Publications by authors named "Ramona Lucas"
Article Synopsis
- People with mental disorders often face higher rates of physical illnesses and shorter life expectancies, but there's a gap in effective interventions across Europe to address these issues.
- The HELPS project is an interdisciplinary initiative that aims to gather knowledge on the physical health challenges faced by individuals with mental illnesses and identify effective health promotion practices across different European countries.
- The project will create a "physical health promotion toolkit" to help staff and residents in mental health facilities choose appropriate health interventions, leveraging methods like stakeholder analysis, literature reviews, and expert consultations to ensure the toolkit is effective and adaptable.
Multi-centre and cross-cultural research require the use of common protocols if the results are to be either pooled or compared. All too often adherence to protocols is not discussed in reports and where it is reported poor adherence is frequently noted. This paper discusses the use of international guidelines developed by WHOQOL Field Centres to conduct and report focus groups aimed at eliciting key concepts of quality of life among older adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the prevalence and predictors of depression treatment in a diverse cross-national sample of primary care patients.
Method: At primary care facilities in six countries (Spain, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Russia, and the United States), a two-stage screening process was used to identify 1,117 patients with current depressive disorder. At baseline, all patients completed a structured diagnostic interview as well as measures of anxiety symptoms, alcohol use, chronic comorbid physical conditions, and perceived barriers to treatment.
Background: Being overweight or obese has substantial effects on individuals' perceptions of their health and quality of life (QoL). Generic measures often miss important QoL information, and existing obesity-specific instruments have shortcomings with respect to cross-cultural input, application to differing levels of severity, conceptual clarity, and patient burden.
Objective: This study aimed to develop culturally sensitive measures of QoL and symptoms in overweight or obese persons, both those trying to lose weight and those not trying to lose weight.