Risk Factors For Psychosocial Problems Research Articles

Assessment of psychosocial functioning and its risk factors in children with pectus excavatum

BackgroundPsychosocial functioning is poor in patients with pectus excavatum (PE). However, a comprehensive understanding of this issue does not exist. The aim of this study was to assess the severity of psychosocial problems as associated with PE, as well as to identify its risk factors.MethodsA comparative study was performed at the Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences/Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital in Chengdu, China. Patients age 6 to 16 who admitted to the outpatient department for the evaluation or treatment for PE were included in the study. In addition to parental reports of child psychosocial problems on the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), parents also filled in other structured questionnaires, including socio-demographic variables, patients' medical and psychological characteristics. The severity of malformation was assessed by CT scan. For comparison, an age- and gender- matched control group was recruited from the general population. The socio-demographic and scores on CBCL were compared between patients and control subjects. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to examine risk factors for psychosocial problems in patients.ResultsNo statistically significant differences were found with respect to social-demographic variables between children with PE and control subjects. Compared with control subjects, children with PE displayed higher prevalence of psychosocial problems in the different scales of the CBCL questionnaire such as 'withdraw', 'anxious-depressed', 'social problems' and 'total problems'. Both univariate and multivariate analyses suggested that age, severity of malformation, and being teased about PE were significantly associated with patients' psychosocial problems.ConclusionsThe information derived from this study supports the opinion that children with PE have more psychosocial problems than children from the general population. Multiple medical and psychosocial factors were associated with patients' impairment of psychosocial functioning.

Effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for cognitive dysfunction in cancer patients who have received chemotherapy: a systematic review

Effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for cognitive dysfunction in cancer patients who have received chemotherapy: a systematic review

The risk factors of psychosocial problems for burn patients

Many burn patients experience psychosocial problems such as personality change, post-traumatic stress disorder, family trouble, and financial burden. The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors of these psychosocial problems that prevented burn patients from developing appropriate adjustments after burn. Six hundred eighty-six adult burn inpatients were interviewed. Most of them suffered from burns less than 10% of total body surface area. They were asked to fill in a questionnaire for this study, which was a psychosocial problem checklist of 17 items. Descriptive analysis, factor analysis, Chi-square test, and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the results. Lack of family support and living expense burden were the two significant risk factors for psychosocial problems including, burn treatment problems, rehabilitation problems, and welfare information problems on both acute and chronic burn patients. Medical expense burden was the risk factor among chronic burn patients. These findings suggested that active interventions by the burn team including mental health professionals (psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker) might reduce psychosocial problems of burn patients and encourage social rehabilitation.

Psychosocial functioning in siblings of paediatric cancer patients one to six months after diagnosis

The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the prevalence of and risk factors for psychosocial problems in siblings of paediatric cancer patients. One and 6 months after diagnosis, sibling self-reported anxiety, social–emotional problems and quality of life (QoL) were assessed, as were the predictor variables: sibling prediagnosis functioning, age and gender and the ill child's diagnosis. At 1 month, siblings reported a lower QoL and adolescent girls reported more emotional problems compared with peers. At 6 months, adolescent QoL remained relatively impaired. Over time, adolescent brothers reported fewer emotional and total problems and young girls reported decreased anxiety. No significant amelioration in QoL was found over time. The older the siblings were, the lower their observed QoL at both measurements and in several domains. The occurrence of life events predicted sisters’ QoL at 1 month. Changes in sibling functioning were predicted by none of the investigated risk factors. Thus, QoL is impaired shortly after diagnosis. Adolescent siblings risk persisting problems in daily functioning. Further prospective research on other risk factors such as coping and family functioning over time is needed.