The importance of social media users' responses in tackling digital COVID-19 misinformation in Africa.

Objective: Digital technologies present both an opportunity and a threat for advancing public health. At a time of pandemic, social media has become a tool for the rapid spread of misinformation. Mitigating the impacts of misinformation is particularly acute across Africa, where WhatsApp and other forms of social media dominate, and where the dual threats of misinformation and COVID-19 threaten lives and livelihoods.

Re-engaging with places: Understanding bio-geo-graphical disruption and flow in adult brain injury survivors.

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is one of the most common causes of disability and death in adults worldwide. After a period of rehabilitation, many ABI survivors still face complex mind/body conditions when they try to take up their former life again. Besides lasting visible impairments such as weakness and loss of body balance, there are often less obvious disabilities such as extreme fatigue, hypersensitivity for stimuli, memory, concentration and attention problems or personality changes.

No effect of ambient odor on the affective appraisal of a desktop virtual environment with signs of disorder.

Background: Desktop virtual environments (VEs) are increasingly deployed to study the effects of environmental qualities and interventions on human behavior and safety related concerns in built environments. For these applications it is essential that users appraise the affective qualities of the VE similar to those of its real world counterpart. Previous studies have shown that factors like simulated lighting, sound and dynamic elements all contribute to the affective appraisal of a desktop VE.

Does training general practitioners to elicit patients' illness representations and action plans influence their communication as a whole?

Objective: To examine whether the discussion of illness representations and action plans during medical encounters affects the way patients and general practitioners (GPs) communicate.

Methods: In a quasi-experimental design, 10 GPs first performed care-as-usual conversations with patients. After a 6 h training they performed consultations either emphasizing patients' illness representations or action plans.

A randomized clinical trial of a targeted intervention to moderate alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in at-risk adolescents.

This study investigated the effectiveness of a targeted intervention program aimed at at-risk adolescents in a randomized clinical trial design (N=107). This program combined intervention methods which have been proven effective in reducing drinking in young adults, such as an expectancy challenge, cognitive behavioral skill training and brief motivational feedback. Additionally, this intervention contained the new element of discussing biological, cognitive and social risk factors for developing alcohol problems.

Quality of life in adolescents born small for gestational age: does growth hormone make a difference?

Background/aims: To evaluate quality of life (QoL) in adolescents born SGA without spontaneous catch-up growth, treated with and without long-term growth hormone (GH) therapy. Additionally, to assess whether GH treatment has a positive effect on QoL, besides improving adult height and height SDS during childhood.

Methods: Two groups of adolescents born SGA without spontaneous catch-up growth participated in the QoL evaluation; a GH-treated group (n = 44, mean GH duration: 8.

Models and theories in studies on educating and counseling children about physical health: a systematic review.

The aim of this review is to gain a comprehensive view on the theories and models referred to in studies on educating and counseling children about physical health. A computer search was conducted using PubMed Medline, and Silverplatter Webspirs Psycinfo. Original studies, reviews, and theoretical papers published between 1992-2003 were included.

Overweight children overeat after exposure to food cues.

Overweight is becoming more common in children, but we know nearly nothing about the eating behavior of overweight children. Learning theory predicts that overeating follows from learned associations between the smell and taste of palatable food on the one hand and intake on the other hand. It was tested whether overweight children overeat after confrontation to these cues.

Manipulation of patient-provider interaction: discussing illness representations or action plans concerning adherence.

According to Leventhal's Self-Regulatory Model of Illness, patients have ideas and action plans related to the management of their disease. The aim of this study is to examine whether ideas and action plans relating to hypertension change as a result of general practitioner's (GP's) discussing them during consultation, and whether these changed ideas and actions plans affect adherence. The study employed an experimental design, highlighting three conditions: (0) care-as-usual consultation; (1) discussing patient's ideas about their disorder; and (2) discussing patient's action plans.

Quality of life and self-esteem in children treated for idiopathic short stature.

Objective: Changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and self-esteem were studied in children with idiopathic short stature (ISS) participating in a study on the effect of growth hormone treatment.

Study Design: Prepubertal children (n = 36) with ISS were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. Children with ISS, their parents, and the pediatrician completed HRQOL and self-esteem questionnaires 3 times in 2 years.

Quality of life in preschool children born preterm.

The relationship of preterm birth to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was examined for children aged 1 to 4 years. Three gestational age groups with a NICU history were selected, <32 weeks (n=65), 32 to 36 weeks (n=41), 237 weeks (n=54), and a reference group from the open population (n=50). The main instrument was the TNO-AZL Preschool Quality Of Life (TAPQOL) questionnaire, which was completed by the parents.

Development and psychometric evaluation of the TAPQOL: a health-related quality of life instrument for 1-5-year-old children.

The 43-item TNO-AZL Preschool Children Quality of Life (TAPQOL) questionnaire was developed to meet the need for a reliable and valid instrument for measuring parent's perceptions of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in preschool children. HRQoL was defined as health status in 12 domains weighted by the impact of the health status problems on well-being. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric performance of the TAPQOL.

Health status development in a cohort of preterm children.

Objective: To determine the impact of preterm birth on health status (HS) development at the ages of 5 and 10 years in a cohort of children born before term.

Sample: Six hundred eighty-eight children, born in 1983 with a gestational age of <32 weeks and a birth weight of <1500 g.

Design: Prospectively collected HS variables, obtained from the parents, were analyzed in a longitudinal perspective by using principal component analyses.

Measuring health-related quality of life in children: the development of the TACQOL parent form.

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL), conceptualized as patients' own evaluations of their health status, is an important criterion in evaluation health and health care and in the treatment of individual patients. Until now, few systematic attempts have been made to develop instruments to assess the HRQoL of children using such a conceptualization. This article describes the conceptualization and results of a study aiming to develop such an instrument for children aged 6-15 years using their parents as a proxy.

The proxy problem: child report versus parent report in health-related quality of life research.

This study evaluates the agreement between child and parent reports on children's health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a representative sample of 1,105 Dutch children (age 8-11 years old). Both children and their parents completed a 56 item questionnaire (TACQOL). The questionnaire contains seven eight-item scales: physical complaints, motor functioning, autonomy, cognitive functioning, social functioning, positive emotions and negative emotions.

[Nursing home care on the move; a stock-taking overview of 5 substitution projects nursing home care].

An inventory was made of 5 substitute care projects in old people's homes, performed by the nursing home in Geertruidenberg. Data were gathered by semi-structured interviews and enquiries. The general goal of substitution of nursing home care for outdoor patients is to provide complementary outreaching nursing home services, by which real nursing home admittance can be postponed or avoided.