Publications by authors named "Brouwers E"

Undetected chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Syrian migrants are the largest non-European migrant group in the Netherlands with HBV and HCV prevalence rates above 2%. This study aimed to reach Syrian migrants for HBV and HCV testing using point-of-care tests (POCT).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: An increasing number of people resumes life after cancer treatment. Although the (long-term) side-effects of cancer and its treatment can be significant, less is known about the impact on cancer survivors' participation in daily life. The aim of this study was to explore the common experiences of cancer survivors in resuming life after treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In recent years, sustainable employability, rooted in the capability approach, has received substantial attention due to its associations with work and health-related outcomes. While previous studies have indicated that being able and enabled to achieve important work values (i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Persistent somatic symptoms (PSS) describe recurrent or continuously occurring symptoms such as fatigue, dizziness, or pain that have persisted for at least several months. These include single symptoms such as chronic pain, combinations of symptoms, or functional disorders such as fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome. While many studies have explored stigmatisation by healthcare professionals toward people with PSS, there is a lack of validated measurement instruments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Workplace stigmatisation and discrimination are significant barriers to accessing employment opportunities, reintegration and promotion in the workforce for people with mental illnesses in comparison to other disabilities. This paper presents qualitative evidence of anticipated and experienced workplace stigma and discrimination among individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) in 35 countries, and how these experiences differ across countries based on their Human Development Index (HDI) level.

Design: Mixed-method cross-sectional survey.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Persistent somatic symptoms (PSS) describe recurrent or continuously occurring symptoms such as fatigue, dizziness, or pain that have persisted for at least several months. These include single symptoms such as chronic pain, combinations of symptoms, or functional disorders such as fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome. While stigmatisation by healthcare professionals is regularly reported, there are limited measurement instruments demonstrating content validity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The aim of the study was to gain more insight into barriers to and facilitators for finding and keeping competitive employment for autistic adults. Research questions were: (1) What barriers and facilitators do autistic adults report in finding and keeping competitive employment?; and (2) What are differences and similarities between autistic adults with and without paid employment regarding barriers and facilitators for sustainable employment?

Methods: Eight focus groups were conducted (N = 64 autistic adults). Four groups included only participants without paid employment (N = 24), and four groups consisted exclusively of participants with current paid employment (including part-time, N = 40).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: As stigma is a barrier to work participation of unemployed people with mental health issues/mental illness (MHI), a stigma awareness intervention can be helpful to make informed decisions about disclosing MHI. The aim of this process evaluation was to investigate the feasibility of a stigma awareness intervention, to explore experiences of clients and their employment specialists; and to give recommendations for further implementation.

Methods: The intervention consisted of a stigma awareness training for employment specialists and a decision aid tool for their clients with (a history of) MHI.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to explore the meaning of work for the subjective well-being of autistic adults with and without paid (competitive) employment and to evaluate the differences and similarities between these groups.

Methods: Eight focus groups were conducted, including a total of 64 autistic adults. Four groups entailed participants with current paid employment (including part-time) and four groups entailed participants without paid employment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Workplace mental health stigma is a major problem as it can lead to adverse occupational outcomes and reduced well-being. Although workplace climate is largely determined by managers and co-workers, the role of co-workers in workplace stigma is understudied. Therefore, the aims are: (1) to examine knowledge and attitudes towards having a coworker with Mental Health Issues or Illness (MHI), especially concerning the desire for social distance, (2) to identify distinct subgroups of workers based on their potential concerns towards having a coworker with MHI, and (3) to characterize these subgroups in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and background characteristics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: A barrier for reemployment of people with mental health issues/mental illness (MHI) is workplace stigma and discrimination. In this RCT the effectiveness of a stigma-awareness intervention addressing finding work, retaining work and decisional stress were evaluated.

Methods: A cluster RCT was conducted in 8 Dutch municipal practices.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The recent concept of sustainable employability (SE), which refers to being able and enabled to achieve valuable work goals, has lately attracted substantial attention in many developed countries. Although limited cross-sectional studies found that SE in the form of capability set was positively associated with work outcomes, why and through which mechanism SE is related to crucial work outcomes remains still unexplored. Therefore, the present three-wave study aimed to (1) investigate the SE-work outcomes linkage over time, and (2) uncover the psychological pathway between SE and two work outcomes (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Brain oedema is a life-threatening complication of various neurological conditions. Understanding molecular mechanisms of brain volume regulation is critical for therapy development. Unique insight comes from monogenic diseases characterized by chronic brain oedema, of which megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts (MLC) is the prototype.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Research suggests that military personnel frequently delay disclosing mental health issues and illness (MHI), including substance use disorder, to supervisors. This delay causes missed opportunities for support and workplace accommodations which may help to avoid adverse occupational outcomes. The current study aims to examine disclosure-related beliefs, attitudes and needs, to create a better understanding of personnel's disclosure decision making.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Patients with persistent somatic symptoms (PSS) experience stigmatising attitudes and behaviours by healthcare professionals. While previous research has focussed on individual manifestations of PSS related stigma, less is known about sound ways to measure stigmatisation by healthcare professionals towards patients with PSS. This review aims to assess the quality of questionnaire measurement instruments and make recommendations about their use.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Internalized stigma can have numerous negative effects on the well-being and employment of people with mental illness. Brief, valid, and reliable measures are needed to get a better understanding of self-stigmatization. The aim of this study is to translate the brief version of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI-10) scale into a Dutch version and to assess the reliability and validity of this Dutch version in a sample of employees with mental illness.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: In the field of work, there is a shift towards more value-based approaches to study the sustainable employability of the present-day worker. The capability approach offers a value based and innovative conceptualisation and framework of sustainable employability characterized by contextuality, normativity and diversity. The capabilities of Dutch employees have been established and validated, yet it is not known which conversion factors on a personal, work and organizational level enable employees to achieve value in work in different Dutch occupational sectors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Serpin E2 (PN-1) is a glycoprotein that inhibits thrombin and contributes to the regulation of the plasminergic system.
  • An ELISA was developed to accurately measure human PN-1 levels in various biological fluids, including plasma and aortic tissue.
  • The study found consistent PN-1 quantification with high recovery rates in samples, making this ELISA a valuable tool for future research on the role of serpin E2 in different clinical contexts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The capability set for work questionnaire (CSWQ) is being used to measure the new model of sustainable employability building on the capability approach. However, previous studies on the psychometric properties of the instrument are limited and cross-sectional. This two-way study aimed to (1) evaluate the convergent validity of the CSWQ with the theoretically related constructs person-job fit, strengths use, and opportunity to craft and (2) test the predictive and incremental validity of the questionnaire for the well-established work outcomes, including work ability, work engagement, job satisfaction, and task performance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: A spinal cord injury (SCI) has a large impact on a person's physical, psychological, and social health. Previous studies focused on physical recovery in patients with SCI and assessed their health-related quality of life (HRQOL) with general questionnaires, which often contain irrelevant questions. The SCI-QOL questionnaire was developed to specifically assess the HRQOL of the SCI population.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Some patients respond differently to a medication called secukinumab, which is used to treat psoriasis, and finding the right dose is really important because it's expensive.
  • Researchers did a study with 78 patients to see how much secukinumab was in their blood at different times, and they used special tests to measure it.
  • They found that for a good response to the medication, blood levels should be at least 39.1 mg/L, and people with higher body weights might need a different dose to get the best results.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose The decision whether to disclose mental illness at work can have important positive and negative consequences for sustainable employment and well-being. The aim of the study is (1) to examine workers' expectations of outcomes of mental illness disclosure in the workplace and to evaluate their expectations regarding which factors are of influence on these outcomes, (2) to identify distinct subgroups of workers, and (3) to characterize these subgroups in terms of personal, sociodemographic, and work-related characteristics. Methods In this cross-sectional survey study, a sample of 1224 Dutch workers was used.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Often, military personnel do not seek treatment for mental illness or wait until they reach a crisis point. Effective, selective, and indicated prevention is best achieved by seeking treatment early.

Aims: We aimed to examine military personnel's attitudes, beliefs, and needs around seeking treatment for mental illness.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In the mid-seventies, biliopancreatic diversion became popular as weight-loss surgery procedure. This bariatric procedure combines distal gastric resection and intestinal malabsorption, leading to greater weight loss and improvement of co-morbidities than other bariatric procedures. Nowadays, biliopancreatic diversion has become obsolete due to the high risk of nutritional complications.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF