The role of self-efficacy, self-esteem and optimism for using routine health check-ups in a population-based sample. A longitudinal perspective

Trajectories of Preventive Health Care Utilization Among Older Koreans: The Role of Social Relationships

Background

Receiving timely health screening is associated with important public health benefits among older adults. By focusing on the role of social relationships, the present study was aimed at examining longitudinal trajectories of health screening use among older adults in Korea, whose universal health care system provides free-of-charge health screening.

Methods

A nationally representative sample of 3,575 individuals aged 65 or older from wave one of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (2006) was followed for 10 years (up to Wave 6, 2016). Mixed-effect logit models were used to investigate how an older adult’s social relationship characteristics (i.e., household composition, financial support from family, social group participation, and the frequency of contact with friends or relatives) were associated with their trajectories of participation in the national health screening program.

Results

Despite the low financial burden, only 49.7% of older adults in Korea reported receiving the recommended health screening at the baseline. Although the probability of receiving recommended health screening increased over the 10-year study period, the trajectories were significantly different by an older adult’s social relationship characteristics. All four social relationship characteristics were significantly associated with receiving health screening. However, those with more frequent social contacts and those who participated in social groups showed steeper increases in the probability of receiving health screening (i.e., significant interaction with time).

Conclusions

This study highlights the importance of social relationships and intervention approaches that accommodate socially isolated older adults to facilitate their timely receipt of recommended preventive care.

Work Experiences and Self-Esteem Development: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies

Theory suggests that people’s work experiences influence their self-esteem and, vice versa, that self-esteem influences work experiences. This meta-analysis of longitudinal studies synthesizes the available evidence on prospective effects between work experiences and self-esteem, controlling for prior levels of the outcomes. The following work variables were examined: job satisfaction, job success, income, job resources, job stressors, and employment status. The analyses were based on 30 independent samples, including data from 53,112 participants. Mean age ranged from 17 to 64 years, spanning most of the work life. For each work variable, we computed random-effects models with standardized regression coefficients as effect size measure. Results suggested reciprocal effects between work experiences and self-esteem. The effects of self-esteem on later work experiences (point estimates ranged from .05 to .10) were slightly larger than the effects of work experiences on later self-esteem (point estimates ranged from .02 to .05). Moderator analyses on the relation between job satisfaction and self-esteem indicated that the effects did not differ across age, gender, sample type, and time lag. Overall, the findings support the corresponsive principle of personality development and suggest that the work domain and people’s self-esteem are interdependent.

Routine Medical Check-Up and Self-Treatment Practices among Community-Dwelling Living in a Mountainous Area of Northern Vietnam

This study was conducted to evaluate the routine medical check-up and self-treatment behaviors of people living in a remote and mountainous setting in Northern Vietnam and identify their associations. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 175 people in August 2018 in Cao Son commune, Da Bac district, Hoa Binh. Information regarding routine medical check-ups and self-treatment behaviors was collected by using a structured questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the associations. Results show that 24% of the mountainous people had routine medical check-ups in the last 12 months. The rate of self-treatment in the past three months was 33.7%. The number of chronic diseases (OR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.0-2.3), health information sources from radio/television (OR = 3.3, 95% CI = 1.2-9.5), or social media (OR = 24.8, 95% CI = 1.2-512.4) was related to routine medical check-up. People who did not have routine medical check-up were more likely to have self-treatment practice (OR = 6.3, 95% CI = 1.9-21.1) than those who had a regular health check. Promoting health education and communication through mass media to raise people's awareness about regular health check-ups is a promising way to improve people's self-treatment status.

Factors associated with postponed health checkups during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has serious social, economic and health consequences. Particularly in these times, it is important to maintain individual health. Therefore, it is important to take part in routine health checkups. Consequently, our objective was to describe the frequency and to identify the determinants of postponed routine health checkups.

Study design

Cross-sectional data from the nationally representative online-survey “COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring in Germany (COSMO)” was used (wave 17; July 2020).

Methods

In sum, 974 individuals were included in our analytical sample (average age was 45.9 years, SD: 16.5, 18–74 years). Postponed routine health checkups (yes or no) since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic were assessed.

Results

More than 16% of the individuals reported postponed routine health checkups in the past few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, individuals aged 30–49 years had postponed health checkups (21%). The probability of postponed health checkups was positively associated with the presence of chronic diseases (odds ratio [OR]: 1.68, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.15–2.47), higher affect regarding COVID-19 (OR: 1.44, 95%-CI: 1.16–1.78), and higher presumed severity of COVID-19 (OR: 1.17, 95%-CI: 1.01–1.35), whereas the outcome measure was not associated with socioeconomic factors. Data showed that a sizeable part (about one of six individuals) of the population reported postponed routine health checkups due to the COVID-19 pandemic between March and July 2020.

Conclusions

Postponed checkups should not be neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals at risk for postponed health checkups should be appropriately addressed.

Explanatory Styles of Counsellors in Training

Explanatory style is based on how one explains good and bad events according to three dimensions: personalization, permanence, and pervasiveness. With an optimistic explanatory style, good events are explained as personal, permanent, and pervasive, whereas bad events are explained as external, temporary, and specific. For counsellors, an optimistic explanatory style creates positive expectancy judgments about the possibilities and opportunities for successful client outcomes. In this research study, we explored the explanatory styles expressed in 400 events (200 good events and 200 bad events) extracted from 38,013 writing samples of first year and final year graduate level counsellors in training. Across the three optimism dimensions and within good and bad events, there was one occurrence of a positive relationship between counsellor training time and the amount of expressed optimism. The implications of this study include the need to cultivate optimistic explanatory styles of counsellors in training and practicing counsellors.

Personality and the use of cancer screenings. A systematic review

BACKGROUND

No systematic review exists synthesizing studies examining the association between personality factors and use of cancer screenings. Hence, the aim of this systematic review is to provide an overview of empirical findings from observational studies investigating the link between personality factors (in terms of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience) and use of cancer screenings.

METHODS

Medline, PsycInfo and CINAHL were searched using predefined search terms. Observational studies examining the link between personality factors and use of cancer screenings using validated tools were included. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were performed by two reviewers.

RESULTS

In total, n = 11 studies were included in our systematic review. There is mostly inconclusive evidence regarding the link between agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience and the use of cancer screenings. Clearer evidence was identified for an association between increased extraversion and an increased use of cancer screenings. Moreover, the majority of studies identified a link between increased conscientiousness and an increased use of cancer screenings.

DISCUSSION

Studies indicate that personality factors, particularly an increased extraversion and increased conscientiousness, are associated with an increased use of cancer screenings. This knowledge may be beneficial to address individuals at risk for underuse.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42020176830.

Calibration and initial validation of a general self-efficacy item bank and short form for the NIH PROMIS®

AIMS

General self-efficacy is associated with adaptive coping and positive health outcomes. The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS^®) has developed self-efficacy item banks for managing chronic conditions, but lacks a general self-efficacy measure. We sought to refine and validate an item-response theory (IRT)-based measure of general self-efficacy for PROMIS^®.

METHODS

Ten items were modified from the NIH Toolbox^® Self-Efficacy Item Bank by creating "confidence" response options, and administered to a general population sample (n = 1000) with the Toolbox^® Self-Efficacy Item Bank, Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), and Generalized Expectancy for Success Scale (GESS). We split the sample in half for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). IRT analyses included evaluation of differential item functioning (DIF).

RESULTS

Participants had a mean age of 47.8 years and 50.3% were male. EFA showed all items loaded onto one dominant factor and CFA yielded a good fitting model for a general self-efficacy bank with confidence response options (CFI = 0.987, TLI = 0.984, RMSEA = 0.090). Items showed no evidence of DIF by gender, age, education, or race. Internal consistency reliability was α = .94 and .88 for a new 10-item general self-efficacy bank and 4-item short form, respectively. The new bank was correlated with the LOT-R (r = .58), the GESS (r = .55), and the Toolbox^® Self-Efficacy Item Bank (r = .87).

CONCLUSIONS

The PROMIS^® General Self-Efficacy measure demonstrated sufficient unidimensionality and displayed good internal consistency reliability, model fit, and convergent validity. Further psychometric testing of the PROMIS^® General Self-Efficacy Item Bank and Short Form can evaluate its utility in people with chronic health conditions.