Thesis (Ph.D. (Nutrition))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

<p>Antiretroviral regimens have side effects that can threaten adherence by patients resulting in evolution of viral resistance due to suboptimal drug levels. Studies have shown that drug adherence of at least 80% can result in viral load suppression. There is no literature on the association between the level of adherence to antiretroviral therapy and the degree of virological suppression in Namibia. The aim of the present study was to determine the therapeutic and virological outcomes in HIV/AIDS patients at 6 and 12 months after initiation of highly-active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in an urban population in Namibia. The distribution of viral load results showed a low uptake (35%) of virological monitoring at 6 month time point and even lower (12%) at 12 months. A conservative viral load threshold for virological response is required in the Namibian setting. The current adherence level of &gt / 80% encourage increased ARV therapy rollout. Poor virological outcome was associated with self-reported adherence.</p>

General and reproductive health and reproductive outcome were described in rural women of childbearing age (15-44 years) during 1992-93 in a cross-sectional study in Zimbabwe. Through a two-stage sampling procedure twelve villages were selected at random, and 79% of the women in the villages accepted to participate (n=1213). In a structured interview women¡¯s self-reported morbidity, socio-economic conditions, use of health care and fertility regulation methods, reproductive outcome and infertility problems were assessed. The prevalence rates of anaemia, malaria and syphilis were investigated. Retrospectively, HIV serology was anonymously assessed and associations with socio-economic conditions and morbidity were analysed. The mean age was 28 years. Family planning was currently used by 37%. Primary and secondary infertility was reported by 0.9% and 4.4%, respectively. The perinatal mortality rate for all completed pregnancies (n=3601) was 23/1000. During the latest completed pregnancy 94% had attended antenatal care and 85% had delivered in hospitals or clinics. The self-reported complications during delivery seemed to have been cared for within the health care system. Women perceived their health as being generally good. Mean haemoglobin (Hb) was 13.5 g/dl and only 3.4% were anaemic (Hb ¡Ü11.0 g/dl). Malaria prevalence was 5.4%, but a positive malaria test was not associated with anaemia. Syphilis prevalence was 2.2%, and a positive syphilis test increased the risk of being HIV positive three-fold (OR=3.0; 95% CI: 1.4-6.2). The prevalence of HIV was high (22%). Women aged 15-19 had the lowest prevalence (7.6%), while the highest was found in married women aged 20-29 years (30%). The differences in HIV prevalence between the villages ranged between 8.4% and 33%. HIV positive women reported no more morbidity than HIV negative women. The low morbidity found at the time of the study indicates a fairly short duration of the HIV epidemic.

At present there is a reliance on behavioral interventions that have been limited in their effectiveness to reduce the public health burden of chronic disease, partly because the effects of social context on the initiation and maintenance of health behaviors is not incorporated into public health policy and practice. Yet current research indicates that there are macro-level structural and contextual influences on population health that cannot be reduced to individual or compositional effects. This study investigated the associations between social structural factors, community social context, individual characteristics, and self-reported correlates of disease. Distal influences included social structural inequalities such as income inequality and absolute deprivation or poverty. Pertinent mechanisms through which these influences might have operated on disease included social contextual factors, such as social capital. Both political economy and the ecosocial perspective were selected to inform this study and to provide the theoretical framework from which hypotheses were derived.The design was a multilevel, retrospective, nonexperimental study using secondary data. The study linked three data sources (2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Social Capital Community Benchmark Study, and U.S. Census) by Federal Information Processing Standards codes in order for individuals to be placed in their community or state contexts. Results provided mixed evidence of the direct role of structural and contextual inequalities on self-rated health. Any direct effects of social structural inequalities on the health outcomes disappeared once individual factors were included in the models. Findings demonstrated that one dimension of social capital, organizational activism, retained its significant direct effect on general health status, once individual characteristics were considered. Conclusions suggested indirect associations whereby the negative influence of social structural inequalities on health was mediated by the erosion of social trust, which in turn was associated with engaging in risk behavior, thus increasing the odds of reporting hypertension, fair/poor general health, and mental distress. Although results were inconsistent, this study contributed to advancing Healthy People 2010 goals of increasing quality of life and reducing health disparities by advancing understanding of the multilevel nature of perceived health and the chronic diseases they predict.

<p>Antiretroviral regimens have side effects that can threaten adherence by patients resulting in evolution of viral resistance due to suboptimal drug levels. Studies have shown that drug adherence of at least 80% can result in viral load suppression. There is no literature on the association between the level of adherence to antiretroviral therapy and the degree of virological suppression in Namibia. The aim of the present study was to determine the therapeutic and virological outcomes in HIV/AIDS patients at 6 and 12 months after initiation of highly-active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in an urban population in Namibia. The distribution of viral load results showed a low uptake (35%) of virological monitoring at 6 month time point and even lower (12%) at 12 months. A conservative viral load threshold for virological response is required in the Namibian setting. The current adherence level of &gt / 80% encourage increased ARV therapy rollout. Poor virological outcome was associated with self-reported adherence.</p>

The overall aim of this thesis was to explore and describe schoolchildren's selfreported-health based on the Health Dialogue concept as well as to identify healthindicators and their possible associations in the perspective of 6 to 16 year-olds,and to provide an analysis of school nurses´ experiences of using the HealthDialogue concept, in the County of Västernorrland. The thesis was based on fourstudies (I-IV). Study I was qualitative using a descriptive design, based onindividual interviews with school nurses who had working experience of using theHealth Dialogue concept. Studies II-IV were quantitative with cross sectional andlongitudinal design based on statistical data from the Health Dialogue concept, apopulation survey among schoolchildren. The data were analyzed usingqualitative content analysis (I) and regression analyses (II-IV).Study I showed that the school nurses had developed their own commonapproach, a health promotion model derived from experiences of working with theHealth Dialogue concept. Study II showed that the most important health variablesinfluencing pre-schoolchildren´s positive self-reported-health were experience ofcomfort in preschool, good sleep, absence of headaches, being physicalactive/playing daily, and not being a victim for bullying. Both boys and girlsneeded to experience comfort, being physical active, and not being bullied. Forgirls, positive self-reported-health seemed to be more dependent on comfort, beingphysical active/playing, and not being bullied, whereas boy’s health was moredependent on eating school lunch daily and not experiencing headaches.Study III revealed that in 10-year-old children´s positive self-reported-health,comfort in school, normal iso- body mass index and absence of headaches wereshown to be significantly important health indicators. Normal iso- body massindex (girls) and absence of headaches (boys) were shown to have a potentiallycausal effect on 10-year-old children's positive self-reported-health. Study IVrevealed several significantly important health indicators in schoolchildren´shealth during three school transitions in the Swedish Education system (betweenthe ages of 6-10, 10-13 and 13-16); not experiencing being sad/depressed,afraid/worried, experiencing the school environment positively (schoolyard andivrestrooms), not being bullied, having good sleep, daily physical activity/play andability to concentrate. Gender and age differences were also identified. The HealthDialogue concept, contributes increased knowledge and a new cross sectional andlongitudinal perspective to individual, school, community and organization’sperception of schoolchildren´s self-reported-health. Furthermore, these resultsdemonstrate the importance and validity of children´s experiences in the context ofhealth and should contribute to future health promotion activities and schoolbasedinterventions.Key words: Health promotion, health dialogue, longitudinal design, school nurses,schoolchildren, self-reported-health. / Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen var att undersöka och beskrivaskolbarns självrapporterade hälsa baserat på Hälsosamtals konceptet, attidentifiera hälsoindikatorer och deras möjliga samband för skolbarn självskattadehälsa i ett 6 till 16- års perspektiv, och att analysera skolsköterskornas erfarenheterav att använda Hälsosamtals konceptet i Västernorrlands län. Avhandlingenbygger på fyra studier (I-IV). Studie I var kvalitativ med en deskriptiv design,baserad på individuella intervjuer med skolsköterskor med arbetserfarenhet frånHälsosamtals konceptet. Studie II-IV var kvantitativ med tvärsnitt ochlongitudinell design baserat på statistisk data på länsnivå från Hälsosamtalskonceptet bland skolbarn i ålder 6-16 år. Data analyserades med kvalitativinnehållsanalys (I) och regressions analys (II-IV). Studie 1 visade attskolsköterskorna i länet hade utvecklat en egen gemensam strategi och modell förhälsofrämjande arbete. Studie II visade att de viktigaste hälso- indikatorer för barni förskoleklass avseende positivt självrapporterade hälsa var trivsel, god sömn,frånvaro av svår huvudvärk, vara fysiskt aktiv/leka varje dag, samt att inte varautsatt för mobbning. Både pojkar och flickor behövde trivas, vara fysisktaktiva/leka, och inte vara utsatta för mobbning. Flickorna visade sig vara merberoende av trivsel, vara fysiskt aktiva/leka, och inte vara utsatta för mobbning föratt rapportera sin hälsa positivt medan pojkarnas positivt självrapporterande hälsavisade sig bero på daglig skollunch och att inte ha huvudvärk. Studie III visade attför 10-åriga barns positivt självrapporterade hälsa var, trivsel i skolan, normalt iso-BMI och frånvaro av huvudvärk viktiga hälsoindikatorer. Normal iso-BMI visadeett potentiellt kausalt samband för 10-åriga flickors, och frånvaro av huvudvärkvisade ett potentiellt kausalt samband för 10-åriga pojkars positivtsjälvrapporterad hälsa. Studie IV visade flera signifikant viktiga hälsoindikatorer iskolbarns (6-16 år) positivt självrapporterade hälsa, under tre skolövergångar i detsvenska utbildningssystemet (6-10, 10-13, 13-16 år). Att inte känna sigledsen/deprimerad, rädd/orolig, uppleva skolmiljön positivt (skolgården ochtoaletter), inte vara mobbad, sova gott, vara dagligt fysiskt aktiv/leka och att kunnakoncentrera sig visade sig vara viktiga hälsoindikatorer. Dessa hälsoindikatorerviskilde sig avseende på ålder och kön. Denna avhandling bidrar med ökad kunskapom skolbarns självrapporterade hälsa grundat på Hälsosamtals konceptet.Hälsosamtals konceptet tillför nya perspektiv avseende barns hälsa på individ,skola, samhälls/organisations nivå i ett tvärsnitts och longitudinellt perspektiv.Hälsofrämjande arbete i skolan och samhället bör ta barns upplevelser,erfarenheter och synpunkter i beaktande och som giltiga. Resultatet i dennaavhandling hoppas kunna bidra till framtida hälsofrämjande arbete och insatser iskolan.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Nutrition))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Nutrition))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

abstract: Decades of research and empirical studies support the belief that traumatic life events lead to a multitude of negative outcomes (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996), however, new research suggests that some survivors of trauma experience significant psychological growth, known as posttraumatic growth (PTG) (Tedeschi, Park, & Calhoun, 1998). The current study focused on the trauma of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its relation to the development of PTG. A TBI is both a psychological trauma and a type of acquired brain injury that occurs when physical injury causes damage to the brain (National Institutes of Health [NIH], 2013). Empirical studies examining TBIs and PTG are minimal. The current study focused on survivors who have sustained a TBI from a motor vehicle accident to help control for contextual factors of the injury that are known to affect outcomes. The aim of this study was to elucidate the physical, sociodemographic, contextual, and psychological factors that helped predict the development of PTG among a population of TBI survivors. In addition, another aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the relationship between PTG and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology. Cross-sectional data from self-identified TBI survivors of motor vehicle accidents (n = 155) were used to construct a model of prediction of PTG. Preliminary analyses revealed a reliability issue with the measure that assessed participants’ personality, and these variables were not used in planned analyses. Results revealed that the majority of participants were female, Caucasian, highly educated, and unemployed. Overall, the sample indicated significant injury severity, disability, and lower than average mental and physical functioning. The final model accounted for approximately 15% of the variance in PTG and significant predictors included: gender, time since injury, and the interaction between PTSD symptoms and time since injury. The findings of this research can help inform treatment programs and rehabilitation services as well as funding that can aim to improve outcomes from survivors of TBI. Study limitations included the use of cross-sectional data, a homogenous and unrepresentative sample of TBI survivors, recruitment concerns, and low reliability observed in one of the integral measures of the study. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Counseling Psychology 2016

Juslin and Västfjäll introduced a theoretical framework aiming to explain how music can induce emotions. The framework contains seven psychological mechanisms, which explain how emotions are induced. The aim of the present study was to investigate how four of these psychological mechanisms would induce emotion both with self-reported feelings and psychophysiological measurement using a systematical design. The results showed that different psychological mechanisms induced different kind of emotions both as bodily responses and subjective feelings. These results supported that the theoretical framework is a valid explanation of how music induces emotions.