1.
Sundell, Susanne, et al.
(author)
Does social capital protect mental health among migrants in Sweden?
2016
In: Health Promotion International. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0957-4824 .- 1460-2245. ; 31:3, s. 644-652
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
Poor mental health is common among migrants. This has been explained by migration-related and socio-economic factors. Weak social capital has also been related to poor mental health. Few studies have explored factors that protect mental health of migrants in the post-migration phase. Such knowledge could be useful for health promotion purposes. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse associations between financial difficulties, housing problems and experience of discrimination and poor mental health; and to detect possible effect modification by social capital, among recently settled Iraqi migrants in Sweden. A postal questionnaire in Arabic was sent to recently settled Iraqi citizens. The response rate was 51% (n = 617). Mental health was measured by the GHQ-12 instrument and social capital was defined as social participation and trust in others. Data were analysed by means of logistic regression. Poor mental health was associated with experience of discrimination (OR 2.88, 95% CI 1.73-4.79), housing problems (OR 2.79, 95% CI 1.84-4.22), and financial difficulties (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.44-3.19), after adjustments. Trust in others seemed to have a protective effect for mental health when exposed to these factors. Social participation had a protective effect when exposed to experience of discrimination. Social determinants and social capital in the host country play important roles in the mental health of migrants. Social capital modifies the effect of risk factors and might be a fruitful way to promote resilience to factors harmful to mental health among migrants, but must be combined with policy efforts to reduce social inequities.
2.
Wångdahl, Josefin, et al.
(author)
Health literacy and refugees' experiences of the health examination for asylum seekers : a Swedish cross-sectional study
2015
In: BMC Public Health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2458. ; 15
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
BACKGROUND: The purpose of the health examination for asylum seekers in most countries is to identify poor health in order to secure the well-being of seekers of asylum and to guarantee the safety of the population in the host country. Functional health literacy is an individual's ability to read information and instructions about health and to function effectively as a patient in the health system, and comprehensive health literacy is an individual's competence in accessing, understanding, appraising and applying health information. Little is known about refugees' health literacy and their experiences of the health examination for asylum seekers. The purposes of the study were to investigate refugees' experiences of communication during their health examination for asylum seekers and the usefulness of that examination, and whether health literacy is associated with those experiences.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was made among 360 adult refugees speaking Arabic, Dari, Somali or English. Health literacy was measured using the Swedish Functional Health Literacy Scale and the short European Health Literacy Questionnaire. Experiences of communication and the usefulness of the health examination were measured in several questions. Associations were sought using univariate and multivariate statistical models.RESULTS: In the health examination for asylum seekers, a poor quality of communication was experienced by 36 %, receiving little information about health care by 55 %, and receiving little new knowledge by 41 % and/or help by 26 %. Having inadequate as compared to sufficient comprehensive health literacy was associated with the experience of a poorer quality of communication (OR: 9.64, CI 95 %: 3.25-28.58) and the experience of receiving little valuable health care information (OR: 6.54, CI 95 %: 2.45-17.47). Furthermore, having inadequate as compared to sufficient comprehensive health literacy was associated with the experience of not receiving new knowledge (OR: 7.94, CI 95 %: 3.00-21.06) or receiving help with health problems (OR: 8.07, 95 % CI: 2.50-26.07. Functional healthy literacy was not associated with experiences of HEA.CONCLUSION: Refugees' experiences indicate that a low level of comprehensive health literacy can act as a barrier to fulfilling the purposes of the health examination for asylum seekers. Comprehensive health literacy seems to be of greater importance in that context than functional health literacy.
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5.
Berglund, Erik, et al.
(author)
Active Traveling and Its Associations with Self-Rated Health, BMI and Physical Activity : A Comparative Study in the Adult Swedish Population
2016
In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 13:5
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
Active traveling to a daily occupation means that an individual uses an active way of traveling between two destinations. Active travel to work or other daily occupations offers a convenient way to increase physical activity levels which is known to have positive effects on several health outcomes. Frequently used concepts in city planning and regional planning today are to create environments for active commuting and active living. Even then, little research has focused on traveling modes and subjective health outcomes such as self-rated health (SRH). This study aimed to explore and investigate associations between travel mode and health-related outcomes, such as self-rated health (SRH), body mass index (BMI) and overall physical activity, in an adult population in Sweden. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a randomly selected population-based sample (n = 1786, age 45-75 years); the respondents completed a questionnaire about their regular travel mode, demographics, lifestyle, BMI and SRH. Chi-square tests and logistic regressions found that inactive traveling was associated with poor SRH, a greater risk of obesity or being overweight and overall physical inactivity. In addition, lifestyle factors, such as choice of food and smoking habits, were associated with SRH, BMI and overall physical activity.
6.
Berglund, Erik, 1980-
(author)
Adherence to drug treatment and interpretation of treatment effects
2019
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic) abstract
Suboptimal adherence to medical treatments is prevalent across several clinical conditions and can lead to treatment failure. Adherence is a far from fully explored phenomenon and there is little knowledge about how patients interpret treatment effects. Commonly used treatment evaluation measures are often relative measures, which may be difficult for lay people and patients to understand.The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate factors with relevance to adherence, to estimate treatment effects with the time-based Delay of Event (DoE) measure in anticoagulant preventive treatments, and to explore how lay people responded to the DoE measure, as compared with established measures, regarding treatment decisions and effect interpretation.A quantitative population-based cross-sectional design was used for Study I. Study II used data from the Apixaban for Reduction in Stroke and Other Thromboembolic Events in Atrial Fibrillation (ARISTOTLE) clinical trial and estimated effects as DoEs. Studies III and IV were carried out as randomised survey experiments.The results showed that general adherence behaviour was associated with both environmental and social factors. Estimations of DoE showed that stroke or systemic embolism was delayed 181 (95% CI 76 to 287) days through twenty-two months of apixaban use, as compared with warfarin use. The delay of major and intracranial bleeding was 206 (95% CI 130 to 281) and 392 (95% CI 249 to 535) days, respectively, due to apixaban use for twenty-two months, as compared with warfarin use. Presenting preventive treatment effects as DoEs to lay people was associated with high willingness to initiate treatment and positive views on treatment benefits and willingness to pay for treatment.Non-optimal adherence was partly associated with modifiable factors and it might be possible to increase adherence by managing these factors. Estimations of DoEs in preventive treatments gave information on effects regarding delay of different outcomes; the estimation also provides tools that might be useful for interpreting and communicating treatment effects in clinical decision-making. Lay people seemed to react rationally to variations in DoE magnitude; a higher proportion accepted treatment when the magnitude was greater.
7.
Berglund, Erik, et al.
(author)
Health and wellbeing in informal caregivers and non-caregivers : a comparative cross-sectional study of the Swedish a general population
2015
In: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1477-7525. ; 13
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
Background: Informal caregiving by relatives is a great resource for individuals as well as for society, but the caregiving role is associated with health problems for the caregiver. This study aimed to compare caregivers' self-rated health, number of recent days with poor health and psychological wellbeing with that of non-caregivers in a general Swedish population. Methods: From 2004 to 2013, 90,845 Swedish people completed a postal questionnaire about their health, number of recent days with poor health during last month, psychological wellbeing and if they were performing caregiving or not. Descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, ANOVA, logistic regressions and negative binomial regression models were used to investigate associations between being a caregiver or not and health and wellbeing. Negative binomial regression was used to assess the relation between caregiver status and recent days with poor health or functioning. Results: Eleven percent reported having a caregiving role. Caregivers reported poorer self-rated health compered to non-caregivers, also in adjusted models; odds ratio (OR): 1.07 with a 95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.01-1.13. Caregivers also reported lower psychological wellbeing compared to non-caregivers; OR: 1.22, CI: 1.15-1.30. Caregiving status was associated with more recent days with poor physical health and more recent days with poor mental health. Conclusions: This study suggests that caregivers have worse perceptions in self-rated health and psychological wellbeing compared with non-caregivers, indicating that the role of caregiver is adversely associated with health. This association also appears in terms of reporting days of poor health in the last month. The underlying mechanism of these associations, including the potential detrimental health effects of being a caregiver, needs to be investigated in longitudinal studies.
8.
Berglund, Erik, et al.
(author)
Housing Type and Neighbourhood Safety Behaviour Predicts Self-rated Health, Psychological Well-being and Frequency of Recent Unhealthy Days : A Comparative Cross-sectional Study of the General Population in Sweden
2017
In: Planning practice + research. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0269-7459 .- 1360-0583. ; 32:4, s. 444-465
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
This study aimed at analysing associations among housing type, neighbourhood safety behaviour, self-rated health (SRH), psychological well-being and unhealthy days in the general population. From 2004 to 2013, 90,845 Swedes completed a questionnaire about their health, number of days with poor health, psychological well-being, housing type, and whether they refrained from going out based on perception of neighbourhood safety. People not living in private housing and those who did not go out for safety reasons reported lower SRH and psychological well-being and higher frequency of recent unhealthy days and days without work capacity due to poor health.
9.
Berglund, Erik, et al.
(author)
Living environment, social support and informal caregiving are associated with healthcare seeking behaviour and adherence to medication treatment : a cross-sectional population study
2019
In: Health and social care in the community. - : Hindawi Limited. - 0966-0410 .- 1365-2524. ; 27:5, s. 1260-1270
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
Despite the well-known associations between local environment and health, few studies have focused on environment and health care utiliza-tion, for instance health care seeking behaviour or adherence. This study was aimed at analysing housing type, behaviour based on perceived local outdoor safety, social support, informal caregiving, demographics, socioeconomics, and long-term illness, and associations with health-seeking and adherence behaviours at a population level. This study used data from the Swedish National Public Health Survey 2004–2014, an annually repeated, large sample, cross-sectional, population-based sur-vey study. In all, questionnaires from 100,433 individuals were returned by post, making the response rate 52.9% (100,433/190,000). Descrip-tive statistics and multiple logistic regressions were used to investigate associations between explanatory variables and the outcomes of refrain-ing from seeking care and non-adherence behaviour. Living in rented apartment, lodger, a dorm or other was associated with reporting refrain-ing from seeking care (adjusted OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.00–1.22), and non-adherence (adjusted OR 1.22; 95% CI 1.13–1.31). Refraining from go-ing out due to a perceived unsafe neighbourhood was associated with refraining from seeking care (adjusted OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.51–1.67) and non-adherence (adjusted OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.17–1.36). Social support and status as an informal caregiver was associated with higher odds of refraining from seeking medical care and non-adherence. This study suggests that living in rental housing, refraining from going out due to neighbourhood safety concerns, lack of social support or informal care-giver status are associated with lower health-seeking behaviour and non-adherence to prescribed medication.
10.
Berglund, Erik, et al.
(author)
Social and health-related factors associated with refraining from seeking dental care : A cross-sectional population study
2017
In: Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology. - : Wiley. - 0301-5661 .- 1600-0528. ; 45:3, s. 258-265
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
Background: Social inequities are considered to affect healthcare utilization, whereas less is known about the factors associated with refraining from seeking dental care. This study aimed to investigate whether people with no social support, long-term illness, caregiver burden and low socioeconomic status (SES) refrained from seeking dental care in higher proportion than the general Swedish population.Methods: This study used cross-sectional questionnaire data from repeated nationwide health surveys during 2004-2013 of a total of 90 845 people. The questionnaire included questions on demographic characteristics, social support, long-term illness, caregiving burden, SES and dental care-seeking behaviour. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, correlation analyses and logistic regressions were used to investigate associations between independent variables and dental care-seeking behaviour.Results: In the total sample, 15.1% of respondents reported refraining from seeking dental care. Having no emotional social support or having no instrumental social support was separately associated with reporting refraining from seeking dental care in adjusted multivariate models (odds ratio [OR] 1.26, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.18-1.34 and OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.67-2.13, respectively). Having a long-term illness was associated with refraining from seeking dental care in adjusted models (adjusted OR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.35-1.51). Furthermore, being an informal caregiver was associated with refraining from seeking dental care (adjusted OR: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.07-1.23). Low SES was associated with higher refraining from seeking dental care; the strongest association was with having financial problems (adjusted OR: 3.57, 95% CI: 3.19-4.00). Interaction effects were found between education level and SES, and between social support and long-term illness, and the outcome.Conclusions: The findings in this study imply that having no social support, having long-term illness, being informal caregiver or having financial problems are factors associated with reporting refraining from seeking dental care, on a population basis.
