Jeanne Reeve

Risk perceptions, worry, and attitudes about genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility.

This study assessed the unique associations of risk perceptions and worry with attitudes about genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility. Women (general practitioner clinic attenders, university students, and first-degree relatives of breast cancer survivors; N = 303) read information about genetic testing and completed measures assessing perceived cancer risk, cancer worry, and genetic testing attitudes and beliefs. Worry was associated with greater interest in genetic testing, stronger beliefs that testing has detrimental emotional consequences, and positive beliefs about benefits of testing and risk-reducing surgeries. Perceived risk was unrelated to interest and associated with more skeptical beliefs about emotional consequences and benefits of testing and risk-reducing surgeries. At low worry levels, testing interest increased with more positive beliefs about testing benefits; at high worry levels, interest was high regardless of benefits beliefs. The findings support Leventhals Common-Sense Model of self-regulation delineating interactive influences of risk-related cognitions and emotions on information processing and behavior.

Gynaecologic cancer patients' needs and experiences of supportive health services in New Zealand

Background and Objectives: Psychosocial care across the cancer continuum is a core component of quality gynaecologic cancer services. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify needs for supportive care in a sample of New Zealand women and to understand to what extent they feel their needs are being met by health services.

Functional and psychological outcomes following burn injury: reduced income and hidden emotions are predictors of greater distress.

The aim of this study is to determine whether functional and psychosocial outcomes after burn injury in New Zealand are consistent with the international literature. Fifty participants with burns >10% TBSA and a mean of 5.1 years since burn completed a survey that included questionnaires and open-ended questions. The rates of psychosocial distress for this sample were consistent with international reports. Psychological distress was predicted by negative change in income and by reports that the individual has hidden thoughts and emotions from others. Respondents also described positive changes in their life as a result of the burn injury that were independent of negative outcomes. Participants indicated good long-term functional improvement but ongoing psychological distress. Important indicators for poor outcome may be loss of income and reluctance to discuss emotions.

USING EXAMPLES IN REPERTORY GRIDS: THE INFLUENCE ON CONSTRUCT ELICITATION

The administration of repertory grids often involves the use of one or more examples as an illustration for participants. In an attempt to investigate the effects of different kinds of examples, a group of raters was asked to categorize constructs that had been elicited under two different conditions, using either descriptive examples or neutral examples. Descriptive examples elicited more personally revealing, as opposed to factual, construct dimensions. These results were interpreted within the context of other recent work that has shown significant differences following from sometimes subtle variations in repertory grid procedures.

Turning Postgraduate Students’ Research Into Publications A Survey of New Zealand Masters in Public Health Students

The authors attempted to contact all 157 graduates from the University of Auckland’s Master’s in Public Health (MPH) program who completed theses from 1991 to 2005 about publications arising from their research. Of the 104 students contacted, 77 (74%) completed the questionnaire: 34 (45%) submitted a total of 46 articles, 31 (66%) of which were accepted or published. An expectation of publication and being supported financially were both associated with submission for publication. The most commonly reported barriers were lack of time (62%), lack of staff support (35%), and low confidence in ability to write (29%). For those regarding time as a barrier, work demands were commonly cited (90%). Sustained commitment from supervisors plus practical support (seminars, workshops, and cosupervision) was considered likely to be helpful. More effective supervisor–student engagement, funding, and setting an expectation of publication could increase MPH research outputs, but the additional supervisor workload must be realistic.

Reducing disablement with adequate and appropriate resources: a New Zealand perspective

This article presents the qualitative findings from a larger mixed methods study of the barriers and costs associated with disability in New Zealand. A social model of disability framework was integrated with an economic cost model using consensual budget standards to (1) identify key barriers disabled people experience in their everyday living and (2) develop consensus about the resources disabled people agree they require to reduce or remove them. Forty-nine people with physical, hearing, vision or intellectual impairment participated in a series of 8 impairment-based focus groups. The analysis identified inaccessible environments, negative attitudes, unreliable transportation and poor access to information as key barriers. However, lack of adequate and appropriate resources (e.g. equipment, modifications, support, transport and time) to address these barriers was the overarching obstacle to participation. The inclusion of time as both a barrier and a valuable resource is arguably the most important contribution of the study.

Assessing the clinical utility of genetic tests: implications for health technology assessment

Already commonplace in many health systems, genetic tests will become more readily available in the future. Assessments of these new technologies must consider a number of unique factors regarding the types of health outcomes that might arise. This paper examines the issues relating to the assessment of the health and psychosocial outcomes of genetic tests. We argue that diagnostic genetic tests are similar to diagnostic non-genetic tests, in that their primary utility results from the effectiveness of subsequent treatments. Thus, these tests can be assessed using standard procedures for measuring changes in health outcomes. Predictive and pre-dispositional tests may also result in improved health outcomes, but achieving these benefits may require that individuals significantly alter their health behaviours. Assessments of these tests must consider the extent to which individuals will alter their health behaviours and life decisions.

To live an ordinary life: resource needs and additional costs for people with a physical impairment

Disabled people face increased risks of living in poverty largely due to lower incomes and extra resource requirements compared to non-disabled people. This study incorporated the social model of disability with an economic approach to costing to estimate the additional costs required by people with a physical impairment to achieve an adequate standard of living in New Zealand. Budgets estimating the additional equipment, modifications, transport, support and time required to achieve an adequate standard of living were developed and validated through focus groups with community members. The findings suggest that reducing barriers involves substantial costs ranging from NZ

The Meaning of “Aging in Place” to Older People

645–

Providing psychosocial and physical rehabilitation advice for patients with burns

2,348 per week.