Angst Wetenschap

A Study to Explore the Parental Impact and Challenges of Self-Management in Children and Adolescents Suffering with Lymphedema.

Lymphat Res Biol. 2019 Apr;17(2):245-252

Authors: Moffatt C, Aubeeluck A, Stasi E, Bartoletti R, Aussenac C, Roccatello D, Quere I

Abstract
Background: Limited research has shown the impact lymphedema has on children and families. The aim of this study was to explore the parental experience of caring for a child or adolescent with lymphedema and the daily challenges of self-management and self-efficacy. Methods and Results: Participants were recruited during an educational camp for children with lymphedema (N = 26). Three individual semistructured focus groups were undertaken in English, French, and Italian with simultaneous translation. Data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Analysis identified four superordinate themes; the journey, treatment management, independence, and psychosocial impact. Ten subthemes were identified: bandaging/compression, professional support, holistic care, fear, self-efficacy, acceptance, friendship, guilt, distress, and hope. Conclusions: Parental self-management of children with lymphedema is complex and invades many aspects of life. Lack of professional agreement over what constitutes self-management leads to parental confusion and anxiety. Self-management is demanding, and parents are ambivalent to its effectiveness, but choose to persevere through fear of their child's condition deteriorating. Self-efficacy is evident in complex problem solving, despite parents believing that they are not adequately prepared for this.

PMID: 30995184 [PubMed - in process]

Rats bred for high anxiety exhibit distinct fear-related coping behavior, hippocampal physiology, and synaptic plasticity-related gene expression.

Hippocampus. 2019 Apr 17;:

Authors: Widman AJ, Cohen JL, McCoy CR, Unroe KA, Glover ME, Khan AU, Bredemann T, McMahon LL, Clinton SM

Abstract
The hippocampus is essential for learning and memory but also regulates emotional behavior. We previously identified the hippocampus as a major brain region that differs in rats bred for emotionality differences. Rats bred for low novelty response (LRs) exhibit high levels of anxiety- and depression-like behavior compared to high novelty responder (HR) rats. Manipulating the hippocampus of high-anxiety LR rats improves their behavior, although no work to date has examined possible HR/LR differences in hippocampal synaptic physiology. Thus, the current study examined hippocampal slice electrophysiology, dendritic spine density, and transcriptome profiling in HR/LR hippocampus, and compared performance on three hippocampus-dependent tasks: The Morris water maze, contextual fear conditioning, and active avoidance. Our physiology experiments revealed increased long-term potentiation (LTP) at CA3-CA1 synapses in HR versus LR hippocampus, and Golgi analysis found an increased number of dendritic spines in basal layer of CA1 pyramidal cells in HR versus LR rats. Transcriptome data revealed glutamate neurotransmission as the top functional pathway differing in the HR/LR hippocampus. Our behavioral experiments showed that HR/LR rats exhibit similar learning and memory capability in the Morris water maze, although the groups differed in fear-related tasks. LR rats displayed greater freezing behavior in the fear-conditioning task, and HR/LR rats adopted distinct behavioral strategies in the active avoidance task. In the active avoidance task, HRs avoided footshock stress by pressing a lever when presented with a warning cue; LR rats, on the other hand, waited until footshocks began before pressing the lever to stop them. Taken together, these findings concur with prior observations of HR rats generally exhibiting active stress coping behavior while LRs exhibit reactive coping. Overall, our current findings coupled with previous work suggest that HR/LR differences in stress reactivity and stress coping may derive, at least in part, from differences in the developing and adult hippocampus.

PMID: 30994250 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Emotion sensitivity and self-reported symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder across the lifespan: A population-based sample approach.

Brain Behav. 2019 Apr 16;:e01282

Authors: Rutter LA, Scheuer L, Vahia IV, Forester BP, Smoller JW, Germine L

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms show deficits in emotion processing, but results of prior studies have been conflicting, and little is known about developmental trajectories of emotion processing over time. We examined the association between GAD symptoms and sensitivity to recognizing emotional facial expressions (emotion sensitivity: ES) for three emotions (happiness, anger, fear) in a large, diverse, population-based sample. We hypothesized that higher anxiety scores would be associated with poorer performance, and expected that ES performance and anxiety scores would decline across the lifespan.
METHOD: Participants were 7,176 responders to a web-based ES study (age range = 10-96 years old).
RESULTS: Higher GAD-7 scores were associated with poorer ES performance for all emotion categories (happiness, anger, fear). The relationship between GAD-7 and ES scores remained significant after controlling for the effects of age and sex, and there was no significant interaction, indicating that the relationship does not change across age. Age significantly predicted ES and GAD-7 scores across emotions, with older ages showing lower ES scores and lower anxiety.
CONCLUSIONS: In the largest study of its kind, GAD symptoms were associated with impaired ES performance across three emotion types. Future research should explore the connection between anxiety symptoms, cognitive processing, and social processing to better characterize the mechanisms of how GAD is linked with both social and non-social information processing. Future work may also look at if ES is related over time to changes in anxiety, making it a promising target for intervention.

PMID: 30993908 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Predictors of dental care utilization in north-central Appalachia in the USA.

Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2019 Apr 17;:

Authors: Chen M, Wright CD, Tokede O, Yansane A, Montasem A, Kalenderian E, Beaty TH, Feingold E, Shaffer JR, Crout RJ, Neiswanger K, Weyant RJ, Marazita ML, McNeil DW

Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Dental utilization is an important determinant of oral health and well-being. The aim of this study was to evaluate potential associations between a variety of biopsychosocial factors and dental utilization in north-central Appalachia, USA, a region where oral health disparities are profound.
METHODS: This study used household-based data from the Center for Oral Health Research in Appalachia (COHRA1) study in north-central Appalachia, including 449 families with 868 adults. The generalized estimating equation (GEE) approach was used to determine the best-fitting predictor model for dental utilization among adult family members.
RESULTS: On average across West Virginia and Pennsylvania, having dental insurance was associated with greater dental utilization over a 3-year time period (OR = 2.20, 95% CI = 1.54, 3.14). When stratified by state, the association held for only West Virginia (OR = 2.41, 95% CI = 1.54, 3.79) and was nonsignificant for Pennsylvania residents (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 0.80, 2.79). Individuals from Pennsylvania were more likely to utilize dental care and participants from West Virginia less so (2.31, 95% CI = 1.57, 3.40). Females from Pennsylvania were more likely than males to regularly seek dental care (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.00, 2.05), and a higher income was associated with greater frequency of regular dental visits (OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.09, 1.34) in West Virginia. Individuals from Pennsylvania who scored higher on the Physiological Arousal subscale of the Dental Fear Survey were more likely to attend routine care visits (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.35). Across both states, more fatalistic beliefs related to oral health care also predicted less routine care (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.81, 0.94), and more investment in or more positive attitudes towards one's oral health also was associated with higher utilization (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.13, 1.23).
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the findings of this study suggest state residency, sex, insurance, income, fatalistic beliefs, health values, and aspects of dental care-related anxiety and fear predicted dental care utilization in north-central Appalachia. These findings reinforce the need to address insurance and other economic factors affecting utilization and to consider how individual-level fatalistic beliefs and oral health values may affect utilization of routine oral health care.

PMID: 30993747 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles

Fear avoidance and self-efficacy at 4 weeks after ACL reconstruction are associated with early impairment resolution and readiness for advanced rehabilitation.

Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2019 Feb;27(2):397-404

Authors: Chmielewski TL, George SZ

Abstract
PURPOSE: To examine the association of fear avoidance and self-efficacy psychological factors within 4 weeks after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with knee impairment resolution and readiness for advanced rehabilitation at 12 weeks post-surgery.
METHODS: Seventy-five patients participated. Data collection included demographics; questionnaires on fear avoidance (Pain Catastrophizing Scale, PCS; shortened Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia, TSK-11) and self-efficacy (modified Self-Efficacy for Rehabilitation Outcome Scale, SER; Knee Activity Self-Efficacy, KASE) at 1, 4, and 12 weeks post-surgery; and knee impairment measures (pain intensity, range of motion, and quadriceps symmetry index) at 12 weeks post-surgery. Readiness for advanced rehabilitation (READY or NOT READY) was determined by knee impairment resolution criteria; demographics and questionnaire scores were compared between groups. Questionnaire scores at 1 and 4 weeks post-surgery and the change between time points were examined for association with knee impairment measures and group assignment.
RESULTS: READY included 32 patients; NOT READY included 43 patients. Questionnaire scores improved in both groups over time. Significant correlations across groups were: PCS scores at 1 and 4 weeks post-surgery with pain intensity at 12 weeks post-surgery (r = 0.24 and 0.29, respectively) and KASE score 4 weeks post-surgery with range of motion deficit at 12 weeks post-surgery (r = - 0.26). Contact injury was more prevalent in READY. After accounting for mechanism of injury, higher TSK-11 and fear of re-injury subscale scores at 4 weeks post-surgery increased the odds of NOT READY assignment at 12 weeks post-surgery (odds ratios 1.10 and 1.31, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: Lower pain catastrophizing and higher knee activity self-efficacy levels 4 weeks after ACL reconstruction were associated with better knee impairment resolution at 12 weeks post-surgery, whereas lower kinesiophobia at 4 weeks post-surgery increased the odds of meeting advanced rehabilitation criteria at 12 weeks post-surgery. The clinical implication of these findings is that measuring pain catastrophizing, knee activity self-efficacy and kinesiophobia at 4 weeks post-surgery may improve prediction of patients at risk for delayed rehabilitation progression 12 weeks post-surgery.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III.

PMID: 29971519 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]