The objectives of this study were to describe the quality of life of African American women with breast cancer and test a model of factors that may affect their quality of life. A stress-coping framework that included person (demographics, current concerns, and optimism), social resources (family functioning), and illness-related factors (symptom distress, medical characteristics), as well as appraisal of illness and quality of life, was used to guide this exploratory, cross-sectional study. Participants included 98 African American women who were approximately 4 years postdiagnosis. The women reported a fairly high quality of life, were generally optimistic, and had effective family functioning. Although symptom distress was generally low, a sizable number of women reported problems with energy loss, sleep disturbances, and pain. The model explained 75% of the variance in quality of life, with appraisal, family functioning, symptom distress , and recurrence status each explaining a significant amount of the variance. Current concerns had an indirect effect on quality of life that was mediated by appraisal. These findings underscore the importance of helping women foster a positive appraisal of their illness, manage current concerns, maintain family functioning, and reduce symptom distress, because each of these factors indirectly or directly affects their quality of life.

The objectives of this study were to describe the quality of life of African American women with breast cancer and test a model of factors that may affect their quality of life. A stresscoping framework that included person (demographics, current concerns, and optimism), social resources (family functioning), and illness-related factors (symptom distress, medical characteristics), as well as appraisal of illness and quality of life, was used to guide this exploratory, crosssectional study. Participants included 98 African American women who were approximately 4 years postdiagnosis. The women reported a fairly high quality of life, were generally optimistic, and had effective family functioning. Although symptom distress was generally low, a sizable number of women reported problems with energy loss, sleep disturbances, and pain. The model explained 75% of the variance in quality of life, with appraisal, family functioning, symptom distress, and recurrence status each explaining a significant amount of the variance. Current concerns had an indirect effect on quality of life that was mediated by appraisal. These findings underscore the importance of helping women foster a positive appraisal of their illness, manage current concerns, maintain family functioning, and reduce symptom distress, because each of these factors indirectly or directly affects their quality of life.

This article reports on a scale to measure the psychiatric rehabilitation beliefs, goals, and practices of staff who provide services to consumers. The scale's reliability, validity, and factor structure are presented based upon 469 staff members and 191 people in rehabilitation. The scale appears to be a stable measure of staff members' knowledge of modern psychiatric rehabilitation beliefs, goals, and practices as elaborated by the field's leadership. It also appears to provide a valid measure of staff members' actual practice patterns as they relate to the consumer outcomes of empowerment, quality of life, independent living, and competitive employment. Consumers, program administrators, educators, researchers, and practitioners may find the scale useful as a measure of some of the beliefs, goals, and practices that currently define modern psychiatric rehabilitation.

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Sarcopenic obesity is increasingly found in youth, but its health consequences remain unclear. Therefore, we studied the prevalence of sarcopenia and its association with cardiometabolic risk factors as well as muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness using data from the German Children’s Health InterventionaL Trial (CHILT III) programme. In addition to anthropometric data and blood pressure, muscle and fat mass were determined with bioelectrical impedance analysis. Sarcopenia was classified via muscle-to-fat ratio. A fasting blood sample was taken, muscular fitness was determined using the standing long jump, and cardiorespiratory fitness was determined using bicycle ergometry. Of the 119 obese participants included in the analysis (47.1% female, mean age 12.2 years), 83 (69.7%) had sarcopenia. Affected individuals had higher gamma-glutamyl transferase, higher glutamate pyruvate transaminase, higher high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, higher diastolic blood pressure, and lower muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness (each p < 0.05) compared to participants who were ‘only’ obese. No differences were found in other parameters. In our study, sarcopenic obesity was associated with various disorders in children and adolescents. However, the clinical value must be tested with larger samples and reference populations to develop a unique definition and appropriate methods in terms of identification but also related preventive or therapeutic approaches.

Consumer-operated self-help centers were designed to provide social environments that promote participant empowerment and satisfaction. This exploratory, descriptive study examined how variance in empowerment and satisfaction scores could be explained by participants' perceptions of the social environment factors (relationship, personal growth, and systems maintenance and change) and quantity of participation. Participants (N = 144) involved in consumer-operated self-help centers completed a four-part, 161-item survey designed to capture perceptions of satisfaction, empowerment, social environment factors, quantity of center participation, and demographic data. Significant relationships were found between participant satisfaction and the three social environment factors. Findings also indicated that participant empowerment was related to quantity of self-help center involvement. From these exploratory analyses, recommendations are made on how to improve consumer-run self-help center operations.

Human Capital Theory posits that investment in education and job training increase employability among the general labor force. This study examined the applicability of Human Capital Theory to an explanation of employment outcomes of individuals with psychiatric illness. The employment rates of participants with mental illness and participants with equivalent human capital but not disability were compared. The study also explored whether human capital variables predicted employability. The study found that participants with mental illness achieved similar re-employment rates within six-months of becoming unemployed when compared to their counterparts with no reported disability. Additionally, later onset of mental illness predicted higher employment rates. Severity of psychiatric symptoms was not predictive of employment rates.These findings suggest that human capital variables are correlated with employment outcomes among persons with mental illness. They also suggest that assisting mental health consumers in the pursuit of education and job training may improve their employability which can lead to financial independence and community integration. The findings also support the development and implementation of Supported Education to assist consumers to succeed in education and job training.

These findings indicate that human capital variables are correlated with wages earned by persons living with mental illnesses. Findings also suggest that assisting mental health consumers in the pursuit of education and job training may increase earning potential which can lead to financial independence and community integration. This supports the value in developing and implementing Supported Education to assist consumers in acquiring education and job training.