Psychische gezondheid van 13-14-jarigen voor en na de cafébrand in Volendam; een prospectief onderzoek met gegevens van de getroffenen en van een controlepopulatie [Mental health of 13- and 14-year-old children before and after the café fire in Volendam, the Netherlands; a prospective study with data from the victims and a control population]

Objective. To examine the effects of a catastrophe on the mental health of adolescents using prospective data from before and after the catastrophe. Design. Prospective, comparative. Method. The Volendam café fire wounded about 250 adolescents, of whom 14 died. In September and October 1999, 15 months before the catastrophe, all grade 2 pupils...

Measuring the Emotions Elicited by Office Chairs

Office chair designers have traditionally focused their design efforts on optimizing the so-called 'ergonomic fit.' Although the effort to design chairs that support physical comfort is commendable, the focus on ergonomics neglects the possible impact of emotional responses on the general experience of comfort. The general experience of comfort...

How to conduct research on burnout: Advantages and disadvantages of a unidimensional approach in burnout research

When conducting research on burnout, it may be difficult to decide whether one should report results separately for each burnout dimension or whether one should combine the dimensions. Although the multidimensionality of the burnout concept is widely acknowledged, for research purposes it is sometimes convenient to regard burnout as a...

Interacting in desktop and mobile context: Emotion, trust and task performance

The Personal Assistant for onLine Services (PALS) project aims at attuning the interaction with mobile services to the momentary usage context. Among other thing, PALS should adequately address emotional states of the user and support users building up an adequate trust level during service interactions. In an experiment, participants performed...

Early detection of psychosocial problems in adolescents: How useful is the Dutch Short Indicative Questionnaire (KIVPA)?

Background: Psychosocial problems, such as behavioural, emotional, and educational problems, are highly prevalent among children and adolescents. Early treatment may reduce these problems, if accurately identified. Validated questionnaires may support identification. The aim of this study is to assess the psychometric qualities of such a...

Health-related quality of life in relation to gender and age in couples planning IVF treatment

Background: Specific subgroups of people planning IVF might be at risk of having more psychological or health-related problems. Identification of subgroups at risk may better enable allocation of appropriate counselling. Methods: A group of 425 men and 447 women planning to undergo IVF treatment filled out a questionnaire. Four domains of health...

The influence of mental fatigue on facial EMG activity during a simulated workday

The present study investigated whether facial EMG measures are sensitive to the effects of fatigue. EMG activity of the corrugator and frontalis muscles was recorded during and after a simulated workday. Fatigue was evaluated in four ways: (a) the building up of fatigue effects during the workday, (b) the building up of fatigue during a test...

Detecting psychosocial problems among 5-6-year-old children in Preventive Child Health Care: The validity of a short questionnaire used in an assessment procedure for detecting psychosocial problems among children

Background: An extended re-assessment of the psychometric properties of the LSPPK, an instrument aimed at identifying children with emotional and behavioural problems. Methods: Data came from a national sample in the Netherlands of parents of 1248 children (aged 5-6 years) interviewed by child health professionals (CHP). Data were obtained...

Quality of life and work in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis of working age

Objective: To investigate the relationship between work and quality of life (QOL) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) aged 16-59. Methods: 1056 patients with RA and 658 with AS were included in the study. Data were obtained by postal questionnaire, which included severa generic and disease related QOL...

Effects of a supportive-expressive group intervention on long-term psychosocial adjustment in HIV-infected gay men

Background: This study compared the effects of a supportive-expressive group intervention (GI) with an educational control condition (EC) on long-term psychosocial adjustment in gay men with HIV infection. Method: Subjects (n = 85) were randomized after stratification for disease stage and use of antiretroviral medication. GI consisted of 4...

Family factors and life events as risk factors for behavioural and emotional problems in children

Abstract The aim of this study was to identify groups of children at increased risk of behavioural or emotional problems on the basis of socio-demographic characteristics, family characteristics, and recent life events with a focus on unemployment and divorce or separation. We obtained data on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) from a community...

Onderkenning van en beleid bij psychosociale problemen in de schoolgezondheidszorg [Identification and management of psychosocial problems in school health care]

Objective. To assess the degree to which school physicians and nurses working in preventive child health care (child health professionals; CHPs) identify and manage psychosocial problems in children, and to determine its association with parentreported behavioural and emotional problems, sociodemographic factors, and medical history of children....

The bovine protein -lactalbumin increases the plasma ratio of tryptophan to the other large neutral amino acids and in vulnerable subjects raises brain serotonin activity reduces cortisol concentration and improves mood under stress

Background: Increased brain serotonin may improve the ability to cope with stress, whereas a decline in serotonin activity is involved in depressive mood. The uptake of the serotonin precursor, tryptophan, into the brain is dependent on nutrients that influence the cerebral availability of tryptophan via a change in the ratio of plasma...

Kwaliteit van leven bij kinderen met sikkelcelziekte in de regio Amsterdam [Quality of life of children with sickle cell disease in the Amsterdam area]

Objective. To determine the differences in quality of life between children with sickle cell disease and healthy immigrant children. Design. Descriptive, comparative. Method. The quality of life of children with sickle cell disease between 5 and 15 years old being treated in the Emma Children's Hospital AMC in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, was...

Dutch monitor on stress and physical load: Risk factors, consequences, and preventive action

Objectives - Due to recent changes in legislation on occupational health and safety, a national monitor on stress and physical load was developed in The Netherlands to monitor (a) risks and consequences of stress and physical load at work, (b) preventive actions in companies to reduce these risks, and (c) organisational and environmental...

Bedwetting and behavioural and/or emotional problems

Objective: To assess the link between enuresis nocturna and the severity of behavioural and/or emotional problems in Dutch children and the course of these problems. Setting: West-Mine Region in the Netherlands: Subjects and methods: Prospective cohort study involving 66 of the 80 bedwetting children from all 1652 children born in 1983 in this...

Comparing the concepts of mental load and stress

This paper delineates mental load and stress as two related concepts that originate from different theoretical frameworks. A proper distinction between the two concepts is important, not only for theory building, but because it may lead also to different interpretations of experimental results, and, conse-quently, to different recommendations in...

Some effects of an ACTH 4-9 analog (Org 2766) on human performance

The effects (on human beings) of the ACTH analog Org 2766 were investigated for a range of performance tests: complicated serial reaction task, running memory span, verbal learning and non-verbal mental ability tests (closure flexibility and non-verbal abstraction). Subjective ratings on feeling were taken and heart rate was measured. Only the...