Henrik Natvig

Metabolic Control and Illness Perceptions in Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

Background. Disturbed eating behavior and psychosocial variables have been found to influence metabolic control, but little is known about how these variables interact or how they influence metabolic control, separately and combined. Objective. To explore associations between metabolic control (measured by HbA1c) and eating disorder psychopathology, coping strategies, illness perceptions, and insulin beliefs in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Methods. A total of 105 patients (41.9% males) with type 1 diabetes (12–20 years) were interviewed with the Child Eating Disorder Examination. In addition, self-report psychosocial questionnaires were completed. Clinical data, including HbA1c, was obtained from the Norwegian Childhood Diabetes Registry. Results. Significant gender differences were demonstrated. Among females, HbA1c correlated significantly with eating restriction (.29, p < .05), the illness perception dimensions consequences, personal control, coherence, and concern (ranging from .33 to .48), and the coping strategy ventilating negative feelings (−.26, p < .05). Illness perception personal control contributed significantly to HbA1c in a regression model, explaining 23% of the variance among females (β .48, p < .001). None of the variables were significantly associated with HbA1c among males. Conclusions. Illness perceptions appear to be important contributors to metabolic control in females, but not males, with type 1 diabetes.

Article Commentary: Primary prevention of alcohol and drug use in junior high school

Pape’s critical literature review of whether evaluations hold adequate quality focuses on two problems: 1) Too many papers presenting the program implementers’ intended effects get published while negative results are often underreported. This is partly due to the scientists’ wishes to highlight the positive results in the programs they have contributed to and have economic interest in, and partly due to a bias in which negative results are difficult to get published. 2) Ecological validity – can the positive results from intervention programs researchers implement be repeated, when ordinary teachers are left alone to implement the programs on a large scale? While one easily agrees that negative or a lack of results are underreported, the reasons are rather less suspicious than those suggested by Pape (pp. 524–525). Authors and referees evaluating such papers will suspect that ‘something’ went wrong in the research process. Unidentified causes of negative results easily render the paper to be unworthy to be published. The opposite is also true theoretically sound intended effects are reported, as one believes that the study Commentary to Pape HENRIK NATVIG

Parent participation in alcohol prevention: Evaluation of an alcohol prevention programme

Aim: The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the parental part of the Norwegian Unge & Rus (Youth and Alcohol) programme. The intervention was aimed at changing parents’ rules and attitudes towards adolescent alcohol use, and their ability to talk with their adolescents about alcohol, as well as improving parents’ relationships with and knowledge about their adolescents. These topics were addressed during parent meetings at school. Method: The effectiveness of the parent programme was tested using a longitudinal quasi-experimental control group design. Parents completed four online questionnaires N = 1166 at T1 in 2011 and N = 591 at T4 in 2013. Mixed models with observations nested in individuals were used to test the difference in rates of change between the groups. Results: Parents in both groups reported strict rules and attitudes towards alcohol use. There were no significant differences in the changes between the two parent groups in terms of rules and attitudes at the three follow-up time points. The parents in the intervention did not change significantly compared to the parents in the comparison group on other alcohol-related questions. Conclusions: Parents are important facilitators for the transmission of alcohol-related attitudes and rules. However, our study did not show significant differences between changes experienced by the intervention group and those of the comparison group for the main outcome variables, such as rules, attitudes and talking about alcohol with their adolescents.