Impact of anxiety and depression on the physical status and daily routines of cancer patients during chemotherapy

The evolution of symptoms, emotional state and daily routines in patients with breast cancer and lung cancer during treatment with intravenous chemotherapy (CT) is described and the influence of anxiety and depression on these variables is analyzed. 66 patients, 29 with breast cancer and 37 with lung cancer, were evaluated before starting treatment, and after completing the first, second and last cycle of CT using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), rating scales and interview. Less than 30% of the patients showed clinical anxiety or depression according to the HADS. Throughout the treatment, tiredness, fatigue and nausea increased significantly and work and leisure activity decreased. Concern about the future of relatives and insomnia increased significantly over time in patients with breast cancer whereas they decreased in patients with lung cancer. By introducing the HADS scores as covariates, it was found that most differences are due to the time factor and the type of cancer. During treatment with CT, emotional disturbances do not seem to have significant impact on the symptoms and changes in daily life reported by cancer patients.     

Recruiting Teen Smokers in Shopping Malls to a Smoking-Cessation Program Using the Foot-in-the-Door Technique

Persuading teen smokers to volunteer for smoking-cessation programs is a challenging yet understudied problem. As a method of dealing with this problem, we used and tested a foot-in-the-door (FITD) approach. Teen smokers were intercepted at malls and were assigned randomly to request compliance with a small behavior request of either (a) answering a few questions (light FITD) or (b) answering the same questions and a few additional ones, plus watching a short video about the effects of nicotine (heavy FITD). Participants were then called back by telephone several weeks later and asked to comply with a large behavior request of joining a cessation program that involved the use of self-help materials and telephone counseling. Although no differences were found in responses from the light and heavy groups, consent to enter the program was obtained from 12% of the pooled qualified intercepts and their parents (for those under 18 years). This recruitment rate was considered good, given that this is one of the only reported studies that recruited teen smokers from the general population to cessation programs.     

Migrant Well-Being is a Multilevel, Dynamic, Value Dependent Phenomenon

Research demonstrates that the well-being of migrants is a multilevel, dynamic, and value dependent phenomenon. It is multilevel because risk and protective factors are present at various ecological planes, from the individual to the social sphere. It is dynamic because objective and subjective risk and protective factors interact across ecological levels, creating favorable or unfavorable conditions for migrants to adjust to the new surroundings. Finally, it is value dependent because access to resources is conditioned by norms of justice prevalent in the host society. Findings from this special section on acculturation are combined with previous literature to support the three claims advanced in this article.     

Why indeterminate probability is rational

This essay has two objectives: (1) To offer a general motivation for the use of sets of probabilities to represent states of credal probability judgment. Doubt as to which of rival answers to a given question is true is representable by the set of potential answers that have not ruled out as impossible. Doubt concerning probability is representable by the set of probability distributions over potential answers that are not ruled out as impermissible to use in delibration. (2) To defend a more specific thesis that the set of permissible probability distributions ought to be convex.     

Promoting child and family wellness: priorities for psychological and social interventions

In order to foster the well‐being of children and families we propose a shift in the priorities of psychological and social interventions. Following a brief discussion of the concept of wellness, we present a framework for interventions to promote child and family wellness. Psychological and social intervention strategies to promote child and family wellness are then reviewed and interpreted in terms of the framework. Recommendations for changing priorities for programmes and policies are based on the framework and a review of the effectiveness of existing interventions. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Undercutting and the Ramsey test for conditionals

There is an important class of conditionals whose assertibility conditions are not given by the Ramsey test but by an inductive extension of that test. Such inductive Ramsey conditionals fail to satisfy some of the core properties of plain conditionals. Associated principles of nonmonotonic inference should not be assumed to hold generally if interpretations in terms of induction or appeals to total evidence are not to be ruled out.