Search results for "Nordic countries"

Cross-country comparisons of trends in adolescent psychosomatic symptoms : a Rasch analysis of HBSC data from four Nordic countries

2018

BACKGROUND: To analyse the psychometric properties of the HBSC Symptom Checklist (HBSC-SCL) on psychosomatic symptoms with a focus on the operating characteristics of the items, and on the impacts of measurement distortions on the comparisons of person measures across time and between countries.METHODS: Data were collected in 1993/94, 1997/98, 2001/02, 2005/06, 2008/09, 2013/14 in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden as part of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Data comprised 116,531 students 11, 13 and 15 years old. Rasch analysis was conducted of the HBSC-SCL consisting of eight items with a focus on Differential Item Functioning (DIF) and item threshold ordering. …

Nordic adolescents responding to demanding survey scales in boring contexts: Examining straightlining

2022

Introduction Straightlining, or identical responses across all items within a multi-item scale, is often taken as an indication that responses to all items in a questionnaire are of poor quality. The purpose of this study was to examine straightlining on two scales: The Sense of Unity Scale (SUS) and the short version of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS). Methods Data stem from the 2017–2018 data collections in four Nordic countries of the Health Behaviour in School-children study (HBSC) (15-year-old students only; 50.9% girls; n = 5928). Data were weighted to adjust for oversampling of Swedish-speaking Finnish students and to equalize sample size across countries. The…

A Novel Risk Locus at 6p21.3 for Epstein-Barr Virus-Positive Hodgkin Lymphoma

2015

Abstract Background: A proportion of the genetic variants involved in susceptibility to Hodgkin lymphoma differ by the tumor's Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) status, particularly within the MHC region. Methods: We have conducted an SNP imputation study of the MHC region, considering tumor EBV status in 1,200 classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) cases and 5,726 control subjects of European origin. Notable findings were genotyped in an independent study population of 468 cHL cases and 551 controls. Results: We identified and subsequently replicated a novel association between a common genetic variant rs6457715 and cHL. Although strongly associated with EBV-positive cHL [OR, 2.33; 95% confidence interva…

Dental state and functional capacity in 75-year-olds in three Nordic localities

1995

summary The aims of the study were to compare dental state in three Nordic 75-year-old populations and to evaluate dental state as a marker of functional ageing. The study is part of a Nordic comparative study of 75-year-olds in Glostrup, Goteborg and Jyvaskyla. In the dental studies, 411 subjects in Denmark, 308 in Sweden and 310 in Finland participated. Odontological history was obtained from interviews. Other methods, which are described elsewhere, were used to measure various functional parameters. In Goteborg, 23% of the 75-year-olds reported they were edentulous and 27% that they had more than 20 of their own teeth. The corresponding figures in Glostrup were 45% and 15% and in Jyvasky…

Global surveillance of cancer survival 1995–2009: analysis of individual data for 25 676 887 patients from 279 population-based registries in 67 coun…

2015

Worldwide data for cancer survival are scarce. We aimed to initiate worldwide surveillance of cancer survival by central analysis of population-based registry data, as a metric of the eff ectiveness of health systems, and to inform global policy on cancer control. Methods Individual tumour records were submitted by 279 population-based cancer registries in 67 countries for 25·7 million adults (age 15–99 years) and 75 000 children (age 0–14 years) diagnosed with cancer during 1995–2009 and followed up to Dec 31, 2009, or later. We looked at cancers of the stomach, colon, rectum, liver, lung, breast (women), cervix, ovary, and prostate in adults, and adult and childhood leukaemia. Standardise…

The significance of meaningful and enjoyable activities for nursing home resident’s experiences of dignity.

2016

Background Living in a nursing home may be challenging to the residents’ experience of dignity. Residents’ perception of how their dignity is respected in everyday care is important. Aim To examine how nursing home residents experience dignity through the provision of activities that foster meaning and joy in their daily life. Method A qualitative design was used and 28 individual semistructured interviews conducted with nursing home residents from six nursing homes in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The data were analysed with qualitative content analysis. Independent ethical committees in all participating countries granted their approval for the study. Findings The participants highlight two…

The Association between Loneliness, Mental Well-Being, and Self-Esteem among Adolescents in Four Nordic Countries

2021

Positive mental health is central to adolescent well-being. The present study examines the prevalence of loneliness and positive mental health indicators (mental well-being and self-esteem) in four Nordic countries and associations between loneliness, mental well-being, and high self-esteem. This study is based on data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study which was conducted in 2018 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden. Participants were 5883 15-year-old boys and girls. To examine the associations between loneliness, mental well-being, and self-esteem, structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied. In the comparison of Nordic countries, the prevalence of lonel…

Hell on earth: Textual reflections on the experience of mental illness

2012

Background: Some people who by themselves or by others are understood as having mental health problems have written autobiographies about their experiences. Aims: The aim of this study is to explore how people write about their experiences of being mentally ill. Method: Twelve Scandinavian autobiographies were studied using content analysis based on phenomenology and hermeneutics. Results: Three themes were identified: feeling like a stranger in life and places, the transformation of life experiences into questions of disease and feeling ashamed. Conclusions: People’s experiences of being mentally ill might be understood as the result of medical constructions unsuitable for the persons them…

The Private Turn in Nordic-Asia Development Cooperation

2016

Predicting and mapping human risk of exposure to

2019

Background Tick-borne diseases have become increasingly common in recent decades and present a health problem in many parts of Europe. Control and prevention of these diseases require a better understanding of vector distribution. Aim Our aim was to create a model able to predict the distribution of Ixodes ricinus nymphs in southern Scandinavia and to assess how this relates to risk of human exposure. Methods We measured the presence of I. ricinus tick nymphs at 159 stratified random lowland forest and meadow sites in Denmark, Norway and Sweden by dragging 400 m transects from August to September 2016, representing a total distance of 63.6 km. Using climate and remote sensing environmental …