Public stereotypes about trauma exposure and its likely consequences have the potential to influence levels of support extended to survivors in the larger community. The current project sought to ...examine unique profiles of stereotype endorsement both within and across participants sampled from distinct populations. Trauma-related stereotypes involving symptom course, dangerousness, employability, social functioning, predictability, character, and treatment need were examined in undergraduate (
= 404;
= 502) and MTurk (
= 364) samples. Sympathizing low overall endorsement, Fearful high overall endorsement, Pejorative high endorsement + moralizing beliefs, Safety-Focused intermediate endorsement + dangerousness, and Performance-Focused intermediate endorsement + employability groups were replicated in latent profile models across all samples. Stereotype profiles demonstrated hypothesized associations with general perspectives of mental illness although support for consistent relations with respondent characteristics (e.g., sex; personal exposure to trauma; reported exposure in friends/family) was limited. Data suggest that trauma stereotypes are endorsed at high frequencies in the general community and conform to systematic patterns of prejudice that may be overlooked in more global assessments of stigma.
Whereas existing data verify the importance of support networks in facilitating resilience following trauma, the sociocultural perceptions of posttrauma difficulties that provide context for these ...interactions remain largely unexplored. Folk psychiatry models propose that lay explanations of mental illness can be quantified along distinct moralizing, medicalizing, and psychologizing dimensions. The current project aimed to develop a trauma-specific measure capturing lay explanations of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) based on this framework. Data were collected from three samples of Mechanical Turk respondents (N1 = 367; N2 = 365; N3 = 401) as well as an independent sample of university students (N4 = 311). Factor analysis of the final, 13-item Folk Psychiatry Measure-PTSD (FPM-P) indicated close fit of a correlated three-factor model in MTurk and student respondents. Across samples, moralizing beliefs about PTSD (e.g., people with PTSD lack a moral compass) evidenced moderate-to-strong correlations with general attitudes toward those with mental illness, including positive associations with authoritarianism, social restrictiveness, blame, anger, and perceived dangerousness. Negative associations with benevolence and support for community-based care were also noted. Medicalizing beliefs (e.g., PTSD is caused by a chemical imbalance) demonstrated more modest associations with negative attitudes, as noted through weak correlations with increased authoritarianism, anger, and lower benevolence toward those experiencing psychological difficulties. Finally, psychologizing explanations (e.g., people with poor relationships and low social support are at greater risk of developing PTSD) evidenced weak but positive associations with benevolence and pity for those with mental health concerns. Implications and cultural-based nuances of the scale are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
This study presents a novel measure assessing public explanations about the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Results across multiple samples show that different kinds of explanations (i.e., morally based, biologically based, environment/psychologically based) show different associations with positive and negative attitudes toward people with mental health difficulties. The new measure holds potential for use in facilitating psychoeducation among survivors and support members and for furthering research on trauma-related stigma.
Background The deltopectoral approach for total shoulder arthroplasty can result in subscapularis dysfunction. In addition, glenoid wear is more prevalent posteriorly, a region difficult to access ...with this approach. We propose a posterior approach for access in total shoulder arthroplasty that uses the internervous interval between the infraspinatus and teres minor. This study compares this internervous posterior approach with other rotator cuff–sparing techniques, namely, the subscapularis-splitting and rotator interval approaches. Methods The 3 approaches were performed on 12 fresh frozen cadavers. The degree of circumferential access to the glenohumeral joint, the force exerted on the rotator cuff, the proximity of neurovascular structures, and the depth of the incisions were measured, and digital photographs of the approaches in different arm positions were analyzed. Results The posterior approach permits direct linear access to 60% of the humeral and 59% of the glenoid joint circumference compared with 39% and 42% for the subscapularis-splitting approach and 37% and 28% for the rotator interval approach. The mean force of retraction on the rotator cuff was 2.76 (standard deviation SD, 1.10) N with the posterior approach, 2.72 (SD, 1.22) N with the rotator interval, and 4.75 (SD, 2.56) N with the subscapularis-splitting approach. From the digital photographs and depth measurements, the estimated volumetric access available for instrumentation during surgery was comparable for the 3 approaches. Conclusion The internervous posterior approach provides greater access to the shoulder joint while minimizing damage to the rotator cuff.
The aim of the present study was to elucidate the influence of social, dietary and environmental factors on the incidence of malignant epithelial tumours in the upper digestive tract and on the ...prognosis of patients with these cancers.
A population-based case-control study was carried out, and the patients in the study were included in a survival analysis.
The study was carried out at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
In the case-control study, 84 patients and 89 controls were included. Only the patients were included in the survival analysis.
Smoking showed the highest odds ratio (OR) for morbidity (OR = 29). The patients had in general a lower social status, and a higher alcohol intake (OR = 6.6). For both beta-carotene and vitamin C, the ORs decreased with increasing intake (OR = 0.2 and 0.3, respectively). Increased ORs were associated with low values for haemoglobin, iron, TIBC, folic acid, magnesium and especially for albumin (OR = 14), and with high values for ferritin, vitamin B12 and thiocyanate (a marker for smoking). Stage of the disease was an important prognostic factor. The relative risk (RR) of dying for disseminated vs localised tumours being 3.2. A poorer prognosis was linked to higher age, to smoking vs no smoking (RR = 2.3), and to lower levels of haemoglobin, albumin, magnesium and thiocyanate.
Strong beer, liquor, consumption of milk and table fat, low social status and smoking seemed to have a negative impact on both disease and survival. Fruit and vegetables might, however, reduce the risk. Whereas low serum albumin, iron and magnesium indicated a high OR for cancer, vitamin C and beta-carotene had the opposite implication. No significant implications on survival could be detected in blood chemistry beyond the stage of disease.
In a follow-up, 2 to 27 years postoperatively, of 43 patients with unilateral choanal atresia a high frequency of relapses was observed. In 47% of the cases, preoperative symptoms had reappeared, and ...in 84% scar tissue had reduced the choanal opening to less than half of normal size. In most of the patients a transpalatinal approach was used, either ad modum Ruddy, Wilson or Owens. In order to improve the results, the surgical method and the postoperative treatment were changed in a new series of 15 patients with unilateral atresia. These patients, 6 to 26 years of age, were operated on by a transplantinal approach during two months in the autumn of 1974. After removal of the atresia, the posterior part of the nasal cavity was modeled, with a dental drill, to increasing diameter towards epipharynx. To keep the opening patent a PVC tube was left in the choana for six weeks postoperatively. The results were encouraging. Two and a half years after the operation there were no relapses.
Active parental consent in survey research poses ethical and practical concerns. One common argument against the requirement of active consent procedures is its effect on participation rates. There ...is additional concern that higher risk groups may be underrepresented in the final sample. Empirical support of differential attrition, however, is lacking. In the current multisite longitudinal study, passive consent procedures were approved for the collection of pretest data. For subsequent years of data collection, active parental consent procedures were required. In this article, we use the pretest data to examine demographic, attitudinal, and behavioral differences between those students for whom active consent was provided and those for whom active consent was either denied or for whom no response was received. The results indicate that active consent procedures produce deleterious effects on participation rates and lead to an underrepresentation of at-risk youth in the sample.
The objective of this study was to test whether an intensive case management intervention would be effective with a group of homeless chronic public inebriate clients. The primary goals of the case ...management were to improve the financial and residential stability of the clients and to reduce their use of alcohol.
Subjects (N = 298, 81% male) were interviewed at baseline, randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions and given follow-up interviews at 6-month intervals for 2 years. Case management services were provided for the duration of the project. Follow-up rates for the first three interviews averaged 82%.
Repeated measures MANCOVAs showed significant group differences favoring the case-managed group in all three areas targeted by the intervention: total income from public sources, nights spent in "own place" out of the previous 60 nights and days drinking out of the previous 30 days. The results held whether the three variables were analyzed jointly or separately and for alternative measures of drinking and homelessness. Although statistically significant, the group differences are generally not large.
The results indicate that case management had a beneficial effect on the clients receiving it. This effect may have been the result of an increase in services received by the case-managed clients.
One to six years after treatment for head and neck cancer, 68 patients were asked to fill in a questionnaire at home with a subsequent examination at the out-patient clinic of the Ullevål University ...Hospital. 50 patients (74%) both answered the questionnaire (the EORTC QLQ-C30, a diagnosis specific questionnaire module, the GHQ-20, and two questions from a population survey) and presented for examination where the clinician rated side effects after treatment, and filled in the Karnofsky Performance Status and the Spitzer's Quality of Life index. No patients had relapse or second primary tumours at the time of examination but a variety of post-treatment side effects were recorded. The patients appeared to report lower quality of life including more post-treatment side effects compared with the clinician's assessments. The cost-benefit of the standard clinical follow-ups in terms of increased survival may be questioned. Patients seem to need better support in coping with the physical and psychosocial problems which often appear.
This study was designed to compare the efficacy and tolerability of a new topical (nasal spray and eye drops) H1-receptor antagonist, levocabastine, with that of orally administered terfenadine for ...the prophylaxis and treatment of seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.
A total of 115 patients with documented birch pollen allergy were enrolled in this randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, parallel-group trial. Treatment was initiated immediately before the birch pollen season started and continued for a total of 8 weeks. Xylometrazoline (Otrivin) nasal spray was permitted as rescue medication.
The investigator's evaluation of symptoms showed similar effects for levocabastine and terfenadine. Both the patients' and the investigator's global evaluations of ocular and nasal symptoms disclosed a somewhat higher percentage of good or excellent results for levocabastine, but the differences were not statistically significant. Visual analog scale ratings from the patients' diaries showed better results for levocabastine. Levocabastine was significantly more effective than terfenadine in relieving sneezing, rhinorrhea, lacrimation, itch, and burning sensation (p < 0.05). For some symptoms, levocabastine was significantly more effective than terfenadine on days when the pollen count was high. There were no statistically significant differences in the use of rescue medication or in the incidence of adverse reactions reported in each treatment group.
In the present study topical levocabastine was frequently more effective than orally administered terfenadine for the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis. Both drugs were well-tolerated.