János Pilling

Psychometric properties of the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test in Hungarian samples of adolescents and young adults.

Aim: The aim of our study was to analyze psychometric properties of the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test (CAST). Methods: Our sample comprised Hungarian high school (n = 476; male 56.3%; mean age 19.0 years, SD = 0.65 years) and college students (n = 439; male 65.1%; mean age 23.9 years, SD = 1.56 years) who reported cannabis use in the past year. The sample covered the five biggest universities of Hungary. Besides the CAST, participants responded to the Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Factor structure was analyzed by a confirmatory factor analysis. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was made to assess cut-off scores. Data collection took place in 2010. Results: CAST proved to be a reliable (Cronbachs α 0.71 and 0.76) one-dimensional measure. Regarding both cannabis dependence and cannabis use disorders, a cut-off of 2 points proved to be ideal in both samples, resulting in optimal specificity, negative predictive values and accuracy, but less than optimal positive predictive values (dependence) and low sensitivity (cannabis use disorder). Discussion and Conclusions: In line with former results, the CAST proved to be an adequate measure for the screening of cannabis-related problems among adolescents and young adults in an Eastern European country where this scale has not been studied before.

Is profession associated with fear of death

Bevezetes: A halaltol valo felelem es a foglalkozas kozotti kapcsolatrol viszonylag keves szakirodalmi adat all rendelkezesre. Celkitűzes: A szerzők a foglalkozas es a halalfelelem osszefuggeseinek vizsgalatat tűztek ki celul. Modszer: Orvosok, orvostanhallgatok es egyeb egeszsegugyi dolgozok, lelkeszek, pszichologusok es egyeb, nem egeszsegugyi dolgozok (N = 1062) halallal kapcsolatos attitűdjeit elemeztek a Multidimenzionalis Halalfelelem Skala segitsegevel. Eredmenyek: Szignifikans kulonbsegeket talaltak az osszesitett halalfelelem-pontszam tekinteteben, valamint egyes vizsgalt csoportok eseteben is a halalfelelem kulonboző faktorait illetően. A halalfelelem a lelkeszek koreben volt a legalacsonyabb. A holttesttől valo felelem a pszichologusoknal es a nem egeszsegugyi dolgozoknal volt a legmagasabb, akiknek nincs kozvetlen tapasztalatuk holttesttel, illetve haldoklokkal. Kovetkeztetesek: Ugy tűnik, hogy a halalfelelem olyan foglalkozasi csoportok tagjaira jellemző elsősorban, akik nem foglalkoznak kozv...

Az egészségügyi kártérítési perek kommunikációs vonatkozásai

Due to problems experienced in health care, there is an increased amount of malpractice suits nowadays. Nevertheless, some physicians are more likely to be sued, or more frequently sued, than others. Numerous studies indicate that this phenomenon fundamentally results from a lack of interpersonal and communication skills on the part of the sued doctor, namely, deficiencies in questioning the patient, listening, conveying information, etc. Communication is of pivotal importance in patient care vis-a-vis medical errors as well. The majority of physicians aim to conceal the error, albeit this may lead to further deterioration of the patients condition. In institutions where open communication regarding errors was introduced within the medical team and toward the patient and their family alike, the number of malpractice suits decreased. It is crucial to establish a means of support for doctors, and to promote communication trainings, as well as a supportive legal environment.

Mediators between bereavement and somatic symptoms

BackgroundIn our research we examined the frequency of somatic symptoms among bereaved (N = 185) and non-bereaved men and women in a national representative sample (N = 4041) and investigated the possible mediating factors between bereavement status and somatic symptoms.MethodsSomatic symptoms were measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15), anxiety with a four-point anxiety rating scale, and depression with a nine-item shortened version of the Beck Depression Inventory.ResultsAmong the bereaved, somatic symptoms proved to be significantly more frequent in both genders when compared to the non-bereaved, as did anxiety and depression. On the multivariate level, the results show that both anxiety and depression proved to be a mediator between somatic symptoms and bereavement. The effect sizes indicated that for both genders, anxiety was a stronger predictor of somatic symptoms than depression.ConclusionsThe results of our research indicate that somatic symptoms accompanying bereavement are not direct consequences of this state but they can be traced back to the associated anxiety and depression. These results draw attention to the need to recognize anxiety and depression looming in the background of somatic complaints in bereavement and to the importance of the dissemination of related information.