Journal of psychosomatic research
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Functional bowel disorders in primary care: factors associated with health-related quality of life and doctor consultation.
The role of psychological factors in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) remains unclear, particularly in a primary care setting, where relatively little research on this common and costly condition has been carried out. The aim of this study was to investigate the relative contribution of physical and psychological factors to health-related quality of life and health-care utilization in patients with functional bowel disease (IBS-like symptoms) in primary care. We also wished to establish the relevance of formal diagnostic criteria to IBS in the primary care setting. ⋯ This study confirms that psychological factors are significantly associated with health-related quality of life in patients with IBS in primary care. Physical symptom severity is also important. Relatively few symptom measures, either physical or psychological, have a major impact on doctor consultation rates in primary care.
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To date, few results on well-being in chronic-pain patients have been published, while several studies in patients without pain have indicated that well-being may not be equivalent to absence of psychological distress. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between psychological distress and well-being and to identify the predictors of each in patients with chronic nonmalignant pain. ⋯ In patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain, self-reports of well-being and low psychological distress only partially overlap with each other and are differently related to major patient symptoms, supporting the relevance of the concept of well-being to chronic-pain research and a need for further studies in this field.
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Little is known about the course of body image dissatisfaction following disfiguring injury or illness. The objective of this study was to test a proposed framework for understanding the trajectory of body image dissatisfaction among burn survivors and to longitudinally investigate the role of body image in overall psychosocial functioning. ⋯ Findings from this study suggest the importance of routine psychological screening for body image distress during hospitalization and after discharge.
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The phenomenology of delirium in childhood is understudied. ⋯ Childhood delirium has a different course and symptom profile than adult and geriatric delirium. Adult and geriatric delirium differ only in the severity of cognitive symptoms.
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To determine whether the strength of personal coping capability, the sense of coherence (SOC), makes a unique contribution in explaining the extent of depressive symptoms experienced by family caregivers of terminally ill cancer patients. ⋯ This study confirms that, among the independent variables examined in this study, variations in SOC are comparatively important in explaining the variation of depressive symptoms experienced by Taiwanese family caregivers. Developments and evaluations of the effectiveness of clinical interventions aimed at augmenting caregivers' coping capability (such as SOC) to facilitate positive appraisal and finding meaning, to improve understanding of the demands and challenges of caregiving, and to mobilize resources available to manage caregiving tasks are highly recommended.