Quality of life in patients with respiratory allergy is influenced by the causative allergen.

OBJECTIVE We aimed to analyze health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in adults with newly diagnosed respiratory allergy according to the sensitization profile for relevant aeroallergens in their usual area of residence. METHODS We performed a cross-sectional, epidemiological, observational, descriptive, multicenter study in allergy clinics in Spain. The sample comprised adults diagnosed with rhinitis, asthma, or both caused by significant allergens in their residential area (olive and/or grass pollen or house dust mite). Allergic rhinitis was classified according to the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma guidelines; asthma was classified according to the Guía Españiola para el Manejo del Asma (Spanish Guideline on the Management of Asthma). HRQOL was studied according to the ESPRINT-15 questionnaire and Mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire. Control of asthma was measured using the Asthma Control Questionnaire 5. RESULTS We studied 1437 patients. Rhinitis was the most common respiratory disease. The HRQOL of rhinitis patients was lower in those sensitized to olive pollen only and in those with combined sensitization to olive and grass pollens. HRQOL associated with rhinitis was worse in patients diagnosed with both rhinitis and asthma than in patients diagnosed with rhinitis only. Asthma patients sensitized to olive pollen or olive and grass pollens had worse HRQOL. CONCLUSIONS In our study population, the HRQOL of patients with respiratory allergies varied with the allergen responsible for symptoms. In patients with rhinitis, the presence of asthma significantly worsened rhinitis-associated HRQOL.

Prevalence and factors associated with difficulty and intention to quit smoking in Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: Recent data indicate a slight decrease in the prevalence of smoking in Switzerland, but little is known regarding the intention and difficulty to quit smoking among current smokers. Hence, we aimed to quantify the difficulty and intention to quit smoking among current smokers in Switzerland. METHODS: Cross-sectional study including 607 female and 658 male smokers. Difficulty, intention and motivation to quit smoking were assessed by questionnaire. RESULTS: 90% of women and 85% of men reported being "very difficult" or "difficult" to quit smoking. Almost three quarters of smokers (73% of women and 71% of men) intended to quit; however, less than 20% of them were in the preparation stage and 40% were in the precontemplation stage. On multivariate analysis, difficulty to quit was lower among men (Odds ratio and 95% [confidence interval]: 0.51 [0.35-0.74]) and increased with nicotine dependence and number of previous quitting attempts (OR=3.14 [1.75-5.63] for 6+ attempts compared to none). Intention to quit decreased with increasing age (OR=0.48 [0.30-0.75] for ≥65 years compared to <45 years) and increased with nicotine dependence, the number of previous quitting attempts (OR=4.35 [2.76-6.83] for 6+ attempts compared to none) and among non-cigarette smokers (OR=0.51 [0.28-0.92]). Motivation to quit was inversely associated with nicotine dependence and positively associated with the number of previous quitting attempts and personal history of lung disease. CONCLUSION: Over two thirds of Swiss smokers want to quit. However, only a small fraction wishes to do so in the short term. Nicotine dependence, previous attempts to quit or previous history of lung disease are independently associated with difficulty and intention to quit.

"Quitter le milieu" Une étude sociologique des processus de désaffiliation religieuse du milieu évangélique suisse

La thématique des désaffiliations religieuses du milieu évangélique est le parent pauvre des études faites jusqu'à ce jour sur ce courant religieux. En effet, l'accent est généralement mis sur son développement en termes d'affiliation faisant alors l'impasse sur les pertes qu'il connaît pourtant. De plus, la question des désaffiliations religieuses est un angle d'approche sociologique particulièrement fécond pour étudier les groupes religieux en permettant, entre autres, de cerner plus en profondeur leur identité, les mécanismes qui favorisent leur pérennisation, mais aussi leur rapport à la société environnante. Dans ce travail, qui s'inscrit en sociologie des religions et qui puise autant dans la littérature sur les désaffiliations religieuses que dans celle des désengagements militants, l'analyse s'est focalisée sur les processus de désengagement au niveau microsociologique : quels sont les motifs qui président les désaffiliations, comment se déroulent ces dernières, quels effets ont-elles sur l'individu en termes identitaires et comment sont-elles perçues par ceux qui restent ? Ces principales questions ont permis de (re] questionner des éléments constitutifs de l'engagement évangélique : les processus de socialisation ; la structuration des liens intragroupe développés par le milieu et son rapport à l'extérieur ; son système normatif; son système de représentation du monde et la démarche religieuse qu'il valorise, qui sont autant d'aspects qui jouent un rôle dans les processus de désaffiliation. Plus précisément, ces éléments agissent en tant que mécanismes de rétention tant sociaux que psychologiques compliquant ainsi le désengagement. Cette thèse s'est construite sur dix-sept entretiens semi directifs menés auprès de personnes ayant grandi pour la plupart dans une famille évangélique et qui ont décidé, un jour, de ne plus fréquenter ce milieu religieux. Pour élargir la perspective analytique et pour permettre de comprendre et d'expliquer les processus de désaffiliation en lien avec le groupe quitté, un ensemble de septante-huit entretiens semi directifs et de mille cent questionnaires standardisés de membres d'Eglises évangéliques a été mobilisé. Partant des logiques du désengagement, cette thèse affine les connaissances actuelles sur l'évangélisme dans le contexte de la modernité, grâce à l'éclairage inédit qu'elle lui donne. Elle développe également le champ des connaissances sur les désaffiliations religieuses en lui fournissant un nouvel exemple de cas tout en lui offrant une autre façon de théoriser les sorties de groupes religieux qui valorisent un engagement de type militant. - Religious disaffiliations from the evangelical milieu have not yet been investigated. Indeed, former studies have usually focused on the development of the milieu by looking at conversions. However, it appears that the study of the disaffiliation processes may not only give results on the reasons and experiences of those disaffiliating, but also shed light on the attributes and the development of the evangelical milieu itself. The main goal of this thesis was to fill this gap in the literature. From a microsociological approach, this thesis sought to answer the following central question : Why, how and with what effects do individuals leave the evangelical milieu and how is this phenomenon perceived, interpreted and managed by the individuals who leave the evangelical community and by the members of the evangelical milieu? These questions enabled me to investigate the functioning of the evangelical milieu : its processes of socialization ; internal and external relationships ; normative system ; belief system or its religious engagement. This set of aspects can influence and complicate the processes of disaffiliation. The analysis of religious disaffiliation was based on seventeen qualitative interviews with former members of evangelical chrurches who decided, one day, not to attend an evangelical church anymore and who question more or less strongly the « system of evangelical thought ». Seventy-eight qualitative interviews with members of evangelical free churches and a representative survey with members of evangelical free churches (N = 1100] completed the analysis and inserted the individual disengagement in the « milieu's logics ». This thesis complements and enriches the literature on evangelism as well as on religious disaffiliation in general.

Real-life versus package insert: a post-marketing study on adverse-event rates of the virosomal hepatitis A vaccine Epaxal® in healthy travellers.

There are various methods to collect adverse events (AEs) in clinical trials. The methods how AEs are collected in vaccine trials is of special interest: solicited reporting can lead to over-reporting events that have little or no biological relationship to the vaccine. We assessed the rate of AEs listed in the package insert for the virosomal hepatitis A vaccine Epaxal(®), comparing data collected by solicited or unsolicited self-reporting. In an open, multi-centre post-marketing study, 2675 healthy travellers received single doses of vaccine administered intramuscularly. AEs were recorded based on solicited and unsolicited questioning during a four-day period after vaccination. A total of 2541 questionnaires could be evaluated (95.0% return rate). Solicited self-reporting resulted in significantly higher (p<0.0001) rates of subjects with AEs than unsolicited reporting, both at baseline (18.9% solicited versus 2.1% unsolicited systemic AEs) and following immunization (29.6% versus 19.3% local AEs; 33.8% versus 18.2% systemic AEs). This could indicate that actual reporting rates of AEs with Epaxal(®) may be substantially lower than described in the package insert. The distribution of AEs differed significantly between the applied methods of collecting AEs. The most common AEs listed in the package insert were reported almost exclusively with solicited questioning. The reporting of local AEs was more likely than that of systemic AEs to be influenced by subjects' sex, age and study centre. Women reported higher rates of AEs than men. The results highlight the need for detailing the methods how vaccine tolerability was reported and assessed.

Bilan de santé à 50 ans: formation des médecins praticiens en prévention clinique

En 1994, l'entreprise Ciba SC située à Monthey (canton du Valais, Suisse) a décidé d'élargir ses actions de promotion de la santé en offrant à ses collaborateurs de 50 ans une consultation médicale intitulée "Bilan de santé". 1.1. Historique. 1.2. Prolongation du projet auprès des praticiens. 2. Population et méthodes. 2.1. Médecins et module de formation : Réalisation du "Module de consultation des 50 ans en pratique ambulatoire, remboursement, évaluation du module de formation. 2.2. Collaborateurs des usines de Monthey. 2.3. Réalisation pratique et déroulement de la consultation. 2.4. Evaluation de l'impact du projet. 3. Résultats. 3.1. Participation, habitudes de vie et santé des participants : tabagisme, alimentation, activité physique, alcool, drogues, médicaments, situation de vie et état psychique, prévention routière, vaccinations, hypercholestérolémie, données cliniques, facteurs de risques identifiés et reportés par le médecin. 3.2. Evaluation, l'opinion des patients : satisfaction, conséquences sur les habitudes de vie. 3.3. Evaluation, l'opinion des praticiens : satisfaction, impact et souhaits perçus chez les médecins, déroulement de la consultation, examens de laboratoire, rémunération. 4. Discussion. 5. Conclusion.

Adaptation en français et en allemand d'une échelle de pression des pairs pour jeunes adultes : le Peer Pressure Inventory [Adaptation of a peer pressure scale in French and German: the Peer Pressure Inventory].

BACKGROUND: Peer pressure is regarded as an important determinant of substance use, sexual behavior and juvenile delinquency. However, few peer pressure scales are validated, especially in French or German. Little is known about the factor structure of such scales or the kind of scale needed: some scales takes into account both peer pressure to do and peer pressure not to do, while others consider only peer pressure to do. The aim of the present study was to adapt French and German versions of the Peer Pressure Inventory, which is one of the most widely used scales in this field. We considered its factor structure and concurrent validity. METHODS: Five thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven young Swiss men filled in a questionnaire on peer pressure, substance use, and other variables (conformity, involvement) in a cohort study. RESULTS: We identified a four-factor structure, with the three factors of the initial Peer Pressure Inventory (involvement, conformity, misconduct) and adding a new one (relationship with girls). A non-valued scale (from no peer pressure to peer pressure to do only) showed stronger psychometric qualities than a valued scale (from peer pressure not to do to peer pressure to do). Concurrent validity was also good. Each behavior or attitude was significantly associated with peer pressure. CONCLUSION: Peer pressure seems to be a multidimensional concept. In this study, peer pressure to do showed the strongest influence on participants. Indeed, peer pressure not to do did not add anything useful. Only peer pressure to do affected young Swiss men's behaviors and attitudes and was reliable.

Les comportements face au VIH/sida des hommes qui ont des relations sexuelles avec des hommes: résultats de Gaysurvey 2009

Gaysurvey est une enquête menée périodiquement en Suisse parmi les hommes qui ont des relations sexuelles avec des hommes (HSH). Elle s'inscrit dans le dispositif de surveillance du VIH, établi par l'Office fédéral de la santé publique, en tant qu'instrument de suivi des comportements face au VIH/sida dans ce groupe-cible. Elle a déjà été réalisée à huit reprises. [Auteurs, p. 5] [Table des matières] 1. Résumé. 2. Zusammenfassung. 3. Introduction. 4. Méthodologie. 5. Résultats : Participation - Caractéristiques sociodémographiques - Activité sexuelle et comportements préventifs - Relations stables - Relations occasionnelles - Indicateur global d'exposition au risque - Test VIH - Séropositivité et comportements préventifs - Autres maladies infectieuses - VID/sida dans la vie quotidienne - Premiers contacts avec la prévention. 6. Conclusions. 7. Bibliographie. 8. Liste des tableaux et graphiques.

Effectiveness of a pediatric palliative home care team as experienced by parents and health care professionals.

OBJECTIVES: Little data are available on palliative home care for children. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a specialized pediatric palliative home care team (PPHCT) as experienced by parents and health care professionals (HCPs). METHODS: Parents and HCPs involved in the care of terminally ill children who died and whom the PPHCT was in charge of were surveyed with questionnaires focusing on satisfaction with the PPHCT, satisfaction with the course of the dying phase, and the development of anxiety, depression, and prolonged grief disorder. RESULTS: Forty-three parent dyads participated (return rate, 88%). Satisfaction with the PPHCT scored a median of 10 (numeric rating scale, 0-10). The child's death was predominantly experienced as very peaceful (median, 9); 71% died at home. According to parents, involvement of the PPHCT led to highly significant (p<0.001) improvements in the children's symptoms and quality of life, as well as in aspects of communication and administrative barrier reduction. Anxiety was detected in 25% of parents, depression in 19%, and prolonged grief disorder in 13%. HCPs (return rate, 83%) evaluated all investigated care domains (particularly cooperation/communication/family support) as being significantly improved (p<0.001). Thirty-five percent of HCPs felt uncertain concerning pediatric palliative care; 79% would welcome specific training opportunities. CONCLUSIONS: Involvement of a PPHCT is experienced as a substantial improvement of care by parents and HCPs. Coordination of palliative care during the last phase of life appears to be an important quality factor for the home care of dying children and their families.

Information technologies and communication between parents and children

This is an exploratory study that aims, on the one hand, to examine in more detail how children between 12 and 16 years of age use different audiovisual technologies, what they feel and think when using them, and whom they like to speak to about such experiences. On the other hand, we look more deeply into the interactions between adults and children, particularly between parents and their children, in relation to these technologies when children use them at home or in other places. We analysed responses to questionnaires with several common items, administered separately to parents and children. Children’s responses reflect an important level of dissatisfaction when talking with different adults about media activities. Our findings support the thesis that more and more children socialise through new information and communication technologies with little or no recourse to adult criteria, giving rise to the emergence of specific children’s cultures. Crossing of the responses of parents and those of their own children shows us which aspects of media reality adults overestimate or underestimate in comparison to children, and to what degree certain judgements coincide and differ between generations. The results can be applied to the improvement of relations between adults and adolescents, taking advantage of adolescents’ strong motivation to engage in activities using audiovisual media

Politiques et pratiques cantonales en matière de prévention VIH/sida et d'éducation sexuelle à l'école

[Table des matières] I. Introduction et méthode. 1. Evaluation globale de la stratégie de prévention VIH/sida en Suisse. 2. Questions d'évaluation. 3. Développement de la grille d'analyse. 4. Entretiens au niveau supracantonal. 5. Synthèse cantonale et procédure de validation. 6. Analyse transversale des informations. II. Contexte. 1. Structure du système éducatif. 2. Organisation administrative (communale, cantonale et fédérale). 3. Les modèles d'organisation. 4. Origines de l'introduction des trois approches en milieu scolaire. 5. Les offres et les compétences à disposition dans le canton. III. Questions d'évaluation. 1. Bases légales et administratives pour les cours de prévention VIH/sida et d'éducation sexuelle. 2. Limites de la notion d'obligation et la question de consentement parental. 3. Organisation des cours de prévention VIH/sida et d'éducation sexuelle. 4. Niveau administratif. 5. Intervenants. 6. Niveau de couverture atteint par cette éducation. 7. Contenu des cours de prévention VIH/sida et de l'éducation sexuelle. 8. Formation des intervenants : le corps enseignant chargé de l'enseignement sur le VIH et/ou de l'éducation sexuelle, la formation de base, la formation continue, la formation des spécialistes externes dans les régions francophones. 9. Matériel didactique utilisé. IV. Conclusions et recommandations. V. Synthèses cantonales : fiches de synthèse par canton. 1. Grilles pour la récolte d'informations. 2. Guide d'entretien. 3. Lettres de demande de collaboration auprès des irecteurs de l'Instruction Publique (DIP). 4. Principales personnes-ressources contactées par canton. 5. Existence de budgets spécifiques par thème. 6. Concept "Fächerübergreifend" (exemple BEg, école obligatoire). 7. Liste du matériel didactique HIV/sida.

Personality and repeated suicide attempts in dependent adolescents and young adults.

This study compared personality characteristics of subjects with dependence disorders who had previously made a suicide attempt. The population, recruited in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, was composed of 570 subjects (225 females, 345 males, mean age = 27.3, SD = 8.5). The subjects' psychological dimensions were investigated by means of several self-report questionnaires including: BDI-13 (Beck), Sensation-Seeking Scale (Zuckerman), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Taylor), Interpersonal Dependency Inventory (Hirschfeld), MMPI-2, and some additional scales. For most dimensions, repeat attempters, both past and recent, but more specifically the recent repeaters, had a more severe psychological profile compared to the other suicide attempters.

Networks of PhD Students and Academic Performance: A Comparison across Countries

In this article we compare regression models obtained to predict PhD students’ academic performance in the universities of Girona (Spain) and Slovenia. Explanatory variables are characteristics of PhD student’s research group understood as an egocentered social network, background and attitudinal characteristics of the PhD students and some characteristics of the supervisors. Academic performance was measured by the weighted number of publications. Two web questionnaires were designed, one for PhD students and one for their supervisors and other research group members. Most of the variables were easily comparable across universities due to the careful translation procedure and pre-tests. When direct comparison was notpossible we created comparable indicators. We used a regression model in which the country was introduced as a dummy coded variable including all possible interaction effects. The optimal transformations of the main and interaction variables are discussed. Some differences between Slovenian and Girona universities emerge. Some variables like supervisor’s performance and motivation for autonomy prior to starting the PhD have the same positive effect on the PhD student’s performance in both countries. On the other hand, variables like too close supervision by the supervisor and having children have a negative influence in both countries. However, we find differences between countries when we observe the motivation for research prior to starting the PhD which increases performance in Slovenia but not in Girona. As regards network variables, frequency of supervisor advice increases performance in Slovenia and decreases it in Girona. The negative effect in Girona could be explained by the fact that additional contacts of the PhD student with his/her supervisor might indicate a higher workload in addition to or instead of a better advice about the dissertation. The number of external student’s advice relationships and social support mean contact intensity are not significant in Girona, but they have a negative effect in Slovenia. We might explain the negative effect of external advice relationships in Slovenia by saying that a lot of external advice may actually result from a lack of the more relevant internal advice

Réhabilitation multidisciplinaire dans la lombalgie chronique : effets à long terne sur la capacité de travail

Introduction. - La lombalgie chronique reste une pathologie chère incluant les coûts directs et indirects. Les patients coûtant le plus sont ceux ayant un arrêt de travail de plus de 6 mois. Avec le temps, il devient de plus en plus difficile à remettre ces personnes au travail. Devant cette situation de nombreuses possibilités de traitement existent, mais plus que le temps court un programme de réhabilitation interdisciplinaire a les meilleures chances de fonctionner. Le but étant en traitant la personne déconditionnée, à la ramener au travail. Le but de cette étude a été d'étudier le retour au travail, en considérant les changements sur le plan psychologique et l'état de travail avant. Patients et Méthodes. - Nous avons étudié les résultats de 300 de nos patients ayant accompli un programme interdisciplinaire et qui ont été suivis sur 24 mois. Le programme consistait en entraînement physique, de work hardening le tout dans un contexte cognitivecomportemental. Nous avons analysé la relation entre la capacité de travail et sa corrélation avec différents questionnaires de la douleur (VAS, Oswestry ; Roland - Morris, Dallas pain questionnaire ; SF-36, HADS and FABQ). Résultats. - Le 1er facteur a été la capacité de travail, en le comparant avant le travail et à 24 mois après avoir accompli le programme. Il y avait une claire augmentation la faisant passer de 48 % à 80,4 % (p < 0,01). Associé à cette constatation, nous avons observé une réelle diminution dans les appréhensions et dans la douleur sur le plan fonctionnel. IL y avait aussi une relation entre une augmentation de la capacité de travail et une diminution dans les questionnaires fonctionnels, avec p. ex. Un Oswestry passant de 36 % à 14 % à 24 mois. Le retour au travail n'était pas lié à une amélioration des capacités physiques, mais dans une diminution de l'appréhension. Conclusion. - Dans le cadre de la lombalgie chronique, avec des absentéismes répétés, un programme de réhabilitation interdisciplinaire amenant un retour au travail de 72 % des patients avec un taux moyen à 80,4 %, doit être vu comme un moyen positif à traiter ses patients. La corrélation se retrouvait dans la partie psychologique, avec moins d'appréhension et une augmentation des valeurs de la SF 36. En fait, une amélioration de la confidence corporelle reste primordial dans les programmes de restauration fonctionnel, nettement mieux qu'en ciblant que la douleur.

Women in police services in the EU: facts and figures 2012

The Institute for Public Security of Catalonia (ISPC), the only state-funded education and research centre for police in Catalonia-Spain, developed in 2012 a comparative study on Gender diversity in police services in the European Union. The study is an update of the research Facts & Figures 2008 that was carried out by the European Network of Policewomen (ENP), a non-profit organization that works in partnership with colleagues from police and/or law enforcement organizations in its member countries to facilitate positive changes in the position of women in police services. To gather the 2012 data, the ISPC invited EU Member States’ police services to cooperate in the study answering a 10- ITEM questionnaire. The questionnaire was the same tool used in 2008 by the ENP. In February 2012, the ISPC sent the questionnaires through Cepol National Contact Points’ network. In order to include as many police services as possible in the study, the ENP also supported us to gather some of the data. Altogether we received questionnaires from 29 police services corresponding to 17 UE countries. Besides, we used data from open sources about England and Wales police services and the French National Police. In this document you can find: first, the tool we used to collect the data; second, the answers we gathered presented per country; finally, some comparative tables and graphics developed by the ISPC. Countries: Austria, Belgium Cyprus, Denmark, England, Wales, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Swden.

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