Illness perceptions, depression and anxiety in informal carers of persons with depression : a cross-sectional survey

Purpose To examine the illness perceptions of informal carers of persons with depression, using the theoretical framework of Leventhal's Common-Sense Model (CSM) and to determine whether these illness perceptions are predictors of anxiety and depression, as measures of psychological well-being. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 94 Maltese individuals caring for a person with depression within a community setting. The informal carers completed the modified Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQS-Relatives version) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Spearman's rank order correlations and ANCOVA regression models, to identify predictors of anxiety and depression respectively in the informal carers. Results The informal carers perceived depression as a cyclical condition, having negative consequences on both the patient and on themselves. Participants perceived the causes of depression to be mainly psychosocial in nature and generally viewed the treatment as effective. Caring for a person with depression was perceived as having a considerable negative emotional impact on them. Years of caring was identified as a predictor of anxiety accounting for 20.4% of the variance, and timeline chronicity beliefs, consequences (relative) and illness coherence were identified as predictors of depression, accounting for 56.8% of the variance. Conclusion Illness cognitions are significant predictors of depression, thereby suggesting that cognition-based interventions may be effective in targeting depression in these informal carers. Thus, health professionals should explore the carers' personal understanding of the disease, their timeline beliefs and the perceived consequences of providing care, as they relate to their psychological well-being

What do Maltese psychiatric patients think of their outpatient care? A preliminary study

Aims and Objectives: Patient views are increasingly being used as part of service improvement methodology. This study explores psychiatric patient perceptions regarding outpatient care including accessibility, responsiveness, and whether it meets their needs. It assesses patient satisfaction with current service, respect for their dignity and well-being. Methodology: review of literature and National Policy on Mental Health Service (Ministry for Home Affairs and Social Development,1995); parameters identified included referral, treatment, information, emergency care, provision of care by healthcare professionals, standards; support, discrimination within the rest of the service. Other aspects included primary/secondary interface, and general outpatient service domains. Qualitative study using focus group methodology was used to obtain patient perspectives. Results: Content analysis revealed general satisfaction with professional care; staff were perceived to do their best in spite of pressure of workload, frequent interruptions, and missing notes. Dissatisfaction was expressed with: lack of properly timed appointments; lack of information (treatment, side effects, illness, prognosis); access to care and communication with outpatients were difficult in crisis situations; lack of interaction with Social Services Department; little community support; lack of ‘joined-up’ care. There was no perception of discrimination within the rest of the service. Privacy and dignity are an issue in the waiting and common areas-though not in the consultation areas. Findings are being used to refine semi-structured interviews with individuals. A qualitative approach is very suitable for psychiatric patient survey and is being used as part of a quality improvement project currently under way using feedback. Recommendations: A number of areas identified can be solved easily (e.g. providing locks on toilet doors and publicizing Richmond Foundation information in the outpatient waiting area), others will require more planning and new resources (e.g. better coordination for social services and community care, better information provision, clerk receptionist to coordinate appointments and control telephone interruptions). There emerges a general need to make patients and caregivers more aware that they can register their concerns with outpatient staff or with customer care services, with a view to improving services.peer-reviewe

Differential expression of breast cancer signature genes following rapamycin treatment

Introduction: Breast cancer is classified into intrinsic molecular subtypes, each relating to predictive prognostic and clinical outcomes. Rapamycin inhibits the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, which is often deregulated in various types of cancer. mTOR inhibitors are associated with antiproliferation and apoptosis. Aim: Investigating the differential expression of breast cancer signature genes following rapamycin treatment in various breast cancer subtypes.peer-reviewe

Servitude et grandeur militaires

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Notturn op. 9 nru 2 ta’ Beverly Agius – Naf ta’ Carmel Azzopardi – Ħsejjes ħajja ta’ Clifton Azzopardi – Il-ġrajja t’għasfur stramb ta’ Mario Azzopardi – Tektik...u għana ta’ Rena Balzan – Kun af li f’qiegħ għajnejk ta’ Charles Bezzina – Il-qalb imwebbsa ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Bħal ħuta mġewħa ta’ Louis Briffa – Taħt il-Mezquita, Cordòba ta’ Norbert Bugeja – Il-maskarat ta’ Alfred Degabriele – Trid mara ta’ Leanne Ellul – Id-dgħajsa ta’ Victor Fenech – Ilħna ta’ Joe Friggieri – Roulette ta’ Joe Friggieri – Għera ta’ Joe P. Galea – Ħġieġa ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Ġenna qatt mirbuħa ta’ Karmenu Mallia – Il-fantażma tal-mara mqarba ta’ Albert Marshall – Daħlet Qorrot ta’ Daniel Massa – Granada, parque central ta’ Immanuel Mifsud – Waħda mara ta’ Immanuel Mifsud – Mors ta’ Therese Pace – Għada ta’ Alfred Palma – Emmint xejn ma jintemm ta’ Ġorġ Peresso – Tuffieħa bl-imsiemer tal-qronfol ta’ John Peter Portelli – Lil Karmenu Vassallo ta’ Andrew Sciberras – Irrid il-qamar jiddi ta’ Carmel Scicluna – Din il-biċċa ħuta ta’ Steve Borg – Karta li taret mar-riħ ta’ Lina Brockdorff – Nixtieq, u kemm nixtieq! ta’ J. J. Camilleri – Caterina ta’ Sandro Mangion – L-għajta tal-pappagall ta’ Pierre J. Mejlak – Id-destin ta’ Laurence Mizzi – L-arloġġ tal-bozza ta’ Rita Saliba – Kurżità ta’ Alfred Sant – Il-ġeneral ta’ Vincent Vella – Mirja ta’ Trevor Żahra – L-adulteri ta’ Golan Haji, traduzzjoni ta’ Clare Azzopardi u Albert Gatt – L-istennija ta’ Berislav Blagojević, traduzzjoni ta’ Kit Azzopardi – Il-qattus ta’ Ghassan Kanafani, traduzzjoni ta’ Walid Nabhan – L-iben addottat ta’ Guy de Maupassant, traduzzjoni ta’ Josette Attard – Sunett nru. 18 ta’ William Shakespeare, traduzzjoni ta’ Alfred Palma – Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías ta’ Federico Garcia Lorca, traduzzjoni ta’ Therese Pace – Servitude et grandeur militaires ta’ Alfred de Vigny, traduzzjoni ta’ Paul Zahra.peer-reviewe

"Saving brown women": cultural contests and narratives of identity

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1993From the literature of empire through contemporary cultural production, "brown women" have been alternately fetishized, objectified, and absented within dominant discourse. In this dissertation, I examine western constructions of third world women, particularly Arab women, and their resistant narratives and theories to argue how third world women's subjectivity has been limited by, but also subversive of, the discourses of colonialist writers, hegemonic feminists, and postmodern culture.Western representations of women and imperialism expose the complexities of gender and political relations in British works by Sir Richard Burton, Lucie Duff Gordon, and E. M. Forster, as well as in Virginia Woolf's anti-imperialist writings. I further examine U.S. media representations of Arab women during the Persian Gulf War, and the treatment of raced subjects in postmodern novels by Acker, Gould, Barth, and Pynchon, to expose how the fashion of "difference" covers over the power dynamics inherent in racial or cultural subjugation.As a means of moving from western representations to third world narratives of identity, I include a personal chapter about my Lebanese grandmother. Arab American women's writing, as well as Morrison's Beloved and Kogawa's Obasan construct generational and racial female subjectivities grounded in the bonds of family and community. In postcolonial women's writing, including El Saadawi's Woman at Point Zero and Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions, the collective women's text operates as a curative story against colonial and patriarchal systems, which have fragmented women's struggle across class lines. In emerging debates, Arab feminists address nationalist and religious issues as "necessary contradictions" to Arab women's liberation. The Palestinian women's movement, for example, integrates the theoretical concerns of third world feminism and nationalism with women's daily lived experiences of resisting Israeli occupation.Throughout this study, I employ and examine the writings of postcolonial critics, Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha, as well as those of third world feminists, particularly Leila Ahmed, Chandra Mohanty, Trinh Minh-ha, Nawal El Saadawi, and Hortense Spillers, in order to theorize the competing and contradictory sites of contestation for third world women and to draw connections between arenas of struggles

Women and Islamic Cultures

The first decade of the 21st century witnessed an explosion in scholarly and public interest in women and Islamic cultures, globally. From misguided media representations, to politically motivated state manipulations, to agenda-driven Islamist movements, to feminist and international NGO projects ? the subject and image of Muslim women has become iconic and riveting