7 research outputs found
Psychological distress and coping following eye removal surgery.
Purpose: Psychological distress is reasonably well documented in people with facial disfigurement; however, in patients following eye removal surgery this has not been studied adequately. We hypothesised that lower distress levels would be associated with age and more adaptive coping strategies and that women would be more likely to report higher levels of distress and, therefore, use maladaptive coping strategies.Methods: This exploratory, cross-sectional study measured distress and coping in a sample of 56 post enucleation or evisceration patients. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Brief COPE measured distress and coping strategies.Results: In all, 25.5% and 10.9% of the sample had high levels of anxiety and depression, respectively. Significant associations were found between levels of distress, coping strategies and demographic variables (p <Â .05). There were significant differences in coping strategies between those with higher and lower levels of distress (p <Â .05). Females reported higher levels of anxiety (U =Â 202.5, p <Â .01) and depression (U =Â 229, p <Â .05) than males. Those who experienced enucleation or evisceration aged between 20 and 39Â years reported significantly higher levels of depression compared with other age groups (U =Â 68.5, p <Â .01).Conclusions: There was a relatively low level of distress across the whole sample, but we found high levels of distress in a considerable proportion (18.18%) of participants. Participants' coping strategies and levels of distress were correlated. Females and participants aged between 20 and 39Â years at time of eye removal were particularly vulnerable to distress
Normative perceptions of cannabis use amongst European University students: associations between perceived peer use and peer attitudes with personal use and attitudes.
Objective: Perceptions of peer behavior and attitudes exert considerable social pressure on young adults to use substances. This study investigated whether European students perceive their peersâ cannabis use and approval of cannabis use to be higher than their own personal behaviors and attitudes, and whether estimations of peer use and attitudes are associated with personal use and attitudes. Method: University students (n = 4131) from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom completed an online survey as part of the Social Norms Intervention for Polysubstance usE in students (SNIPE) project, a feasibility study of a web-based normative feedback intervention for substance use. The survey assessed studentsâ (1) personal substance use and attitudes, and (2) perceptions of their peersâ cannabis use (descriptive norms) and attitudes (injunctive norms). Results: Although most respondents (92%) did not personally use cannabis in the past two months, the majority of students thought that the majority of their peers were using cannabis and that their peers had more permissive attitudes towards cannabis than themselves. Controlling for studentsâ age, sex, study year and religious beliefs, perceived peer descriptive norms were associated with personal cannabis use (OR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.22, 1.64) and perceived injunctive norms were associated with personal attitudes towards cannabis use (OR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.94). Conclusions: European students appear to possess similar discrepancies between personal and perceived peer norms for cannabis use and attitudes as found in North American students. Interventions which address such discrepancies may be effective in reducing cannabis use. Keywords: cannabis, social norms, student health, social influenc
The oxygen uptake kinetic response to moderate intensity exercise in overweight and non-overweight children
Objective:
To compare the phase II oxygen uptake time constant (ÏVâČO2) and VâČO2 mean response time (VâČO2MRT) in overweight (OW) and non-OW (NO) children during moderate intensity exercise.
Design:
Between subjects where participants completed a maximal ramp exercise test on an electromagnetically braked cycle ergometer to determine peak VâČO2 (VâČO2peak) and gas exchange threshold (GET). Gas exchange was measured breath-by-breath using a mass spectrometer. On subsequent visits, 6 square-wave transitions (less than or equal to2 per day) from 0âW to 90% GET were completed. Individual phase II ÏVâČO2 and VâČO2MRTs were estimated from time aligned average VâČO2 traces.
Subjects:
Eleven OW (11.8±0.4 years) and 12 NO (11.9±0.4 years) children were recruited to the study. The OW group was significantly heavier (62.9±9.7 vs 39.4±5.8âkg, P<0.001), taller (1.58±0.05 vs 1.47±0.07âm, P<0.001) and had a higher body mass index (25.8±3.4 vs 18.3±1.8âkgâmâ2, P<0.001).
Results:
Both ÏVâČO2 (30.2±9.6 vs 22.8±7.1âs, P0.05); absolute VâČO2 at GET was similar between OW and NO groups (0.94±0.24 vs 0.78±0.27âlâminâ1, P>0.05); GET expressed as percentage of VâČO2peak was similar between the groups (42.0±0.1 vs 44.8±0.1%, P>0.05).
Conclusion:
These findings demonstrate impairment in the factors determining VâČO2 kinetics in OW children at a relatively young age. Furthermore, assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness using peak exercise values is likely to be misleading and not useful when designing exercise programmes for OW children
Body image and self-esteem across age and gender : a short-term longitudinal study
This study examined the relationship between body image and self-esteem across time and age for men and women. Participants were 150 men and 239 women aged between 20 and 86 years (M=59.73), recruited from the general population in Australia. They completed a questionnaire assessing self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, body importance, and a range of other domains of life satisfaction at baseline and 2 years later. Cross-sectionally, we found that higher self-esteem was associated with lower body dissatisfaction, but there was no consistent relationship between these variables across time for age andgender. Women were more dissatisfied with their bodies than men; yet, men placed greater importance on their appearance than women, and also reported high levels of body dissatisfaction.<br /