Health beliefs among New Zealand adolescents

A modified version of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) scale was administered to 837 adolescents, aged 15 years, to assess their beliefs about health. There were significant sex differences on the total scores of the internal and powerful others dimensions of the scale. MHLC beliefs were not significantly associated with self-reported ratings of general health or mental health. Significantly more distress due to the experience of negative life events was reported by females with a strong internal locus of control. Maternal health beliefs showed stronger associations with daughters' health beliefs than sons'. For males, strong beliefs in an internal locus of control and weak beliefs in chance were significantly associated with aspects of attachment, social support and self-perceived strengths. There were weak correlations for the majority of associations between health beliefs and health measures and most of the adolescents reported either good or very good health. The findings suggest that adolescents' health beliefs may be quite different from those of adults.     

Unrealistic optimism: a behavioural sciences classroom demonstration project

Summary: Unrealistic optimism may contribute to risky health practices and to a delay in seeking treatment for medical conditions, as most individuals perceive themselves to be at little risk for various disorders. It is thus an important concept to present to medical students as part of their behavioural sciences training. Social psychological concepts such as unrealistic optimism may appear, on initial presentation to students, to be a misjudgement based on faulty understanding of risk estimates by the general population. This project aimed to teach the principle of unrealistic optimism by having students document their own beliefs about health risks. Students rated their own risk, relative to other classmates, of experiencing a range of 17 health problems. Questionnaires were completed by two classes of medical students ( n = 257). Class results showed varying levels of unrealistic optimism for all 17 conditions. Males and females differed significantly on three of the 17 conditions. Student data were obtained rapidly in a large didactic setting and served to illustrate the concept of unrealistic optimism which was subsequently taught in class. Such exercises may be a useful teaching aid to students providing them with feedback on their own cognitive processes and illustrating that they display cognitive distortions similar to those of patients.     

Ulcerative Colitis and Persistent Liver Dysfunction

Six hundred and eighty-one patients with ulcerative colitiswho attend the outpatient clinic in Oxford have been screenedfor the presence of persistently abnormal liver function tests.Of the 21 patients (3.0 per cent) found with abnormalliver function17 (2.4 per cent) were shown by cholangiography to have primarysclerosing cholangitis. The liver biopsiesfrom those patientsdemonstrated a wide range of histological features and werediagnostic of primary sclerosing cholangit is in only 50 percent of the patients. When persistently abnormal liver function tests are demonstratedin patients with ulcerative colitis it is likely thatprimarysclerosing cholangitis will be present (81 percent of patientsin this study), and in order to make a reliable diagnosis itis necessary to perform cholangiography in addition to liverbiopsy. A close association with primary sclerosing cholangitisand histo-compatability antigens HLA B8 and DR3 is also reported.