bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Characterization of Chronic Pancreatitis in English Cocker Spaniels
Authors: Watson P.J. , Roulois A. , Scase T. , Holloway A. , Herrtage M.E. 
Published: June 2011

Background: Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is common in dogs. The cause is unknown. In humans, different causes of pancreatitis have histologically distinct appearances. The histopathologic lesions in English Cocker Spaniels (ECS) with CP were noted to be histologically different than those of other breeds with CP.Hypothesis: CP in ECS is distinct from CP in other breeds and is characterized by a duct destruction similar to what is observed in autoimmune CP of humans.Animals: Eight ECS and 9 other breeds with histologically confirmed CP recruited over an 8‐year period and 50 postmortem control dogs with CP.Methods: Clinical, clinicopathological, and ultrasonographic findings were recorded. Histological sections were compared with a normal dog and 59 dogs of other breeds with CP. Immunohistochemistry using anti‐CD3, anti‐CD79a, and anti‐cytokeratin antibodies was used to evaluate distribution and type of lymphocytic inflammation and appearance of pancreatic ducts.Results: Four male and 4 female ECS presented at a mean age of 7.2 years. Clinical signs were similar in ECS and other breeds. The pancreas was enlarged and hypoechoic in 4 ECS and 2 controls. Histopathology was characterized by interlobular and periductular fibrosis and inflammation in ECS compared with intralobular disease in most other breeds. Immunohistochemistry identified prominent anti‐CD3+ lymphocytic infiltrates around venules and ducts and a marked absence of interlobular ducts in ECS compared with mixed T‐cell infiltration and ductular hyperplasia in most other breeds with CP.Conclusions and Clinical Importance: CP in ECS is distinct from CP in other breeds and is notably duct destructive.
Predictors of future behaviour: A review of the psychological literature on blood donation
Authors: Ferguson Eamonn 
Published: June 2011

Purpose. This paper explores the relative efficacy of different theoretical models to predict future behaviour. The behaviour studied in this case was the number of future blood donations. Based on this review, a commentary is provided on possible practical interventions.Method. Studies were included if they tested a theory and measured the number of actual donations over time. Both conventional and meta‐analytic techniques were used to ascertain the efficacy of various theoretical models to predict the number of future blood donations.Results. Intentionality, from the theory of planned/reasoned action, emerged as the best predictor of future donor behaviour, but appeared to offer little in the way of suggesting interventions. The predictive power of intentionality reduced as the time interval between its measurement and the recording of actual donor behaviour increased. A number of organizational factors (e.g. waiting time) were identified as important and good predictors of future behaviour. Such factors offer possible interventions. Further, the stage‐like nature of blood donor behaviour is highlighted.Conclusions. The transtheoretical model of behaviour change is introduced both as a viable alternative to theories like reasoned action and a conceptual framework for organizing interventions. The transtheoretical model is seen as applicable to the blood donation situation as it captures something of the stages of blood donation. It is also argued that other theoretical perspectives (e.g. self‐efficacy) need to be examined in this context.
Behavioural and mental health profiles in childhood hay fever
Authors: Watten Reidulf G. , Faleide Asbjørn O. 
Published: June 2011

Objectives. To investigate the association between childhood hay fever and emotional and behavioural disturbances.Design. Cross‐sectional controlled clinical study. The hay fever group was compared with an age‐matched control group without any atopic symptoms. Mean age for the groups was 7.8 years (SD 0.7).Method. The dependent variables were normalized t‐scores on the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL 4–16, version 2.2; Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983). In series of ANOVAs, the hay fever group (N = 43, 23 boys and 20 girls) was compared with healthy controls (N = 51, 28 boys and 23 girls).Results. The hay fever group had significantly higher scores on depression, withdrawal, somatic complaints and aggression. They also had a significantly higher total problem score and higher scores on the internalizing and the externalizing scales. There were no differences on the social competence scales.Conclusions. Children suffering from hay fever show other behavioural and emotional coping patterns than normals. Investigators should be reluctant in attributing the CBCL somatic symptom scale to psychological disturbances.
Constructs and models in health psychology: The case of personality and illness reporting in diabetes mellitus
Authors: Deary Ian J. , Clyde Zoe , Frier Brian M. 
Published: June 2011

Objectives. Construct overlap among important variables in health psychology was studied. Competing theories related to the reporting of medically unexplained symptoms (somatization) and illness severity were examined. These objectives were studied in the setting of insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM).Design. A correlational design was employed. Sufficient numbers of participants were sought in order to test theories of symptom reporting using structural equation modelling and other multivariate techniques.Methods. Two hundred and two people with IDDM attending a diabetes out‐patient clinic acted as participants. Personality traits, alexithymia and illness‐related coping factors were the key psychological constructs studied. Experience of medically unexplained symptoms (somatization) and diabetes severity were measured.Results. Neuroticism, alexithymia and negative emotion coping were all significantly related to somatization, and there was significant construct overlap. Competing models of symptom reports—transactional versus negative affectivity—were formulated and tested using structural equation modelling. However, the best fitting model was one that integrated features of both. Constructs showed considerable overlap, with evidence for a very general factor related to the reporting of negative affects and bodily disturbances. However, there is also evidence of unique variance in constructs, especially that of negative emotion coping.Conclusions. Important constructs used in health psychology show significant overlap, and this general source of variance warrants further study. Despite overlap, constructs contributed unique variance to health outcomes. Transactional and negative affectivity models of symptom reporting may be reconciled in an integrated model. Generalization of the models tested here to other illness samples and healthy individuals is recommended. Suggestions are made for further research to refine constructs in health psychology and to limit their present profusion.
Health and romance: Understanding unprotected sex in relationships between gay men
Authors: Flowers Paul , Smith Jonathan A. , Sheeran Paschal , Beail Nigel 
Published: June 2011

Objectives. To explore the theoretical utility of current health psychology in understanding the occurrence of unprotected anal sex amongst gay men in relationships.Design. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed to highlight the utility of incorporating the perspective of gay men in addressing a theoretical understanding of sexual decision making.Methods. Twenty in‐depth interviews were conducted with working‐class gay men from a small South Yorkshire town. These were transcribed and analysed for recurrent themes which reflect the way gay men thought about sex and relationships.Results. There were many differences between the way gay men thought about sexual activity and the way health psychology assumes men think about it. Within the context of romantic relationships men often privileged the expression of commitment, trust and love as more important than their own health.Conclusions. Psychological theory relating to sexual health would benefit from a consideration of the way gay men report thinking about sexual behaviour in the context of romantic relationships. Such an informed theory would direct sexual health promotion beyond the simple provision of condoms.
Psychological distress and error making among junior house officers
Authors: Houston Diane M. , Allt Sophie K. 
Published: June 2011

Objectives. The study examined the impact of beginning a junior house officer post on possible changes in psychological health and propensity to make errors. It was predicted that there would be a significant increase in psychological disturbance and error making following the onset of the post.Design. Questionnaires were administered at two times—prior to and eight weeks after the beginning of a junior house officer post.Methods. Thirty graduates of medicine/junior house officers were recruited from a university medical school in the UK. All participants completed the General Health Questionnaire and the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire at Times 1 and 2, as well as a Medical Errors Questionnaire at Time 2.Results. Significant increases were found in reported levels of anxiety, insomnia and somatic symptoms. There were also significant increases in the number of errors that the respondents reported making in everyday life. These everyday errors were significantly related to the reported frequency of errors made in a medical context.Conclusions. Despite recent revisions to the working hours and conditions of junior doctors in Britain, the respondents in this study were experiencing considerable increases in stressful symptoms and consequent increases in the number of errors they made. These findings suggest that further research and policy development is required to explore means of easing the transition to work for junior doctors.
Assessing short‐ and long‐term recovery from lumbar surgery with pre‐operative biographical, medical and psychological variables
Authors: de Groot Karina I. , Boeke Saskia , van den Berge Herbert J. , Duivenvoorden Hugo J. , Bonke Benno , Passchier Jan 
Published: June 2011

Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate the joint association between biographical, medical and pre‐operative psychological variables on the one hand, and a range of short‐ and long‐term psychological and disorder‐specific outcome measures on the other hand, in patients undergoing lumbar surgery.Design. Canonical correlations were used to determine which groups of pre‐operative variables were related to groups of outcome measures.Methods. Participants were 126 patients undergoing lumbar surgery. On the day before surgery, information was obtained regarding age, sex, medical status variables, anxiety, fatigue, indices of pain and coping. Three days and three months post‐operatively, several aspects of recovery were measured.Results. Female sex, number of analgesics taken, expected poor recovery according to the neurosurgeon, and pre‐operative anxiety were associated with poorer short‐term recovery. Reoperation, pre‐operative anxiety, fatigue and pain during daily activities were associated with poorer long‐term recovery.Conclusions. The results suggest that the assessment of recovery after surgery might be improved by taking psychological variables into account, apart from biographical and medical variables. Checking patients' levels of pre‐operative anxiety, fatigue and pain might help hospital staff to detect patients who may be at risk of poor recovery in the long run. Applying psychological intervention techniques aimed at anxiety, fatigue and pain may facilitate recovery in such patients.
Repressors' responses to health‐related questionnaires
Authors: Myers Lynn B. , Vetere Arlene 
Published: June 2011

Objectives. To investigate whether individuals who possess a repressive coping style (repressors) present themselves in an overly positive fashion on health‐related questionnaires.Design. There were two cross‐sectional studies. Repressors (low trait anxiety, high defensiveness) were compared with (a) total non‐repressors and (b) a subset of non‐repressors which consisted of extreme scoring control groups on trait anxiety and defensiveness: low anxious, high anxious and defensive high anxious.Methods. Participants completed three health‐related questionnaires: a measure of coping resources (the Coping Resources Inventory, CRI; Hammer & Marting, 1988) (Study 1); a measure of psychological symptomatology, the 12‐item General Health Questionnaire, GHQ‐12; Goldberg, 1992) (Study 2); and a measure of physical symptoms, the Pennebaker Inventory of Limbic Languidness (PILL; Pennebaker, 1982) (Study 2).Results. In Study 1, repressors scored significantly higher on the CRI than total non‐repressors and all extreme scoring control groups. A similar pattern was shown for the subscales of the CRI. In Study 2, repressors scored significantly lower on the GHQ‐12 and the PILL, compared to total non‐repressors. Repressors scored significantly lower on the GHQ‐12 compared to two extreme control groups: high anxious and defensive high anxious, although there was no significant effect for the PILL.Conclusions. The results support the hypothesis that repressors are presenting themselves in an overly positive fashion on self‐report health‐related measures.
Psychometric and clinical validity of the SF‐36 General Health Survey in the Whitehall II Study
Authors: Roberts Ron , Hemingway Harry , Marmot Michael 
Published: June 2011

Objectives. To assess the internal consistency, test–retest reliability and factorial structure of the SF‐36. To examine the discriminant validity of the instrument in relation to measures of physical (angina, diabetes) and psychological health (chronic GHQ, alcohol problems as defined by CAGE score).Design. A cross‐sectional survey design is used.Methods. A questionnaire containing the SF‐36 was administered to a cohort of 10 308 civil servants aged 35–55 at baseline as part of the Whitehall II study of occupational and life‐style influences upon health. Administration of the SF‐36 was repeated on a subset of 289 participants four weeks later. Clinical groups were distinguished by self‐report measures of health.Results. Data show high internal consistency (alpha .75–.85). Test‐reset reliability was poor for role limitations due to physical problems (.38), though acceptable for all other scales (range .60–.89). Orthogonal and oblique factor analyses confirm a two‐factor structure corresponding to dimensions of physical and psychological health. Validation of the scales against criterion groups defined on the basis of self‐reported health indicate that physical functioning, social functioning and general mental health have good discriminant validity.Conclusions. The study provides further evidence that the SF‐36 may be used to investigate a range of physical and psychological problems even in relatively healthy populations. However some of the scales do not exhibit high levels of reliability and need careful consideration before being used. When physical and mental component summary scores are used, it is suggested that these are best derived from oblique factor solutions.
Self‐perception of communicative ability: Evaluation of a questionnaire completed by medical students and general practitioners
Authors: McManus I. C. , Kidd J. M. , Aldous I. R. 
Published: June 2011

Objectives. To evaluate the psychometric properties of the 50‐item Communication Style Measure of Norton (1978), to assess the number of its subscales, and to provide normative descriptions of the subscales for providing feedback in teaching sessions.Design. Questionnaire administered to 245 undergraduate medical students and 267 general practitioners.Methods. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis of the structure of the 50‐item questionnaire. Regression analysis of scores on subscales in relation to age and sex.Results. Norton's original 10‐factor structure for the questionnaire could not be sustained. Exploratory factor analysis suggested three factors which we labelled effective, dominant and non‐verbal, which were reliable (Cronbach's alpha = .79, .76 and .74), and which each showed different patterns of association with age and sex. On the basis of the factor analysis we also report a brief, easy to score questionnaire with 18 items, and we give normative distributions which might be useful for teaching in small groups.Conclusions. Doctors and medical students found the Communication Style Measure easy to complete and to provide useful normative feedback on their self‐perceptions relative to those of other doctors and students. The 10 statistical factors proposed by Norton are not supported by the data, but three factors are readily identifiable.
Patient decision making: An evaluation of two different methods of presenting information about a screening test
Authors: Michie Susan , Smith Deana , Marteau Theresa M. 
Published: June 2011

Andrew McClennan2Objectives. To assess the impact upon women's decisions of presenting information about a screening test for Down syndrome in different ways.Design. Random allocation to one of four conditions: simple leaflet only, simple leaflet + video, expanded leaflet, expanded leaflet + video.Methods. Three hundred and twenty‐four women who were eligible for the test and for the study participated. Leaflets, and videos if appropriate, were given by midwives during booking consultations for participants to take home. The outcome measures were knowledge, change in knowledge, process of decision making, test uptake, anxiety, change in anxiety, and satisfaction with decision made.Results. The interventions had no effect on any of the outcome measures.Conclusions. These results show that the addition of a video or expanded leaflet does not confer any benefit in terms of knowledge, decision making or anxiety to women being offered serum screening for Down syndrome. This suggests that we should not accept at face value the seemingly positive contribution of videos as aids to information giving and decision making. The results also have implications for the way the decisionmaking process is conceptualized, an issue in urgent need of further study.
Personality and psychological distress in dysphonia
Authors: Deary Ian J. , Scott Shonagh , Wilson Isobel M. , White Aileen , MacKenzie Kenneth , Wilson Janet A. 
Published: June 2011

Objectives. Personality traits and levels of psychological distress were studied in male and female patients with dysphonia. The contributions of medical referral and dysphonia were examined.Design. A matched groups design with three control groups was used.Methods. Seventy people with dysphonia, 90 people attending an otolaryngology clinic, 59 people attending general practice clinics, and 51 healthy people acted as participants. Each completed questionnaires of personality traits, alexithymia, health‐related coping strategies, mood (normal and pathological) and the past experience of medically unexplained symptoms.Results. Women with dysphonia reported more psychological distress (anxiety and depression) and more previously unexplained medical symptoms than either healthy or general practice controls. Men with dysphonia exceeded only healthy controls on these factors. Personality and coping factors in men and women with dysphonia were largely unremarkable, an exception being that women with dysphonia tended to have higher neuroticism scores than general practice attendees.Conclusions. Dysphonia is associated with psychological distress and a past history of experiencing unexplained medical symptoms. However, these characteristics are shared by general otolaryngology patients. This multiple control group study suggests that the problems of psychological distress may affect medical out‐patients in general. Studies of patient samples with medically unexplained symptoms that include only healthy controls or ‘organic’ out‐patient controls may be misleading. The phenomenon of medically unexplained symptoms, including dysphonia, imposes a large time and cost burden on health services and its further investigation would benefit from a collaboration between health psychologists and liaison psychiatrists.
Post‐operative adjustment to surgery resulting in the formation of a stoma: The importance of stoma‐related cognitions
Authors: White Craig A. , Unwin Jennifer C. 
Published: June 2011

Objectives. This study aimed to determine the contribution made to psychological distress following stoma surgery by stoma‐related cognitions and ‘non‐cognitive’ factors such as age, marital status, physical symptoms and past psychiatric history.Design. A questionnaire (Stoma Cognitions Questionnaire, SCQ) to measure negative stoma‐related beliefs was developed. The main contributors to psychological adjustment to stoma surgery were determined by interviewing patients post‐operatively.Methods. Seventy‐nine patients who had undergone stoma surgery were interviewed at home between one and three months post‐operatively. Patients were asked about belief in negative stoma‐related cognitions, psychological distress, physical symptoms and demographic and medicosurgical information.Results. The contribution of cognitions, demographic and medicosurgical information to variance in psychological outcome was examined using stepwise multiple regression. Responses to three SCQ items explained almost 60 per cent of the variability in psychological distress levels. Past psychiatric history and the presence of physical symptomatology were also significant contributors.Conclusions. The presence of a past psychiatric history and physical complications/symptomatology are significantly related to post‐operative psychological distress following stoma surgery. Cognitions about physical integrity, impact on life and control are important in understanding adjustment to stoma surgery. These could be targeted for modification using cognitive therapy to reduce psychological distress among this patient group.
Association of psychosocial factors and dietary adherence in haemodialysis patients
Authors: McGee Hannah M. , Rushe Helena , Sheil Kim , Keogh Brian 
Published: June 2011

Objectives. To examine the relationship of psychosocial factors to adherence to dietary restrictions of haemodialysis patients with the aim of identifying strategies to improve adherence.Design. Cross‐sectional study with correlational analysis.Methods. Interview and self‐completion questionnaire for all adult haemodialysis patients at one centre (N = 35; 92 per cent response). Psychosocial measures: Beck Depression Inventory (cognitive subset), Illness Effects Questionnaire, Renal Knowledge Questionnaire and Renal Adherence Attitudes Questionnaire. Adherence measures: biochemical indices, dietician rating, self‐report (Renal Adherence Behaviour Questionnaire).Results. A minority reported significant psychological difficulties. High levels of non‐adherence were reported with little agreement among biochemical, dietician and self‐report formats. Demographic and clinical, more than psychological, indices were associated with variations in adherence.Conclusions. Educational strategies may promote greater adherence but progress in this field is hampered by disagreement across different sources of assessment of adherence.