Kids’ Life and Times: using an Internet survey to measure children’s health-related quality of life

Objective
To examine the psychometric properties of an internet version of a children and young person's quality of life measure originally designed as a paper questionnaire.

Methods
Participants were 3,440 10 and 11 year old children in Northern Ireland who completed the KIDSCREEN-27 online as part of a general attitudinal survey. The questionnaire was animated using cartoon characters that are familiar to most children and the questions appeared on screen and were read aloud by actors.

Results
Exploratory principal component analysis of the online version of the questionnaire supported the existence of five components in line with the paper version. The items loaded on the components that would be expected based on previous findings with five domains - physical well-being,psychological well-being, autonomy and parents, social support and peers and school environment.Internal consistency reliability of the five domains was measured using Cronbach's alpha and the results suggested that the scale scores were reliable. The domain scores were similar to those reported in the literature for the paper version.

Conclusions
These results suggest that the factor structure and internal consistency reliability scores of the KIDSCREEN-27 embedded within an online survey are comparable to those reported in the literature for the paper version.

Safeguarding children and public health: midwives' responsibilities

Using a healthy settings framework, this study aims to compare and contrast how midwives working in either hospital or community settings are currently responding to the co-occurrence of domestic and child abuse; their perceived role and willingness to identify abuse; record keeping; reporting of suspected or definite cases of child abuse; and training received. Methods: A survey questionnaire was sent to 861 hospital and community midwives throughout Northern Ireland, which resulted in 488 midwives completing the questionnaire, a 57% response rate. Comparisons were made using descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation and the questionnaire was validated using exploratory factor analysis. Results: Community midwives reported receiving more training on domestic and child abuse. Although a high percentage of both hospital and community midwives acknowledged a link between domestic and child abuse, it was the community midwives who encountered more suspected and definite (p

Is low self-esteem an inevitable consequence of stigma? An example from women with chronic mental health problems

It is often assumed that membership in a stigmatized group has negative consequences for the self-concept. However, this relationship is neither straightforward nor inevitable, and there is evidence suggesting that negative consequences may not necessarily occur (Psychol. Rev. 96(4) (1989) 608). This paper argues that the relationship has not been sufficiently theorized, and that a more detailed analysis is called for in order to understand the relationship between stigma and the self. The paper presents a critical examination of modified labeling theory (Am. Sociol. Rev. 52 (1987) 96), with examples from a study examining perceptions of stigma and their relationship to self-evaluation in women with chronic mental health problems. Open-ended interviews and qualitative analyses were used in preference to global measures of self-esteem. It was found that although the women were aware of society's unfavorable representations of mental illness, and the effects this had on their lives, they did not accept these representations as valid and therefore rejected them as applicable to the self. The participants did not deny their mental health problems, but their acceptance of labels was critical and pragmatic. Labels were rejected when they were perceived as carrying an unrealistic and negative stereotype, or when the women felt that their symptoms did not fit with the diagnostic criteria. The research illustrates the importance of considering people's subjective understandings of stigmatized conditions and societal reactions in order to understand the relation between stigma and the self. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pharmaceutical care of patients with gestational diabetes mellitus

Rationale, aims and objective To investigate whether the introduction of a programme of optimising drug treatment, intensive education and self-monitoring of patients diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) at an early stage (

An innovative approach to integrated medicines management

To determine whether an increased input by clinical pharmacists at each stage of the patient's hospital journey, from admission through discharge, resulted in an enhanced level of patient care as measured by a number of clinical and economic outcomes.

Health-related quality of life and children’s happiness with their childcare

Background Almost without exception, research into the range and quality of childcare provision, and its correlates with children’s development, comes from the perspective of adults. Parents, childcare workers, teachers and the general public have all been asked for their views on childcare. In contrast, there is a dearth of information on attitudes to childcare provision and its correlates from the perspective of the children themselves.

Methods A total of 3657 Primary 7 children, who are 10 or 11 years of age, completed the KIDSCREEN-27 health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measure along with questions on their childcare provision as part of an online survey carried out in schools.

Results Most children receiving childcare from people other than their parents were completely happy with their care. Childcare was related to poorer HRQoL for girls on four of the ?ve KIDSCREEN domains, although the effect sizes were small. For both boys and girls, there were statistically signi?cant, although modest, correlations between happiness with childcare and scores on all ?ve domains of the KIDSCREEN-27.

Conclusions Overall, the ?ndings suggest that most children are happy with their care and that any differences between the HRQoL of those who are cared for by their parents and those who are not are small to moderate.

Does the Child Health Computing System adequately identify children with cerebral palsy?

Background This paper assesses the usefulness of the Child Health Computing System as a source of information about children with cerebral palsy.

Methods A comparative survey of information held on the Child Health Computing System (CHCS) and the Northern Ireland Cerebral Palsy Register (NICPR) in one Health and Social Services Board in Northern Ireland was carried out. The sample comprised children with cerebral palsy aged 5–9 years.

Results Of the 135 cases recorded on the NICPR, 47 per cent were not found on the CHCS; the majority of these children had no computer record of any medical diagnosis. Of the 82 cases recorded on the CHCS, 10(12 per cent) were not found on the NICPR; five of these cases (6 per cent) were found on follow–up not to have CP.

Conclusions Unless improvements are made in case ascertainment, case validation and recording activities, the evidence suggests that the CHCS will not be able to provide the same quality of information for needs assessment and surveillance of very low birthweight infants in relation to cerebral palsy as is provided by a specialist case register.

Residential segregation and health in Northern Ireland

Patterns of residential segregation in Northern Ireland reflect historic sectarian conflict as well as current animosities. A number of indices of segregation are examined in this paper and their relative merits in capturing localised societal divisions are discussed.The implications of such divisions on health as mediated through conflict-related stress are then considered. Costed datasets of hospital, community and anxiety/depression prescribing data havebeen assembled and attributed to local geographies.The association between geographical variations in these costs and levels of segregation was modelled using regression analysis.It was found that the level of segregation does not help to explain variations in costed utilisation of acute and elderly services but does explain variations in the costs of prescribing for anxiety and depression with controls for socio-economic deprivation included. Results in this paper would indicate that strategies to promote good relations in Northern Ireland have positive implications for mental health.

Organizational Change and Employees' Mental Health: The Protective Role of Sense of Coherence

Objective: To examine the impact of sense of coherence (SOC) on psychiatric events in the context of organizational merger. Methods: Data were derived from a prospective

Health, psychosocial factors and retirement intentions among Finnish physicians

Background Early retirement among physicians is a worldwide problem and all efforts to try to minimize it are of importance.