Suchergebnisse

<B>Fragestellung:</B> Konsummuster und spezifische Merkmale von Rauschtrinken und Cannabiskonsum. </P><P> <B>Methodik:</B> Mittels Telefoninterviews wurden 2842 junge Erwachsene befragt. </P><P> <B>Egebnisse:</B> Im Monat vor der Befragung konsumierten 40 % der jungen Erwachsenen Alkohol bis zur Betrunkenheit und/oder Cannabis. Zwei Drittel von ihnen waren reine Rauschtrinker oder reine Cannabiskonsumenten. Suchmittelkonsum hing mit Hedonismus und Risikobereitschaft, hochfrequenter Konsum zusätzlich mit Belastungen und geringem Gesundheitsbewusstsein zusammen. Männliche Rauschtrinker und Cannabiskonsumenten unterschieden sich nicht. Bei Frauen war eine erhöhte Risikobereitschaft spezifisch für niederfrequenten Cannabiskonsum, vermehrte Belastungen für hochfrequentes Rauschtrinken. </P><P> <B>Schlussfolgerungen:</B> Nur bei Frauen zeigten sich in Abhängigkeit von der Konsumfrequenz suchtmittelspezifische Merkmale.

Ziel: Ziel der Untersuchung war die Erarbeitung von theoretisch und empirisch fundierten Empfehlungen zur HIV-Prävention im sexuellen Risikoverhalten von Drogenkonsumentinnen. </P><P> Methodik: Mit einem standardisierten Interviewleitfaden wurden 146 Konsumentinnen harter Drogen zu Motiven und Bedingungen von sexuellem Risikoverhalten befragt. Erfasst wurden die Prävalenzen von sexuellen Risikokontakten bei festen Partnern, Gelegenheitspartnern und Freiern sowie mögliche Einflussfaktoren auf das Risikoverhalten. </P><P> Ergebnisse: 47 von 146 Konsumentinnen harter Drogen (32%) hatten im halben Jahr vor der Befragung sexuelle Risikokontakte. Drogenkonsumentinnen mit sexuellem Risikoverhalten unterschieden sich von Konsumentinnen ohne Risikoverhalten durch eine signifikant geringere Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung, eine geringere Ergebniserwartung, eine höhere Vulnerabilitätseinschätzung und eine geringere Wichtigkeit der persönlichen Gesundheit. </P><P> Schlussfolgerungen: Diese sozialkognitiven Variablen sind wichtige Ansatzpunkte für Präventionsmaßnahmen. Zusätzlich müssen bei Risikonkontakten mit festen Partnern, Gelegenheitspartnern und Freiern unterschiedliche, kontextbezogene Ansatzpunkte mit berücksichtigt werden.

<B>Fragestellung:</B> Analyse von Ansatzpunkten für die HBV/HCV-Präventionsempfehlungen für das sexuelle Risikoverhalten von Drogenkonsumentinnen. </P><P> <B>Methodik:</B> Einschätzungen zu HBV/HCV und HIV von 146 Befragten wurden verglichen und ihr Zusammenhang mit dem sexuellen Risikoverhalten analysiert. </P><P> <B>Resultate:</B> HBV/HCV-Infektionen wurden als weniger schwerwiegend eingeschätzt und die Schutzmotivation und der Wissensstand bezüglich HBV/HCV waren geringer ausgeprägt als bei HIV. Personen mit geringerer Selbstwirksamkeit, Schutzmotivation und geringerem Wissen hinsichtlich HBV/HCV hatten häufiger sexuelles Risikoverhalten. </P><P> <B>Schlussfolgerungen:</B> Selbstwirksamkeit und Schutzmotivation sind Ansatzpunkte für die HBV/HCV- und HIV-Prävention. Für HBV/HCV muss zudem das Problembewusstsein erhöht und der Wissensstand verbessert werden.

The purpose of this study was to assess a 4-month inpatient treatment program based on integrated models for patients with substance use and psychiatric disorders (dual diagnosis patients). On admission and at the 1-year follow-up, a consecutive sample of 118 dual diagnosis patients who entered the program were assessed by interview. Eighty-four patients (70.6%) completed the 1-year follow-up interview, reporting less frequent substance use, less severe psychiatric symptoms, a lower rehospitalization rate, and better housing conditions than on admission. Patients diagnosed with a comorbid personality disorder had a better improvement in the frequency of drinking and were less likely to be rehospitalized than patients with schizophrenia or depression. The results suggest that the integrated inpatient program may be a promising treatment approach for dual diagnosis patients. The results await replication in controlled studies that need to include an assessment of outpatient treatment following inpatient programs.

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences increase the risk for psychological disorders and lower psychosocial functioning across the lifespan. However, less is known about the processes through which ACE are linked to multiple negative outcomes. The aim of the FACE epidemiological study is to investigate emotion regulation (emotional reactivity, perseverative thinking and self-efficacy for managing emotions) and social information processing (rejection sensitivity, interpretation biases and social understanding) as potential mechanisms linking adverse childhood experiences and psychosocial functioning in a large population sample of young adults. It is embedded in a larger project that also includes an ecological momentary assessment of emotion regulation and social information processing and informs the development and evaluation of an online self-help intervention for young adults with a history of ACE. METHODS: The study plans to recruit 5000 young adults aged 18 to 21 from the German-speaking Swiss population. Addresses are provided by Swiss Federal Statistical Office and participants are invited by mail to complete a self-report online survey. If the targeted sample size will not be reached, a second additional sample will be recruited via educational facilities such as universities or teacher training colleges or military training schools. Three follow-ups are planned after 1 year, 2 years and 3 years, resulting in ages 18–24 being covered. The main exposure variable is self-reported adverse childhood experiences before the age of 18, measured at the baseline. Primary outcomes are psychosocial functioning across the study period. Secondary outcomes are social information processing, emotion regulation and health care service use. Statistical analyses include a range of latent variable models to identify patterns of adverse childhood experiences and patterns and trajectories of psychosocial adaptation. DISCUSSION: The results will contribute to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms that link ACE ...

BACKGROUND Adverse childhood experiences increase the risk for psychological disorders and lower psychosocial functioning across the lifespan. However, less is known about the processes through which ACE are linked to multiple negative outcomes. The aim of the FACE epidemiological study is to investigate emotion regulation (emotional reactivity, perseverative thinking and self-efficacy for managing emotions) and social information processing (rejection sensitivity, interpretation biases and social understanding) as potential mechanisms linking adverse childhood experiences and psychosocial functioning in a large population sample of young adults. It is embedded in a larger project that also includes an ecological momentary assessment of emotion regulation and social information processing and informs the development and evaluation of an online self-help intervention for young adults with a history of ACE. METHODS The study plans to recruit 5000 young adults aged 18 to 21 from the German-speaking Swiss population. Addresses are provided by Swiss Federal Statistical Office and participants are invited by mail to complete a self-report online survey. If the targeted sample size will not be reached, a second additional sample will be recruited via educational facilities such as universities or teacher training colleges or military training schools. Three follow-ups are planned after 1 year, 2 years and 3 years, resulting in ages 18-24 being covered. The main exposure variable is self-reported adverse childhood experiences before the age of 18, measured at the baseline. Primary outcomes are psychosocial functioning across the study period. Secondary outcomes are social information processing, emotion regulation and health care service use. Statistical analyses include a range of latent variable models to identify patterns of adverse childhood experiences and patterns and trajectories of psychosocial adaptation. DISCUSSION The results will contribute to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms that link ACE with psychosocial functioning which is crucial for an improved insight into risk and resilience processes and for tailoring interventions. Furthermore, the identification of factors that facilitate or hinder service use among young adults with ACE informs healthcare policies and the provision of appropriate healthcare services. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER NCT05122988. The study was reviewed and authorized by the ethical committee of Northwestern and Central Switzerland (BASEC number 2021-01204).

The loss of an intimate partner in the second half of life is a major challenge and a critical life event. Even if, for most individuals, a critical life event is stressful and psychologically and socially destabilizing, the ways of coping with it and the long-term outcomes (ranging from increased vulnerability to stabilization and growth) are very different. Whether or not this critical life event turns out to be a chronic stressor depends on the individual's personal and social resources. Based on recent research, we propose a complementary and extended view of the crisis and chronic stress models of adjustment to critical life events (Amato, 2000) Lorenz et al., 2006). In fact, turning point experiences bear the potential for new chances, the awakening of a person's potential, overcoming the crisis and contributing to personal growth. For others, however, the same turning point is not only a crisis, but can also mean the onset of chronic disadvantage and stress with the threat of loss of control and increased physical, psychological and social vulnerability. What we also know from life-span and differential psychology is that there is a considerable continuity in psychological well-being over the life-span, independent of adversities and losses (Perrig-Chiello, Jäggi, Buschkühl, Stähelin, & Perrig, 2009).
Based on these insights, the rationale of our project is a transactional model of personality, which claims that individuals try to cope with negative life events (turning points) by activating their available personal and external resources. This view postulates that individuals – based on their biographical experience (e.g., attachment style, past experiences with silent and age-normed transitions, quality of relationship with partner/spouse) and on their actual physical, psychological (e.g., personality; control beliefs; self-esteem; and personal, familial and cultural values) and social resources (e.g., having children, relatives, friends to rely upon) – develop strategies, which allow them to adapt their life perspectives in order to bring continuity in their lives and assure their well-being. We therefore expect that there is a considerable biographical continuity in the way individuals cope with critical life events, and that the loss of an intimate partner is solved in very similar ways. We conceptualize these strategies as adaptive mental mechanisms (such as control beliefs). Based on an integrated bottom-up/top-down conception of subjective well-being (Schimmak, 2007), we expect that the impact of both top-down (dispositional variables, personality) and bottom-up variables (life conditions, financial satisfaction) are essential for the explanation of the outcome variables. However, we anticipate that top-down processes contribute substantial amounts of variance to well-being measures compared to bottom-up effects, which are expected to be less important. Based on subjective well-being research, we hypothesize that the process of coping with loss involves several phases.
First, the period during which the loss occurs (i.e., the first year of loss) is a time of destabilization (periphase). This is followed by a phase of active adaptation to the new situation (second and third years after the loss, past-phase). Finally, a phase of stabilization and return to the habitual baseline level can be expected.
Building upon this theoretical framework and considering the different research gaps outlined above, this project will focus on the following areas:
a) The incidence of bereavement, separation and divorce (cause, point in time) in a representative sample belonging to two age groups (middle and old age). These groups will represent both the German and French-speaking parts of Switzerland.
b) The reasons and circumstances of bereavement, separation and divorce, i.e., the quality of the relationship, marital and sexual satisfaction, agency (initiator or reactor), perceived level of anticipation and control (mastery).
c) The determinants that lead either to (increased) vulnerability or growth after experiencing the loss of an intimate partner. This analysis will take into account the following individual resources: psychological resources (personality; coping style; character strength; personal, familial, cultural and spiritual values; control beliefs; early childhood experiences/attachment; experience of silent and age-normed transitions), social resources (having children, partner, parents, friends), and financial resources and SES.
d) The short-term and long-term outcomes and the process of coping with this critical life event: psychological well-being (mastery, life satisfaction, sense of life), physical well-being (subjective health, health complaints, medication intake), social well-being (emotional and social loneliness, quality of contacts) and financial well-being in the different phases of coping. We will examine the first year of loss (phase of destabilization, peri-phase), the phase of adaptation (2-3 years after loss) and the post-phase or phase of stabilization (3-5 years after loss).


More specially, tthe scientific goals are:
- To initiate a prospective study, where men and women recently divorced and widowed after a long-term marriage are compared to long-term married persons (controls) (data collection 1st wave 2012; second wave 2014, third wave 2016).
- To investigate the reasons and circumstances of bereavement, separation and divorce, i.e., the quality of the relationship, marital and sexual satisfaction, agency (initiator or reactor), perceived level of anticipation and control.
- To analyse the determinants that lead either to vulnerability or growth after experiencing the break-up of marriage or partnership. These analyses will take into account the following individual resources: past critical life events and life trajectories (using a life calendar); psychological resources (personality; coping style; character strength; personal, familial, cultural and spiritual values; control beliefs; early childhood experiences/attachment; experience of silent and age-normed transitions), social resources (children, partner, parents, friends), financial resources and SES.
- To examine the process of psychosocial adaptation to the critical life event and the short-term and long-term outcomes: psychological well-being, physical well-being (subjective health, health complaints, and medication intake), social well-being (emotional and social loneliness, quality of contacts) and financial well-being in the different phases of coping. We will examine the first phase of loss (phase of destabilization, i.e. first two years), the phase of adaptation (2-5 years after loss) and the phase of stabilization (5> years after loss).
The middle and long-term scientific goals of the study are (2013/2014 and beyond):
- Dissemination of research findings (publication in national and international journals, presentation at national and international conferences), and practice (publications, presentations, training, teaching).


Research aimes Phase II (2015 - 2018):

- Continuation of survey (3rd wave 2016):
a) to track the trajectories of psychological adaptation to spousal loss and marital breakup after a long-term relationship;
b) to explore continuities and change in marital satisfaction in long-term married.
- Intervention for vulnerable individuals (complicated grief after separation, divorce, widowhood) recruited from the 2nd wave 2014 (and additinal recruitement).
- Exploration of identity processes and social groups as resources for overcoming psychological vulnerability (especially due to loneliness) in older age.

The research leading to these results was carried out under the AAL Programme under project number AAL-2019-6-168-CP with funding by the European Union and the national funding agencies from the Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland: The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW), Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), and Innosuisse – Swiss Innovation Agency. DELA Nature- En Levensverzekerigen NV is represented in the project by Caroline Smeets and Ilse Pullens. ; Background: Loss of a spouse is a frequent occurrence in later life. While most older adults successfully process this loss and will return to a normal life, about 10% of the individuals are unable to cope, and progress to prolonged grief (PG). PG, in turn, can result in mental and physical problems including poor sleep, cardiovascular problems, depression, and suicidal tendencies. Objective: LEAVES (optimizing the mentaL health and resiliencE of older Adults that haVe lost thEir spouSe via blended, online therapy) is an online bereavement program that will support the prevention and treatment of PG, so that elderly mourners can continue to lead an active, meaningful, and dignified life. LEAVES will cater to secondary end users (eg, family, informal caregivers) by reducing stress. Methods: LEAVES will help older adults to process the loss of a spouse in an online environment, which consists of (1) an existing online grief self-help program LIVIA, (2) the Before You Leave program that allows for storing personal memories, (3) a virtual agent platform, and (4) an accessible front-end design. LEAVES can detect persons at risk for complications, reveal negative trends in their emotional life, and act to counter such trends. The service relies on online support whenever possible but is blended with telephone or face-to-face counseling when necessary. Results: The project will take place between February 2020 and January 2023 and includes a real-life evaluation in which 315 end users will use the service across 3 countries (the Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland). The evaluation of LEAVES will focus on clinical effect, its business case, and technology acceptance. The results will pave the way for smooth integration into existing care paths and reimbursement schemes. Conclusions: The LEAVES service aims to soften the mourning process, prevents depression or social isolation, strengthens widow(er)s resilience and well-being, and quickens one's return to societal participation. ; other ; published