Recruiting participants for interventions to prevent the onset of depressive disorders: Possibile ways to increase participation rates

Background: Although indicated prevention of depression is available for about 80% of the Dutch population at little or no cost, only a small proportion of those with subthreshold depression make use of these services. Methods: A narrative review is conducted of the Dutch preventive services in mental health care, also addressing the problem of low participation rates. We describe possible causes of these low participation rates, which may be related to the participants themselves, the service system, and the communication to the public, and we put forward possible solutions to this problem. Results: There are three main groups of reasons why the participation rates are low: reasons within the participants (e.g., not considering themselves as being at risk; thinking the interventions are not effective; or being unwilling to participate because of the stigma associated with depression); reasons within the health care system; and reasons associated with the communication about the preventive services. Possible solutions to increasing the participation rate include organizing mass media campaigns, developing internet-based preventive interventions, adapting preventive interventions to the needs of specific subpopulations, positioning the services in primary care, integrating the interventions in community-wide interventions, and systematically screening high-risk groups for potential participants. Discussion: Prevention could play an important role in public mental health in reducing the enormous burden of depression. However, before this can be realized more research is needed to explore why participation rates are low and how these rates can be improved

Working people with type 1 diabetes in the Finnish population

Peer reviewe

Human plague: An old scourge that needs new answers

Yersinia pestis, the bacterial causative agent of plague, remains an important threat to human health. Plague is a rodent-borne disease that has historically shown an outstanding ability to colonize and persist across different species, habitats, and environments while provoking sporadic cases, outbreaks, and deadly global epidemics among humans. Between September and November 2017, an outbreak of urban pneumonic plague was declared in Madagascar, which refocused the attention of the scientific community on this ancient human scourge. Given recent trends and plague’s resilience to control in the wild, its high fatality rate in humans without early treatment, and its capacity to disrupt social and healthcare systems, human plague should be considered as a neglected threat. A workshop was held in Paris in July 2018 to review current knowledge about plague and to identify the scientific research priorities to eradicate plague as a human threat. It was concluded that an urgent commitment is needed to develop and fund a strong research agenda aiming to fill the current knowledge gaps structured around 4 main axes: (i) an improved understanding of the ecological interactions among the reservoir, vector, pathogen, and environment; (ii) human and societal responses; (iii) improved diagnostic tools and case management; and (iv) vaccine development. These axes should be cross-cutting, translational, and focused on delivering context-specific strategies. Results of this research should feed a global control and prevention strategy within a “One Health” approach

Visual attention and action: How cueing, direct mapping, and social interactions drive orienting

Despite considerable interest in both action perception and social attention over the last 2 decades, there has been surprisingly little investigation concerning how the manual actions of other humans orient visual attention. The present review draws together studies that have measured the orienting of attention, following observation of another’s goal-directed action. Our review proposes that, in line with the literature on eye gaze, action is a particularly strong orienting cue for the visual system. However, we additionally suggest that action may orient visual attention using mechanisms, which gaze direction does not (i.e., neural direct mapping and corepresentation). Finally, we review the implications of these gaze-independent mechanisms for the study of attention to action. We suggest that our understanding of attention to action may benefit from being studied in the context of joint action paradigms, where the role of higher level action goals and social factors can be investigated

Musculoskeletal pain and re-employment among unemployed job seekers: a three-year follow-up study

Abstract Background Poor health is a potential risk factor for not finding employment among unemployed individuals. We investigated the associations between localized and multiple-site musculoskeletal pain and re-employment in a three-year follow-up of unemployed job seekers. Methods Unemployed people (n = 539) from six localities in southern Finland who participated in various active labour market policy measures at baseline in 2002/2003 were recruited into a three-year health service intervention trial. A questionnaire was used to collect data on musculoskeletal health and background characteristics at baseline and on employment status at the end of the follow-up. We conducted a complete case (n = 284) and multiple imputation analyses using logistic regression to investigate the association between baseline musculoskeletal pain and re-employment after three years. Results Participants with severe pain in the lower back were less likely to become re-employed. This was independent of potential confounding variables. Pain in the hands/upper extremities, neck/shoulders, lower extremities, as well as multiple site were not determinants of re-employment. Conclusions Our findings lend some support to the hypothesis that poor health can potentially cause health selection into employment. There is the need to disentangle health problems in order to clearly appreciate their putative impact on employment. This will allow for more targeted interventions for the unemployed

Evolution of educational inequalities in site-specific cancer mortality among Belgian men between the 1990s and 2000s using a “fundamental cause” perspective

Background: According to the "fundamental cause" theory, emerging knowledge on health-enhancing behaviours and technologies results in health disparities. This study aims to assess (trends in) educational inequalities in site-specific cancer mortality in Belgian men in the 1990s and the 2000s using this framework. Methods: Data were derived from record linkage between the Belgian censuses of 1991 and 2001 and register data on mortality. The study population comprised all Belgian men aged 50-79 years during follow-up. Both absolute and relative inequality measures have been calculated. Results: Despite an overall downward trend in cancer mortality, educational differences are observed for the majority of cancer sites in the 2000s. Generally, inequalities are largest for mortality from preventable cancers. Trends over time in inequalities are rather stable compared with the 1990s. Conclusions: Educational differences in site-specific cancer mortality persist in the 2000s in Belgium, mainly for cancers related to behavioural change and medical interventions. Policy efforts focussing on behavioural change and healthcare utilization remain crucial in order to tackle these increasing inequalities.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Within-pair consistency in child witnesses: The diagnostic value of telling the same story

Judges and jurors often rely on consistency for assessing veracity. The present study examined the diagnostic value of within-pair consistency to predict truth-telling in pairs of children aged 8 to 10 years. Twenty-three pairs were questioned about one experienced event and one imagined event (which they had discussed before questioning). Within-pair consistency was significantly higher for experienced events than for imagined events. The diagnostic value of within-pair consistency to predict truth-telling was, however, modest: approximately one out of three judgments based on this cue would have been mistaken. Analyses of children's discussions of the imagined events revealed that interview questions about topics that had been discussed before questioning did not effectively discriminate experienced and imagined events, providing support for theoretical assumptions underlying the unanticipated-question approach. Practical recommendations for police interviewers are provided