Psycho-social medicine
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Psycho-social medicine · Jan 2013
The German Pain Catastrophizing Scale for Children (PCS-C) - psychometric analysis and evaluation of the construct.
The Pain Catastrophizing Scale, adapted for children (PCS-C) by Crombez et al. (2003), was translated into German (SKS-D) and evaluated regarding its factorial structure, its reliability and validity. The association of catastrophizing with various pain characteristics and disability measures was examined as well as its association to neighboring constructs. ⋯ The PCS-C in its German form is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing catastrophizing in children with recurrent pain, in particular headache, in the age of 10-16 years. Pain catastrophizing is suggested to be assessed especially in pediatric pain patients as it is a significant moderator of pain and disability. In children with a distinct tendency to catastrophize cognitive restructuring should become a target of pediatric pain therapy, as a reduction of catastrophizing cognitions may indirectly help to ameliorate pain and disability.
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Psycho-social medicine · Jan 2013
Manual for the psychotherapeutic treatment of acute and post-traumatic stress disorders following multiple shocks from implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).
In view of the increasing number of implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICD), the number of people suffering from so-called "multiple ICD shocks" is also increasing. The delivery of more than five shocks (appropriate or inappropriate) in 12 months or three or more shocks (so called multiple shocks) in a short time period (24 hours) leads to an increasing number of patients suffering from severe psychological distress (anxiety disorder, panic disorder, adjustment disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder). Untreated persons show chronic disease processes and a low rate of spontaneous remission and have an increased morbidity and mortality. Few papers have been published concerning the psychotherapeutic treatment for these patients. ⋯ The fist step of the treatment development seems to be successful. It shows encouraging results with an acceptable dosage. The second step of our work is in process now: we evaluate the treatment manual within other clinical institutions and a higher number of psychotherapists. This leads in the consequence to a controlled and randomised comparison study.
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Psycho-social medicine · Jan 2012
The prevalence of medical services use. How comparable are the results of large-scale population surveys in Germany?
The large-scale representative population surveys conducted by Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) contain questions pertaining to health and its determinants as well as the prevalence and frequency of outpatient services utilization. The same holds for the Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP, Sozio-ökonomisches Panel) and the Bertelsmann Healthcare Monitor (Gesundheitsmonitor) surveys. The purpose of this study is to examine the comparability of the instruments used in these surveys and their results. ⋯ Not only do the target groups of the RKI surveys, the SOEP and the Bertelsmann Health Monitor differ; their questions on outpatient care utilization also differ in terms of examined reference period and types of physicians contacted by survey participants, question wording including clarifications (e.g., asking the participant to also consider contacts not made "in person" with physicians when answering a question), and response categories. Therefore, unlike the results of the surveys' questions on inpatient care, the results of questions on the use of outpatient care services are not easily comparable, even those regarding contact with primary care physicians and GPs. The results of secondary analyses of German SHI claims data could be used to confirm the external validity of the surveys' results.
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Psycho-social medicine · Jan 2009
Are fear-avoidance beliefs in low back pain patients a risk factor for low physical activity or vice versa? A cross-lagged panel analysis.
The assumption that low back pain (LBP) patients suffer from "disuse" as a consequence of high fear-avoidance beliefs is currently under debate. A secondary analysis served to investigate whether fear-avoidance beliefs are associated cross-sectionally and longitudinally with the physical activity level (PAL) in LBP patients. ⋯ Consequently, due to missing links between fear-avoidance beliefs and physical activity in a longitudinal design, the assumptions of the fear-avoidance belief model have to be questioned. These findings are in line with other investigations published recently. Most probably, "fear-avoidance belief" represents a cognitive scheme that does not limit activity per se, but only is directed to the avoidance of specific movements.
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Psycho-social medicine · Dec 2008
Evaluating patients' preferences for multiple myeloma therapy, a Discrete-Choice-Experiment.
While there is an increasing emphasis on patient empowerment and shared decision making, patients' preferences for attributes associated with their treatment still need to be measured and considered. In the present study, patients' preferences regarding treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) were explored using direct assessment and a Discrete-Choice-Experiment (DCE). ⋯ Besides prolongation of life expectancy and effectiveness of treatment, further treatment options are of foremost importance to multiple myeloma patients. In addition, therapy-free intervals as well as an improved emotional quality of life ("Not always think of the disease") are valued as very important. The combination of direct assessment of importance and DCE is a valid combined survey technique for eliciting preferences of patients with multiple myeloma. The former ensures content validity (the possibility to measure a longer list of potentially important aspects), the latter has the advantage to combine positive and negative therapy characteristics and to avoid the problem of ceiling effects and "all-is-important" results.