[Behavior therapy in children with aggressive dyssocial disorders]. / Verhaltenstherapie bei Kindern mit aggressiv-dissozialen Störungen.

Conduct disorder in children and adolescents is prevalent and has a poor prognosis: it is now considered to be a chronic condition that requires treatment as well as life-long monitoring. Two forms of behavior therapy, parent management training and training in problem-solving skills are currently seen as the most effective treatment. Parent management training is the treatment of choice for younger children, while for older children it should be supplemented with training in problem-solving skills. Parent management training is one of the best-researched therapy techniques for conduct disorder, deserving the criterion "empirically supported treatment" defined by the American Psychological Association. Training in problem-solving skills has led to therapeutic change in clinical samples and is qualified as "probably efficacious treatment". Limitations of both treatments include the high drop-out rate among parents and the fact that many youth improve but remain outside the range of normative functioning. To optimize treatment effectiveness, complex prevention programs have been developed in recent years. Results to date are mixed; however, two large ongoing studies, the FAST and the LIFT study, report positive first outcomes. A higher priority of conduct disorder and related problems in child-psychiatric and psychotherapeutic services would be desirable.

Gender differences in psychosocial profile at entry into cardiac rehabilitation.

PURPOSE: To find out in a sample of coronary patients at entry into a cardiac rehabilitation program, whether women report a lower level of physical functioning and a higher degree of psychosocial impairment than men. METHODS: One hundred and nine male and 122 female patients matched for age with a diagnosis of myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass grafting, or coronary angioplasty were assessed at entry into a multidisciplinary outpatient rehabilitation program. Information was retrieved from hospital records, a semistructured interview, and several psychological questionnaires. Variables of physical functioning included perceived exercise tolerance, functional complaints, psychosomatic complaints, and sleeping disturbances. Variables of psychosocial impairment included anxiety, depression, vital exhaustion, well-being, feelings of being disabled, displeasure, and social inhibition. RESULTS: At program entry, there were no significant differences in age, coronary risk factors, coronary incident, or medication between genders. However, women reported significantly lower perceived exercise tolerance and significantly more functional and psychosomatic complaints. Moreover, women were significantly more anxious and scored significantly higher on social inhibition and vital exhaustion than men. CONCLUSIONS: At entry into rehabilitation, women in this sample report a higher degree of psychosocial impairment and a lower level of physical functioning than men. Women's significantly higher scores on social inhibition and vital exhaustion might partly explain their reported higher drop-out and lower adherence rates in cardiac rehabilitation.

Psychosocial factors of coronary heart disease in women: a review.

Although coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in women in most industrialized countries, much less research has been carried out on this topic to date than in men. This article gives an overview of psychosocial factors of coronary heart disease in women, focussing on psychosocial risk factors for coronary heart disease in women such as socioeconomic status, employment status, chronic troubling emotions, social support and bereavement/widowhood. A second focus lies on psychosocial adjustment in women once coronary heart disease has become manifest, i.e. well-being, return to work, sexual activity and rehabilitation outcome after a myocardial infarction or coronary artery bypass grafting. Via a computerized literature research in Medline, Psychlit and Sociofile over the period 1980-1994 all studies on these topics were collected and reviewed. Comparatively more research has been undertaken on psychosocial risk factors for than on psychosocial adjustment to coronary heart disease in women. Low social class, low educational attainment, the double loads of work and family, chronic troubling emotions and lack of social support emerge as documented risk factors in women. Regarding psychosocial adjustment to coronary heart disease in women, there is a paucity of data, and studies including large samples of women and adjusting for gender are warranted. Psychosocial adjustment in women after a myocardial infarction seems to be worse than in men, whereas results on adjustment after coronary artery bypass grafting are inconclusive. Return to work rates after myocardial infarction or coronary artery bypass grafting are significantly lower in women than in men. Data on sexual activity of women after myocardial infarction or coronary artery bypass grafting are scarce, and there seems to be a complete lack of physician counseling on this topic. Studies on rehabilitation outcome report poorer programme uptake, poorer adherence and significantly higher drop-out rates for women than for men, yet those women who complete cardiac rehabilitation show the same or even greater functional improvements than men.

[Gender bias in diagnosis and treatment of women with coronary heart disease. A review]. / Ungleichheiten bei Diagnostik und Behandlung von Frauen mit koronarer Herzkrankheit. Eine Ubersicht.

Recent studies collected via Medline and Psychlit suggest that coronary heart disease is treated less aggressively in women than in men. Women have significantly less access to major diagnostic and therapeutic procedures such as thrombolytic therapy, coronary angiography, coronary angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass surgery. This holds for women with suspected coronary heart disease as well as for women with coronary heart disease documented by myocardial infarction or coronary angiography. Possible reasons for gender bias in the management of coronary heart disease are: 1) physicians may underestimate the prevalence of coronary heart disease in women, 2) because of the higher prevalence in men, physicians may consider coronary heart disease as more serious in men, 3) a general lack of knowledge concerning coronary heart disease in women, 4) physicians' perceptions of gender-specific differences in risks and benefits of certain procedures, 5) gender stereotypes of the physician, 6) presentation style of the patient.

Coronary heart disease risk factors in women.

Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death among women. Reported risk factors for women are smoking, use of oral contraceptives, diabetes, elevated blood pressure, elevated blood lipids, low socio-economic status, low educational attainment, Type A behaviour and chronic troubling emotions. Via an on-line literature search (Medline and Psychlit) all case-control and prospective studies of coronary heart disease risk factors in women have been collected from 1978 to 1993. Smoking remains the most prominent risk factor for myocardial infarction in young women, the risk increasing significantly with the amount of cigarettes smoked. Use of modern low-dose oral contraceptives in healthy, non-smoking women does not increase the risk. Oestrogen replacement therapy seems to protect against coronary heart disease, although the reduction in risk may have been over-estimated. Elevated cholesterol and elevated blood pressure are major risk factors, and diabetes seems to have a stronger impact on risk in women than in men. Low socio-economic class is a stronger risk factor for women than for men and the double loads of career and family seem to increase risk for women.