Health-Related Adjustment of Adolescents in Various Postdivorce Family Structures With Main Focus on Father Custody With and Without a Stepmother

It is well established that adolescents living in father custody are more likely to be involved in antisocial behavior and substance use, as compared to adolescents living in mother custody. This study assessed whether these differences also pertain to a wider spectrum of health-related outcomes. A second aim was to investigate the role of a stepparent on adolescents' health-related adjustment. A total of 6,447 Norwegian adolescents between ages 11 and 16 participated in the study. The findings revealed that the differences between adolescents in father versus mother custody might be somewhat more comprehensive than previous studies have observed, indicating increased risks for adjustment problems among adolescents living with a single father on various health-related outcomes. Generally, a stepmother does not seem to compensate for the risks of adjustment problems, but might have a positive influence on certain health-related behaviors.     

Lighting old age--how lighting impacts the ability to grow old in own housing, part one

A functionally optimized housing development designed to meet the demands in different phases of living (universal design) may result in the elderly living longer in their own homes. In this study a total of 165 healthy persons were included out of a total of approximately 320 persons turning 75 years of age in 2009 living in Drammen municipality. They went through a quantitative, questionnaire-based interview (including VAS and SF-36) and 20 participants were then selected for a qualitative in depth interview. The lighting conditions in the kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom and staircase were measured according to a simplified procedure. The overall lighting conditions were evaluated to be rather low, with means between 35 and 121 Lux, but the quantitative interviews showed that on most questions the scores were rather low, indicating that the overall thriving is good regardless of rather low lighting values.     

Childhood maltreatment among Norwegian drug abusers in treatment

This article reports on the investigation of the correlation between the European Addiction Severity Index (EuropASI) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) among 102 Norwegian drug abusers admitted to treatment. The aim of the study is to explore how different types and levels of childhood trauma and social and psychiatric factors, medical situation and experienced family history are interrelated. The study addresses three main questions: 1) What is the prevalence of different kinds of childhood trauma among drug abusers in treatment? 2) Does type or level of maltreatment in childhood predict specific substance abuse problems as adults and/or specific social, psychiatric and medical problems as adults? 3) Do substance abuse problems and mental health problems in the primary family predict different types and levels of childhood maltreatment? Twenty‐five per cent of the total sample was included in the high‐level trauma group and 54% in the intermediate‐level group. Females had significantly higher scores than males in all types of childhood trauma. The strongest correlations were found between childhood trauma and lifetime psychiatric problems and psychiatric status during the last 30 days before admission for treatment. More research, and especially prospective studies, is needed to clarify the importance of parents' substance abuse and psychiatric problems in childhood/adolescent compared with trauma in the client's childhood and the client's current psychiatric status.     

Happy Living in Darkness! Indoor Lighting in Relation to Activities of Daily Living,Visual and General Health in 75-Year-Olds Living at Home

ABSTRACT

Lighting has been identified as a significant environmental attribute for promoting vision and general health among older people, enabling successful aging at home, but it has received little attention in the literature. Indoor lighting levels, self-reported vision and general health, and activities of daily life were measured in 114 healthy 75-year-old Norwegians. Despite very low levels of indoor lighting, the subjects were happy and healthy. There is a large discrepancy between self-assessed health and recommended lighting levels, and low awareness of the effect of lighting on age-related vision loss or daily living in the future. Knowledge of how to utilize indoor lighting to ensure healthy and safe aging in the home is needed.     

Norwegian child welfare workers' perceptions of emergency placements

Emergency placements in child welfare services have increased during the last 10 years in Norway. At the time of placement, some of these children have been in the child welfare system for several years. Based on qualitative interviews, our study explores Norwegian child welfare workers' perceptions of long‐term cases resulting in emergency placements. The participants reported that they felt they had intervened too late, as it took them too long to understand the severity of the situation. This occurred mainly due to three factors: (a) The work had mainly been based on the parents' premises; (b) having too much distance to the child, as they talked too little with the child, too late in the process; (c) an experience of lacking methodological skills needed and sufficient opportunities to conduct proper observations and assessments; (d) supportive measures were tried for too long, and these measures were not properly evaluated. Giving other professionals' assessments considerable weight in the decision‐making process, and the use of legal language rather than independent, professional assessments, can be seen as another way of distancing themselves from both the family and the decisions being made.     

“Y,what do you think about what X just said?” Conversation analysis of stance-eliciting questions in open dialogue network meetings

Open dialogue is a resource-oriented approach to mental health, which aims to help those involved in a crisis situation support each other and engage in dialogue. While language use in open dialogue is generally characterized as being open-ended, nondirective, and nonevaluating on the professionals' side, little is known about the specific conversational features. The aim of this study was to analyze the interactional functions of a stance-eliciting question of the form: “Y, what do you think about what X just said?” We used conversation analysis (CA) to examine this in eight video-recorded Danish open dialogue network meetings. In CA, stance involves expressions of attitude, affect, or judgments about people or events. We describe the interactional functions of these stance-eliciting questions and discuss how clinicians used them as a tool for accomplishing neutrality. The findings can be used to gain a more nuanced understanding of open dialogue psychotherapeutic practices.     

Family,activity, and stress reactions in exile

The possible protective effect of family and activity (including work and employment training) on posttraumatic reactions in traumatized refugees living in a host society was explored. A total of 966 refugees participated in the study, the majority of whom had been exposed to war and/or torture trauma prior to arrival in Norway. The study sample consisted of two groups: one had been referred to a psychiatric outpatient clinic for evaluation or treatment, the other consisted of refugees interviewed in connection with a health examination upon arrival in the municipalities to which they were allocated. The study showed that presence of family and employment/training had positive effects on posttraumatic symptoms regardless of level of traumatic exposure. But the results also showed that the higher the level of exposure to traumatic events, the stronger the effect of family (spouse and/or children) seemed to be. The study illustrates the importance of implementing psychosocial measures with special emphasis on activity and strengthening of family systems, in the integration of traumatized refugees in a host community. El artículo explora los posibles efectos protectivos que tienen las redes de apoyo familiares y el empleo/entrenamiento en las reacciones post-traumáticas de refugiados traumatizados residentes en una sociedad receptora. Participaron en el estudio un total de 966 refugiados de los cuales la mayoria fueron víctimas de varios eventos traumáticos previo a su llegada a Noruega. La muestra consiste en dos grupos: el primer grupo habia sido referido previamente a una clinica psiquiátrica para evaluación y tratamiento; el segundo grupo consiste en refugiados que habian sido sometidos a una examinación clínica llevada a cabo en las municipalidades que les fueron asignadas a su llegada a Noruega. El estudio muestra que la presencia familiar y los actividodos laborales/entrenamiento tiene efectos positivos en síntomas post-traumáticos, sin importar el nivel de exposición traumática. Los resultados también demuestran que los efectos de la presencia familiar en los síntomas son todavía más evidentes en personas que han sufrido experiencias traumáticas más fuertes. El estudio ilustra la importancia de implementar medidas psicosociales con especial énfasis en la actividad y el fortalecimento de los sistemas familiares para la integración de refugiados traumatizados en sociedades receptoras.