Faculty of Medicine, Centre de recherche de I'Institut de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Université Laval, Québec City, Québec, Canada. Denis.Richard@crhl.ulaval.ca
Adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the Preparedness for Caregiving Scale, Caregiver Competence Scale and Rewards of Caregiving Scale in a sample of Swedish family members of patients with life-threatening illness.
Family members often take on many caring responsibilities, with complex issues and challenges to consider. Feelings of preparedness, competence and reward are identified as concepts that may protect caregiver wellbeing and decrease negative outcomes related to caregiving.
This study aimed to translate, adapt and psychometrically evaluate the Preparedness for Caregiving Scale, Caregiver Competence Scale and Rewards of Caregiving Scale in Swedish family members of patients with life threatening illness.
Correlational.
The study took place in four settings including advanced palliative care. The scales were tested in a sample of 125 family members of persons with life-threatening illness. All three scales were tested in relation to distribution of item and scale scores, missing data patterns, dimensionality, convergent validity and reliability.
The results in this study indicate that the Swedish versions of The Preparedness for Caregiving Scale, Caregiver Competence Scale and Rewards of Caregiving Scale are valid, reliable and user-friendly scales. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scales were unidimensional and all demonstrated Cronbach's alpha values of =0.9.
As a result of this study it is anticipated that the Preparedness for Caregiving Scale, Caregiver Competence Scale and Rewards of Caregiving Scale could provide a basis for collaborative research between different countries and make international studies more comparable and generalizable despite differences in language and culture.
Adapting and enhancing PAX Good Behavior Game for First Nations communities: a mixed-methods study protocol developed with Swampy Cree Tribal Council communities in Manitoba.
High rates of mental health problems, such as suicidal behaviours, among First Nations youth in Canada are a major public health concern. The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a school-based intervention that provides a nurturing environment for children and has been shown to promote positive outcomes. PAX Good Behavior Game (PAX GBG) is an adaptation and enhancement of the GBG. While PAX GBG has been implemented in Indigenous communities, little research exists examining the cultural and contextual appropriateness and effectiveness of the intervention in First Nations communities.
The present paper describes a protocol of the mixed-methods approach guided by an Indigenous ethical engagement model adopted to implement, adapt and evaluate PAX GBG in First Nations communities in Manitoba, Canada. First, implementation outcomes (eg, acceptability, adoption) of PAX GBG will be evaluated using qualitative interviews with teachers, principals and community members from Swampy Cree Tribal Council (SCTC) communities. Second, by linking administrative databases to programme data from schools in 38 First Nations communities, we will compare PAX GBG and control groups to evaluate whether PAX GBG is associated with improved mental health and academic outcomes. Third, the qualitative results will help inform a cultural and contextual adaptation of PAX GBG called First Nations PAX (FN PAX). Fourth, FN PAX will be implemented in a few SCTC communities and evaluated using surveys and qualitative interviews followed by the remaining communities the subsequent year.
Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Manitoba Health Research Ethics Board and will be obtained from the Health Information Privacy Committee and respective data providers for the administrative database linkages. Dissemination and knowledge translation will include community and stakeholder engagement throughout the research process, reports and presentations for policymakers and community members, presentations at scientific conferences and journal publications.
In aging societies, zest for work may be pivotal when deciding to stay occupationally active longer. Psychosocial work stress is a prevalent public health problem and may have an impact on zest for work. Work over-commitment (WOC) is a personal coping strategy for work stress with excessive striving and a health risk. However, the long-term effect of WOC on zest for work is poorly understood.
To investigate the age-related associations of work over-commitment with zest for work.
During 1996-1998 and 2000-2003, predominantly industrial workers (n?=?2940) participated in the WOLF-Norrland study and responded to a questionnaire referring to socio-demographics, WOC, zest for work, effort-reward imbalance proxies, and mental health. Age-adjusted multiple logistic regressions were performed with original and imputed datasets.
Cross-sectionally, work overcommitted middle-aged employees had an increased prevalence of poor zest for work compared to their contemporaries without WOC (OR: 3.74 [95%-CI 2.19; 6.40]). However, in a longitudinal analysis associations between onset of 'poor zest for work' and the WOC subscales 'need for approval' (OR: 3.29 [95%-CI 1.04; 10.37]) and 'inability to withdraw from work' (OR: 5.14 [95%-CI 1.32; 20.03]) were observed.
The longitudinal findings among older employees could be relevant regarding the expected need to remain occupationally active longer.
Andrology Laboratory and Reproductive Tissue Bank. The Toronto Institute for Reproductive Medicine - ReproMed, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Adelvalle@repromed.ca
A previous review of 22 studies from eight countries, conducted between 1980 and 2003, concluded that semen donors who are older, married or are fathers are less likely to be financially motivated. Despite the Assisted Human Reproduction Act coming into force in 2004, no data originating from Canada have been published on this topic. The objective of this study was to validate these findings in the Canadian population within the context of an anonymous semen donor programme in Canada. A survey of 301 donor applicants was conducted to collect demographic data including age, marital status, paternity status and occupation, in addition to information assessing donor eligibility and willingness to donate without reimbursement. Eligible candidates were screened to determine their acceptance or exclusion from the semen donor programme. The results showed that the relationships found between donor applicant demographics and their willingness to participate without reimbursement do not appear to be consistent with earlier published studies in various countries. Further screening resulted in a recruitment rate of less than 1%. Additional studies will be required to investigate the feasibility of altruistic semen donation programmes in Canada, and to determine the potential impact of these findings on Canadians who rely on donor gamete services to build their families.
Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Department of Drug Policy, PO Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403 Oslo, Norway; Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research, Gaustadalléen 21, 0349 Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: daniel.bergsvik@fhi.no.
The provision of accurate information on health damaging behaviours and products is a widely accepted and widespread governmental task. It is easily mismanaged. This study demonstrates a simple method which can help to evaluate whether such information corrects recipient risk beliefs.
Participants assess risks numerically, before and after being exposed to a relevant risk communication. Accuracy is incentivised by awarding financial prizes to answers closest to a pursued risk belief. To illustrate this method, 228 students from the University of Oslo, Norway, were asked to estimate the mortality risk of Swedish snus and cigarettes twice, before and after being exposed to one of three risk communications with information on the health dangers of snus.
The data allow us to measure how participants updated their risk beliefs after being exposed to different risk communications. Risk information from the government strongly distorted risk perceptions for snus. A newspaper article discussing the relative risks of cigarettes and snus reduced belief errors regarding snus risks, but increased belief errors regarding smoking. The perceived quality of the risk communication was not associated with decreased belief errors.
Public health information can potentially make the public less informed on risks about harmful products or behaviours. This risk can be reduced by targeting identified, measurable belief errors and empirically assessing how alternative communications affect these. The proposed method of incentivised risk estimation might be helpful in future assessments of risk communications.
The association between psychosocial characteristics at work and problem drinking: a cross-sectional study of men in three Eastern European urban populations.
Psychosocial factors at work are thought to influence health partly through health behaviours.
To examine the association between effort-reward imbalance and job control and several alcohol related measures in three eastern European populations.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in Novosibirsk (Russia), Krakow (Poland), and Karvina (Czech Republic). The participants completed a questionnaire that included effort-reward at work, job control, and a number of sociodemographic variables. Annual alcohol intake, annual number of drinking sessions, the mean dose of alcohol per drinking session, and binge drinking (> or =80 g of ethanol in one session at least once a week) were based on graduated frequencies in the questionnaire. Data were also available on problem drinking (> or =2 positive answers on CAGE questionnaire) and negative social consequences of drinking. All male participants in full employment (n = 694) were included in the present analyses.
After controlling for age and centre, all indices of alcohol consumption and problem drinking were associated with the effort-reward ratio. Adjustment for material deprivation did not change the results but adjustment for depressive symptoms reduced the estimated effects. Job control was not associated with any of the alcohol related outcomes.
The imbalance of effort-reward at work is associated with increased alcohol intake and problem drinking. The association appears to be partly mediated by depressive symptoms, which might be either an antecedent or a consequence of men's drinking behaviour.
Notes
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Cites: J Epidemiol Community Health. 2004 Feb;58(2):131-514729894
To identify meaningful types of rewards and the consequences of rewards as expressed by Finnish registered nurses working in primary and private healthcare.
Previous studies have found significant associations between nurses' rewards and both their commitment and job satisfaction. Furthermore, appropriate rewards can have beneficial effects on factors including workforce stability and occupational satisfaction that are highly important in times of nurse shortages.
A cross-sectional, qualitative interview study.
Data were collected via individual semi-structured interviews (n = 20) with registered nurses working in Finland's primary and private healthcare, and subjected to qualitative content analysis.
Six meaningful types of rewards were identified by the registered nurses: Financial compensation and benefits, Work-Life balance, Work content, Professional development, Recognition, and Supportive leadership. Rewards encouraged respondents to perform their work correctly and reinforced occupational satisfaction, but also caused feelings of envy and stress.
It is essential to pay attention to nurses' preferences for particular rewards and to reward management. When designing effective reward systems for registered nurses, it is not sufficient to provide financial rewards alone, as various kinds of non-financial rewards are both meaningful and necessary.
When trying to improve registered nurses' commitment and job satisfaction through reward management, it is important to listen to nurses' opinions to create a reward system that integrates financial and non-financial rewards and is fair from their perspective. Healthcare organisations that offer registered nurses a holistic reward system are more likely to retain satisfied and committed nurses at a time of increasing nursing shortages.
The acceptability of financial incentives for organ donation is contentious. This study sought to determine (1) the acceptability of expense reimbursement or financial incentives by the general public, health professionals involved with organ donation and transplantation, and those with or affected by kidney disease and (2) for the public, whether financial incentives would alter their willingness to consider donation.
Web-based survey administered to members of the Canadian public, health professionals, and people with or affected by kidney disease asking questions regarding acceptability of strategies to increase living and deceased kidney donation and willingness to donate a kidney under various financial incentives.
Responses were collected from 2004 members of the Canadian public October 11-18, 2011; responses from health professionals (n=339) and people with or affected by kidney disease (n=268) were collected during a 4-week period commencing October 11, 2011. Acceptability of one or more financial incentives to increase deceased and living donation was noted in >70% and 40% of all groups, respectively. Support for monetary payment for living donors was 45%, 14%, and 27% for the public, health professionals, and people with or affected by kidney disease, respectively. Overall, reimbursement of funeral expenses for deceased donors and a tax break for living donors were the most acceptable.
The general public views regulated financial incentives for living and deceased donation to be acceptable. Future research needs to examine the impact of financial incentives on rates of deceased and living donors.
Notes
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Response rates to surveys are decreasing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of lottery tickets as incentives in an epidemiologic control group. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to parents in the municipality of Stockholm, Sweden, who were to be used as a control group in a study addressing stress in parents of children with cancer. A stratified random sample of 450 parents were randomized into three incentive groups: (a) no incentive; (b) a promised incentive of one lottery ticket to be received upon reply; (c) a promised incentive of one lottery ticket to be received upon reply and an additional lottery ticket upon reply within 1 week. The overall response rate across the three groups was 65.3%. The response rate was highest in the no incentive group (69.3%) and lowest in the one plus one lottery ticket group (62.0%). In a survival analysis, the difference between the two response curves was significant by the log-rank test (P = 0.04), with the no incentive group having a shorter time to response than the incentive group. Our findings suggest that the use of lottery tickets as incentives to increase participation in a mail questionnaire among parents may be less valuable or even harmful. Incentives may undermine motivation in studies in which the intrinsic motivation of the respondents is already high.
