During the 1980’s the non-profit organisation RAND Corporation conducted the two-year Medical Outcomes Study with the goal of creating a comprehensive medical questionnaire. The resulting 116-item questionnaire measures health related quality of life (HRQoL) topics such as physical, mental and general health. The questionnaire is available as a free resource on their web page. SF-36, which contains 36 of these questions, is distributed for a fee by the US company Quality Metric Inc. The company has translated the questionnaire into several languages, including Swedish, and has also taken license for the translations. Registercentrum sydost has made a new Swedish translation of the same questions as in the SF-36. This survey is called RAND-36 and is license free. Because Quality Metric Inc has taken license for its Swedish translation, the surveys are similar but not identical. This study aims to compare the aforementioned HRQoL-instruments to determine whether it is possible to replace the licensed questionnaire SF-36 with the license free RAND-36. The distribution of items with response options according ordinal scale were compared with Mann-Whitney U-test. The test yielded a significant difference for eight items in the measure PF(physical functioning), MH(mental health), VT (vitality) and GH (general health perceptions). The distribution of items with response options according dichotomous scale were compared with X2-test. The test yielded significant difference for an item in the measure RE (emotional role functioning). The reliability of questionnaire was compared with ordinal alpha. In the selection the reliability between MH and VT is equivalent. The biggest difference between the surveys is the measure RP (physical role functioning) where the RAND-36 meets the requirement that the measure can be used for reliable conclusions on the individual level, which is a condition that SF-36 can’t met. The probability of entering an answer, given the respondent's ability, was compared with Rasch analysis. Wald's test gave DIF between most items within the measures PF, MH, VT and GH.

Hirsutism is excessive hair growth in women. The prevalence is estimated at 5%. The aim of this thesis was to describe different aspects of how life is affected for women suffering from hirsutism. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Study I showed that hirsutism deeply affects women’s experiences of their bodies in a negative way and was experienced as a life sorrow. In Study II the patient-physician relationship was described. The patient-physician relationship from the patient’s perspective was suboptimal, as most meetings included feelings of being rejected and even humiliation. In Study III the aim was to translate and psychometrically evaluate an instrument that measures perceived social support, “The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support” (MSPSS). The translation was performed according to WHO:s official process, and validation was performed in a sample that consisted of 281 participants, 127 women with hirsutism (main sample) and 154 nursing students. MSPSS had good psychometric properties with regard to factor structure, construct validity, internal consistency and reproducibility. Study IV described different aspects of HRQoL in the main sample, the correlation of anxiety, depression, level of hairiness, age and BMI. The F-G scores were dichotomized into minor (F-G ≤14) and major (F-G≥15) hair growth. Higher levels of hair growth were significantly correlated to a lower level of QoL measured by DLQI, EQ-5D and symptoms of both anxiety and depression measured by HADS. Study V investigated if social support was associated with quality of life and outcome of HRQoL compared to a reference group of women (n=1115). SF-36, the MSPSS and the F-G scale were used. Compared to the reference group, women with hirsutism reported lower quality of life in all dimensions of SF-36 (p<0.01) The dimension most affected was vitality (VT=41.2), which had a lower value than has been reported for patients with MS and myasthenia gravis. A Multiple Regression Analysis showed a significant relation between quality of life and social support, indicating its importance for the ability to adapt, in spite of low quality of life.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between movement competency and health related quality of life (HRQOL) in adults aged 55 to 75 years. Seventy-eight, male (40) and female (38), subjects completed the study. Their mean (SD) age, height, and mass were 64.9 (5.8) years and 63.6 (4.9) years, 1.8 (.08) m and 1.7 (.07) m, 82.6 (11.8) kg and 70.3 (17.9) kg, for male and female, respectively. Subjects completed several tests in 3 categories: movement competency (Functional Movement ScreenTM [FMS] [all 7 tests], sitting-rising test [SRT]); physical activity level (Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly [PASE]); and health related quality of life [HRQOL] (SF-36v2). A linear regression model was then developed to examine the relationship of a number of variables to quality of life. The strongest relationship to HRQOL was the FMS, with a positive correlation of 0.474 which is highly significant (p < 0.0001). Once the FMS score was accounted for, no other terms in the regression model were significant. The correlation between our two assessments of movement competency, the FMS and SRT was 0.644 which is highly significant (p < 0.0001). Our primary hypothesis was supported that those with better movement competency have a better health related quality of life. Our results suggest further research should be undertaken to see if properly administered individualized corrective therapeutic exercise programs could improve older adults' movement competency and thereby improve their quality of life.

The relationship between stress and physical health has been well established in the medical and psychological literature. Mindfulness meditation is a practice that has been successfully used to reduce stress in several populations, and the construct itself has recently begun to be measured as a naturally occurring characteristic. A recent study demonstrating the significant relationships between mindfulness, stress, and physical health prompted the investigation in the present study of the possible mechanisms underlying these relationships. It was hypothesised that the relationship between mindfulness and physical health would be largely mediated by stress, and that in addition, mindfulness would explain a significant proportion of the variance in health after stress had been accounted for. Participants were 129 undergraduate students who completed a battery of self-report questionnaires including the Perceived Stress Scale, the Short-Form 36 Health Survey, and two recently developed measures of mindfulness; the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale and the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills. Perceived stress was shown to account for a large proportion of the relationship between mindfulness and health, and mindfulness was also shown to explain a significant proportion of the variance in physical health after stress had been controlled for. An additional finding was that acceptance demonstrated stronger relationships with both physical and mental health than any of the other components of mindfulness studied. Potential mechanisms of mindfulness that may help explain these findings are discussed.

<p>It has been claimed that there are considerable differences between pri-vate and non-private patients with regard to the outcome of back surgery.This can be found in the yearly report from the register concerning backsurgery in Sweden. However, the results seem doubtful and the referencescould not be found. Therefore, we analyze the data about nearly 1200patients from the clinic of back surgery in Str¨angn¨as (CSS). It includesthree time periods with somewhat different questionnaires from 1986 to2007 with both private and non-private patients. In the third period,the patients have been evaluated using the SF-36 questionnaire. The re-sults show that most of the differences between private and non-privatepatients are minor and not statistically significant.</p>

It has been claimed that there are considerable differences between pri-vate and non-private patients with regard to the outcome of back surgery.This can be found in the yearly report from the register concerning backsurgery in Sweden. However, the results seem doubtful and the referencescould not be found. Therefore, we analyze the data about nearly 1200patients from the clinic of back surgery in Str¨angn¨as (CSS). It includesthree time periods with somewhat different questionnaires from 1986 to2007 with both private and non-private patients. In the third period,the patients have been evaluated using the SF-36 questionnaire. The re-sults show that most of the differences between private and non-privatepatients are minor and not statistically significant.

Syfte: Studiens syfte var att beskriva och jämföra livskvalitet hos närstående till patienter med kronisk hjärtsvikt (CHF) respektive multipel skleros (MS) samt hur demografiska bakgrundsvariabler är relaterade till livskvalitet i undersökningsgruppen. Detta är en delstudie ur ett större forskningsprojekt.Metod: Frågeformuläret SF-36 användes för att mäta livskvalitet hos närstående till patienter med CHF (n = 28) samt närstående till patienter med MS (n = 19). De närstående valdes ut av patienter.Resultat: Det fanns signifikanta skillnader mellan närstående till patienter med CHF respektive MS gällande fysisk hälsa, där närstående till patienter med MS har skattat högre fysisk hälsa. Närstående till patienter med CHF skattade lägst på Vitalitet och högst på Social funktion och närstående till patienter med MS skattade lägst på Vitalitet och högst på Social funktion och Emotionell rollfunktion. Slutsats: Närstående till patienter med CHF skattade signifikant lägre än närstående till patienter med MS gällande fysisk hälsa. Resultatet av studien indikerar att andra faktorer än sjukdom inverkar på närståendes livskvalitet.

SANTRAUKA Vilniaus universiteto Medicinos fakultetas Reabilitacijos, sporto medicinos ir slaugos institutas Slaugos magistrantūros programa SERGANČIŲJŲ 2 TIPO CUKRINIU DIABETU GYVENIMO KOKYBĖS ĮVERTINIMAS Slaugos magistro baigiamasis darbas Darbo autorė: Aliona Zaborovskytė Darbo vadovė: prof. habil..dr. Danutė Kalibatienė Vilnius, 2008 m. Pagrindinės sąvokos: 2 tipo cukrinis diabetas, gyvenimo kokybė, SF-36 klausimynas. Tyrimo tikslas. Įvertinti 2 tipo sergančiųjų cukriniu diabetu gyvenimo kokybę. Tyrimo uždaviniai. Ištirti ir palyginti grupės sergančiųjų 2 tipo cukriniu diabetu gyvenimo kokybės skirtumus, atsižvelgiant į tiriamųjų lytį, amžių ir kūno masės indeksą. Įvertinti grupės sergančiųjų 2 tipo cukriniu diabetu gyvenimo kokybę, atsižvelgiant į socialinius veiksnius. Įvertinti grupės sergančiųjų 2 tipo cukriniu diabetu gyvenimo kokybę, atsižvelgiant į cukrinio diabeto komplikacijas. Tyrimo populiacija. Tyrime dalyvavo 196 asmenys, sergantys 2 tipo cukriniu diabetu. 67 vyrai (34,2 proc.) ir 129 moterys (65,8 proc.), kurių amžius buvo nuo 41 iki 77 metų (vidurkis – 60,5 ± 8,1 m.). Pacientai gydėsi Vilniaus miesto ligoninėse ir poliklinikose. Tyrimo metodai. Atliktas epidemiologinis tyrimas pritaikant anoniminės apklausos metodą. Analizuoti sergančiųjų 2 tipo cukriniu diabetu pacientų gyvenimo kokybės skirtumai, atsižvelgiant į tokius veiksnius, kaip lytis, amžius, KMI, socialinius veiksnius, diabeto trukmę, ligos kontrolę, diabeto gydymą, šeimos sergamumą cukriniu... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / SUMMARY Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine Institute of Rehabilitation, Sport Medicine and Nursing Master’s degree Nursing Programme EVALUATION OF LIFE QUALITY OF PATIENS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES Master’s degree final scientific research work Author of the master’s degree scientific research work: Aliona Zaborovskytė Head of the master’s degree scientific research work: prof. Danutė Kalibatienė Vilnius, 2008 Keywords: type 2 diabetes, quality of life, SF-36 questionnaire. The aim of research was to evaluate quality of life patients who has type 2 diabetes. The main tasks were to analyse and compare differences of quality of life patients with type 2 diabetes, considering their gender, age and the body mass index. To evaluate quality of life patients with type 2 diabetes considering social factors. To evaluate quality of life of patients with type 2 diabetes considering complications of diabetes. Population of research. This study focused on 196 subjects with Type 2 Diabetes between the age of 41 and 77 years-old (average 60,5 ± 8,1 year). They were recruited from Vilniaus hospitals and an Out patient Clinic. The distribution consisted of 67 males and 129 females. Methods. There was used epidemiologic research of prevalence method. A questionnaire was administered to determine and access specific demographic characteristics including the type and duration of onset of diabetes, prescribed treatments, complications, social factors and other relevant data. Short-Form Health... [to full text]

Poor adherence is an issue in clinical trials with a striking magnitude and negative impact. Recent studies indicate that two widely used clinical screening tools, Short Form (SF-36) Health Survey and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) can be used as risk stratifiers to identify participants who require extra interaction to stay adherent in specific population. There is, however, little evidence to support the implication of these tools in elderly individuals with mobility limitations. These individuals may be particularly vulnerable to the risks of poor adherence in the context of a demanding interventional scheme. This study fulfills this gap by analyzing the quality of life and adherence data from the VIVE2 study, which is a double-blinded randomized explanatory clinical trial assessing the benefits of nutritional supplements and daily exercises to elderly patients with mobility limitation. The preliminary results showed that in clinical studies targeting elderly population with mobility limitations, the summary scores of SF-36 trended to have weak and nonsignificant association with a decreased risk of poor adherence to both exercise completion and product consumption while CES-D has no association.