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This paper describes the participation of informal caregivers in the discharge process when patients aged 80 and over who were admitted from home to different hospitals in Norway were discharged to long-term community care. Data for this cross-sectional survey were collected through telephone interviews with a consecutive sample of 262 caregivers recruited between October 2007 and May 2009. The Discharge of Elderly Questionnaire was developed by the research team and was designed to elicit data concerning informal caregivers' self-reported perceptions on participation in the discharge process. A descriptive and comparative analysis of Thompson's levels of participation reported by the older generation (spouses and siblings) and the younger generation (adult children and children-in-law, nieces and grandchildren) was undertaken using bivariate cross-tabulations and chi-square tests for association and trend. Analyses showed that the younger generation of caregivers received and provided information to hospital staff to a greater degree than the older generation. Overall, 52% of the informal caregivers reported co-operating with the staff to a high or to some degree. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyse factors predicting the likelihood of informal caregivers reporting co-operation with hospital staff. The odds of younger generation caregivers reporting co-operation were more than twice as high ( OR = 2.121, P = 0.045) as the odds of the older generation. Caregivers of patients with a hearing impairment had higher odds of reporting co-operation ( OR = 1.722, P = 0.049) than caregivers of patients with no such impairment. The length of hospital stay, the caregiver's and patient's gender and education level were not significantly associated with caregiver's co-operation. The informal caregivers' experiences with information practices and user participation in hospitals highlight important challenges that must be taken seriously to ensure co-operation between families and hospitals when elderly patients are discharged back to the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the prevalence of multiple symptoms and the relationships between future expectations and multiple symptoms in a cross-sectional study of 100 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A questionnaire was used to examine the patients' symptoms of breathlessness, anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, fatigue, and pain, and their outlook for the future. All patients reported breathlessness, 64% anxiety, 69% depression, 28% sleeplessness, 72% fatigue, and 45% pain. Those with anxiety reported significant depression ( P < 0.001), and those with fatigue reported significant depression ( P = 0.004). Patients who reported pain also reported significant sleeplessness ( P = 0.022). A negative outlook for the future was reported by 42% of patients who also reported significantly more anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, fatigue, and pain ( P ≤ 0.049). Multiple symptoms are common in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and patients with a pessimistic view of the future reported more symptoms. Those with multiple symptoms and a negative outlook toward the future may benefit from interventions to help them achieve a more positive outlook for the future, which may relieve symptom burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to investigate whether psychosocial functioning in adulthood (e.g., friends support, cohabitation, community connectedness and work satisfaction) could be predicted by mental health, subjective well-being, social relations and behavior problems in adolescence, and whether gender was a moderator in these associations. Data were obtained from a major population-based Norwegian study, the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study ( HUNT), in which 517 men and 819 women completed an extensive self-report questionnaires at baseline (mean age 14.4 years) and at follow-up (mean age 26.9 years). Community connectedness as well as work satisfaction were predicted by subjective well-being. Cohabitation was predicted by male gender and frequency of meeting friends in adolescence, and friends support was predicted by frequency of meeting friends. Gender had a minor effect as a moderator. Frequency of meeting friends and subjective well-being seemed to be the strongest adolescent predictors of psychosocial functioning in young adulthood. These findings may have implications both for prevention and intervention in adolescence, as well as for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports results from two meta-analyses of the potential individual-level outcomes of exposure to workplace bullying. After introducing a theoretical framework for the possible relationships between bullying and outcomes, Study 1 summarizes 137 cross-sectional effect sizes from 66 independent samples (N=77,721). The findings show that exposure to bullying is associated with both job-related and health- and well-being-related outcomes, such as mental and physical health problems, symptoms of post-traumatic stress, burnout, increased intentions to leave, and reduced job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Non-significant or weak associations were established for absenteeism, performance, self-perceptions, and sleep. Study 2 examines longitudinal relationships between bullying and mental health and absenteeism, respectively. Based on prospective associations from 13 samples (N=62,916), workplace bullying influenced mental health problems over time, while baseline mental health problems were associated with a similar increased risk of subsequent reports of exposure to bullying. The long-term effect of exposure to bullying on absenteeism was rather weak. To summarize, the two meta-analyses provide robust evidence for the detrimental effects of workplace bullying that are in line with the theoretical framework presented. The findings have implications for the development of strategies against bullying. Directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jøsendal, O. & Aarø, L. E. (2012). Adolescent smoking behavior and outcome expectancies. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 129-135. Adolescent smoking behavior is assumed to be associated with smoking outcome expectancies. Results in this paper are based on data from the control group of two data collections among Norwegian secondary school students taken approximately 30 months apart (T1 and T2). The dimensionality of smoking outcome expectancies was the same at both time points, revealing three components ('Addicted', 'Not harmful' and 'Social'). After correction for attenuation, the Pearson's correlation between T1 and T2 was 0.41 for the total sumscore, indicating low to moderate relative stability. When examining smoking expectancy sumscore means by smoking habits at T1 and T2, never smokers were different from smokers on both occasions. Never smokers scored low on 'Social' and 'Not harmful', and high on 'Addictive'. All associations were statistically significant ( p < 0.001). The 'Social' dimension was the strongest predictor of smoking behavior at T1 and T2. One of the outcome expectancy sumscores ('Addictive') at T1 predicted smoking habits at T2 after controlling for smoking habits at T1 ( p < 0.01). This predictor was significant also after entering outcome expectancy sumscores at T2 into the model ( p < 0.05). These results indicate that outcome expectations other than the health-related ones should be paid attention to when planning new prevention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been hypothesized that Laestadianism has contributed to the less drinking observed among indigenous Sami. This paper further investigates the bivariate protective influence of Sami ethnicity on youth drinking behavior using logistic regressions. We simultaneously controlled for the influence of religious revival movements (Laestadianism or evangelic) and religious importance (being personally Christian), in addition to socio-demographics and parental factors. Cross-sectional data from the 1994/95 North Norwegian Youth Study including 2,950 (675 Sami) 15-19 year-old high school students (RR: 85%) was used. Sami ethnicity was statistically significant for two out of six alcohol outcome measures, after adjustment for religiosity and other covariates, indicating less current drinking and party drinking. Religiousness was associated with higher youth and parental abstinence across ethnicities. Generally, stronger protective influences on drinking behavior were found for religious importance (being personally Christian) than religious affiliation (Laestadianism). The non-significance between Sami and non-Sami drinking may partly be explained by ethnic differences in religiosity, but also socio-demographics (e.g., residing in the Sami Highland) and parental factors (e.g., abstinence) contributed to such a result. Laestadianism`s profound impact on Sami culture, and its strong anti-alcohol norms may have contributed to a religious-socio-cultural context of abstinence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Objective sales data have indicated that the Norwegian indoor smoke-free regime implemented in June 2004 did not affect the hospitality business negatively. This paper investigates whether self-reports on the economic impact of the smoking ban from employees in the hospitality sector gave similar results, and whether post-ban self-reports on the economic impact of the ban were influenced by pre-ban attitudes towards smoke-free policies. Methods: A random sample of 516 employees in bars and restaurants stated their attitudes towards smoke-free policies shortly before the ban became effective. One year later, the same respondents gave their perceptions of changes in patronage for their workplace. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires and telephone interviews. Results: 56.4% of the hospitality workers stated that the ban on smoking had led to a large reduction (28.2%) or some reduction (28.2%) in the number of patrons, a result inconsistent with analysis of sales data. After adjusting for demographic and smoking-related variables, a negative pre-ban attitude significantly increased the odds for reporting a negative economic impact post ban (odds ratio 2.48, confidence interval 1.48—4.14). Conclusions: Subjective reports of the economic impact from an indoor ban on smoking are influenced by attitudes towards smoke-free policies and should not be considered as a valid measure of the economic effect. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aims. This paper is a report of a study of the impact of finger rings, wrist watches, nail polish, length of fingernails, hand lotion, gender and occupation on hand microbiology of healthcare workers. Background. The impact of the above mentioned variables on hand microbiology of healthcare workers is not well defined. Large scale studies suitable for multivariate analysis are needed to elucidate their role. Methods. Both hands of 465 Norwegian healthcare workers were sampled by the glove juice method during two study periods (2004 and 2007), and examined for total number of bacteria and presence of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacteriacea and non-fermentative Gram-negative rods. Multiple regression analysis was performed. Results. The use of a wrist watch was associated with an enhanced total bacterial count on hands compared to hands without a watch [(B) 3.25 (95% CI: 1.73-6.07), P < 0.001], while the use of one plain finger ring increased the carriage rate of Enterobacteriaceae [odds ratio 2.71 (95% CI: 1.42-5.20), P = 0.003]. The carriage rate of Staphylococcus aureus was enhanced with fingernails longer than 2 mm [odds ratio 2.17 (95% CI: 1.29-3.66), P = 0.004] and after recent use of hand lotion [odds ratio 22.52 (95% CI: 4.05-125.30), P < 0.001]. No effect of nail polish was observed. We found an association between occupation and carriage rate of S. aureus and Enterobacteriaceae. Conclusions. Health care workers should remove finger rings and watches at work. Fingernails should be shorter than 2 mm, nail polish may be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]