Development of a short version of the Dutch version of the Spielberger STAI trait anxiety scale in women suspected of breast cancer and breast cancer survivors.

The objective of the current study was to develop a short form of the Dutch version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Trait scale and to provide initial validation data in a sample of breast cancer patients and survivors. This short trait anxiety (A-Trait) scale was designed to reduce time and effort required of severely ill or handicapped patients involved in extensive assessment procedures. Another goal was to assess A-Trait with minimal overlap with content that reflects Quality of Life (QoL) and fatigue.

Results of the search for personality disorder screening tools: clinical implications.

Objective: To examine the characteristics, validity, posttest probabilities, and screening capabilities of 8 different instruments used to predict personality disorders.

Method: Screening instruments were examined in 3 prospective, observational, test-development studies in 3 random samples of Dutch psychiatric outpatients, using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Disorders (SCID-II) as the "gold standard." The studies were performed from March 2004 to March 2005 (study 1: N = 195, mean age = 32.

Quick Personality Assessment Schedule (PAS-Q): validation of a brief screening test for personality disorders in a population of psychiatric outpatients.

Objective: The internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and validity of the Quick Personality Assessment Schedule (PAS-Q), as a screening instrument for personality disorders were studied in a random sample of 195 Dutch psychiatric outpatients, using the SCID-II as a gold standard.

Method: All patients were interviewed with the PAS-Q. With an interval of 1 to 2 weeks, they were interviewed with the SCID-II.

Diagnostic efficiency among psychiatric outpatients of a self-report version of a subset of screen items of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Personality Disorders (SCID-II).

This article describes the identification of a 10-item set of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SCID-II) items, which proved to be effective as a self-report assessment instrument in screening personality disorders. The item selection was based on the retrospective analyses of 495 SCID-II interviews. The psychometric properties were studied in a prospective validation study in a random sample of Dutch adult psychiatric outpatients, using the SCID-II interview as the gold standard.

Determinants of overall quality of life in women over the first year after surgery for early stage breast cancer.

Purpose: Scores on quality of life (QOL) domains and facets are probably subject to fluctuations across time due to the course of breast cancer treatment. Existing QOL studies have been cross-sectional. Therefore, this prospective follow-up study examined whether QOL domains (physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment) and QOL facets contributed differentially across time to overall QOL in women with early stage breast cancer.

Second operation is not related to psychological outcome in breast cancer patients.

To examine the effect of multiple surgical treatments on psychological outcomes in women with early stage breast cancer (BC) in a prospective follow-up study. Questionnaires for depressive symptoms (CES-D), fatigue (FAS), anxiety (STAI-State), physical health (WHOQOL-100), psychological health (WHOQOL-100) and overall quality of life and general health (WHOQOL-100) were completed before diagnosis (Time-1) and 1 (Time-2), 3 (Time-3), 6 (Time-4) and 12 (Time-5) months after the last surgical treatment. From the 217 participating women with early stage BC, 78 (35.

Clinical factors are not the best predictors of quality of sexual life and sexual functioning in women with early stage breast cancer.

Background: Few studies have prospectively assessed the impact of breast cancer (BC) on women's sexual lives. Therefore, this study examines the determinants of quality of sexual life (QOSL), sexual functioning (SF), and sexual enjoyment (SE) at 6 and 12 months after surgical treatment.

Methods: All participants completed a measure of QOSL (The World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment instrument-100 (WHOQOL-100)-facet Sexual Activity) before diagnosis (Time-1), and 1 (Time-2), 3 (Time-3), 6 (Time-4) and 12 months (Time-5) after surgical treatment.

Personality predicts perceived availability of social support and satisfaction with social support in women with early stage breast cancer.

Goals Of Work: This study examines the relationships between personality, on the one hand, and perceived availability of social support (PASS) and satisfaction with received social support (SRSS), on the other hand, in women with early stage breast cancer (BC). In addition, this study examined whether a stressful event (i.e.

Predictors of depressive symptoms 12 months after surgical treatment of early-stage breast cancer.

Objective: Nearly half of the women with breast cancer (BC) show depressive symptoms in the first year after diagnosis. This has a major impact on patients' lives. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify predictors of depressive symptoms 12 months after surgical treatment.

The WHOQOL-100 has good psychometric properties in breast cancer patients.

Objective: This prospective follow-up study examines the psychometric properties of the World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment instrument (WHOQOL-100) for assessing quality of life in women suspected of having breast cancer and disease-free breast cancer survivors.

Study Design And Setting: The WHOQOL-100 was tested at five points in time in women with a palpable lump in the breast or an abnormality on a screening mammography (N=356) and breast cancer survivors (N=140). Furthermore, all participants completed measures of anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Inventory) and depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale).

Health-related quality of life following vertical banded gastroplasty.

Background: Morbid obesity is associated with increased risks of morbidity and mortality as well as poor quality of life (QoL). Therefore, the goal of bariatric surgery should not only be reducing weight and treatment of comorbid conditions, but also improving QoL. Moreover, enhanced QoL may motivate patients to adhere to adequate health behavior in order to maintain the surgically established weight loss.

Psychosocial predictors of success after vertical banded gastroplasty.

Background: Psychosocial and behavioral factors contribute to successful postoperative outcomes. Patients' psychological factors may be predictive of postsurgical adjustment. The identification of these factors would allow targeting patients at risk of a poor outcome.

Bariatric surgery and bariatric psychology: evolution of the Dutch approach.

Background: Success of bariatric surgery is largely dependent on patients' abilities to change their lifestyle and underlying psychosocial and behavioral factors; these factors should be carefully scrutinized. However, no consensus or guidelines exist for these evaluations.

Materials And Methods: To get a better understanding of the practice of bariatric surgery and bariatric psychology in The Netherlands and its evolution, a survey of bariatric surgery programs was conducted.

Psychosocial functioning, personality, and body image following vertical banded gastroplasty.

Background: In addition to increased risks of morbidity and mortality, extreme obesity is substantially associated with psychosocial problems. Therefore, the ultimate goal of bariatric surgery should not only be reducing weight and counteracting comorbid conditions but also improving psychosocial functioning. In addition to being an important goal of bariatric surgery, enhanced psychosocial functioning may motivate patients to adhere to adequate health behavior to maintain the surgically established weight loss.

Weight loss and eating behavior following vertical banded gastroplasty.

Background: Bariatric surgery is the treatment of choice for patients with morbid obesity. In addition to surgery, postoperative dietary behavior is an important mediator of weight loss and, therefore, critical in influencing outcome. Surgical treatment of obesity is not an alternative to dieting but a method to enforce dieting.

Quality of life and related concepts in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review.

Several studies have investigated the quality of life (QOL) of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to review the conceptual and methodological quality of quality of life (QOL) studies among patients with PD and to identify factors associated with poor (HR)QOL. Computerized bibliographic databases were screened for publications from 1960 to January 2007.

The suitability of patient-based measures in the field of Parkinson's disease: a systematic review.

The aim of this study is to appraise the suitability of current quality of life (QOL) questionnaires for use in the field of Parkinson's disease (PD). Computerized bibliographic databases were screened for publications from 1960 to December 2006. Predefined selection criteria were used to identify QOL questionnaires in PD studies.

The relationship between dimensional personality models and quality of life in psychiatric outpatients.

This study examines the relationship between personality and quality of life (QOL) in psychiatric outpatients (N=495). Personality was conceptualized using two-dimensional models, respectively, the five-factor model (FFM) and Cloninger's seven-factor model. The WHOQOL-100 was used for assessing QOL.

Relations between negative affect, coping, and emotional eating.

The study was designed to examine the relations between negative affect, coping, and emotional eating. It was tested whether emotion-oriented coping and avoidance distraction, alone or in interaction with negative affect, were related to increased levels of emotional eating. Participants were 125 eating-disordered women and 132 women representing a community population.

Predictors of quality of life: a model based study.

In this study, predictors of quality of life (QOL) in psychiatric outpatients (n = 410) were investigated using the psychological stress model developed by Taylor and Aspinwall (Psychosocial Stress. Perspective on Structures, Theory, Life-Course and Methods. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1996; pp.

Relations between dietary restraint, depressive symptoms, and binge eating: A longitudinal study.

Objective: Temporal relations between dietary restraint, depressive symptoms, and binge eating were tested by means of three competing models positing that (1) dietary restraint and depressive symptoms predict future increases in binge eating, (2) binge eating predicts future increases in dietary restraint and depressive symptoms, and (3) binge eating is reciprocally related to these two factors.

Method: Longitudinal data from a community sample of Dutch females (N = 143; M age = 19.6) was used to test these relations while controlling for initial levels of these factors.

Inner body and outward appearance: the relationships between appearance orientation, eating disorder symptoms, and internal body awareness.

This study investigated the associations of appearance orientation and eating disorder symptoms with internal body awareness in an eating-disordered group of women and a general sample of women. In the eating-disordered group, appearance orientation was positively associated with internal body awareness. Eating disorders symptoms were negatively related to the awareness of bodily signals.

Psychosocial functioning following bariatric surgery.

Morbid obesity is associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality as well as psychosocial problems and poor quality of life. The ultimate goal of bariatric surgery is not only reduced weight and reduction of co-morbidities, but also improved psychosocial functioning and quality of life. However, not all patients are successful.

Relationship between mood related disorders and quality of life in a population of Dutch adult psychiatric outpatients.

Our objective was to investigate explicitly the relationship between mood-related disorders (MRDs) and quality of life (QOL), while trying to overcome the limitations of earlier research. QOL scores of psychiatric outpatients with MRDs were compared with QOL scores of outpatients without MRD and a sample of the general Dutch population (GDP). QOL was assessed with the World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment instrument, long version (WHOQOL-100), and depressive symptoms were assessed with the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90).

Quality of life and psychopathology: investigations into their relationship.

Objective: Quality of life (QOL) has become a topic of growing interest in medical and psychiatric practice in general, and in research in particular. Although the body of knowledge about the complex relationship between QOL and psychiatric disorders is growing, understanding this relationship still remains difficult. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to get more and new insights into this relationship.