1.
Linander, Ida, et al.
(författare)
Negotiating the (bio)medical gaze - Experiences of trans-specific healthcare in Sweden
2017
Ingår i: Social Science & Medicine. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-9536 .- 1873-5347. ; 174, s. 9-16
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
In Sweden as well as in other western countries persons with trans experiences have to go through a clinical evaluation in order to get access to gender-confirming medical procedures. The aim of this study is to analyse care-users' experiences of navigating and negotiating access to gender-confirming medical procedures in Sweden. Biomedicalisation is used as a theoretical framework in order to analyse how technoscientific and neoliberal developments are parts of constructing specific experiences within trans specific care. Constructivist grounded theory was used to analyse 14 interviews with persons having experiences of, or considering seeking, trans-specific healthcare. The participants experienced trans-specific healthcare as difficult to navigate because of waiting times, lack of support, provider ignorance and relationships of dependency between healthcare-users and providers. These barriers pushed the users to take responsibility for the care process themselves, through ordering hormones from abroad, acquiring medical knowledge and finding alternative support. Based on the participants' experiences, it can be argued that the shift of responsibility from care-providers to users is connected to a lack of resources within trans-specific care, to neoliberal developments within the Swedish healthcare system, but also to discourses that frame taking charge of the care process as an indicator that a person is in need of or ready for care. Thus, access to gender-confirming medical procedures is stratified, based on the ability and opportunity to adopt a charge-taking role and on economic and geographic conditions. Based on the results and discussion, we conclude that trans-specific care ought to focus on supporting the care-seekers throughout the medical process, instead of the current focus on verifying the need for care. There is also a need for increased knowledge and financial resources. A separation between legal and medical gender reassignment could contribute to a better relationship between care-providers and care-users and increase the quality of care. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2.
Mittendorfer-Rutz, Ellenor, et al.
(författare)
Determinants in adolescence for adult sickness absence in women and men: a 26-year follow-up of a prospective population based cohort (Northern Swedish cohort).
2013
Ingår i: BMC public health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2458. ; 13
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Background: To date little is known regarding how factors measured in adolescence predict sickness absence in adulthood, and whether different patterns of factors exist for women and men that could contribute to an explanation of adult gender differences in sickness absence. Methods: All pupils in the last year of compulsory school in the municipality of Luleå with complete information from surveys (questionnaires) in 1981 and 1983 (compulsory and upper-secondary schooling; 16 and 18 years of age, N=719) were followed with register data on medically certified sickness absence (1993–2007). Generalised linear models were applied to calculate Risk Ratios with 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) comparing annual mean numbers of sickness absence spells in exposed versus unexposed groups. Results: In the multivariate model, the following factors were found to be predictive of future sickness absence in women: participating in an upper secondary school program in 1983 dominated by women (> 60%): 1.41 (95% CI 1.00 – 1.97); sometimes sickness absence from school in 1981: 1.60 (95% CI 1.18 – 2.17) and low parental socioeconomic status in 1981: 2.20 (95% CI 1.44 – 3.38). In men, low school grades in 1981: 4.36 (95% CI 2.06 – 9.22) and fathers not in gainful employment in 1981: 2.36 (95% CI 1.53 – 3.66) were predictive. Conclusion: The findings suggest that sickness absence in adulthood is predicted by factors measured in adolescence. These predictors may differ for women and men. For women, early life absence and social environmental factors, for men low achievements at school and lack of employment of their father seem to be predictive.
3.
Theorell, Töres, et al.
(författare)
A systematic review including meta-analysis of work environment and depressive symptoms
2015
Ingår i: BMC Public Health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2458. ; 15
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Background: Depressive symptoms are potential outcomes of poorly functioning work environments. Such symptoms are frequent and cause considerable suffering for the employees as well as financial loss for the employers. Accordingly good prospective studies of psychosocial working conditions and depressive symptoms are valuable. Scientific reviews of such studies have pointed at methodological difficulties but still established a few job risk factors. Those reviews were published some years ago. There is need for an updated systematic review using the GRADE system. In addition, gender related questions have been insufficiently reviewed. Method: Inclusion criteria for the studies published 1990 to June 2013: 1. European and English speaking countries. 2. Quantified results describing the relationship between exposure (psychosocial or physical/chemical) and outcome (standardized questionnaire assessment of depressive symptoms or interview-based clinical depression). 3. Prospective or comparable case-control design with at least 100 participants. 4. Assessments of exposure (working conditions) and outcome at baseline and outcome (depressive symptoms) once again after follow-up 1-5 years later. 5. Adjustment for age and adjustment or stratification for gender. Studies filling inclusion criteria were subjected to assessment of 1.) relevance and 2.) quality using predefined criteria. Systematic review of the evidence was made using the GRADE system. When applicable, meta-analysis of the magnitude of associations was made. Consistency of findings was examined for a number of possible confounders and publication bias was discussed. Results: Fifty-nine articles of high or medium high scientific quality were included. Moderately strong evidence (grade three out of four) was found for job strain (high psychological demands and low decision latitude), low decision latitude and bullying having significant impact on development of depressive symptoms. Limited evidence (grade two) was shown for psychological demands, effort reward imbalance, low support, unfavorable social climate, lack of work justice, conflicts, limited skill discretion, job insecurity and long working hours. There was no differential gender effect of adverse job conditions on depressive symptoms Conclusion: There is substantial empirical evidence that employees, both men and women, who report lack of decision latitude, job strain and bullying, will experience increasing depressive symptoms over time. These conditions are amenable to organizational interventions. © 2015 Theorell et al.
4.
Westerlund, Hugo, et al.
(författare)
Social Adversity in Adolescence Increases the Physiological Vulnerability to Job Strain in Adulthood : A Prospective Population-Based Study
2012
Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:4
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Background: It has been argued that the association between job strain and health could be confounded by early life exposures, and studies have shown early adversity to increase individual vulnerability to later stress. We therefore investigated if early life exposure to adversity increases the individual's physiological vulnerability job strain in adulthood. Methodology/Principal Findings: In a population-based cohort (343 women and 330 men, 83% of the eligible participants), we examined the association between on the one hand exposure to adversity in adolescence, measured at age 16, and job strain measured at age 43, and on the other hand allostatic load at age 43. Adversity was operationalised as an index comprising residential mobility and crowding, parental loss, parental unemployment, and parental physical and mental illness (including substance abuse). Allostatic load summarised body fat, blood pressure, inflammatory markers, glucose, blood lipids, and cortisol regulation. There was an interaction between adversity in adolescence and job strain (B = 0.09, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.16 after adjustment for socioeconomic status), particularly psychological demands, indicating that job strain was associated with increased allostatic load only among participants with adversity in adolescence. Job strain was associated with lower allostatic load in men (beta = -0.20, 95% CI -0.35 to -0.06). Conclusions/Significance: Exposure to adversity in adolescence was associated with increased levels of biological stress among those reporting job strain in mid-life, indicating increased vulnerability to environmental stressors.
5.
Byhamre, Marja Lisa, et al.
(författare)
Snus use during the life-course and risk of the metabolic syndrome and its components
2017
Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. - : Sage Publications. - 1403-4948 .- 1651-1905. ; 45:8, s. 733-740
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Objective: We aimed to investigate the association between life-course exposure to snus and prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its components in adulthood.Design and method: Tobacco habits at baseline (age 16) and three follow-ups (ages 21, 30 and 43) were assessed among 880 participants in a population-based cohort in Northern Sweden. Presence of the metabolic syndrome at age 43 was ascertained using the International Diabetes Federation criteria. Odds ratios and CIs for risk of the metabolic syndrome and its components by snus use at 16, 21, 30 and 43 years were calculated using logistic regression. Cumulative snus use was defined as number of life periods (1-4) with current snus use.Results: At age 43, 164 participants (18.6%) were current snus users. We found no association between exclusive snus use at the ages of 16, 21, 30 and 43 years and the metabolic syndrome at age 43 years. Snus use (among non-smokers) was associated with raised triglycerides and high blood pressure in crude analysis, but not in multivariable models. There was no association between cumulative snus use and risk of the metabolic syndrome. Cumulative snus use was associated with central obesity, raised triglycerides and impaired fasting glucose/diabetes mellitus type 2 in crude analyses, but not after adjustments.Conclusion: The health consequences of snus exposure from adolescence to mid-adulthood do not seem to include increased risk of the metabolic syndrome or its components. The cardio-metabolic risk of dual exposure to snus and cigarettes may warrant further attention.
6.
Gustafsson, Per E., et al.
(författare)
Residential Selection across the Life Course : Adolescent Contextual and Individual Determinants of Neighborhood Disadvantage in Mid-Adulthood
2013
Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 8:11, s. e80241-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Background: Numerous cross-sectional studies have examined neighborhood effects on health. Residential selection in adulthood has been stressed as an important cause of selection bias but has received little empirical attention, particularly its determinants from the earlier life course. The present study aims to examine whether neighborhood, family, school, health behaviors and health in adolescence are related to socioeconomic disadvantage of one's neighborhood of residence in adulthood. Methods: Based on the prospective Northern Swedish Cohort (analytical N = 971, 90.6% retention rate), information was collected at age 16 years concerning family circumstances, school adjustment, health behaviors and mental and physical health. Neighborhood register data was linked to the cohort and used to operationalize aggregated measures of neighborhood disadvantage (ND) at age 16 and 42. Data was analyzed with linear mixed models, with ND in adulthood regressed on adolescent predictors and neighborhood of residence in adolescence as the level-2 unit. Results: Neighborhood disadvantage in adulthood was clustered by neighborhood of residence in adolescence (ICC = 8.6%). The clustering was completely explained by ND in adolescence. Of the adolescent predictors, ND (b =.14 (95% credible interval =.07-.22)), final school marks (b =-.18 (-.26--.10)), socioeconomic disadvantage (b =.07 (.01-.14)), and, with borderline significance, school peer problems (b =-.07 (-.00-.13)), were independently related to adulthood ND in the final adjusted model. In sex-stratified analyses, the most important predictors were school marks (b =-.21 (-.32--.09)) in women, and neighborhood of residence (ICC = 15.5%) and ND (b =.20 (.09-.31)) in men. Conclusions: These findings show that factors from adolescence - which also may impact on adult health - could influence the neighborhood context in which one will live in adulthood. This indicates that residential selection bias in neighborhood effects on health research may have its sources in early life.
7.
Hammarström, Anne, et al.
(författare)
Addressing challenges of validity and internal consistency of mental health measures in a 27- year longitudinal cohort study–the Northern Swedish Cohort study
2016
Ingår i: BMC Medical Research Methodology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2288. ; 16
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Background:There are inherent methodological challenges in the measurement of mental health problems in longitudinal research. There is constant development in definitions, taxonomies and demands concerning the properties of mental health measurements. The aim of this paper was to construct composite measures of mental health problems (according to today’s standard) from single questionnaire items devised in the early 1980s, and to evaluate their internal consistency and factorial invariance across the life course using the Northern Swedish Cohort.Methods:All pupils in the last year of compulsory school in Luleå in 1981 (n= 1083) form a prospective cohort study where the participants have been followed with questionnaires from the age of 16 (in 1981) until the age of43 (in 2008). We created and tested the following composite measures from self-reports at each follow-up:depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, functional somatic symptoms, modified GHQ and positive health. Validity and internal consistency were tested by confirmatory factor analysis, including tests of factorial invariance over time.Results:As an overall assessment, the results showed that the composite measures (based on more than 30-year-old single item questions) are likely to have acceptable factorial invariance as well as internal consistency over time.Conclusions:Testing the properties of the mental health measures used in older studies according to the standards of today is of great importance in longitudinal research. Our study demonstrates that composite measures of mental health problems can be constructed from single items which are more than 30 years old and that these measures seem to have the same factorial structure and internal consistency across a significant part of the life course. Thus, it can be possible to overcome some specific inherent methodological challenges in using historical data in longitudinal research.
8.
Novak, Masuma, 1969, et al.
(författare)
Social and health-related correlates of intergenerational and intragenerational social mobility among Swedish men and women
2012
Ingår i: Public health. - : Elsevier BV. - 1476-5616 .- 0033-3506. ; 126:4, s. 349-57
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
OBJECTIVE: To explore the pattern and determinants of inter- and intragenerational occupational mobility among Swedish men and women. STUDY DESIGN: A Swedish 14-year prospective longitudinal study (response rate 96.5%). METHODS: Detailed information on 546 men and 495 women regarding their occupation, health status, health-related behaviour, psychosocial environment at home and school, material recourses and ethnicity prior to mobility were available at 16, 21 and 30 years of age. Odds ratios and 99% confidence intervals were calculated using logistic regression to determine social mobility. RESULTS: The results indicated that being popular at school predicted upward mobility, and being less popular at school predicted downward mobility. Additionally, material deprivation, economic deprivation, shorter height (women) and poor health behavioural factors predicted downward mobility. Among this cohort, being less popular at school was more common among subjects whose parents had low socio-economic status. Occupational mobility was not influenced by ethnic background. CONCLUSIONS: Apart from height (women), health status was not associated with mobility for men or women either inter- or intragenerationally. Unfavourable school environment was a consistent predictor of mobility for both genders. The results indicate that schools should be used as a setting for interventions aimed at reducing socio-economic health inequities. Targeted school interventions that are designed to assist higher educational attainment of socio-economically disadvantaged youth would help to break the social chain of risk experienced during this time, and thereby alter their life course in ways that would reduce subsequent social inequities in health and well-being.
9.
Westerlund, Hugo, et al.
(författare)
Parental academic involvement in adolescence as predictor of mental health trajectories over the life course : a prospective population-based cohort study
2015
Ingår i: BMC Public Health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2458. ; 15
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Background: Mental health problems are rising, especially among younger people, indicating a need to identify determinants of the development of mental health over the life course. Parental involvement in their children's studies, particularly in terms of academic socialisation, has been shown to predict better mental health in adulthood, as well as other more favourable health outcomes, but no study published so far has examined its impact on trajectories of mental health. We therefore sought to elucidate the role of parental involvement at age 16 on the life course development of internalised mental health symptoms. Methods: In a population-based cohort (452 women and 488 men, 87 % of the eligible participants), we examined the association between parental involvement in their offspring's studies, measured by teacher and pupil ratings at age 16, and an index of internalised mental health symptoms at the ages of 16, 18, 21, 30, and 43. Using latent class trajectory analysis, 5 different trajectories were derived from these indices: Very low stable (least symptoms), Low stable, Increasing, Moderate stable, and High decreasing (most symptoms). Multinomial logistic regression was used to regress trajectory membership on the parental involvement variables. Results: Teacher-rated parental interest in their offspring's studies during the last year of compulsory school was associated with a lower risk of entering the Moderate stable (OR = 0.54; 95 % CI 0.30 to 0.98) and High decreasing (OR = 0.41; 0.18 to 0.91) trajectories, compared with the Low stable, also after adjustment for sex, parental social class and mental health, family unemployment and own school grades. Both these associations were present only in children with grades above the national average. Student-rated availability of assistance with homework was associated with a higher chance of entering the Very low stable trajectory in the whole sample (OR = 1.24; 1.07 to 1.43), in men (OR = 1.25; 1.05 to 1.48) and in those with above average grades (OR = 1.39; 1.13 to 1.72), and with a lower risk of entering the Moderate stable in women (OR = 0.74; 0.55 to 0.99), also after the same adjustments. Conclusions: Parental involvement in their offspring's studies may buffer against poor mental health in adolescence which may track into adulthood.
10.
Hammarström, Anne, et al.
(författare)
Central gender theoretical concepts in health research : the state of the art
2014
Ingår i: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 0143-005X .- 1470-2738. ; 68:2, s. 185-190
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Despite increasing awareness of the importance of gender perspectives in health science, there is conceptual confusion regarding the meaning and the use of central gender theoretical concepts. We argue that it is essential to clarify how central concepts are used within gender theory and how to apply them to health research. We identify six gender theoretical concepts as central and interlinked-but problematic and ambiguous in health science: sex, gender, intersectionality, embodiment, gender equity and gender equality. Our recommendations are that: the concepts sex and gender can benefit from a gender relational theoretical approach (ie, a focus on social processes and structures) but with additional attention to the interrelations between sex and gender; intersectionality should go beyond additive analyses to study complex intersections between the major factors which potentially influence health and ensure that gendered power relations and social context are included; we need to be aware of the various meanings given to embodiment, which achieve an integration of gender and health and attend to different levels of analyses to varying degrees; and appreciate that gender equality concerns absence of discrimination between women and men while gender equity focuses on women's and men's health needs, whether similar or different. We conclude that there is a constant need to justify and clarify our use of these concepts in order to advance gender theoretical development. Our analysis is an invitation for dialogue but also a call to make more effective use of the knowledge base which has already developed among gender theorists in health sciences in the manner proposed in this paper.
