Using an ethnographic approach, in combining interviews with forty-two inpatient service users an... more Using an ethnographic approach, in combining interviews with forty-two inpatient service users and participant observations, this research explored service users' experiences of their help seeking trajectories in an effort to uncover identity dynamics by which these are informed. They described both identity dynamics that made them postpone their search for help, like their belief in the essential difference between themselves and mental health service users; and dynamics that catalyzed their hospitalization, like the loss of social roles. Their accounts illustrate how experiences of barriers and facilitators for help seeking are closely intertwined with identity and therefore context related dynamics.
Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer mortality among European women. To reduce mortal... more Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer mortality among European women. To reduce mortality risk, early detection through mammography screening is recommended from the age of 50 years onwards. Although timely initiation is crucial for cancer prognosis, the temporal dimension has largely been ignored in research. In cross-sectional research designs, it is not clear whether reported age differences reflect 'true' age effects and/or presumed period effects resulting from evolving knowledge and screening programmes. We use longitudinal data from the survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARELIFE, 2008), which enables to cast light on age differences by providing retrospective information on the age at which women commenced regular mammography screening. Moreover, the cross-national dimension of the SHARE permits framing the results within the context of nationally implemented screening programmes. By means of the Kaplan-Meier procedure, we examine age trajectories f...
A consistent finding in international research is the higher prevalence of depression in women th... more A consistent finding in international research is the higher prevalence of depression in women than in men, but it is not known to what extent this gender difference is robust in population research. In this study we focus on gender differences in depressive symptoms of the population of Flanders and the Netherlands. method We made use of the European Social Survey organised in 2006 and 2007 (n = 3014); depression being measured by means of an 8-item version of the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, CES-D. First we studied the psychometric properties of the depression inventory, looking closely at both the reliability and factional validity of the scale. Next we compared the gender and regional differences in the prevalence of depressive symptoms as measured by the CES-D8 scale. Finally, using regression analysis, we examined to what extent the gender differences between Flanders and the Netherlands were family-related and linked to socio-economic factors. Our study...
Using an ethnographic approach, in combining interviews with forty-two inpatient service users an... more Using an ethnographic approach, in combining interviews with forty-two inpatient service users and participant observations, this research explored service users' experiences of their help seeking trajectories in an effort to uncover identity dynamics by which these are informed. They described both identity dynamics that made them postpone their search for help, like their belief in the essential difference between themselves and mental health service users; and dynamics that catalyzed their hospitalization, like the loss of social roles. Their accounts illustrate how experiences of barriers and facilitators for help seeking are closely intertwined with identity and therefore context related dynamics.
Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer mortality among European women. To reduce mortal... more Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer mortality among European women. To reduce mortality risk, early detection through mammography screening is recommended from the age of 50 years onwards. Although timely initiation is crucial for cancer prognosis, the temporal dimension has largely been ignored in research. In cross-sectional research designs, it is not clear whether reported age differences reflect 'true' age effects and/or presumed period effects resulting from evolving knowledge and screening programmes. We use longitudinal data from the survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARELIFE, 2008), which enables to cast light on age differences by providing retrospective information on the age at which women commenced regular mammography screening. Moreover, the cross-national dimension of the SHARE permits framing the results within the context of nationally implemented screening programmes. By means of the Kaplan-Meier procedure, we examine age trajectories f...
A consistent finding in international research is the higher prevalence of depression in women th... more A consistent finding in international research is the higher prevalence of depression in women than in men, but it is not known to what extent this gender difference is robust in population research. In this study we focus on gender differences in depressive symptoms of the population of Flanders and the Netherlands. method We made use of the European Social Survey organised in 2006 and 2007 (n = 3014); depression being measured by means of an 8-item version of the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, CES-D. First we studied the psychometric properties of the depression inventory, looking closely at both the reliability and factional validity of the scale. Next we compared the gender and regional differences in the prevalence of depressive symptoms as measured by the CES-D8 scale. Finally, using regression analysis, we examined to what extent the gender differences between Flanders and the Netherlands were family-related and linked to socio-economic factors. Our study...
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Papers by Piet Bracke