Depression and loneliness in Jamaicans with sickle cell disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the commonest genetic disorder in Jamaica, and has life-long implications for those afflicted with it. It is well known that depression and loneliness may exist in those with chronic diseases, but the coexistence of depression and loneliness in people with sickle cell disease is not clear. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with depression and loneliness in the Jamaica Sickle Cell Cohort Study and its age and sex matched controls.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>277 patients with SCD and 65 controls were administered a questionnaire that studied demographics, disease severity, depression, and loneliness. Regression analyses were done to examine relationships between outcomes and associated variables.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Depression was found in 21.6% of patients and 9.4% in controls. Loneliness scores were also significantly higher in patients (16.9 ± 5.1) than in controls (14.95 ± 4.69). Depression was significantly associated with unemployment [OR = 2.9, p-value: < 0.001], whereas unemployment (p-value: 0.002), and lower educational attainment were significantly associated with loneliness.</p> <p>In patients with SCD, depression was significantly associated with being unemployed (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.2,4.6, p-value:0.01), presence of a leg ulcer (OR = 3.8, 95% CI: 1.7, 8.4, p-value: 0.001), frequent visits (OR = 3.3, 95% CI: 1.2, 8.9, p-value: 0.019), and frequent painful crises (OR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.1, 5.8, p-value: 0.035). Not being employed (Coef.: 2.0; p-value: 0.004) and higher educational attainment (tertiary vs. primary education, Coef.: -5.5; p-value: < 0.001) were significant associations with loneliness after adjusting for genotype.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Health workers need to actively look for and manage these problems to optimize their patients' total biopsychosocial care.</p

26th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2017): Part 3 - Meeting Abstracts - Antwerp, Belgium. 15–20 July 2017

This work was produced as part of the activities of FAPESP Research,\ud Disseminations and Innovation Center for Neuromathematics (grant\ud 2013/07699-0, S. Paulo Research Foundation). NLK is supported by a\ud FAPESP postdoctoral fellowship (grant 2016/03855-5). ACR is partially\ud supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)

MIDWIFERY

Objective: to determine knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to emergency contraception among health-care providers (general practitioners, nurses and midwives). Design: a cross-sectional design using face-to-face interview methods plus questionnaire in the work setting. Researchers were able to maintain privacy by using priority strategies. Setting: 18 primary health-care units in Manisa, western Turkey. Sample: 182 health-care providers (general practitioners [n = 72]; nurses and midwives [n = 110] were invited to participate in the study, but 26 of them declined. Participants: 156 health-care providers. As 16 participants had not heard of emergency contraception, 140 health-care providers (general practitioners [n = 51] and nurses and midwives [n = 89]) were included. Findings: of the health-care providers, almost one in 10 was unfamiliar with the term 'emergency contraception'. Only a few health-care providers knew how to use the intra-uterine contraceptive device (IUCD) for emergency contraception and the doses of emergency contraceptive pills. Some health-care providers included emergency contraception in routine consultations, but many did not support the use of emergency contraception in Turkey. Many of the providers thought that young people should not know about emergency contraception. Key conclusions and implications for practice: knowledge among health-care providers about emergency contraception is inadequate. All health-care providers should know about emergency contraception and include it in routine contraceptive consultations. Thus, continuing education information programmes are required. Further research into the knowledge, practices and attitudes of health-care providers is needed to understand the underlying reasons for the hesitant attitudes among health professionals. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

period

Objective: to determine the functional status of fathers whose wives were pregnant or in the early postnatal period.Sample and setting: the research population comprised 3750 fathers whose wives were pregnant or in the early postnatal period, and who were registered at a primary health clinic in the province centre. The research sample comprised 275 husbands of women who were registered at these clinics and who were in at least their 28th week of a normal (not at-risk) pregnancy with a single fetus, or who were in the early postnatal period (6-8 weeks postnatal) following birth of a single baby between the 38th and 42nd week without complications. Due to fathers declining to participate in the study or unable to participate because of busy work schedules, the research was completed with 155 fathers-to-be and 93 fathers; in total, 90% of the target sample was reached. A sociodemographic survey and the Inventory of Functional Status-Fathers were used for data collection and to describe the functional abilities of fathers-to-be and fathers.Findings: no statistically significant differences were found in functional status between the husbands of pregnant women and the husbands of women in the early postnatal period. Number of pregnancies was not significantly related to any of the seven subscales of fathers' functional status; age of husband, length of marriage and occupation of wife were significantly related to one subscale; occupation of husband and health insurance were significantly related to two subscales; income status of husband and educational level of wife were significantly related to three subscales; and educational level of husband was significantly related to four subscales.Conclusion: although there was no significant difference in functional status for the husbands of pregnant women and the husbands of postnatal women, sociodemographic factors were found to have an effect. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Satisfaction from family planning services and the progesterone containing contraceptives [Ai·le planlamasi hi·zmetleri·nden ve progesteron i·çeren kontrasepti·f kullanimindan memnuni·yet]

This study was to evaluate the satisfaction level of women who have been having family planning services and the progesterone containing contraceptives they have been using and to determine the factors effecting this satisfaction. Study was planned as methodological and experimental study. This study contained the evaluation of women applied to given implantable (n=35) and DMPA (n=35) their satisfaction regarding the contraceptive method they used at the first, 3rd and 6th month of application by using interview method. · It was detected that women were satisfied in respect to all general (X=129.71 ± 6.07) aspects. Women were found to be satisfied from progesterone containing contraceptives according to the results obtained at first month 84.3% (X=91.03 ± 9.00), 3rd 89.6% (X=91.06 ± 6.47) and 6th 85.3% (X=89.51 ± 6.85) months. · Age, educational status, salary, menstrual cycle and the number of pregnancies had an effect on satisfaction. While employment status and number of living child had an effect on satisfaction from implantable methods, educational status, salary and any death birth were found to have an effect of satisfaction of DMPA. It is needed to apply this kind of satisfaction scales to obtain enough feedback related to the quality of given services in respect to nursing practice

The loneliness level of patients with gynecological cancer

WOS: 000236269900088PubMed ID: 16515647The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the loneliness levels and the variables that have an effect on the loneliness of women with a gynecological cancer diagnosis. The main questions that the study addressed were as follows: (1) What is the loneliness level of patients with gynecological cancer? and (2) What kind of relationships are there between general demographic characteristics of patients with gynecological cancer and their loneliness? This descriptive study was conducted at Ege University, Faculty of Medicine, Application and Investigation Hospital, Maternity and Women Diseases Gynecology Clinic, from July to December 2002. Maternity and Women Diseases Clinic Oncology Service treated 161 patients during this time period. While all patients hospitalized between the specified dates constituted the universe of the investigation; the actual sample was 94 patients. As data collection tools, a questionnaire form, which aimed at identifying sociodemographic characteristics of patients and the features related to their diseases relevant to the literature and the UCLA-loneliness scale were used. The general loneliness mean score of women with gynecological cancer was 35.85 +/- 9.302. Women's mean scores of loneliness were affected by whether psychologic support was needed, genital organ diseases were treated, or a family member had a gynecological operation, and by the income situation. The disease of cancer, which creates the most fear and anxiety in the community, has adverse psychologic effects on both the patient and the family. In societies where men dominate, as is the case in our society, women's place in the society has been reduced to their reproductive capacity and thus, the health of their genital organs is very important