Assessment of obstetrician-patient relationship and stress levels experienced by women in healthy pregnancy and pregnancy complicated by maternal or fetal factors

Pregnancy is a special period in the life of a woman and her family, resulting in biological, social and psychological changes. Each pregnancy, even one non-burdened with social and obstetric risk, is a stressful situation (Dulude et al, 2002). For each pregnancy, the obstetrician-patient relationship and the level of the woman's confidence in the obstetrician become important. Patient's trust is one of the components of the satisfaction with medical care, which is a determinant as to adherence to the doctor's recommendations, leading to better clinical effects of the health care itself (Kurpas, Sapilak, Steciwko, 2006). The aim of this study was to assess the obstetrician-patient relationship during pregnancy and the stress levels experienced in four groups of women, selected on the basis of their pregnancy – healthy pregnancy and high-risk pregnancy complicated by: a fetal factor, a maternal factor or both factors. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between stress and trust towards the obstetrician in the studied groups. The research was conducted on a total of 242 women applying for follow-up examinations to the obstetrician or staying in the department of pregnancy pathology. The following measurement methods were used in the research: Global Stress Scale PSS-10 and the Trust in Physician Scale. The analyses have shown significant differences among the studied groups regarding the assessment of the magnitude of stress experienced and the assessment of confidence level towards the obstetrician. The magnitude of stress was negatively correlated with the level of trust towards the obstetrician only in the group of women in high-risk pregnancy complicated by a fetal factor

The crisis of divorce and the nature of the experienced life changes

In this study, divorce is understood as a complex and multidimensional phenomenon. Furthermore, divorce is one of the most stressful life events – an event which changes almost every aspect of life. It has been assumed that for majority of people, divorce is related to a crisis or is viewed as a turning point in life. The aim of this study is to verify whether the assessment of the impact of divorce on various spheres of life (housing situation, work, friends, children, etc.) is associated with different magnitude of experienced life changes (positive or negative). Positive changes may signify individual's ability to cope with critical life events (such as divorce); negative changes mean that people after divorce experience the negative impact of it on fundamental beliefs about the self as well as the value and meaning of life. In this study, the Life Changes Scale (LCS), demographic data and divorce-related data were used. The difference significance tests were conducted between the groups. A total of 157 divorced individuals participated in the research. Three out of four participants were women (76.40%); a quarter of the group comprised of men (23.60%). The respondents’ average age was 41 years. Analyses have shown differences in the assessment of changes after divorce. The most important results include the occurrence of significant differences in experienced life changes (positive or negative) among divorced individuals, depending on the sphere of life in which the changes occurred

Body image in women with breast cancer undergoing surgical treatment – a comparative analysis

Surgery is the most basic treatment in case of breast cancer: it involves a complete or partial removal of the mammary gland. The aim of the study was to assess the body image distress and self-esteem in a group of women with breast cancer undergoing various surgical procedures. The material was collected in a group of 229 women with breast cancer who were divided into subgroups based on the surgery criterion (mastectomy, breast-conserving therapy - BCT and mastectomy with breast reconstruction). The study used the Body Image Scale by Hopwood, Fletcher, Lee and Al Ghazal (2001; Polish adaptation by Brandt-Salmeri and Przybyła-Basista), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale – SES (Polish adaptation by Łaguna, Lachowicz-Tabaczek and Dzwonkowka, 2007) and an original survey. Analyses showed, among other things, significant differences in the assessment of discomfort associated with a change in body image depending on the type of surgery. The research also revealed that the assessment depended on differences between the women in terms of age and the time elapsed since the onset of treatment. Negative body image was adversely associated with self-esteem in all studied groups. Body image was significantly related to age and time elapsed since the treatment in the post-mastectomy group. At the same time, it was related only to age in the BCT group and with regards to the breast reconstruction group, the relationship concerned only elapsed time

Psychological well-being of individuals after divorce: the role of social support

Divorce is a transition period in which divorcing individuals face restructuring of the family system and adjustment to changes. The psychological well-being of divorcees can serve as an important indicator of the adjustment process. The achievement of well-being does not come easily for many reasons, one of which is the experience related to a sense of loss associated with the marriage break-up. Social support is a major relational resource for overcoming the crisis and successfully adjusting to post-divorce life. The sample consisted of 157 individuals after divorce: 120 women and 37 men (mean age = 41.29). Instruments employed in the study included the Sense of Loss Scale (DS), the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL), the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ-23), and sociodemographic data. Our results show that perceived social support is a partial mediator of the relationship between the sense of loss associated with divorce and the psychological well-being of individuals after divorce. For the vast majority of the respondents their parents, friends and acquaintances were the major source of support. About one third of the participants were given support by their siblings and their own children. The study confirms the mediating role of support in building well-being after experiencing loss related to dissolution of marriage. This means that for divorced women and men perceived social support is one of the key resources that have a significant impact on achieving psychological well-being after divorce, since it is related to mitigating the negative impact of the sense of loss associated with marriage break-up

Issues of patriotism in scouting education in the ZHR Polish Scouting and Guiding Association.

The historical education of youth has played an important role in patriotic education. The results of academic research into the patriotism of Polish youth shows the growing need of patriotic education in the context of situating patriotism as an independent category, an element of the axiological system, the awareness of Polish youth. The analysis of contemporary Polish reality indicates new challenges in patriotic education. With the ZHR we are dealing with a specific vision of our history, as well as a specific version of present times and a specific cultural code. Scouting is considered an organization that has become an inherent part of Polish tradition and culture, and the ideal of being raised in the scouting tradition has been established in the consciousness of a number of generations of Poles. It is a consequence of our national culture and tradition. Scouting has been used as a tool for developing an independent attitude amongst patriotic youths. It also became an essential part of the struggle for independence. Scouting as a system of education has been subject to change and ongoing development in changing socio-political and economic conditions. This process has continued in the contemporary, postmodern and post-industrial society. Patriotic education in scouting is an element of scouting methodology based on Scouting Law and the Scouting Oath

BridgeHand2Vec Bridge Hand Representation

Contract bridge is a game characterized by incomplete information, posing an exciting challenge for artificial intelligence methods. This paper proposes the BridgeHand2Vec approach, which leverages a neural network to embed a bridge player's hand (consisting of 13 cards) into a vector space. The resulting representation reflects the strength of the hand in the game and enables interpretable distances to be determined between different hands. This representation is derived by training a neural network to estimate the number of tricks that a pair of players can take. In the remainder of this paper, we analyze the properties of the resulting vector space and provide examples of its application in reinforcement learning, and opening bid classification. Although this was not our main goal, the neural network used for the vectorization achieves SOTA results on the DDBP2 problem (estimating the number of tricks for two given hands)

Parental Monitoring of the Internet Activity of Young Children and Preadolescents

Th is study explores the infl uence of three psychological factors of the parental monitoring of children’s Internet activity: (i) parents’ perception of the Internet as a source of threat and risk, (ii) parents’ perception of the Internet as a source of benefi ts, and (iii) family closeness. Th e sample consisted of 161 parents (20 fathers and 141 mothers) of children aged 7-12. Results show that family closeness is the most signifi cant predictor for parental monitoring. Th e second signifi cant predictor is parents’ perception of the Internet as a source of threat or risk. As expected, the predictors for parental monitoring of children’s Internet activity depend on children’s age

Dobrostan hedonistyczny i eudajmonistyczny w sytuacjach kryzysów normatywnych i nienormatywnych

The concept of well-being is very difficult to define because of its complexity. Many studies indicate that psychological well-being is a multidimensional phenomenon. At the same time, psychological well-being is treated as an indicator of the individual's adaptation to various critical or crisis life events (Ryff, 2014, 2017; Sieber et al., 2006). Integrated „conceptualizations” of well-being combine presence of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being components. The purpose of the article is to give an overview of selected theoretical concepts of well-being in both hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives and to present research results on well-being in groups of people experiencing various types of normative and non-normative crises. Comparisons of well-being was carried out in the following groups: expectant fathers (N = 46); marriages (N = 52) and cohabitants (N = 57); women with cancer (N = 66); parents of children with Down's syndrome (N = 127); women in pregnancies (N = 137); parents of rehabilitated children (N = 58); people after divorce (N = 158) and people in new close relationship after divorce (N = 80); In this study the Polish adaption of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills, and Argyle, 2002) and the demographic data were used. OHQ-23 in Polish version has a two-factor structure comprising the life satisfaction and sense of power (factor 1) and the sense of purpose and control (factor 2)

The Risk for Fall and Functional Dependence in Polish Adults

The constantly rising percentage of the elderly (60+), who are particularly at risk of the dangerous consequence of falls, results not only in the loss of independence in daily life, but also in a serious threat to health and life. Therefore, many authors emphasize the necessity of conducting prophylaxis and prevention among senior citizens. The most important aspect of fall prophylaxis is care about the optimum level of agility. Exercise should focus on increasing muscular strength, balance and dexterity. The aim of the present study is to determine the relationship between functional fitness and the risk for falls of older people in the light of maintaining physical independence. The research group consisted of 522 persons: 142 males and 380 females aged 60-84 years from Wroclaw (a city in the south-west of Poland). All subjects provided written consent, and were measured and tested in 2009 through 2015, excluding the winter months. Body height and weight were measured. Body mass index was calculated. The Senior Fitness Test was used to assess functional capacity and efficiency. The results of the Senior Fitness Test were used to estimate Maintaining Physical Independence in Older Adults. The differences in the means of the results of all the tests between the age and sex-specific groups were assessed by means of a two-way analysis of variance, where sex and age were factors and results of appropriate test dependent variables. Logistic regression was used to estimate the risk for fall, based on the incidence of fall in the last year, for each test comparing the individuals met referenced criteria to maintain functionally dependence and independent, controlled for age and BMI. The risk for falls was more than twice greater in the case of the studied females, whose muscular strength of the upper part of the body was lower. The females in whose cases no fewer than two tests failed to ascertain functional independence, had a greater risk for falls. In the case of the males, no statistically-significant connections between functional independence and the risk for falls was found