BACKGROUND Demographic theories maintain that family policies that support gender equality may lead to higher fertility levels in postindustrial societies. This phenomenon is often exemplified by the situation in the Nordic countries. These countries have parental leave policies that promote a gender-equal work-care balance for both parents, and these countries have comparatively high fertility levels. However, very little is known about the association between these policies and childbearing at the individual level. OBJECTIVE We explore how fathers' parental leave use is related to subsequent childbearing in Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, and we examine whether differences exist in childbearing outcomes among fathers who use no leave, those who use only the leave allocated to them by the policy, and those who use more than that amount of leave. METHODS The study is based on 15 years of administrative register data on parental leave use in Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Event history analysis is used to follow parental couples

With increasing union dissolution and changing gender behaviour, questions have emerged about possible links between gender equality and union stability. The aim of this article is to examine whether and how early fathers' involvement in childrearing is associated with union dissolution in three Nordic countries. All three countries have reserved part of their parental leave to be used by one parent in order to promote fathers' engagement in child-rearing. Our analysis uses fathers' parental leave as a proxy for his involvement, and we distinguish between fathers who take no leave ("non-conforming fathers"), fathers who take only the reserved part ("policy-conforming fathers") and fathers who take more than the reserved part ("gender-egalitarian-oriented fathers"). We find that couples in which the father uses parental leave have a lower risk of union dissolution than couples in which the father takes no leave. The pattern is consistent for all countries, for the whole study period 1993-2011, and for cohabiting and married couples. However, we do not find support for asserting that the couples with greatest gender equality, in which fathers take longer leave than the policy reserves, are the most stable unions, as the pattern is not uniform in the three countries. We attribute this to the fact that gender equality within the family in the Nordic countries is still an ongoing process, and the relationship between gender behaviour and union stability is still in flux.

Purpose Parental leave in Sweden can be taken both as paid and unpaid leave and often parents mix these forms in a very flexible way. Therefore, multiple methodological issues arise regarding how to most accurately measure leave length. The purpose of this paper is to review the somewhat complex legislation and the possible ways of using parental leave before presenting a successful attempt of a more precise way of measuring leave lengths, including paid and unpaid days, for mothers and fathers. Design/methodology/approach The study makes use of administrative data for a complete cohort of parents of first born children in 2009 in Sweden. The authors examine what characteristics are associated with the use of paid and unpaid leave for mothers and fathers during the first two years of the child’s life, focusing particularly on how individual and household income is associated with leave patterns. Findings Among mothers, low income is associated with many paid leave days whereas middle income is associated with most unpaid days. High income mothers use a shorter leave. Among fathers it is the both ends with high and low household income that uses most paid and unpaid leave. Practical implications A measure that includes unpaid parental leave will be important to not underestimate the parental leave and to prevent faulty comparisons between groups by gender and by socioeconomic status. Originality/value A measure of parental leave including both paid and unpaid leave will also facilitate international comparisons of leave length.

Aims Glomerular filtration rate is an important factor in management of heart failure (HF). Our objective was to validate eight creatinine-based equations for estimating glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in an HF population against measured glomerular filtration rate. Methods and results One hundred forty-six HF patients (mean age 68 ± 13 years, mean left ventricular ejection fraction 45% ± 15) within a single-centre hospital that underwent 51 Cr-EDTA clearance between 2010 and 2018 were included in this retrospective study. eGFR was estimated by means of Cockcroft-Gault ideal and actual weight, the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study (MDRD), simplified MDRD with isotope dilution mass spectroscopy traceable calibration, the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration, revised Lund-Malmö, full age spectrum, and the Berlin Initiative Study 1. Mean measured glomerular filtration rate was 42 mL/min/1.73 m 2 . Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) had the highest precision for MDRD (r = 0.9), followed by revised Lund-Malmö (r = 0.88). All equations except MDRD (mean difference À4.8%) resulted in an overestimation of the renal function. The accuracy was below 75% for all equations except MDRD. Conclusions None of the exclusively creatinine-based methods was accurate in predicting eGFR in HF patients. Our findings suggest that more accurate methods are needed for determining eGFR in patients with HF.Creatinine-based methods for estimating glomerular filtration rate Supporting informationAdditional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section at the end of the article. Table S1. Baseline characteristics of the study group and the heart failure subgroups.A. Jonsson et al.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health concern worldwide and defined as behavior performed by spouses or other intimate partners that causes physical, sexual, or psychological harm. Internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy (ICBT) may be particularly useful for survivors of IPV for several reasons, including barriers pertaining to limited community recourses and treatment availability, safety concerns, and issues of stigma, guilt and shame, which may prevent members of this population from seeking help via face-to-face interactions. However, Internet interventions are lacking. The primary aim of the present randomized controlled pilot trial was to explore the feasibility of ICBT as guided self-help individually tailored to the predominant symptomatology of PTSD or depression in survivors of IPV. A second aim was to conduct a preliminary evaluation exploring the short- and long-term effects of the treatment in comparison to a waitlist control condition. Results showed that the treatment was feasible. Attrition rate was low (9.4%), and participants were satisfied with treatment. However, treatment adherence was moderate in terms of completed modules (62.5%). Results of the preliminary evaluation of treatment effects showed large and statistically significant between-group effect sizes (Cohen's d = 0.86–1.08) on some measures of PTSD and depression at post assessment, favoring the treatment condition. However, there were no effects on other measures. At follow-up assessment, when the control condition had received delayed treatment, there were large and statistically significant within-group effect sizes ( d = 0.96–1.48) on measures of PTSD, depression and anxiety, and small effects ( d = 0.48) on a measure of quality of life. The results of the present pilot study are promising and warrant further research on ICBT for this population.

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