Self report

Epidemiological research on childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and its consequences in adult life mainly relies on retrospective reports. This study explores their consistency and the correlates of inconsistent CSA self-reports in a random population sample. A stratified subsample of 2,462 subjects (selected from a large-scale (N = 34,267) representative sample of Dutch adults aged 40 and beyond) participated in a two-phase online questionnaire survey on extra-familial CSA which was conducted on a four- to six-week interval. Subjects reporting CSA were overrepresented. Participants with consistent and inconsistent responses were compared with regard to demographics, family background, abuse severity, and clinical characteristics. Potential correlates of inconsistency were identified using logistic regression analysis. An additional questionnaire (Phase III) administered to inconsistent respondents explored possible reasons for their inconsistency. Of the 1,992 respondents who had reported...

To assess oral health and oral health associated factors in 12-year-olds and to establish determinants explaining variation in oral health among children representing two areas in the Barents region - Arkhangelsk in North-West Russia and Tromsø in Northern Norway. The samples consisted of Russian (N=590) and Norwegian (N=264) 12-year-olds and their parents selected according to stratified one-stage cluster design. The study included clinical examination (children) and self-reports (children and parents). The child's oral health was recorded under field conditions. Statistical analyses were conducted on pooled samples of subjects. The mean DMFT/S-scores were 3.0/4.4 for the Russian and 1.2/1.5 for the Norwegian children (p<0.001). In multiple logistic regressions, country of origin (OR=3.8) and filling obtained during last dental visit (OR=5.0) were showing the strongest association with child's dental caries (χ(2)=87; p<0.001). Among parent's variables showing the ...

The electronic self report assessment - cancer (ESRA-C), has been shown to reduce symptom distress during cancer therapy The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate aspects of how the ESRA-C intervention may have resulted in lower symptom distress (SD). Patients at two cancer centers were randomized to ESRA-C assessment only (control) or the Web-based ESRA-C intervention delivered to patients' homes or to a tablet in clinic. The intervention allowed patients to self-monitor symptom and quality of life (SxQOL) between visits, receive self-care education and coaching to report SxQOL to clinicians. Summaries of assessments were delivered to clinicians in both groups. Audio-recordings of clinic visits made 6 weeks after treatment initiation were coded for discussions of 26 SxQOL issues, focusing on patients'/caregivers' coached verbal reports of SxQOL severity, pattern, alleviating/aggravating factors and requests for help. Among issues identified as problematic, two measur...

The Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP) is a personality assessment instrument designed for use by expert clinical assessors. Critics have raised questions about its psychometrics, most notably its validity across observers and situations, the impact of its fixed score distribution on research findings, and its test-retest reliability. We review empirical data addressing its validity, emphasizing the multitrait-multimethod approach to evaluating test validity. To evaluate the hypothesis that the fixed, asymmetric score distribution artifactually inflates correlations between SWAP profiles, we conducted Monte Carlo simulations and also presented empirical data from a large patient sample. We observed a mean correlation of zero between simulated SWAP profiles, indicating that the score distribution does not impact the correlation coefficients. Empirical correlations between SWAP profiles of actual patients were small and similar to those obtained using Diagnostic and Statistica...

This study was done in 2008-09 to assess the nutritional status among adolescents (10-19 years of age, Classes V-XII) in 5 schools in rural Goa to inform the content of a health promotion intervention in these schools. Three methods were used. First, nutritional status was measured by assessing body mass index among 1015 students during a health camp in each school. Second, a diet analysis was done to measure energy and protein Intake of 76 randomly selected underweight students. Third, a self-report questionnaire survey measured the prevalence of hunger among 684 students. One-third of students (338; 37.8% boys and 27.5% girls) who attended the health camps were underweight and 59.2% of the 684 students who completed the survey reported experiencing hunger due to inadequate food consumption. More boys were underweight than girls (p<0.001) and under-nutrition was uniform across all the years of schooling. Energy intake of underweight students was significantly lower than the reco...

The purpose of this article is to describe development of a culturally adapted depression intervention (Oh Happy Day Class, OHDC) designed for African American adults experiencing major depressive disorder (MDD). This project included 2 pilot studies testing the feasibility and acceptability of the OHDC and examining short-term effects of the OHDC in reducing symptoms of MDD. The OHDC is a 2.5-hr weekly, culturally specific, cognitive behavioral, group counseling intervention for 12 weeks. Cultural adaptations of the OHDC are based on the ecological validity and culturally sensitive framework, along with an Afrocentric paradigm. Fifty African American participants with MDD were enrolled (15 in Pilot I and 35 in Pilot II). All participants in Pilots I and II received the 12-week intervention and completed assessments at baseline, mid-intervention, end-intervention, and 3 months postintervention. General linear mixed modeling for assessment of pre-post longitudinal data analysis was c...

The objective of this study was to explore whether accelerometer thresholds that are adjusted to account for differences in body mass influence discrepancies between self-report and accelerometer-measured physical activity (PA) volume for individuals with overweight and obesity. We analyzed 6164 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003-2006. Established accelerometer thresholds were adjusted to account for differences in body mass to produce a similar energy expenditure (EE) rate as individuals with normal weight. Moderate-, vigorous-, and moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) durations were measured using established and adjusted accelerometer thresholds and compared with self-report. Durations of self-report were longer than accelerometer-measured MVPA using established thresholds (normal weight: 57.8 ± 2.4 vs 9.0 ± 0.5 min/day, overweight: 56.1 ± 2.7 vs 7.4 ± 0.5 min/day, and obesity: 46.5 ± 2.2 vs 3.7 ± 0.3 min/day). Durations of subjecti...

There is a theoretical basis for believing that healthy lifestyle interventions can improve mental well-being and evidence to show that mental well-being is protective of future health. This study contributes to the evidence base by examining changes in mental well-being associated with the One Body One Life (OBOL) healthy lifestyle programme in a community setting in the West Midlands. Quantitative, before and after the evaluation. We conducted a before and after study of the lifestyle intervention 'OBOL', a multi component intervention that includes exercise and healthy eating education. Mental well-being was measured with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. Physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption were self-reported. Measures were collected before and after the 12-week intervention and three months post completion. Non-parametric tests were used to assess differences between groups, and linear mixed models were used to assess change over time. Four...

BACKGROUND The King's Sarcoidosis Questionnaire (KSQ) is a brief questionnaire assessing health status using five modules (General Health Status, Lung, Eyes, Skin, Medication) in patients with sarcoidosis. The KSQ was only validated in one English sarcoidosis cohort. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to validate the KSQ in a Dutch sarcoidosis population. METHODS The KSQ was translated according to international guidelines and tested in interviews with patients. Consecutive outpatients completed multiple questionnaires twice, two weeks apart. Construct validity, internal consistency and repeatability were determined. RESULTS Of the 98 patients included 85 had lung, 22 skin and 24 eye disease. There was good construct validity of the KSQ General Health Status module against the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF questionnaire. The Medication module correlated weak to moderate with most questionnaires. The correlations with organ-specific questionnaires varied from st...

Introduction: Given the rising incidence of type 2 diabetes and taking into account that much of its control depends on the patient’s attitude towards his illness, loomed the need to equip health professionals with capable tools to determine the educational needs of their patients, allowing a more personalized intervention to correct habits that could be harmful to the diabetics’ health.Objective: Verify the Diabetes Knowledge Test reliability in Portugal. Analysis of socio-demographic and pathologic variables’ correlationwith the number of correct answers in the test.Material and Methods: Application of the translated version of Diabetes Knowledge Test to a convenience sample of a primary care center in Covilhã.Results: In general, the questions obtained a Cronbach’s alpha > 0.800. Diabetics with better results in the survey proved to be more compliant, with a positive relationship between knowledge and diabetes’ control. However, only 9.2% of diabetics have good knowledge about...

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by multiple tics and associated with co-morbid behavioral problems (TS-plus). We investigated the usefulness of self-report versus parent- and teacher-report instruments in assisting the specialist assessment of TS-plus in a child/adolescent population. Twenty-three patients diagnosed with TS (19 males; age 13.9 ± 3.7 years) and 69 matched healthy controls participated in this study. All recruited participants completed a standardized psychometric battery, including the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), the Self Administrated Psychiatric Scales for Children and Adolescents (SAFA) and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI). Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Conners' Parent Rating Scales-Revised (CPRS-R). Participants' teachers completed the Conners' Teacher Rating Scales-Revised (CTRS-R). Results were compared with similar data obtained from controls. Nineteen patients (82.6%) fulfilled DSM-IV-TR criteria for at least one co-morbid condition: obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD, n = 8; 34.8%); attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, n = 6; 26.1%); OCD + ADHD (n = 5; 21.7%). Scores on self-report instruments failed to show any significant differences between TS and controls. Most subscores of the CPRS-R, CTRS-R, and CBCL were significantly higher for the TS group than controls. The TS + OCD subgroup scored significantly higher than the TS-OCD subgroup on the CBCL-Externalizing, Anxious/Depressed and Obsessive-Compulsive subscales. Self-report instruments appear to have limited usefulness in assisting the assessment of the behavioral spectrum of young patients with TS. However, proxy-rated instruments differentiate TS populations from healthy subjects, and the CBCL can add relevant information to the clinical diagnosis of co-morbid OCD.

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is characterized by widespread chronic pain, fatigue, sleep disorders, and cognitive-emotional disturbance. Patients with FMS exhibit increased sensitivity to experimental pain and pain-related cues, as well as deficits in emotional regulation. The present study investigated the spatiotemporal patterns of brain activations for observed pain in 19 patients with FMS and 18 age-matched, healthy control individuals using event-related potential analysis. Patients with FMS attributed greater pain and unpleasantness to pain pictures relative to healthy control participants. An augmented late positive potential (LPP) component (>500 milliseconds) was found in patients viewing both pain and nonpain pictures, and this amplitude difference in the LPP covaried with perceived unpleasantness of pictures. Mid-latency potentials (250-450 milliseconds) demonstrated similar amplitude increases of positive potentials in the FMS patient group. By contrast, the short-late...

Despite emerging evidence that access to greenspace is associated with longer life expectancy, little is understood about what causal mechanisms may explain this relationship. Based on social-ecological theories of health, greenspace has multifaceted potential to influence mortality but the potential alternative mediating pathways have not been empirically tested. This study evaluates relationships between access to greenspace, walking and mortality. Firstly, we test for an association between access to greenspace and self-reported levels of walking using a survey of 165,424 adults across England collected during 2007 and 2008. Negative binomial regression multilevel models were used to examine associations between greenspace access and self reported number of days walked in the last month, in total and for recreational and health purposes, after controlling for relevant confounders. Secondly we use an area level analysis of 6781 middle super output areas across England to examine i...