The Postpartum Specific Anxiety Scale: development and preliminary validation

Perinatal symptoms of anxiety are increasingly recognised due to their high prevalence and impact. Studies using pregnancy-specific anxiety measures have found that they may predict perinatal outcomes more effectively than general measures. However, no such measure exists to assess anxieties specific to the postpartum. This study aimed to develop and validate a measure (Postpartum Specific Anxiety Scale; PSAS) that accurately represents the specific anxieties faced by postpartum women, using a four-stage methodology: (1) 51 items were generated from interviews conducted with a group of 19 postpartum women at two time points, (2) the scale was reviewed and refined by a diverse expert panel, (3) an online pilot study (n = 146) was conducted to assess comprehensibility and acceptability and (4) an online sample of 1282 mothers of infants up to 6 months old completed the PSAS against a battery of convergent measures. A subsample (n = 262) repeated the PSAS 2 weeks later. The PSAS possessed good face and content validity and was comprehensible and acceptable to postpartum women. PSAS scores were significantly correlated with other measures indicating good convergent validity. Principal component analyses (PCA) revealed a simple four-factor structure. Reliability of the overall scale and individual PSAS factors proved to be good to excellent. A preliminary receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis also suggested that the PSAS may be a useful screening tool. The psychometric evidence suggests that the PSAS is an acceptable, valid, and reliable research tool to assess anxieties, which are specific to the postpartum period. Next steps in the iterative validation process are considered for both research and screening purposes

Essays on the Empirical Analysis of Residential Energy Demand

This thesis contributes to the understanding of residential heat demand by developing and estimating novel empirical frameworks that allow detailed analyses of households' decisions on the level of thermal comfort to consume and the type of retrofit investments to conduct in their dwellings. Chapters 1 and 2 consider households' heat consumption in a static environment in which dwelling characteristics are given. Chapter 1 demonstrates how engineering models, that allow to predict the fuel requirements of dwellings, can be used to improve specifications of econometric regression equations. In chapter 2 a household production model of temperature consumption is specified and solved theoretically. The model allows to derive the regression equation structurally and thus to empirically identify the parameters of households' utility function of temperature consumption. The estimated model is used to predict model quantities such as the price elasticity of temperature consumption. It shows that there is substantial heterogeneity in households' price sensitivity, which is related to the proximity of their temperature choice to the satiation level of temperature consumption. Chapter 3 analysis households' modernisation behavior in a dynamic investment model. The model allows to separately identify households' preferences for thermal comfort, and thus the benefits of a modernisation, and the associated costs. It thus provides the basis for the calculation of counterfactual policy scenarios. Simulation results indicate that policies increasing fuel prices via a tax are substantially more effective in reducing residential fuel consumption than policies that incentivize modernisation investments only, e.g. through a subsidy on modernisaion costs

Bedingungen mütterlicher Reaktivität / Sensitivität im ersten Lebensjahr

In der vorliegenden längsschnittlich konzipierten Studie wurde der Einfluß verschiedener Faktoren auf die Adäquatheit mütterlichen Interaktionsverhaltens im Verlauf des ersten Lebensjahres überprüft. Auf der Grundlage der interaktionalen Modelle von BELSKY (1984) und PAPOUŠEK & PAPOUŠEK (1990) wurde angenommen, daß sowohl Charakteristiken der am Interaktionsgeschehen beteiligten Personen, also Bezugsperson und Kind, als auch der Kontext, in welchem sich die Interaktion abspielt, für das mütterliche Verhalten von Bedeutung sind. Folgerichtig wurden als potentielle Determinanten der mütterlichen Reaktivität/Sensitivität, die als Kernstück angemessenen Interaktionsverhaltens gilt, die folgenden Vari-ablen berücksichtigt: das frühkindliche Temperament (in den Komponenten positive und negative Emotionalität) auf seiten des Kindes, Depressivität und Angstneigung als Merkmale der Bezugsperson und Zufriedenheit in der Partnerschaft und soziale Unterstützung als Umgebungsfaktoren. Geprüft wurde, ob und in welcher Form diese Bedingungsfaktoren zeitlich kongruent und prädiktiv mit einem reaktiv-sensitiven, also angemessenen mütterlichen Interaktionsverhalten verbunden waren. Ausgehend von den genannten Interaktionsmodellen wurde hierbei ein komplexes Zusammenwirken hypothetisiert und angenommen, daß die frühe Mutter-Kind-Dyade zwar Störungen in Teilbereichen effektiv kompensieren kann, daß aber eine Kumulation ungünstiger Bedingungen sich - im Zeitverlauf zunehmend - negativ auf das mütterliche Interaktionsverhalten auswirkt. Das zentrale Untersuchungsziel bestand dem-nach darin, aus bestimmten Bedingungskonstellationen Vorhersagen über Veränderungen im mütterlichen Interaktionsverhalten zu treffen. Zwischen den berücksichtigten Faktoren wurden Interaktionen im Sinne sich gegenseitig verstärkender oder abmildernder Effekte erwartet. Datenerhebungen erfolgten im Alter der Kinder von vier Monaten an einer Stichprobe von 37 Mutter-Kind-Paaren, von denen beim zweiten Erhebungszeitpunkt im Alter der Kinder von acht Monaten 33 Paare wieder teilnahmen. Alle Mütter waren erstgebärend, lebten in festen Partnerschaften und verfügten über gute Deutschkenntnisse. Bei den Kindern handelte es sich bei der Ersterhebung um 19 männliche und 18 weibliche gesunde und termingerecht geborene Säuglinge. Zu beiden Erhebungszeitpunkten erfolgten Verhaltensbeobachtungen der Mutter-Kind-Interaktion im Rahmen von Hausbesuchen sowie im Labor. Über die objektiven Verhaltens-beobachtungen hinaus wurde das frühkindliche Temperament zusätzlich per Fragebogen im Mutterurteil erhoben, womit ein Vergleich der beiden Erfassungsmethoden möglich wurde. Auch mütterliche Depressivität und Angstneigung wurden, ebenso wie die der Mutter zugängliche soziale Unterstützung (in der Partnerschaft und in anderen Bereichen), anhand von Fragebögen ermittelt. Zunächst wurde geprüft, ob sich aus dem Vorliegen negativer oder positiver kindlicher Emotionalität auf der einen Seite und mütterlicher Depressivität/Ängstlichkeit oder sozialer Unterstützung auf der anderen Seite Aussagen über die zeit-lich kongruent vorliegende mütterliche Reaktivität/Sensitivität ableiten ließen. Wider Erwar-ten ergaben sich zu keinem der beiden Erhebungszeitpunkte Interaktionseffekte zwischen den berücksichtigten Faktoren. Allerdings zeigte sich im Alter der Kinder von vier Monaten ein Haupteffekt für die von der Mutter wahrgenommene positive kindliche Emotionalität. Mütter, die ihre Kinder positiver beschrieben, zeigten diesen gegenüber ein adäquateres, d.h. reaktiveres Interaktionsverhalten. Bei der längsschnittlichen Betrachtung erwies sich die kindliche negative Emotionalität als außerordentlich bedeutsam. Bei dem Zusammentreffen eines häufig negativen Kindes mit dem zusätzlich belastenden Faktor mütterlicher Depressivität/Ängstlichkeit ergab sich erwartungsgemäß im Zeitverlauf eine drastisch verringerte Reaktivität/Sensitivität der Mutter, ein Effekt, der sich sowohl für die beobachtete als auch tendenziell für die von der Mutter wahrgenommene negative Emotionalität des Kindes zeigte. Für die Kombination eines von der Mutter häufiger negativ wahrgenommenen Kindes und mangelnder sozialer Unterstützung waren die Ergebnisse ähnlich gelagert: Auch hier führte das Vorliegen lediglich eines Risikofaktors nicht zu einem weniger angemessenen Mutterverhalten, während das kumulierte Auftreten sich deutlich negativ auswirkte. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen somit, daß die Auswirkungen kindlicher Charakteristiken auf die Adäquatheit des mütterlichen Interaktionsverhaltens immer in dem Kontext betrachtet werden müssen, in welchem sie sich entfalten. Für die positive kindliche Emotionalität konnten entgegen der Erwartung bei den längsschnittlichen Analysen keinerlei Haupt- oder Interaktionseffekte nachgewiesen werden.The present longitudinal study examined the influence of various determinants on the adequacy of maternal interaction behaviour in the course of the child\u27s first year of life. Based on the interaction models by BELSKY (1984) and PAPOUŠEK & PAPOUŠEK (1990) it was hypothesised that characteristics of the persons involved in the interaction, i.e. mother and infant, as well as aspects of the context in which the interaction takes place are crucial for the maternal behaviour. Consequently, the following potential determinants of maternal reactivity/sensitivity, which is considered as the pivotal component of parental interactive competence, were taken into account: infant temperament (specifically negative and positive emotionality), depressiveness/anxiety as aspects of the maternal personality, and the emotional and social support of the caregiver as contextual factors. It was examined whether and how the mentioned determinants were related to the caregiver\u27s reactivity/sensitivity in interaction with the baby, both concurrently and in the course of time. Based on the above mentioned interactional models a complex interplay was hypothesised and it was assumed that although the early mother-infant dyad might effectively compensate for minor disturbances, an accumulation of unfavourable conditions or circumstances would have negative effects on the interactive behaviour of the caregiver. The main focus of the study was the longitudinal question of which specific constellations of circumstances are predictive for subsequent behaviour of the caregiver. Interactions between the factors, i.e. amplifying or buffering effects were expected. The first data collection was conducted at the infants\u27 age of four months in a sample of 37 mother-infant dyads. At the second time point of measurement, at the infants\u27 age of eight months, 33 pairs participated again. All mothers were primiparous, lived in steady relationships and were well familiar with the German language. At the first time of measurement the sample consisted of 19 male and 18 female healthy infants. At both time points of measurement behaviour observations of the mother-infant interaction were carried out during home visits and in the laboratory. Furthermore, infant temperament was assessed by mother report (questionnaire), which allowed for a comparison of the two assessment methods. Maternal depressiveness and anxiety as well as the mother\u27s social support (in her relationship and other areas of life) were also assessed via questionnaires. At first it was tested whether predictions of the concurrent maternal reactivity/sensitivity could be derived from negative or positive infant emotionality on the one hand and maternal depressiveness/anxiety or social support on the other hand. Contrary to expectations there were no interaction effects between the factors for neither one of the time points of measurement. However, at the infants\u27 age of four months the main effect of mother-reported infant positive emotionality proved significant. Mothers who perceived their infants as more positive were more reactive/sensitive in the interaction with their four-month-olds. Regarding the longitudinal question, infant negative emotionality turned out to be of great significance. A strong decrease in maternal reactivity/sensitivity in the course of time could be demonstrated for those mothers who had to deal with an accumulation of risk factors, i.e. high negative emotionality of the infant in combination with higher depressiveness/anxiety. This interaction yielded significance for both methods of assessment, i.e. for the observed and as well as for mother-reported negative emotionality (trend). A similar result was found for the constellation of mothers with an infant perceived as high in negative emotionality and low social support: Whereas the presence of a single risk factor did not impair the maternal interaction behaviour, the combination of the two factors had serious consequences on the maternal reactivity/sensitivity. These results clearly show the necessity to study the impact of child characteristics on the adequacy of maternal behaviour in the specific context they occur and take effect. Contrary to expectations there were no significant longitudinal main or interaction effects of infant positive emotionality

Preparation and investigation of phthalocyanine C60 solar cells

Phthalocyanine C60 heterostructure organic solar cells were fabricated by evaporating highly purified materials under high vacuum conditions. 1 2.5 external power conversion efficiencies were obtained with ITO PEDOT PSS 300 ZnPc 300 C60 170 BCP Al layering. The role of the buffer layers at the interfaces to the electrodes and their influence on the I V characteristics was studied. Degradation of the organic cell caused by air and light exposure was investigated. Atmospheric oxygen diffusing into C60 films was identified as external source of degradation. A second source was spotted in the interior of the cel

Pflegeforschung in Deutschland - Notwendigkeit einer neuen Agenda Pflegeforschung in Deutschland

Bartholomeyczik S, Schaeffer D. Pflegeforschung in Deutschland - Notwendigkeit einer neuen Agenda Pflegeforschung in Deutschland. In: Darmann-Finck I, Mertesacker H, eds. Pflegerische Versorgung alter Menschen: Qualität - Konzepte - Rahmenbedingungen. Festschrift für Prof. Dr. Stefan Görres. Bern: Peter Lang; 2021: 257-279

Hydrogen in Nb and Nb/Ti/Nb Thin Films*

Epitaxial Nb and Nb Ti Nb films on sapphire substrates were prepared by e beam evaporation and sealed with thin Pd or Au layers to avoid oxidation. Hydrogen charging was performed from the gas phase and the concentration in the films was measured by the N 15 nuclear reaction method. For the single Nb layer the hydrogen concentration in the film as a function of the external hydrogen pressure solubility was investigated. For the Nb Ti Nb sandwich samples the distribution of hydrogen among the different layers was studied. In both cases deviations from the bulk behavior were observed. They are attributed to restrictions in the lateral expansion of epitaxial films. In addition interface effects were studie

Hydrogen in Nb and Nb Ti Nb thin films

Epitaxial Nb and Nb Ti Nb films on sapphire substrates were prepared by e beam evaporation and sealed with thin Pd or Au layers to avoid oxidation. Hydrogen charging was performed from the gas phase and the concentration in the films was measured by the N 15 nuclear reaction method. For the single Nb layer the hydrogen concentration in the film as a function of the external hydrogen pressure solubility was investigated. For the Nb Ti Nb sandwich samples the distribution of hydrogen among the different layers was studied. In both cases deviations from the bulk behavior were observed. They are attributed to restrictions in the lateral expansion of epitaxial films. In addition interface effects were studie