**This is a prospective Norwegian study of a group of adolescents with an experience of parental divorce or separation (n=413) and a comparison group without this experience (n=1758). Mean age at T1 was 14.4 years and mean age at T2 was 18.4 years. Parental divorce was prospectively associated with a relative change in anxiety and depression, subjective well-being, self-esteem, and school problems. Considering boys separately, parental divorce was prospectively associated only with school problems. Among the girls, divorce was prospectively associated with all variables. The effect of divorce on relative change was partially mediated by paternal absence.
The Barriers Questionnaire II (BQ-II) was developed to assess barriers to effective pain management. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BQ-II in a sample of Norwegian cancer patients. The BQ-II was translated into Norwegian and pilot tested with eight oncology outpatients. Then, a convenience sample of 321 cancer patients from two different sites was recruited to maximize the number of questionnaires available for the psychometric analyses. Patients were included if they: were >18 years of age; had a diagnosis of cancer; and self-reported pain and/or use of analgesics. Construct validity of the Norwegian version of the BQ II (NBQ-II) was evaluated using an exploratory factor analysis. A seven-factor solution was found that was more consistent with the original version of the BQ. Construct validity of the NBQ-II was demonstrated through positive correlations between most of the subscale and total scores on the NBQ-II and pain intensity and pain interference scores. Finally, Cronbach's a coefficients of =0.7 for six of the seven subscales and 0.89 for the total scale demonstrated acceptable levels of internal consistency. In conclusion, the NBQ-II demonstrated adequate psychometric properties. However, further revision and testing of the questionnaire should be performed to confirm the factor structure that was identified in this study.
Many patients with non-cardiac chest pain or benign palpitations have poor prognosis in terms of symptom persistence, limitations in everyday activities, and reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL).
The aims of the study were to evaluate the changes and impact of illness perceptions during a three-session cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention for patients with non-cardiac chest pain or benign palpitations.
Patients with persistent complaints 6 months after a negative cardiac evaluation were invited to participate in a randomized controlled trial. Patients in the intervention group (n = 21) received three manualized sessions with CBT, including one physical activity exposure session; the control group (n = 19) received usual care from their general practitioner. Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) was used to measure illness perceptions. Patients were assessed at start and end of the intervention and at 3- and 12-month follow-up.
The intervention and control group differed significantly on five of the eight items of BIPQ at least at one follow-up assessment. At end of treatment and at 3-month follow-up change in illness concern (Item 6 in BIPQ) mediated about 40% of the change in depression from baseline, and at 12-month follow-up about 50% of the change in depression was mediated by change in personal control (Item 3 in BIPQ).
Illness perceptions measured with BIPQ may mediate the short and long term treatment effects of a three-session CBT-programme for patients with non-cardiac chest pain and benign palpitations.
The objective of this study was to assess the impact of chronic dermatological diseases on quality of life (QoL) of Norwegian patients following in-patient management. QoL was measured by the Norwegian version of the Dermatology Life Quality Index, a validated, self-administered questionnaire. Adult in-patients with psoriasis and eczema were selected for one year from the dermatological departments in Norway. A total of 212 patients were included, and 126 patients (50% men, 85 with psoriasis and 41 with eczema, mean age 46 years) completed the questionnaires at time of hospital admission and one week after discharge. The patients reported adverse impact on QoL, but no differences between the psoriasis and eczema groups could be demonstrated. Patients with psoriasis improved from 18.3 (7.6) (mean (SD)) to 12.1 (8.2) (p
OBJECTIVE: To identify the similarities and differences of risk factors and correlates of different groups of people fulfilling criteria for specified diagnostic groups according to current somatoform disorder (SDs) criteria, presence of anxiety and/or depression, and self-reported musculoskeletal disorders. METHODS: Participants of the Oslo-Lofoten general population cross-sectional study in 2000-2001 interviewed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) somatoform section were examined by comparing similarities and differences in 8 groups identified by cross-tabulation of current SDs, anxiety and/or depression, and musculoskeletal disorders. The current SDs group was computed from the CIDI somatoform section raw data, anxiety and/or depression from the CIDI diagnostic algorithms and musculoskeletal disorders by questionnaire and self evaluation. RESULTS: In the 2001 sample of 1668 (875 women and 793 men) participants, the following eight disorder groups were identified: (i) current SDs, n=49 (75.5% women) (ii) musculoskeletal (functional somatic disorders), n=327; (53.5% women) (iii) anxiety and/or depression, n=148 (73.6% women); (iv) current SDs with anxiety and/or depression, n=38 (73.7% women); (v) current SDs with musculoskeletal, n=44 (72.7% women); (vi) current SDs with anxiety and/or depression and musculoskeletal, n=34 (76.5% women); (vii) musculoskeletal with anxiety and/or depression, n=101 (66.3% women); and (viii) no disorders, n=927 (43.3% women). Commonalities and differences between current SDs, anxiety and/or depression, and musculoskeletal disorders are apparent. Impairment of outcomes and risk factor load is high in current SDs with anxiety and/or depression and musculoskeletal. CONCLUSION: The data in this article could help toward the needed DSM-V and ICD-11 diagnostic revision of the SDs category.
The aims of this paper were to evaluate the relationship between chronic pain and global quality of life (GQOL) and to explore the effect of possible confounders, mediators, and moderators such as selected demographic variables, chronic illnesses, stress-related symptoms, fatigue, and subjective health of the relationship between chronic pain and GQOL.
We used a cross-sectional design, including 1,893 respondents from a population of 4,000 of Norwegian citizens, aged 19-81 years, who were randomly drawn from the National Register by Statistics Norway in November 2000 (48.5%). Pain duration of more than 3 months was categorized as having chronic pain. The Quality of Life Scale, the Fatigue Severity Scale, and the Posttraumatic Stress Scale were used as our main dependent and independent variables, respectively. A series of multiple regression analyses (GLM in SPSS) were applied using GQOL as the dependent variable, entering subsets of independent variables in a theoretically predefined sequence.
In the total model, there was no significant relationship between chronic pain and GQOL. The model explained 39% of the variance in GQOL. For direct effect sizes, stress-related symptoms were related most strongly to GQOL, followed by subjective health, fatigue, chronic illnesses, and selected demographic variables.
These findings support the assumption of a complex and indirect relationship between chronic pain and GQOL.
Notes
Cites: Pain. 2001 Jan;89(2-3):127-3411166468
Cites: Am J Ind Med. 2000 Dec;38(6):707-2211071692
Department of Behavioral Sciences, Institute of Basic Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1111 Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway. a.n.broen@medisin.uio.no
BACKGROUND: Miscarriage and induced abortion are life events that can potentially cause mental distress. The objective of this study was to determine whether there are differences in the patterns of normalization of mental health scores after these two pregnancy termination events. METHODS: Forty women who experienced miscarriages and 80 women who underwent abortions at the main hospital of Buskerud County in Norway were interviewed. All subjects completed the following questionnaires 10 days (T1), six months (T2), two years (T3) and five years (T4) after the pregnancy termination: Impact of Event Scale (IES), Quality of Life, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and another addressing their feelings about the pregnancy termination. Differential changes in mean scores were determined by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and inter-group differences were assessed by ordinary least squares methods. RESULTS: Women who had experienced a miscarriage had more mental distress at 10 days and six months after the pregnancy termination than women who had undergone an abortion. However, women who had had a miscarriage exhibited significantly quicker improvement on IES scores for avoidance, grief, loss, guilt and anger throughout the observation period. Women who experienced induced abortion had significantly greater IES scores for avoidance and for the feelings of guilt, shame and relief than the miscarriage group at two and five years after the pregnancy termination (IES avoidance means: 3.2 vs 9.3 at T3, respectively, p
PURPOSE: Hope was evaluated in Norwegian patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). PARTICIPANTS: The subjects were 87 Norwegian adults with CF and a control group of 1020 from the general population (GP). METHODS: Subjects completed a questionnaires that included the Herth Hope Index and demographic variables. Data on health-related variables were collected for the CF group. RESULTS: The mean age of the CF patients was 29 years (range 18-54). Almost 50% had a forced expiratory volume for one second percent predicted (FEV1%) below 50%, and 21% reported perceiving being in a bad phase of the disease. The CF patients reported lower (poorer) levels of hope than the GP sample, especially for the item scared about the future. However, they scored higher on inner strength and were younger, more often living alone, unmarried, not in paid work, but with similar educational levels. Levels of hope increased with increasing age in the CF patients but decreased for the GP subjects. The health variable that most affected hope in the CF sample was pulmonary function, not the presence of asthma or chronic lung infections. CONCLUSIONS: Persons growing up with CF experience many challenges. CF patients expressed slightly lower levels of hope and were more scared of the future. They scored higher on inner strength than the general population.
Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Concurrent Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders, Innlandet Hospital Trust, P.O. Box 104, 2381, Brumunddal, Norway. anna.belfrage@medisin.uio.no.
A higher sense of mastery of doctors' clinical work could benefit not only their own mental health but also their work performance and patient care. However, we know little about factors associated with perceived mastery of clinical work among physicians. Our aim was therefore to study characteristics of those with stable low levels and of those with increased levels of mastery over a period of ten years of medical practice.
N?=?631 doctors were surveyed in their final year of medical school in 1993/94 (T1) and 10 (T2), 15 (T3) and 20 (T4) years later. Low and increased perceived mastery of clinical work were measured between T2, T3 and T4. Response rates for all items measuring low and increased mastery were 238/522 (46%) and 256/522 (49%) respectively. The following explanatory variables were included: demographics, medical school factors, personality and contextual work-related and non-work-related factors.
N?=?73 (31%) of the doctors reported stable low mastery from T2 to T4. The following variables were significantly associated with low mastery in the adjusted analyses: vulnerability (OR: 1.30, P?
A study was undertaken to test the psychometric properties of the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and to explore the relationship between fatigue and sociodemographic variables in the general population.
A national representative sample of 1893 respondents was randomly selected from a pool of 4,000 Norwegians aged 19-81 years. A mailed questionnaire that included the FSS was used to measure fatigue severity.
The FSS showed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.88). The prevalence of high fatigue (FSS score > = 5) was 23.1% in the total sample. More women (26.2%) than men (19.8%) experienced high fatigue (p = 0.004). Respondents with chronic illness (more than six months) reported a higher mean (M = 4.69, SD = 1.35) than the rest of the sample (M = 3.67, SD = 1.17) (p
