| 1. |
- Elvén, Maria, 1973-
(författare)
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Clinical reasoning focused on clients’ behaviour change in physiotherapy : Development and evaluation of the Reasoning 4 Change instrument
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the recognition of the impact of lifestyle behaviours on health and the evidence of incorporating behavioural considerations in physiotherapy, there is a need to advance the clinical reasoning of physiotherapists. Clinical reasoning encompasses the thinking and decision-making processes guiding client management and is a core competency of physiotherapists. Enabling clinical reasoning advancements requires investigations in practice and education, which in turn require robust assessments. The overall aim of this thesis was to develop and evaluate an instrument to study physiotherapy students’ clinical reasoning focused on clients’ activity-related behaviour and behaviour change.In study I, a conceptual model was developed based on exploration of existing research, theory and views of physiotherapists and students. The data resulted in the clinical reasoning model focused on clients’ behaviour change with reference to physiotherapists (CRBC-PT). Studies II and III included instrument development and evaluation in four phases. Phase 1 included determination of the instrument structure and item generation based on the CRBC-PT model, evidence in clinical reasoning assessment and existing measures. Phase 2 included cognitive interviews with students to assess item understanding and resulted in revisions of item problems and approval of feasibility. Phase 3 included a Delphi study with physiotherapists with expertise in behavioural medicine to evaluate item relevance. The findings demonstrated a high level of consensus regarding content relevance. The final version of the Reasoning 4 Change (R4C) instrument included four domains, namely, Physiotherapist, Input from client, Functional behavioural analysis, and Strategies for behaviour change. In phase 4, the reliability and validity of the instrument were evaluated. Physiotherapists with expertise in behavioural medicine and students responded to the web-based R4C instrument and the Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapists. The analyses showed excellent inter-rater reliability, satisfactory construct validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In study IV, final-semester students (n=151) from all physiotherapy programmes in Sweden completed the R4C instrument. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted with three dependent variables, namely, input from client, functional behavioural analysis, and strategies for behaviour change. All included independent variables explained 37% of the variance in input from client. Cognitive and metacognitive skills explained 22%, attitudes 15% and curriculum with behavioural medicine competencies 3%. Only the variable curriculum with behavioural medicine competencies explained the variance in functional behavioural analysis (4%) and strategies for behaviour change (5%).In conclusion, the in-depth description of clinical reasoning focused on clients’ behaviour change may contribute to expanded understanding of the complexity and multidimensionality in reasoning processes that incorporate factors related to human behaviours, analyses of what factors motivate or hinder behaviours, and interventions to support behaviour change. Such knowledge is valuable for the teaching of and learning clinical reasoning. The R4C instrument helps fill the need for well-tested instruments and can support investigations and evaluations in physiotherapy education and research. To develop students’ clinical reasoning competence, cognitive and metacognitive skills, positive attitudes and the incorporation of behavioural medicine competencies into physiotherapy curricula should be targeted. Further attention to complex reasoning, including analysis and intervention, is warranted.
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| 2. |
- Magnusson, Anders, 1957-
(författare)
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Evaluation of surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion and orthodontic treatment : Effects on dental, skeletal and nasal structures and rhinological findings
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Surgically Assisted Rapid Maxillary Expansion (SARME) is frequently used to treat skeletal maxillary transverse deficiency (MTD) in skeletally mature and non-growing individuals. Despite previous research in the field, questions remain with respect to the long-term stability of SARME and its effects on hard and soft tissue.The overall aim of the present doctoral work was to achieve a greater understanding of SARME, using modern image technology and a multidisciplinary approach, with special reference to effects on the hard and soft tissues and respiration. A more specific aim was to evaluate the long-term stability in a retrospective sample of patients treated with SARME and orthodontic treatment and to compare the results with a matched, untreated control group. The studies in this doctoral project are thus based on two different samples and study designs.The first sample, Study I (Paper I), is a retrospective, consecutive, long-term follow-up material of study models from 31 patients (17 males and 14 females) treated with SARME and orthodontic treatment between 1991 and 2000. The mean pre-treatment age was 25.9 years (SD 9.6) with a mean follow-up time of 6.4 years (SD 3.3). Direct measurements on study models were made with a digital sliding caliper at reference points on molars and canines. To evaluate treatment outcome and long-term stability, the results were compared with study models from an untreated control group, matched for age, gender and follow-up time.The second sample, Study II (Papers II-IV), is a prospective consecutive, longitudinal material of 40 patients scheduled to undergo SARME and orthodontic treatment between 2006 and 2009.In Paper II, one patient was excluded because of a planned adenoidectomy. The final sample comprised 39 patients (16 males and 23 females). The mean age at treatment start was 19.9 years (range 15.9 – 43.9). Acoustic rhinometry, rhinomanometry and a questionnaire were used to assess the degree of nasal obstruction at three time-points; pre-treatment, three months after expansion and after completed treatment (mean 18 months).In Papers III–IV, three patients declined to participate and two had to be excluded because their CT-records were incomplete. The final sample comprised 35 patients (14 males and 21 females). The mean age at treatment start was 19.7 years (range 16.1 – 43.9). Helical CT-images were taken pre-treatment and eighteen months’ post-expansion. 3D models were registered and superimposed at the anterior cranial base. The automated voxel-based image registration method allows precise, accurate measurements in all areas of the maxilla. In Papers II–IV, the treatment groups constituted their own control groups.The main findings in the retrospective, long-term follow-up study were that SARME and orthodontic treatment normalized the transverse discrepancy and was stable for a mean of 6 years post-treatment. Pterygoid detachment did not entirely eliminate the side effect of buccal tipping of the posterior molars. Relapse is time-related and is most pronounced during the first 3 years after treatment. Thus the retention period should be extended and should be considered for this period. The main rhinological findings in the prospective longitudinal study were that SARME had a shortterm, favourable effect on nasal respiration, but the effect did not persist in the long-term. However, subjects with pre-treatment nasal obstruction reported a lasting sensation of improved nasal function.SARME and orthodontic treatment had a significant but non-uniform skeletal treatment effect, with significantly greater expansion posteriorly than anteriorly. The expansion was parallel anteriorly but not posteriorly. The lateral tipping of the posterior segment was significant, despite careful surgical separation. No correlation was found between tipping and the patient's age. Furthermore, SARME and orthodontic treatment significantly affected all dimensions of the external features of the nose. The most obvious changes were at the most lateral alar-bases. The difference in lateral displacement profoundly influenced the perception of a more rounded nose. There were no predictive correlations between the changes. Patients with narrow and constrained nostrils can benefit from these changes with respect to the subjective experience of nasal obstruction. It is questionable whether an alar-cinch suture will prevent widening at the alar-base.The 3D superimposition applied in Study II is a reliable method, circumventing projection and measurement errors. In conclusion, SARME and orthodontic treatment normalize the transverse deficiency, with long-term stability. SARME has a favourable effect on the subjective perception of nasal respiration. SARME significantly affects dental, skeletal and nasal structures.
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| 3. |
- Nilsson, Maria, 1957-
(författare)
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Promoting health in adolescents : preventing the use of tobacco
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There is a robust evidence base for the negative health effects from smoking. Smoking is linked to severe morbidity and to mortality, and kills up to half of its regular users. Tobacco use and production also bring other negative consequences such as economic loss for countries, poverty for individuals, child labour, deforestation and other environmental problems in tobacco growing countries. A combination of comprehensive interventions at different levels is needed to curb the tobacco epidemic. Tobacco control strategies at national levels in the western world often include components of information/education, taxation, legislative measures and influencing public opinion. Two approaches have dominated at the meso and micro levels: cessation support for tobacco users and prevention activities to support young people refraining from tobacco use. Smoking uptake is a complex process that includes factors at the societal level as well as social and individual characteristics. At national level, taxation and legislation can contribute to a societal norm opposing tobacco and creating a context for primary prevention aimed at tobacco free youth. There is no magic bullet in primary prevention. At the meso and micro levels, a continued development of knowledge on the underlying mechanisms and primary prevention methods is essential to prevent young people from starting to use tobacco. The overall aim of this thesis was to gain knowledge about factors that influence young people’s use of tobacco and of preventive mechanisms. The specific aims included to study the relation between Tobacco Free Duo, an intervention program targeting youth in Västerbotten County, and tobacco use prevalence. A specific interest was to explore the role adults can play in supporting young people to refrain from tobacco use. The thesis is based on four studies with three separate sets of data, two were quantitative and one was qualitative. The studies were conducted among adolescents (aged 13-15 yr) in Västerbotten County and on national level in Sweden (aged 13, 15 and 17 yr). Tobacco Free Duo is a school-based community intervention that started in 1993. An essential component of the intervention was to involve adults in supporting adolescents to stay tobacco free. Results showed decreased smoking in adolescents among both boys and girls in the intervention area during the study period of seven years. There was no change in a national reference group during the same time period. A bonus effect was a decrease in adult tobacco use in the intervention area. One out of four adults who supported a young person taking part in the intervention stopped using tobacco. In a qualitative assessment of young smokers, starting to smoke was described as a means of gaining control of their feelings and their situation during early adolescence. They expected adults to intervene against their smoking and claimed that close relations with caring adults could be a reason for smoking less or trying to quit smoking. In a quantitative study that used three decades of national data, over time adolescents became more positive toward parental action on children’s smoking. The adolescents strongly supported the idea of parental action, regardless of whether or not they themselves smoked. Adolescents preferred that actions from parents were dissuading their children from smoking, not smoking themselves, and not allowing their children to smoke at home. These results suggest that the Tobacco Free Duo program contributed to a reduction in adolescent smoking among both boys and girls. Using a multi-faceted intervention that includes an adolescent-adult partnership can decrease adolescent smoking uptake. Engaging adults as partners in tobacco prevention interventions that target adolescents has an important tobacco reducing bonus effect in the adults. The intervention has proven sustainable within communities. A growing majority of adolescents support parental interventions to help them refrain from tobacco. The findings dismiss the notion that adolescents ignore or even disdain parental practices concerning tobacco. A common and consequent norm against tobacco from both schools and parents using a supportive attitude can prevent tobacco use in young people.
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| 4. |
- Schröders, Julia, 1985-
(författare)
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Diversity, dynamics and deficits : the role of social networks for the health of aging populations in Indonesia
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: This thesis takes as a predicate that humans are social animals and as such, that their social networks and health are intrinsically connected. A guiding heuristic of this thesis was the Berkman model which conceptualizes how social networks impact health. Considering social networks as a ‘mesosocial’ level between individuals’ health and larger social structures permits assessments of four processes, or pathways: macro↔meso↔micro. The overall aim of this thesis was to contribute to a better understanding of the role of social networks for the health of aging populations in the Southeast Asian context of Indonesia. This work was divided into four sub-studies (I-IV) aiming to i) review existing evidence on social networks and adult health; ii) assess the health effects of social networks; iii) examine how macro-level conditions affect health behavioral pathways through social networks; and iv) understand the macro-level determinants of social network formations.Methods: This thesis employed a mixed methods design integrating evidence syntheses (I) with quantitative (II, III) and qualitative (IV) approaches. The four sub-studies included different conceptual angles on structural, functional and quality aspects of social networks, i.e., network diversity (II), dynamics (III), deficits and loneliness (IV). Following the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature review covering the years 2000 to 2015 was conducted. For the two quantitative studies, data on older adults aged 50+ years from the fourth (2007/08) and fifth (2014/15) waves of the Indonesian Family Life Surveys, were analyzed. First, employing an outcome-wide epidemiological approach, evidence for causal effects of social network diversity on 19 outcomes along the disablement process spectrum were evaluated using multivariable regression adjustments, propensity score matching, and instrumental variable analyses. Second, following a systems-approach to conceptualize social networks on four ecological levels, causal mediation analyses were performed to cross-sectionally examine the mediating role of social networks and their dynamics between a latent socioeconomic position indicator and two healthcare utilization outcomes. Also, the socioeconomic patterning of healthcare utilization and network dynamics were analyzed longitudinally, i.e., before and after Indonesia’s Universal Health Coverage implementation. The qualitative study draws on eight focus group discussions with 48 ‘older adult children’. Data were collected in four rural villages in the Gunung Kidul regency during 2016. The theoretical framework was inspired by symbolic interactionism and sensitizing concepts of systemic networks and network deficits, interpersonal emotions, and the social construction of risks. Data were analyzed using Grounded Theory. The final mixed-methods synthesis (I-IV) was based on notions of systems-thinking, ecological transitions theory, and a framework for studying social processes in aging.Results: The results showed (i) that despite an increased focus on social determinants of health, in Indonesia, social networks remained an under- and unresearched social determinant of non-communicable diseases and inequalities therein, respectively; (ii) that social network diversity conferred a vast array of strong and long-term – yet heterogeneous and gender-specific – effects across the entire disablement process, i.e. affecting pulmonary health outcomes, proinflammatory processes, physical and cognitive functioning, and disability states; (iii) that both social networks on various ecological levels and their dynamics were socio-economically patterned and mediated the association between socioeconomic position and healthcare utilization outcomes while showing stronger mediating effects after Universal Health Coverage implementation; (iv) that ‘older adult children’ experienced their own aging as a process of ‘bargaining for a sense of security’ which reified how and why loneliness emerged amidst the challenges of social, demographic and epidemiological transitions and how in response to this, unconventional compromises, which affected both their networks of caretakers and the places of old-age care, were being made.Conclusion: The results explicated several previously less understood pathways and particularly spoke to the so-called ‘downstream experiences’, ‘upstream questions’, and offered a holistic perspective. Notions of ‘transitions’ within different levels collectively conveyed an understanding that such transitions created risks, and that networks played a crucial interstitial role in both cushioning or exacerbating effects of and on these risks. The final mixed-methods synthesis allowed a comprehensive view on various dimensions of social networks and enabled a multi-contextual and multi-dimensional integration of findings. Collective insights were distilled into two main discussion points which were divided based on their ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream‘ foci. The first explicated the macro-social phenomena that appeared in this thesis i.e., epidemiological transitions, population aging, social change, and discussed – with a focus on network diversity, dynamics and deficits – the meso-social effects on and of such macro-level transitions. The later elucidated both the ‘social network-health’ nexus by explicating the ‘Janus face’ of social networks, as well as the transitions in the interplay of formal and informal social networks and their implications for old-age care. After presenting methodological considerations, the thesis concludes with selected implications for research, policy, and practice which emphasize on strengthening social network research in low and middle-income countries, addressing the precarious conditions of older adult women in rural economies, and promoting the role of the healthcare system.
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| 5. |
- Sulistyawati, Sulistyawati, 1983-
(författare)
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Dengue Prevention and Control in Indonesia : a case study in Yogyakarta City
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Integrated efforts that involve many public health sectors are required to combatdengue in any setting. Hospitals are responsible for providing accurate diagnosis and reportingconfirmed dengue cases to the health authorities, which serves as an alarm for increasingpreventive measures. Community participation in dengue vector control is essential becauseit affects sustainability and cost-effectiveness of preventive and control. This thesis aimed toprovide an in-depth understanding of dengue prevention and control in Yogyakarta, Indonesia,in order to contribute to strengthening the country’s health system and the implementation ofstandardized and well-accepted dengue control strategies. Several aspects have been studiedin term of dengue prevention and control (case management and reporting, surveillance andvector control) in a dengue-endemic region of Indonesia – namely, Yogyakarta.Methods: This thesis comprises four individual research studies: Knowledge, Attitude andPractice (KAP) survey, control card intervention, implementation of the Jumantik programmeand dengue case management and reporting in hospital. A descriptive analysis, followed by apre-post assessment, was performed in the community. A mixed-method approach was usedfor assessing the Jumantik programme and qualitative approach was conducted for the hospitalstudy.Results: The findings indicated that: (i) KAP regarding dengue vector control were sufficient butcertain aspects still had weaknesses; (ii) level of community participation in vector control wasnot satisfactory for several reasons, including lacking time, being busy with work and memberof the community feel that vector control was not their responsibility; (iii) the Jumantikprogramme dealt with various obstacles, especially those related to public acceptance; (iv)coordination between the district health office and hospitals for early dengue detection didnot run optimally. We also found that standard operating procedures for dengue managementdiffered between hospitals.Conclusions: The results clearly show that dengue prevention and control efforts in Yogyakartaface certain challenges that must be addressed. While many World Health Organizationrecommendations are being followed, the weaknesses found in some aspects of theimplementation, as well as the lack of integration for various dengue prevention and controlelements, need to be promptly addressed.
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| 6. |
- Vrettou, Maria, 1988-
(författare)
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Early life experiences and alcohol use in youth : An emerging role of the Vesicular Glutamate Transporters
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Initiation of alcohol consumption usually takes place during adolescence, a period characterized by a plethora of physical and emotional changes. Towards early adulthood, hazardous drinking patterns can emerge and potentially lead to the development of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Both positive and negative experiences during early life can shape brain development and, through interactions with the genetic make-up, can contribute to the vulnerability of an individual to develop AUD. Epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, potentially mediate the effect of environmental influences on gene expression, thus serving as the missing link between gene, environment and phenotype. Among various neuroadaptive changes seen in AUD, those within the glutamatergic system appear particularly prominent, mainly in withdrawal and relapse states, but also in stress-related outcomes. The glutamatergic phenotype can be determined by the expression of the Vesicular Glutamate Transporters 1-3 (VGLUT1-3). To date, the relationship between early life experiences, alcohol consumption, and Vgluts/VGLUTs genes (rodents/humans) in the initial stage of alcohol consumption and during the sensitive period of late adolescence/young adulthood has not been investigated.The present thesis, based on three studies on rodents and one on humans, aimed to examine Vglut/VGLUT1-3 correlates of early life experiences and alcohol drinking during youth. The effect of co-exposure to nicotine, because of its high comorbidity with alcohol use, as well as the role of key DNA methylation-regulating genes was also investigated. The main finding showed that individuals exposed to early life stress were more sensitive to the effect of alcohol on Vglut1-3 mRNA expression and DNA methylation, as well as expression of the DNA methylation-regulating genes, in limbic and striatal brain regions, as compared with controls. In an independent sample, prolonged nicotine co-exposure with alcohol during adolescence was associated with higher Vglut2 expression in the ventral tegmental area of young adult rats. Lastly, the single nucleotide polymorphism rs2290045 in VGLUT2 was found to moderate the environmental sensitivity to alcohol-related problems in humans. Carriers of the minor allele (T) displayed differential susceptibility to the environment; increasing quality of parenting was associated with higher and lower alcohol-related problems in the absence and presence of previous maltreatment, respectively.In conclusion, the findings highlight for the first time the role of Vgluts/VGLUTs in early stress-mediated sensitivity towards alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems during adolescence and young adulthood, and especially a potential Vglut2/VGLUT2-mediated molecular signature behind the interactive mechanisms of these two aversive environmental factors, as well as of nicotine co-exposure.
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