A. van Wersch

The utility of a multimedia education program for prostate cancer patients: a formative evaluation.

A multimedia program (MMP) was developed to educate patients with prostate cancer about their disease. A within-subjects design was used to investigate the changes in levels of cancer-related knowledge, psychosocial functioning, treatment decision-making role and information needs immediately after browsing the MMP. The participants were 67 men recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Psychosocial functioning was assessed with 20 items describing common emotional states and coping strategies employed by cancer patients. Treatment decision-making role was assessed with the Control Preference Scale. A principle component analysis of the 20 psychosocial items yielded three components: distress, positive approach and nonacceptance. After browsing the MMP significant increases in knowledge and reductions in distress were reported. Marital status was significantly associated with knowledge gain. Married men and those attending the study session with their spouse displayed a significant shift towards a more active role in treatment decisions. The majority of information needs were fulfilled by the MMP; however, information related to the likelihood of a cure, treatment side effects, coping strategies and aetiology were not completely satisfied by the MMP. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future work on the design and evaluation of the MMP are discussed.

Successful behavioural strategies to increase physical activity and improve glucose control in adults with Type 2 diabetes

To explore which behaviour change techniques and other intervention features are associated with increased levels of physical activity and improved HbA1c in adults with Type 2 diabetes.

Attitudes towards the male contraceptive pill: psychosocial and cultural explanations for delaying a marketable product

Even though years of research on the male contraceptive pill have been conducted, a marketable product is still absent from the arsenal of male and female products of contraception. In this paper, the following psychosocial and cultural factors have been elicited from the literature in order to reveal explanations for this delay: acceptability, trust, fear of side-effects, perceptions of contraceptive responsibility and fear of losing connotations of masculinity. Regardless of cultural variation, overall there seems to be a positive attitude towards the acceptability of male contraceptive for both males and females, especially males in stable relationships. Some indication shows that the media have played an important role in distorting the results of research regarding male and female trust. Ongoing and future researches into several projects on psychosocial and cultural factors are described.RésuméAlors même que la pilule contraceptive masculine a fait l’objet d’années de recherche, sa commercialisation est toujours absente de l’arsenal des méthodes de contraception pour les hommes et les femmes.Cet article a pour but de mettre à jour des explications à ce retard. Par une analyse de la littérature, menée par une recherche sur sept bases de données en utilisant une combinaison de plusieurs mots clés (pilule masculine, contraception masculine hormonale, attitudes, et psychologie), les auteurs ont mis en évidence les facteurs culturels et psychosociaux suivants: l’acceptabilité (hypothétique et dans les essais cliniques), la confiance — les femmes feraient-elles confiance à leur partenaire pour utiliser une pilule masculine efficacement, et les hommes auraient-ils confiance en euxmêmes —, la peur des effets secondaires, les perceptions de la responsabilité contraceptive et enfin la peur de la perte de masculinité.Sans se soucier des variations culturelles, il semble globalement exister une attitude positive à la fois des hommes et des femmes en ce qui concerne l’acceptabilité d’une contraception masculine, plus particulièrement pour les hommes qui sont dans une relation stable.Il existe par ailleurs quelques indices laissant percevoir que les medias ont joué un rôle important en dénaturant les résultats de la recherche concernant la confiance des hommes et des femmes en l’utilisation d’une contraception masculine.Les auteurs développent enfin plusieurs projets de recherche en cours sur les facteurs culturels et psychosociaux. Ils soulèvent aussi la nécessité d’un modèle intégré de ces facteurs qui formatent les attitudes envers la pilule masculine, modèle nécessaire à l’évaluation de la variation psychosociale globale qui distingue les hommes les uns des autres dans la compréhension de la contraception hormonale masculine.

Testing an extended theory of planned behaviour to predict intention to participate in health-related exercise during long-distance flight travel

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine intention to participate in exercise during long-haul flights using an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB, Ajzen, 1991), augmented with the variables descriptive norm (DN) and self-identity (SI). Design: The study employed a cross-sectional design using belief-based as well as direct quantitative questionnaire measures of all variables. Method: Participants (N = 208), mean age 29.7 (SD = 11.50), were employees and students of three universities. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing the TPB predictors (attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control) of intention to participate in in-flight exercise (walking and seated) and the additional variables DN and SI. Results: Regression analysis showed that all variables significantly predicted intention to engage in walking and seated exercise using direct measures. A similar pattern of results was found using belief-based measures in the context of walking. Normative beliefs did not reach significance in the belief-based model of seated exercise. Based on direct measures, the TPB accounted for 50% of the variance in intention to walk and 41% to do seated exercise after controlling for past behaviour. The additional contribution of DN was 2% for walking and 1% for seated exercise. The additional contribution of SI was 2% for walking and 2% for seated exercise. Conclusions: The results of this study support the application of TPB augmented with DN and SI in the context of walking and seated in-flight exercise. The findings can be used to aid the development of motivational strategies for health-related exercise during long-haul flight travel.

Facteurs culturels psychosociaux façonnant les attitudes envers la pilule contraceptiwe masculine

Les choix d’une methode de contraception masculine sont encore limites au retrait, a l’abstinence periodique, au preservatif et a la vasectomie. Ces methodes ont ete largement critiquees car elles sont soit non reversibles, invasives et couteuses (vasectomie), soit inefficaces et dangereuses [1]. Les methodes feminines se sont montrees plus fiables et plus efficaces, en particulier depuis l’introduction de la pilule feminine dans les annees 1960. Neanmoins, 50 % des 1 million de conceptions quotidiennes sont encore des non desirees [2]. Aune epoque de plaidoyers des gouvernements pour une diminution des taux de natalite dans la plupart des pays, et de changements observes dans les roles sexuels traditionnels de la vie familiale, le developpement et l’introduction d’une pilule contraceptive masculine, qui, de facon interessante selon Manetti et Honig [3], a precede la pilule feminine par des recherches sur les effets suppresseurs de la testosterone sur la spermatogenese des 1939, « […] est surement largement en retard »; d’autant plus que « les hommes aiment les plaisirs du sexe mais ne peuvent pas faire grand-chose pour contribuer a la tâche de planification familiale » [2, p. 198].