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Health Functioning (health + functioning)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences55%

Kinds of Health Functioning

  • mental health functioning
    		•

    Selected Abstracts

    The Potential Benefits of Remaining in School on the Long,Term Mental Health Functioning of Physically and Sexually Abused Children: Beyond the Academic Domain

    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 1 2006
    Simon Williams PhD
    Community,based population survey data were used to explore whether remaining in school, independent of achievement status, was associated with lower rates of psychopathology in adulthood among participants self,reporting exposure to child physical and/or sexual abuse. Remaining in school, independent of one's achievement status, was significantly associated with a lower probability of experiencing externalizing but not internalizing disorders. Theoretical and educational implications of these results are discussed. [source]

    A Pilot Study of an Intervention for Breast Cancer Survivors and Their Spouses

    FAMILY PROCESS, Issue 1 2004
    Cleveland G. Shields Ph.D.
    Recent studies have shown that interventions that increase breast cancer patients' communication with family members lead to reduced patient distress. In this article, we report on a treatment development and pilot study of an intervention for couples coping with breast cancer. In phase 1 of this study, 10 couples participated in two focus groups that generated ideas and themes for the intervention. In phase 2, we developed and pilot tested our intervention with 48 couples: 12 in a 2-session format, 21 in a 1-session format, and 15 in a non-experimental control group. Our response rate shows that breast cancer patients and spouses were willing to participate and that treatment providers were willing to refer patients and their spouses. The 2-session format showed the most promise for producing positive change in mental health functioning and cancer-related stress. [source]

    Outcomes Associated with Opioid Use in the Treatment of Chronic Noncancer Pain in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

    JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 7 2010
    Maria Papaleontiou MD
    This systematic review summarizes existing evidence regarding the efficacy, safety, and abuse and misuse potential of opioids as treatment for chronic noncancer pain in older adults. Multiple databases were searched to identify relevant studies published in English (1/1/80,7/1/09) with a mean study population age of 60 and older. Forty-three articles were identified and retained for review (40 reported safety and efficacy data, the remaining 3 reported misuse or abuse outcome data). The weighted mean subject age was 64.1 (mean age range 60,73). Studies enrolled patients with osteoarthritis (70%), neuropathic pain (13%), and other pain-producing disorders (17%). The mean duration of treatment studies was 4 weeks (range 1.5,156 weeks), and only five (12%) lasted longer than 12 weeks. In meta-analyses, effect sizes were ,0.557 (P<.001) for pain reduction, ,0.432 (P<.001) for physical disability reduction, and 0.859 (P=.31) for improved sleep. The effect size for the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Health Survey was 0.191 (P=.17) for the physical component score and ,0.220 (P=.04) for the mental component score. Adults aged 65 and older were as likely as those younger than 65 to benefit from treatment. Common adverse events included constipation (median frequency of occurrence 30%), nausea (28%), and dizziness (22%) and prompted opioid discontinuation in 25% of cases. Abuse and misuse behaviors were negatively associated with older age. In older adults with chronic pain and no significant comorbidity, short-term use of opioids is associated with reduction in pain intensity and better physical functioning but poorer mental health functioning. The long-term safety, efficacy, and abuse potential of this treatment practice in diverse populations of older persons remain to be determined. [source]

    The relationship between risk and insight in a high-security forensic setting

    JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 5 2003
    P. WOODS RMN phDDip Health Care Research
    It is often intimated amongst practitioners in mental healthcare that clients who display poor insight either into their mental health or behaviour present a greater risk either to themselves or others. This paper reports relationships found between the risk and insight subscales of the Behavioural Status Index. This is an instrument designed specifically for healthcare practitioners to measure health functioning amongst mental health clients, in particular those in forensic mental healthcare. Data were collected, using a repeated measures method by primary nurses, from a sample of 503 patients in two high-security mental health hospitals. Seven factors emerged through factor analysis. The first of these contained all the insight items. Significant differences were found on a number of factors between independent groups. Generally, results indicate that patients on lower dependency wards scored more normatively on the factors, adding to instrument validity. Men were found to score more normatively than women. Clinical practice implications and ongoing European studies examining the use of the instrument in clinical practice and its association with treatment planning are discussed. [source]

    Coping with technological disaster: An application of the conservation of resources model to the Exxon Valdez oil spill

    JOURNAL OF TRAUMATIC STRESS, Issue 1 2000
    Catalina M. Arata
    Abstract One hundred twenty-five commercial fishers in Cordova, Alaska, completed a mailed survey regarding current mental health functioning 6 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Economic and social impacts of the oil spill and coping and psychological functioning (modified Coping Strategies Scales, Symptom Checklist 90-R) were measured. Multiple regression was used to test the utility of the Conservation of Resources stress model for explaining observed psychological symptoms. Current symptoms of depression, anxiety, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder were associated with conditions resource loss and avoidant coping strategies. The Conservation of Resources model provided a framework for explaining psychological impacts of the oil spill. Future research is needed to identify factors related to recovery. [source]

    Incarceration, Health, and Racial Disparities in Health

    LAW & SOCIETY REVIEW, Issue 2 2008
    Michael Massoglia
    This article addresses two basic questions. First, it examines whether incarceration has a lasting impact on health functioning. Second, because blacks are more likely than whites to be exposed to the negative effects of the penal system,including fractured social bonds, reduced labor market prospects, and high levels of infectious disease,it considers whether the penal system contributes to racial health disparities. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and both regression and propensity matching estimators, the article empirically demonstrates a significant relationship between incarceration and later health status. More specifically, incarceration exerts lasting effects on midlife health functioning. In addition, this analysis finds that, due primarily to disproportionate rates of incarceration, the penal system plays a role in perpetuating racial differences in midlife physical health functioning. [source]

    Cancer-specific worry interference in women attending a breast and ovarian cancer risk evaluation program: impact on emotional distress and health functioning

    PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 5 2001
    Peter C. Trask
    Intrusive thoughts about cancer, often identified as ,cancer-specific worries' or ,cancer-specific distress', have been postulated to be associated with dysfunction in women at increased risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. The current study discusses the development and validation of a measure designed to assess women's perceptions of the interference such worries create in their daily functioning. Analyses revealed that approximately two-thirds of a high-risk breast cancer clinic sample perceived worries about breast cancer as interfering with their functioning across a variety of life domains. Multiple regression analyses indicated that worry interference scores predicted Profile of Mood States (POMS) Anxiety and Confusion, and Short Form-36 (SF-36) Role-Emotional and Mental Health scores after the effects of other variables such as frequency of worry about breast cancer, and having a family history of cancer had been considered. Women who perceived their worries as interfering with their functioning reported higher levels of anxiety and confusion, and diminished mental health and role functioning. The results add to the expanding area of anxiety/distress in at-risk populations by providing (1) a direct measure of the perceived interference associated with breast cancer-specific thoughts, (2) a validation of the measure via its associations with standard measures of emotional distress and health functioning, and (3) evidence of the measure's incremental predictive value in explaining distress and quality of life, after consideration of background variables, such as having a family history of cancer. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]