Life events and difficulties schedule

The study evaluated the short-term outcome of children diagnosed with conversion disorder and compared their pre- and post-intervention psychological functioning. Fifty children consecutively diagnosed with conversion disorder over a period of one year were recruited from the pediatrics department of a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India. The adverse life events were assessed by the Life Events Scale for Indian Children, emotional and behavioral difficulties by the Childhood Psychopathology Measurement Schedule (CPMS), and adjustment by the Pre-Adolescent Adjustment Scale (PAAS)...

Literature suggests that the occurrence of psychological trauma (PT) from various negative life experiences beyond events mentioned in the DSM-criterion A, receives little to no attention when comorbid with psychosis. In fact, despite research indicating the intricate interplay between PT and psychosis, and the need for trauma-focused interventions (TFI), there continue to be mixed views on whether treating PT would worsen psychosis, with many practitioners hesitating to initiate treatment for this reason. This study, therefore, aimed to understand patient perspectives on the role of PT in psychosis and related treatment options...

BACKGROUND: Missed hospital outpatient appointments is a commonly reported problem in healthcare services around the world; for example, they cost the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK millions of pounds every year and can cause operation and scheduling difficulties worldwide. In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report highlighting the need for a model of care that more readily meets the needs of people with chronic conditions. Patient-initiated appointment systems may be able to meet this need at the same time as improving the efficiency of hospital appointments...

OBJECTIVE: Stressful life events have been implicated in the onset of psychotic disorders, but there are few robust studies. We sought to examine the nature and magnitude of associations between adult life events and difficulties and first-episode psychoses, particularly focusing on contextual characteristics, including threat, intrusiveness, and independence. METHOD: This study forms part of the Childhood Adversity and Psychosis Study (CAPsy), an epidemiological case-control study in London, United Kingdom...

Introduction: Studies estimate that 20% of adults suffer from chronic pain. A meta-analysis in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) found 34% had chronic pain. There are few studies on pain prevalence gathered in Africa. This study surveyed the capital city of Mozambique. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study employed in a community setting. The Vanderbilt Global Pain Survey comprised questions on the behaviour and attitudes of respondents regarding pain, including previously validated metrics: the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule, the Brief Pain Inventory, Widespread Pain Index and Symptom Severity Score, and the Michigan Body Map...

BACKGROUND: Given the criticisms of life event checklists and the costs associated with interviews, life event research requires a sophisticated but easy-to-use measure for research and clinical practice. Therefore, the Computerized Life Events and Assessment Record (CLEAR), based on the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS), was developed. OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to test CLEAR's reliability, validity, and association with depression. METHODS: CLEAR, the General Health Questionnaire, and the List of Threatening Experiences Questionnaire (LTE-Q) were completed by 328 participants (126 students; 202 matched midlife sample: 127 unaffected controls, 75 recurrent depression cases)...

The decision to initiate renal replacement therapy (RRT) implies a wide margin of uncertainty. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) tells us the magnitude of renal damage. Proteinuria indicates the speed of progression. However, nowadays more than 50% of patients are still initiating RRT hastily, and it is life threatening. HYPOTHESIS: By analysing Emergency Department (ED) frequentation and causes of a hurried initiation, we can better schedule the timing of the start of RRT. METHOD: Retrospective and observational study of all CKD patients in our outpatient clinic...

Approximately 14% of military personnel and veterans who have deployed to the combat theater are at risk for combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The treatment of combat-related PTSD in active duty service members and veterans is challenging. Combat trauma may involve multiple high levels of exposure to different types of traumatic events (e.g., human carnage after explosive blasts, life threat/injuries to self/others, etc.). Many service members and veterans are unable or unwilling to receive treatment in government facilities due to avoidance, scheduling difficulties, transportation or parking problems, concerns about career advancement, or stigma associated with seeking treatment...

BACKGROUND: Patients with ovarian cancer often report elevated anxiety at diagnosis that decreases posttreatment. However, a minority of patients experience sustained anxiety. Few studies have examined risk factors for persistent anxiety or its physiologic sequelae in ovarian cancer. Therefore, the authors investigated associations between prior life events, anxiety, inflammation (plasma levels of interleukin-6), and diurnal cortisol profiles in patients with ovarian cancer during the first year postdiagnosis...

BACKGROUND: Treadmill training, with or without body weight support using a harness, is used in rehabilitation and might help to improve walking after stroke. This is an update of the Cochrane review first published in 2003 and updated in 2005 and 2014. OBJECTIVES: To determine if treadmill training and body weight support, individually or in combination, improve walking ability, quality of life, activities of daily living, dependency or death, and institutionalisation or death, compared with other physiotherapy gait-training interventions after stroke...

The Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS) is considered the standard for measuring psychosocial stressor exposure, but it has not been used with academically at-risk adolescents, including high school dropouts. The goal of this study was to (1) adapt the LEDS for use with this population, and (2) examine the reliability (interrater) and validity (concurrent and predictive) of this adaptation among a sample of vulnerable adolescents (N = 545). Good reliability coefficients (.79-.90) were obtained, and stressor exposure was associated with concurrent criteria indexing mental health outcomes (depression) and major risk factors for dropout (administratively recorded and self-reported)...

BACKGROUND: Childhood adversity predicts adolescent suicidal ideation but there are few studies examining whether the risk of childhood adversity extends to suicidal ideation in midlife. We hypothesized that childhood adversity predicts midlife suicidal ideation and this is partially mediated by adolescent internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders and adult exposure to life events and interpersonal difficulties. METHOD: At 45 years, 9377 women and men from the UK 1958 British Birth Cohort Study participated in a clinical survey...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether stress, anxiety and depression predict preterm birth in twin pregnancies. METHODS: A prospective cohort study with a convenience sample of women pregnant with dichorionic, diamniotic twins. They were interviewed at 24-28 weeks using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Corticotrophin-releasing hormone, ACTH and cortisol levels were assessed at 28 weeks. The main outcome was premature delivery; there were 42 preterm and 73 term births...

INTRODUCTION: The introduction of recombinant human erythropoietin revolutionized the management of anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). In order to circumvent costly recombinant DNA technology, synthetic chemistry techniques were used to manufacture peginesatide, a synthetic peptide that bore no resemblance to previous erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs), and yet was capable of stimulating erythropoiesis. Compared with other ESAs, peginesatide was deemed to have advantages related to immunogenicity, administration schedule, and cost...

BACKGROUND: Psychological models of conversion disorder (CD) traditionally assume that psychosocial stressors are identifiable around symptom onset. In the face of limited supportive evidence such models are being challenged. METHOD: Forty-three motor CD patients, 28 depression patients and 28 healthy controls were assessed using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule in the year before symptom onset. A novel 'escape' rating for events was developed to test the Freudian theory that physical symptoms of CD could provide escape from stressors, a form of 'secondary gain'...

The causal beliefs which adults have regarding their mental health difficulties have been linked to help-seeking behaviour, treatment preferences, and the outcome of therapy; yet, the topic remains a relatively unexplored one in the adolescent literature. This exploratory study aims to explore the causal beliefs regarding depression among a sample of clinically referred adolescents. Seventy seven adolescents, aged between 11 and 17, all diagnosed with moderate to severe depression, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule, at the beginning of their participation in a randomised controlled trial...

Hippocampal volume deficits have been linked to life stress. However, the degree to which genes and environment influence the association between hippocampal volume and life events is largely unknown. In total, 123 healthy twins from monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and 57 healthy twins were interviewed with the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS), with an overlap of 54 twins undergoing both MRI and the life events interview. Hippocampal volumes were segmented with Freesurfer software...

OBJECTIVES: As outlined in the social zeitgeber hypothesis, social rhythm disrupting (SRD) life events begin a cascade of social and biological rhythm disruption that may lead to the onset of affective episodes in those vulnerable to bipolar disorder. Thus, the study of SRD events is particularly important in individuals with this chronic condition. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate (i) the extent to which SRD life events increased the risk of recurrence of a bipolar mood episode, and (ii) whether the social rhythm disruption associated with the event conferred an increased risk of recurrence, after accounting for the level of threat associated with the life event...

BACKGROUND: Severe life events are acknowledged as important etiological factors in the development of clinical disorders, including major depression. Interview methods capable of assessing context and meaning of events have demonstrated superior validity compared with checklist questionnaire methods and arguments for interview approaches have resurfaced because choosing the appropriate assessment tool provides clarity of information about gene-environment interactions in depression. Such approaches also have greater potential for understanding and treating clinical cases or for use in interventions...

BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma is a rare malignant disease and mainly affects infants and very young children. The tumors mainly develop in the adrenal medullary tissue and an abdominal mass is the most common presentation. The high-risk group is characterized by metastasis and other characteristics that increase the risk for an adverse outcome. In the rapid COJEC induction schedule, higher single doses of selected drugs than standard induction schedules are administered over a substantially shorter treatment period, with shorter intervals between cycles...