PURPOSE Medically unexplained symptoms are abundantly present in the general population. Stress may lead to increased symptom reporting because of widespread beliefs that it is dangerous for one's health. This study aimed at clarifying the role of stress beliefs in somatic symptom reporting using a quasi-experimental study design. METHODS Two hundred sixteen German university students (60 % o...

OBJECTIVE To assess the quality, readability and coverage of website information about herbal remedies for menopausal symptoms. STUDY DESIGN A purposive sample of commercial and non-commercial websites was assessed for quality (DISCERN), readability (SMOG) and information coverage. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Non-parametric and parametric tests were used to explain the variability of these factor...

BACKGROUND Patients often present in primary care with physical symptoms that doctors cannot readily explain. The process of reassuring these patients is challenging, complex and poorly understood. AIM To construct a typology of general practitioners' (GPs') normalising explanations, based on their effect on the process and outcome of consultations involving patients with medically unexplaine...

OBJECTIVE This study was conducted to examine the mediating effect of somatic symptoms between perceived social support and health-related quality of life among North Korean defectors living in South Korea. METHODS A total of 200 North Korean defectors were assessed using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Short-Form 8-Item Health Survey, the Patient Health Questionna...

We describe mothers' perception about signs and symptoms, causes of the illness, and healthcare seeking behaviors related to pneumonia and express the major modifiable barriers to seeking timely treatment when their under-5 children had pneumonia in rural Bangladesh. Using focus group discussion, we understood mothers' perception and healthcare seeking behavior of childhood pneumonia. Although ...

There is a lack of research investigating community-level characteristics, such as community collective efficacy, mitigating the impact of disasters on psychological health, specifically depression. We examined the association of community collective efficacy with depressive symptom severity in Florida public health workers (n = 2249) exposed to the 2004 hurricane season using a multilevel appr...

The increasing threat of infections with pandemic potential such as influenza has focussed attention on the information needed to inform those managing a pandemic. The Health Protection Agency, Nottingham University and EMIS have developed a new national health protection surveillance system using QRESEARCH, an established primary care-derived database, to provide timely and local information o...

This paper discusses factors associated with low rates of help-seeking and poorer quality of physical healthcare among people with mental illnesses. Evidence is reviewed on the associations between low rates of mental health literacy, negative attitudes towards people with mental illness, and reluctance to seek help by people who consider that they may have a mental disorder. People with mental...

A close relationship exists between long-term physical conditions and mental health and wellbeing. Long-term physical conditions often affect a patient’s mental health, and psychological wellbeing can also have an impact on the effectiveness of treatment for, and a patient’s ability to manage, long-term conditions. Despite this, many individuals do not receive care that addresses both their phy...

BACKGROUND Peace-keeping duties are associated with unique stresses for military personnel. There have been few reports on the effects of peace-keeping on psychological health. METHOD We used data from a cross-sectional study originally established to examine health effects of service in the Gulf War, which included a control group who had been deployed in Bosnia (N= 2049). This group was exa...