structured intervention and extensive intervention for smoking cessation in 254 participants there was no clear difference of a likelihood of smoking cessation between the two groups. In the seven trials that compared brief structured intervention and usual care for multiple risk factor modification there was evidence of a benefit of the intervention on behavioural changes such as fat intake, weight loss and consequently on reduction in the body mass index, smoking cessation and physical activity among the participants. The findings concerning the effect on blood pressure, blood glucose levels and the lipid profile, however, remain inconclusive. Conclusions, There is suggestive but inconclusive evidence from the trials of a benefit in the use of brief interventions for risk factor modification in patients with coronary heart disease. This review, however, supports the concept that brief interventions for patients with coronary heart disease can have beneficial effects on risk factor modification and consequently on progression of coronary heart disease. Further trials using larger sample sizes need to be undertaken to demonstrate the benefits of brief structured intervention targeted at the modification of single or multiple risk factors. [source] Nurses and Doulas: Complementary Roles to Provide Optimal Maternity CareJOURNAL OF OBSTETRIC, GYNECOLOGIC & NEONATAL NURSING, Issue 2 2006Lois Eve Ballen Staff in maternity-care facilities are seeing an increase in doulas, nonmedical childbirth assistants, who are trained to provide continuous physical, emotional, and informational labor support. The long-term medical and psychosocial benefits are well documented. In this article, misconceptions about the doula's role are corrected, and suggestions are offered on ways to improve communication between health care providers and doulas. Together, nurses and doulas can provide birthing women with a safe and satisfying birth. JOGNN, 35, 304-311; 2006. DOI: 10.1111/J.1552-6909.2006.00041.x [source] Quality of life among long-term survivors of breast cancer: different types of antecedents predict different classes of outcomesPSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 9 2006Charles S. Carver Abstract Quality of life (QOL) has many aspects, both in the short-term and in the long-term. Different aspects of QOL may have different types of precursors: demographic, medical, and psychosocial. We examined this possibility in a group of long-term breast cancer survivors. Early-stage breast cancer patients (N=163) who had provided information about medical, demographic, and psychosocial variables during the year after surgery completed a multidimensional measure of QOL 5,13 years later. Initial chemotherapy and higher stage predicted greater financial problems and greater worry about appearance at follow-up. Being partnered at diagnosis predicted many psychosocial benefits at follow-up. Hispanic women reported greater distress and social avoidance at follow-up. Initial trait optimism predicted diverse aspects of better psychosocial QOL at follow-up, but not other aspects of QOL. Thus, different aspects of QOL at long-term follow-up had different antecedents. Overall, psychological outcomes were predicted by psychosocial variables, presence of a partner at diagnosis, and ethnicity. Financial outcomes, in contrast, were predicted by medical variables, which otherwise predicted little about long-term QOL. This divergence among aspects of QOL should receive closer attention in future work. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Is There a Case in Favour of Predictive Genetic Testing in Young Children?BIOETHICS, Issue 1 2001Stephen Robertson Genetic testing technology has brought the ability to predict the onset of diseases many years before symptoms appear and the use of such predictive testing is now widespread. The medical fraternity has met the application of this practice to children with caution. The justification for their predominantly prohibitive stance has revolved around the lack of a readily identifiable medical benefit in the face of potential psychological harms to the child. We argue that predictive testing can have important psychosocial benefits and that the interests of the child have been construed too narrowly. Proponents of a prohibitive stance also argue that testing in childhood breaches the child's future right to make the same decision as an autonomous adult and to maintain this information as confidential. We argue that predictive genetic testing of children is not necessarily a violation of the child's future autonomy. Indeed, in some cases, such testing may facilitate the development of autonomy in the maturing child. We argue that parents are generally best placed to judge what is in their own child's overall interests, and that a parental request for testing after appropriate genetic counselling should be respected unless there is clear evidence that the child will be harmed in an overall sense as a result of testing. [source] | |||||||||||||