Development of a complex intervention to improve participation of nursing home residents with joint contractures: a mixed-method study.

Background: Joint contractures in nursing home residents limit the capacity to perform daily activities and restrict social participation. The purpose of this study was to develop a complex intervention to improve participation in nursing home residents with joint contractures.

Methods: The development followed the UK Medical Research Council framework using a mixed-methods design with re-analysis of existing interview data using a graphic modelling approach, group discussions with nursing home residents, systematic review of intervention studies, structured 2-day workshop with experts in geriatric, nursing, and rehabilitation, and group discussion with professionals in nursing homes.

Effects of rehabilitation aftercare on work participation in patients with musculoskeletal disorders: a propensity score-matched analysis.

Meta-analyses of rehabilitation studies in chronic back pain patients in Germany showed a lack of sustainability of rehabilitation programs. The German Pension Insurance therefore developed an intensified aftercare program to support rehabilitation outcomes. The aim of this study was to compare disability pension rates, income from regular employment, and duration of welfare benefits in patients with and without rehabilitation aftercare.

Perceived Medical School stress of undergraduate medical students predicts academic performance: an observational study.

Background: Medical students are exposed to high amounts of stress. Stress and poor academic performance can become part of a vicious circle. In order to counteract this circularity, it seems important to better understand the relationship between stress and performance during medical education.

Acceptance and barriers to access of occupational e-mental health: cross-sectional findings from a health-risk population of employees.

Purpose: Occupational e-mental-health (OEMH) may extend existing instruments for preservation or restoration of health and work ability. As a key precondition to efficient implementation, this study examined acceptance and person-centered barriers to potential uptake of OEMH for work-related distress in employees with an elevated risk of early retirement.

Methods: Within the framework of the "Third German Sociomedical Panel of Employees", 1829 employees with prior sickness absence payments filled out a self-administered questionnaire.

Observed and expected mortality in the German skin cancer screening pilot project SCREEN.

Objective The main purpose of skin cancer screening is melanoma mortality reduction. Before the implementation of nationwide German skin cancer screening, the pilot project SCREEN was conducted in Schleswig-Holstein in 2003-2004. We aimed to determine whether the pilot project had achieved a mortality reduction.

Work ability, effort-reward imbalance and disability pension claims.

Background: Effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and self-rated work ability are known independent correlates and predictors of intended disability pension claims. However, little research has focused on the interrelationship between the three and whether self-rated work ability mediates the relationship between ERI and intended disability pension claims.

Aims: To investigate whether self-rated work ability mediates the association between ERI and intended disability pension claims.

Sex and gender matters : A sex-specific analysis of original articles published in the Wiener klinische Wochenschrift between 2013 and 2015.

Background: The variables sex and gender are significantly related to health and disease of women and men. Aiming at quality research, biomedical publications need to account for the key variables sex and gender.

Methods: All original articles published in the Wiener klinische Wochenschrift between 2013 and 2015 were extracted into a database.

Explaining the impact of poverty on old-age frailty in Europe: material, psychosocial and behavioural factors.

Background: Previous research found poverty to be associated with adverse health outcomes among older adults but the factors that translate low economic resources into poor physical health are not well understood. The goal of this analysis was to assess the impact of material, psychosocial, and behavioural factors as well as education in explaining the poverty-health link.

Methods: In total, 28 360 observations from 11 390 community-dwelling respondents (65+) in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004-13, 10 countries) were analysed.

Self-Reported Work Ability Predicts Rehabilitation Measures, Disability Pensions, Other Welfare Benefits, and Work Participation: Longitudinal Findings from a Sample of German Employees.

Purpose The study examined the performance of the Work Ability Index in predicting rehabilitation measures and disability pensions, sickness absence and unemployment benefits, and work participation among a sample of workers previously receiving sickness absence benefits. Methods Workers aged 40 to 54 years who received sickness absence benefits in 2012 completed the Work Ability Index in 2013. Outcomes were extracted from administrative data records.

Quality of care in inflammatory bowel disease: results of a prospective controlled cohort study in Germany (NET).

Background/aims: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) need comprehensive, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral health care. In Germany, evidence-based care pathways have been developed to improve the quality of care of IBD patients. We aimed to evaluate the effects of the implementation of some of these recommendations on patient-related outcomes.

The moderating role of personal resources in the relationship between psychosocial job demands and health: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: The main objective of this research was to investigate the buffering effects of an individual's physical, mental and social resources in the relationship between psychosocial job demands and (1) health symptoms, (2) mental strain and (3) the body mass index (BMI), respectively.

Methods: We performed moderated regression analysis to examine data from a large cross-sectional survey of an Austrian employee sample (n9434).

Results: The results revealed a robust association between psychosocial job demands and health symptoms as well as mental strain, but only a weak relationship between psychosocial job demands and BMI.

Managing the transition (ManTra): a resource for persons with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and their health professionals: protocol for a mixed-methods study in Italy.

Introduction: 15 years after clinical onset, about 50% of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis convert to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). Notwithstanding the importance of this transition, knowledge of the experiences and needs of patients and carers is fragmentary, and targeted interventions are not available. Managing the Transition to SPMS (ManTra) is a mixed methodology project to develop and test a user-led resource for newly diagnosed patients with SPMS.

Association between risk factors and detection of cutaneous melanoma in the setting of a population-based skin cancer screening.

Early detection is considered to improve the prognosis of cutaneous melanoma. The value of population-based screening for melanoma, however, is still controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive power of established risk factors in the setting of a population-based screening and to provide empirical evidence for potential risk stratifications.

Effectiveness of Graded Return to Work After Multimodal Rehabilitation in Patients with Mental Disorders: A Propensity Score Analysis.

Purpose Graded return to work (GRTW) is a strategy aimed at bringing people gradually back to coping with a full workload after an extended period of sick leave. This study aims to determine the effect of GRTW in addition to a multimodal rehabilitation on longer-term work participation in people with chronic mental disorders (CMDs). Methods Patients filled out questionnaires at the start of a multimodal rehabilitation and 15 months later.

Web-Based Intervention for Physical Activity and Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among Chinese University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Ample evidence demonstrates that university students are at high risk for sedentary behaviors and inadequate fruit and vegetable intake (FVI). Internet-based interventions for multiple health behavior appear to be promising in changing such unhealthy habits. Limited randomized controlled trials have tested this assumption among Chinese university students.

Exploring differential health effects of work stress: a latent class cluster approach.

Background: While evidence highlights the detrimental health consequences of adverse working conditions, effect sizes vary by the stressor examined. In this study, we aimed to explore the differential effects various constellations of job demands have on prevalent symptom clusters.

Methods: We analysed self-reported data from a nationwide Austrian survey ( = 16,466), based on a cross-sectional design.

Stroke unit care in germany: the german stroke registers study group (ADSR).

Background: Factors influencing access to stroke unit (SU) care and data on quality of SU care in Germany are scarce. We investigated characteristics of patients directly admitted to a SU as well as patient-related and structural factors influencing adherence to predefined indicators of quality of acute stroke care across hospitals providing SU care.

Methods: Data were derived from the German Stroke Registers Study Group (ADSR), a voluntary network of 9 regional registers for monitoring quality of acute stroke care in Germany.

Patient education for people with multiple sclerosis-associated fatigue: A systematic review.

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease often causing decreased quality of life, social withdrawal and unemployment. Studies examining the effect of pharmacological interventions demonstrated only minor effects, whereas non-pharmacological interventions as e.g.

The reliability of the German version of the Richards Campbell Sleep Questionnaire.

Background: The assessment of sleep quality in critically ill patients is a relevant factor of high-quality care. Despite the fact that sleep disturbances and insufficient sleep management contain an increased risk of severe morbidity for these patients, a translated and applicable instrument to evaluate sleep is not available for German-speaking intensive care settings.

Aim: This study aimed to translate the Richards Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ), a simple and validated instrument eligible for measuring sleep quality in critically ill patients, and subsequently to evaluate the internal consistency of the German version of the RCSQ.

Predictive Validity of a Screening Instrument for the Risk of Non-Return to Work in Patients With Internal Diseases.

Objective: To test the predictive validity of the SIMBO (Screening-Instrument zur Feststellung des Bedarfs an medizinisch-beruflich orientierten Maßnahmen in der medizinischen Rehabilitation [Screening Instrument for the Access to Work-Related Multimodal Rehabilitation]; total score ranges from 0 to 100 points) in patients with internal diseases in a rehabilitation setting.

Design: Prospective multicenter study.

Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation centers.

Development and evaluation of a generic education program for chronic diseases in childhood.

Objective: To support families with a chronically ill child, a modular curriculum and new healthcare structures (trainer education, quality management) for a group self-management program (ModuS) were developed. ModuS focuses on common psychosocial aspects of chronic conditions and comprises generic and disease-specific modules. A pilot test was conducted for asthma by comparing ModuS with an established asthma-specific education program (CAE).

Quality of life in long-term and very long-term cancer survivors versus population controls in Germany.

Background: With the increasing number and diversity of cancer survivors, studies of survivors' physical, emotional, and social health are of growing importance. While there is a growing body of literature on the quality of life (QoL) of cancer patients during the early years past diagnosis, less is known regarding QoL in long-term survivors (LTS) (5 + years past diagnosis) and particularly in very long-term survivors (VLTS) (10 + years past diagnosis). The objective of our study is to: (1) compare QoL of long-term cancer survivors and population norms; and (2) assess whether any deficits in QoL of survivors observed 5-10 years past diagnosis persist beyond the 10th year past diagnosis.