Optimism health-related hardiness and well-being among older Australian women

This article examines whether optimism and health-related hardiness contribute to health and well-being among older women. Positive psychological characteristics, including optimism and health-related hardiness, are correlated with good self-rated health, but these variables are all affected by socioeconomic status, social support, physical illness and access to services. Using data from 9501 Australian women aged 73 to 78, we show that optimism and health-related hardiness explain a significant proportion of variance in all subscales of the SF-36, and in stress, even after these confounders are taken into account. The data, although cross-sectional, suggest that positive personal characteristics may contribute to well-being.

Personality disorders in the community: Results from the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being Part III - Relationships between specific type of personality disorder, Axis 1 mental disorders and physical conditions with disability and health consultations

Background The aims of this study were threefold. First, to ascertain whether personality disorder (PD) was a significant predictor of disability (as measured in a variety of ways) over and above that contributed by Axis I mental disorders and physical conditions. Second, whether the number of PD diagnoses given to an individual resulted in increasing severity of disability, and third, whether PD was a significant predictor of health and mental health consultations with GPs, psychiatrists, and psychologists, respectively, over the last 12 months. Method Data were obtained from the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, conducted between May and August 1997. A stratified random sample of households was generated, from which all those aged 18 and over were considered potential interviewees. There were 10 641 respondents to the survey, and this represented a response rate of 78%. Each interviewee was asked questions indexing specific ICD-10 PD criteria. Results Five measures of disability were examined. It was found that PD was a significant predictor of disability once Axis I and physical conditions were taken into account for four of the five disability measures. For three of the dichotomously-scored disability measures, odds ratios ranged from 1.88 to 6.32 for PD, whilst for the dimensionally-scored Mental Summary Subscale of the SF-12, a beta weight of -0.17 was recorded for PD. As regards number of PDs having a quasi-linear relationship to disability, there was some indication of this on the SF-12 Mental Summary Subscale and the two role functioning measures, and less so on the other two measures. As regards mental consultations, PD was a predictor of visits to GPs, psychiatrists and psychologists, over and above Axis I disorders and physical conditions. Conclusion The study reports findings from a nationwide survey conducted within Australia and as such the data are less influenced by the selection and setting bias inherent in other germane studies. However, it does support previous findings that PD is a significant predictor of disability and mental health consultations independent of Axis I disorders and physical conditions.

Is discrepancy between actual and preferred work activities a factor in work-related stress for mental health occupational therapists and social workers

In the Western developed nations, the changing pattern of mental health care provision has necessitated mental health staff adopting new approaches to service delivery across a diverse and expanding range of service settings. The impact of changed service delivery on Australian mental health professionals is an area that has not been well studied. The aim of the study was to identify the current clinical work activities performed by occupational therapists and social workers and whether there was a discrepancy between the actual and preferred work activities. The study also aimed to identify whether any discrepancy between their actual and preferred clinical work activities was associated with higher levels of stress. A cross-sectional survey of 304 (response rate 76.6%) occupational therapists and social workers in Australian mental health services was conducted. A work activities scale developed specifically for this study and the Mental Health Professionals Stress Scale were used to measure actual and preferred work activities and stress respectively. Both groups experienced a discrepancy between their actual and preferred work activities, with the occupational therapists and the social workers mostly wanting to undertake a diverse range of activities to a significantly greater extent than they currently were. As predicted, stress was associated with the discrepancy between the kind of work that the participants wanted to do and the kind of work that their job actually entailed. Health workers require assistance to adapt to their new work roles and to achieve a balance between generic and discipline-specific competencies. This has implications for education and professional training.

Doctors do not adequately look after their own physical health

Studies of doctors' health have emphasised psychological health, and limited data have been collected on their physical health status. Doctors often fail to follow current preventive health guidelines for their physical health. About half of doctors do not have an established relationship with an independent general practitioner. This would enhance their health and provide a means of ready access to the healthcare system should a problem arise.

Physical status, nutrient intake and dietary pattern of adolescent female factory workers in urban Bangladesh

This cross-sectional study examined the physical status, nutrient intake and dietary pattern of adolescent female factory workers in urban Bangladesh. A total of 1211 postmenarchial girls aged 14-19y from seventeen readymade garment industries spread over the Dhaka City participated in the study. Body weight, height and skin fold thickness were measured for all subjects. The nutrient intake was assessed by 24-h recall method and 7-day food frequency questionnaire was used to investigate their dietary pattern on a sub-sample of 509 girls. Sixty five percent of the girls were short (height-for-age,

Health-protective behaviours and risk of fall-related hip fractures: a population-based case-control study

Background: fall-related hip fractures are one of the most common causes of disability and mortality in older age. The study aimed to quantify the relationship between lifestyle behaviours and the risk of fall-related hip fracture in community-dwelling older people. The purpose was to contribute evidence for the promotion of healthy ageing as a population-based intervention for falls injury prevention. Methods: a case-control study was conducted with 387 participants, with a case-control ratio of 1:2. Incident cases of fall-related hip fracture in people aged 65 and over were recruited from six hospital sites in Brisbane, Australia, in 2003-04. Community-based controls, matched by age, sex and postcode, were recruited via electoral roll sampling. A questionnaire designed to assess lifestyle risk factors, identified as determinants of healthy ageing, was administered at face-to-face interviews. Results: behavioural factors which had a significant independent protective effect on the risk of hip fracture included never smoking [adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 0.33 (0.12-0.88)], moderate alcohol consumption in mid- and older age [AOR: 0.49 (0.25-0.95)], not losing weight between mid- and older age [AOR: 0.36 (0.20-0.65)], playing sport in older age [AOR: 0.49 (0.29-0.83)] and practising a greater number of preventive medical care [AOR: 0.54 (0.32-0.94)] and self-health behaviours [AOR: 0.56 (0.33-0.94)]. Conclusion: with universal exposures, clear associations and modifiable behavioural factors, this study has contributed evidence to reduce the major public health burden of fall-related hip fractures using readily implemented population-based healthy ageing strategies.

Effects of physical disturbance on infaunal and epifaunal assemblages in subtropical, intertidal seagrass beds

We assessed the impact of large-scale commercial and recreational harvesting of polychaete worms Marphysa spp. on macrobenthic assemblages in a subtropical estuary in Queensland, Australia, by examining: (1) the spatial extent of harvesting activities and the rate of recovery of the seagrass habitat over an 18 to 20 mo period; (2) the recovery of infauna in and around commercial pits of known age; (3) the indirect effects of physical disturbance from trampling and deposition of sediments during harvesting on epibenthos in areas adjacent to commercial and recreational pits; (4) impacts of potential indirect effects through manipulative experimentation. Harvesting caused a loss of seagrass, changes to the topography and compaction of the sediments associated with the creation of walls around commercial pits, and the deposition of rubble dug from within the pit. The walls and rubble were still evident after 1.8 to 20 mo, but comprised only a small proportion of the total area on the intertidal banks. There was a shift from an intertidal area dominated by Zostera capricorni to one with a mixture of Z. capricorni, Halophila spp. and Halodule uninervis, but there was no overall decline in the biomass of seagrass in these areas. There were distinct impacts from harvesting on the abundance of benthic infauna, especially amphipods, polychaetes and gastropods, and these effects were still detectable after 4 mo of potential recovery. After 12 me, there were no detectable differences in the abundances of these infauna between dug areas and reference areas, which suggested that infauna had recovered from impacts of harvesting; however, an extensive bloom of toxic fireweed Lyngbya majsucula may have masked any remaining impacts. There were no detectable impacts of harvesting on epifauna living in the seagrass immediately around commercial or recreational pits.

Maternal health during pregnancy and perinatal mortality in Bangladesh: evidence form a large-scale community-based clinical trial

Perinatal mortality is very high in Bangladesh. In this setting, few community-level studies have assessed the influence of underlying maternal health factors on perinatal outcomes. We used the data from a community-based clinical controlled trial conducted between 1994 and 1997 in the catchment areas of a large MCH/FP hospital located in Mirpur, a suburban area of Dhaka in Bangladesh, to investigate the levels of perinatal mortality and its associated maternal health factors during pregnancy. A total of 2007 women were followed after recruitment up to delivery, maternal death, or until they dropped out of the study. Of these, 1584 who gave birth formed our study subjects. The stillbirth rate was 39.1 per 1000 births [95% confidence interval (CI) 39.0, 39.3] and the perinatal mortality rate (up to 3 days) was 54.3 per 1000 births [95% CI 54.0, 54.6] among the study population. In the fully adjusted logistic regression model, the risk of perinatal mortality was as high as 2.7 times [95% CI 1.5, 4.9] more likely for women with hypertensive disorders, 5.0 times [95% CI 2.3, 10.8] as high for women who had antepartum haemorrhage and 2.6 times [95% CI 1.2, 5.8] as high for women who had higher haemoglobin levels in pregnancy when compared with their counterparts. The inclusion of potential confounding variables such as poor obstetric history, sociodemographic characteristics and preterm delivery influenced only marginally the net effect of important maternal health factors associated with perinatal mortality. Perinatal mortality in the study setting was significantly associated with poor maternal health conditions during pregnancy. The results of this study point towards the urgent need for monitoring complications in high-risk pregnancies, calling for the specific components of the safe motherhood programme interventions that are designed to manage these complications of pregnancy.