Psycho-social Medicine

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: In view of the increasing number of implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICD), the number of people suffering from so-called "multiple ICD shocks" is also increasing. The delivery of more than five shocks (appropriate or inappropriate) in 12 months or three or more shocks (so called multiple shocks) in a short time period (24 hours) leads to an increasing number of patients suffering from severe psychological distress (anxiety disorder, panic disorder, adjustment disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder)...

OBJECTIVES: Because of the fluctuating and occasional character of Crohn's disease (CD), patients have to cope with a changeable condition of health. Personal perceived control is known to be an important element of adaptation to their medical condition. The objectives of this work are to determine if perceived personal control is predictive of the clinical activity of the disease and of psychological distress (depression, anxiety). METHODS: The Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), the causal dimension scale and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI; assessing perceived severity) were administered to 160 patients affected by Crohn's disease...

OBJECTIVE: The Pain Catastrophizing Scale, adapted for children (PCS-C) by Crombez et al. (2003), was translated into German (SKS-D) and evaluated regarding its factorial structure, its reliability and validity. The association of catastrophizing with various pain characteristics and disability measures was examined as well as its association to neighboring constructs. METHOD: The paper-and-pencil version of the SKS-D was used in two different samples of children and adolescents...

BACKGROUND: QUALIDEM is a standardized dementia-specific quality of life (Qol) measurement, which was developed and validated in the Netherlands. A German version has been available since 2008. This study protocol describes the design and methodology for the quality of life of people with dementia (Qol-Dem) project. OBJECTIVE: This project aims to evaluate the reliability and validity of the German version of the QUALIDEM. METHOD: Due to the lack of both a universal definition of Qol and of standards to verify the validity of Qol measurements, this study is divided into three phases...

AIM: The Material Values Scale is an instrument to assess beliefs about the importance to own material things. This instrument originally consists of the three subscales: 'centrality', 'success', and 'happiness'. The present study investigated the psychometric properties of the German version of the MVS (G-MVS). METHOD: A population-based sample of 2,295 adult Germans completed the questionnaire in order to investigate the factorial structure. To test construct validity, additional samples were gathered among patients with compulsive buying (N=52) and medical students (N=347) who also answered the Compulsive Buying Scale (CBS) and the Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale (PHQ-8)...

OBJECTIVE: This article includes the examination of potential methodological problems of the application of a forced choice response format in facial emotion recognition. METHODOLOGY: 33 subjects were presented with validated facial stimuli. The task was to make a decision about which emotion was shown. In addition, the subjective certainty concerning the decision was recorded. RESULTS: The detection rates are 68% for fear, 81% for sadness, 85% for anger, 87% for surprise, 88% for disgust, and 94% for happiness, and are thus well above the random probability...

OBJECTIVE: This pilot study examined the extent to which a specific mechanism of emotion regulation - namely, ambivalence concerning the expressiveness of German soldiers' emotions - affects the severity of PTSD symptoms after a military operation. METHODOLOGY: A survey was conducted at three points in time among 66 soldiers deployed on military crisis operations. The Harvard Trauma Questionaire (HTQ), the Ambivalence over Emotional Expressiveness Questionnaire (AEQ-G18), and a questionnaire on the particular stress of German soldiers during military operations were used...

AIM: Although seriously injured patients account for a high medical as well as socioeconomic burden of disease in the German health care system, there are only very few data describing the costs that arise between the days of accident and occupational reintegration. With this study, a comprehensive cost model is developed that describes the direct, indirect and intangible costs of an accident and their relationship with socioeconomic background of the patients. METHODS: This study included 113 patients who each had at least two injuries and a total Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) greater than or equal to five...

OBJECTIVE: General self-efficacy has been found to be an influential variable related to the adaptation to stress and chronic illness, with the General Self-Efficacy (GSE) Scale by Jerusalem and Schwarzer being a reliable and valid instrument to assess this disposition. The aim of this study was to construct and test a short form of this scale to allow for a more economical assessment of the construct. METHODS: The item characteristics of the original scale were assessed using an intercultural non-clinical sample (n=19,719)...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to assess the use and implementation of the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use developed by Ronald M. Andersen in recent studies explicity using this model. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted using PubMed in April 2011. The search strategy aimed to identify all articles in which the Andersen model had been applied and which had been published between 1998 and March 2011 in English or German. The search yielded a total of 328 articles...

BACKGROUND: The large-scale representative population surveys conducted by Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) contain questions pertaining to health and its determinants as well as the prevalence and frequency of outpatient services utilization. The same holds for the Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP, Sozio-ökonomisches Panel) and the Bertelsmann Healthcare Monitor (Gesundheitsmonitor) surveys. The purpose of this study is to examine the comparability of the instruments used in these surveys and their results...

OBJECTIVES: To test the effects of body weight maintenance, gain, and loss on health care utilisation in terms of outpatient visits to different kinds of physicians in the general adult population. METHODS: Self-reported utilisation data were collected within two population-based cohorts (baseline surveys: MONICA-S3 1994/95 and KORA-S4 1999/2001; follow-ups: KORA-F3 2004/05 and KORA-F4 2006/08) in the region of Augsburg, Germany, and were pooled for present purposes...

Physical Therapy (PT) and self-help groups (SHG) are important components of health care in rheumatic diseases. The utilisation of PT and SHG by patients with rheumatic diseases may be influenced by several factors. The aim of this study is to summarize the evidence on PT and SHG utilisation of patients with rheumatic diseases in Germany. We systematically searched the MEDLINE-database for studies that evaluated the utilisation and factors that possibly influence the utilisation of PT and SHG. Eight studies were found for PT-utilisation and one for SHG-utilisation...

BACKGROUND: The following analysis aims to determine whether differences in the use of prevention and health promotion services in Germany can be attributed to health inequality between different social status groups measured by education, occupation and income and where certain improvements can be made in health promotion and prevention efforts and research to reduce those differences. METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted using MedPilot to identify relevant articles published between 1998 and 2010 in the Medline, Medizinische Gesundheit, CC Med, Deutsches Ärzteblatt and Sozialmedizin (SOMED) databases, the Hogrefe, Karger, Krause and Pachermegg and Thieme publisher databases, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), the Cochrane Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE), and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials...

OBJECTIVES: As in nearly all European countries, demographic developments in Germany have led to both a relative and an absolute increase in the country's elderly population. The care and support needed by these people is primarily provided by relatives or friends and close acquaintances within the home environment. The major challenges for society are to sustain, promote and support these informal resources. In order to achieve this, it is crucial that family caregivers are provided with situation-specific services that support them and relieve their burden of care...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Heatwaves can pose a severe threat to health, especially to older people. However, warnings do not necessarily lead to preventive action. This study aims at exploring individual risk perception and adaptive measures of older people and their carers. Their views are explored, taking into account personal backgrounds. METHODS: Questionnaire-based interviews were administered to 20 men and women (64-94 years, living in their own homes or nursing homes) and 13 carers...

AIM: Trust is an essential element in physician-patient interaction fostering in general adherence and improving patient- and physician-reported outcomes. Regarding severely injured patients, trust-building behaviour is important because of the severity of injuries and therefore potential associated physical and psychological consequences. The objective of this study was to identify significant and relevant determinants on trust of severely injured patients in their physicians in surgical intensive care units...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to identify psychosocial risk factors for the incidence of recurrent headache (HA) in children/adolescents (8-15 years). METHOD: In 2003 (Wave 1) a representative, population-based sample of 8800 parents was mailed a questionnaire. Those who took part were asked to participate again one year later (Wave 2). Of the parents originally contacted, 47.3% participated in both surveys. Potential risk factors concerning the areas 'school' and 'emotional and behavioural problems' were collected in Wave 1...