AimAs little is known about alcohol and tobacco consumption concordance between older spouses in low‐ and middle‐income countries, the present study aimed to estimate this in older couples from five Latin American countries.MethodsThis study is a secondary analysis of data collected between 2003 and 2007 by the 10/66 Dementia Research Group, from 1451 couples aged over 65 years from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Kappa statistic was used to assess the agreement of the behavior beyond chance, and logistic regression models with meta‐analyses were used to estimate the factors associated with concordance.ResultsThe mean age of the total sample was 74.8 years (SD 6.6). The results showed high levels of agreement rates in relation to drinking and smoking (75.9% and 85% of couples, respectively, did not drink or smoke), which were beyond the agreement expected by chance. Increased age was associated with concordance on both being non‐drinkers (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.05) and non‐smokers (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.02–1.07); and having a larger social network was associated with less likelihood of the couple being non‐drinkers (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.88–0.98). Attending religious meetings was associated with increased likelihood of the couple being non‐smokers (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.01–1.41). Socioeconomic circumstances were not associated with couples’ concordance.ConclusionsOlder Latin American couples have high levels of concordance in drinking and smoking habits, which increases with age, and were not associated with socioeconomic circumstances, but were with social network. This knowledge can assist the development of policies and interventions to promote health among this growing population. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 1849–1857.
Objective: To explore the contribution of a mindfulness-based intervention as an adjuvant to outpatient substance use disorder treatment. Outcomes included substance use behavior, depression and anxiety symptoms, and anger expression. Methods: This preliminary study for a pragmatic randomized controlled trial with stratified random allocation included three months of follow-up. In two outpatient clinics linked to public universities, a mindfulness-based intervention plus treatment as usual (experimental group n=22) was compared to treatment as usual (control group n=20). The study included data from self-report measurements and the patients' records, which were evaluated according to intention-to-treat analysis through generalized estimating equations and generalized method of moments estimation. Results: The experimental group had lower symptoms of depression (b=-6.82; 95%CI-12.45 to-1.18) and anxiety (b=-0.25; 95%CI-0.42 to-0.09), and anger expression (b=-9.76; 95%CI-18.98 to-0.54) three months after the intervention. We detected no effect on substance use behavior. Conclusion: The mindfulness-based intervention yielded promising results as an adjuvant to outpatient substance use disorder treatment, since it reduced levels of highly prevalent symptoms in this population. However, further studies with longer follow-up periods and larger samples are required.
The aims of the current study were to evaluate the psychometric properties of a short version of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-SF-BR) and verify if the addition of wording mechanisms (positive or negative) contributes to the fit of the shortened Brazilian Portuguese version of the FFMQ. Four hundred eight participants answered self-report measurements. Structural equation modelling was employed for both objectives. Adequate model fit was found for the 5-factor FFMQ-SF-BR model, with significant improvements arising from the addition of wording mechanism effects. No evidences of differential item functioning and population heterogeneity were found. Bifactor analysis showed that latent traces are preferred overusing raw sum scores. The FFMQ-SF-BR is suitable to measure mindfulness in the Brazilian population and has the benefits of decreasing data collection length without losing content coverage.
Purpose Mental health issues are concurrent among college students and new interventions are needed to address the problem. The objective of this study was to evaluate the convergence of symptoms into a single factor called “mental distress” and its relationship to mindfulness facets. Design/methodology/approach Brazilian university students (n = 136) answered self-report questionnaires, assessing sociodemographic information, dispositional mindfulness, insomnia severity, perceived stress, depression and anxiety. The analytical procedure consisted of defining the latent variable and relationships with mindfulness facets in a structural equations modeling environment. Findings The proposed model presented good fit [χ2 (23 = 34.38; p = 0.060; RMSEA = 0.068 (90% CI = 0.00;0.114); CFI = 0.951] and mental distress was inversely related to the five facets of mindfulness questionnaire of nonjudgment and nonreactivity. Originality/value The symptoms converged into a latent variable, and the latent variable was related to the abilities of not judging and not reacting to internal stimuli. The relationships found might guide the development of future intervention strategies to benefit university students’ mental health.
The development of mental health disorders is common in the university population, and mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) seem to be effective in addressing them in different contexts. Thus, this study investigated the impact of MBIs on different symptoms related to mental health problems. University students (n = 136) were randomized into MBI group or wait-list group. All participants completed self-administered questionnaires before and after the intervention, and the experimental group answered questionnaires every week during intervention. Generalized mixed models were used to assess the effects of the intervention, which were improvements in symptoms of stress (B = 5.76,p < 0.001), depression (B = 1.55,p < 0.01) and insomnia (B = 1.35,p = 0.020). No effect was found in respect of trait anxiety. The MBI was found to be effective in reducing important symptoms related to university students’ mental health, grounding the use of this intervention to improve it, and suggesting that it may be used to prevent the development of mental disorders.
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