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Aims To report a systematic review of the psychometric properties of self-report instruments to identify the symptoms of anxiety in pregnancy to help clinicians and researchers select the most suitable instrument. Background Excessive anxiety in pregnancy is associated with adverse birth outcomes, developmental and behavioural problems in infants and postnatal depression. Despite recommendations for routine psychological assessment in pregnancy, the optimal methods to identify anxiety in pregnancy have not been confirmed. Design Psychometric systematic review. Data sources A systematic literature search of the multiple databases (1990-September 2014). Review methods Identification of self-report instruments to measure anxiety in pregnancy using COSMIN guidelines to assess studies reporting a psychometric evaluation of validity and reliability. Results Thirty-two studies were included. Studies took place in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain and the Netherlands. Seventeen different instruments were identified. Measures of validity were reported in 19 papers and reliability in 16. The overall quality of the papers was rated as fair to excellent using the COSMIN checklist. Only one paper scored excellent in more than one category. Conclusion Many instruments have been adapted for use in different populations to those for which they were designed. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale have been tested more frequently than other instruments, yet require further assessment to confirm their value for use in pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To determine the relation between existing levels of alcohol screening and brief intervention rates in five European jurisdictions and role security and therapeutic commitment by the participating primary healthcare professionals. Methods: Health care professionals consisting of, 409GPs, 282 nurses and 55 other staff including psychologists, social workers and nurse aids from 120 primary health care centres participated in a cross-sectional 4-week survey. The participants registered all screening and brief intervention activities as part of their normal routine. The participants also completed the Shortened Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Perception Questionnaire (SAAPPQ), which measure role security and therapeutic commitment. Results: The only significant but small relationship was found between role security and screening rate in a multilevel logistic regression analysis adjusted for occupation of the provider, number of eligible patients and the random effects of jurisdictions and primary health care units (PHCU). No significant relationship was found between role security and brief intervention rate nor between therapeutic commitment and screening rate/brief intervention rate. The proportion of patients screened varied across jurisdictions between 2 and 10%. Conclusion: The findings show that the studied factors (role security and therapeutic commitment) are not of great importance for alcohol screening and BI rates. Given the fact that screening and brief intervention implementation rate has not changed much in the last decade in spite of increased policy emphasis, training initiatives and more research being published, this raises a question about what else is needed to enhance implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:To (1) examine the opinions of medical staff working in spinal cord injury (SCI) centres (SCICs); (2) evaluate their knowledge, attitudes and practices towards obesity prevention and management; (3) report the number of beds and dietitians available at each SCIC.Methods:A 37-item questionnaire was sent to 23 SCICs in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland between September 2012 and January 2013.Results:Eighteen SCICs returned the questionnaires for analysis. All respondents stated that they had an interest in obesity treatment but only 2.3% of the respondents received training in obesity management. Sixty-one percent of staff did not consider body mass index (BMI) to be appropriate for use in SCI patients and subsequently less than half of the respondents use BMI routinely. The majority of respondents reported that they are confident in dealing with overweight (74.5%) and obese (66.1%) SCI adults, less than half (44.1%) are confident in treating overweight and obese SCI children. Respondents also indicated the need for nationally adopted guidelines and a lack of physical activity provision. There were 17.5 whole-time equivalent (WTE) dietitians recorded in 22 SCICs, equivalent to 47.8 beds per WTE dietitians (range 10-420). Non-UK SCIC dietitians are significantly better resourced than in UK SCICs (beds per WTE dietitian: 36 vs 124, P=0.035).Conclusion:Medical staff expressed the need to participate in obesity prevention and management. Appropriate training should be considered for all medical staff and the development of specific weight management guidelines and dietetic provision should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]