Physical activity (PA) and social interaction (SI) are often challenging for autistic children, especially during recess at school. The aim of this study was to identify the PA levels and social...Show morePhysical activity (PA) and social interaction (SI) are often challenging for autistic children, especially during recess at school. The aim of this study was to identify the PA levels and social interaction and to examine the relationship between the PA levels and SI. Participants included fifty-three children diagnosed with ASD between the ages of 4 and 13 years. Multi-motion receivers measured PA levels and (1) video observations and (2) proximity sensors (RFID) resulted in data for SI. Results showed that, during recess, a significant difference was found between sedentary activity and light-to-moderate and vigorous activity. More time was spent in sedentary activity. Also, according to the proximity sensors, autistic children spent more time in interaction than alone. However, for the video observations, autistic children spent more time alone than in interaction, but this difference was insignificant. A positive correlation was found between vigorous activity and interaction time (RFID). Supporting the notion that PA is positively correlated to SI. Further research is necessary to minimize the limitations and to better understand the needs regarding PA and SA in autistic children during recess.Show less
Based on the recovery paradox (RP) paradigm, the present study investigated a bi-directional (i.e., “typical” and “reverse”) relationship between employees’ job stressors appraised as threatening,...Show moreBased on the recovery paradox (RP) paradigm, the present study investigated a bi-directional (i.e., “typical” and “reverse”) relationship between employees’ job stressors appraised as threatening, strain reactions, and engagement in recovery activities. Namely, it was expected that there would be a positive relationship between one’s appraisal of workload as a threat stressor and one’s level of anxiety, and a negative relationship between one’s level of anxiety and one’s engagement in physical activity. Furthermore, the present study investigated the potential of job resources to alleviate the RP. Namely, it was expected that the “typical” relationship of the RP would be weaker for individuals who have higher levels of social (i.e., supervisor) support. These expectations were tested in a sample of 227 Dutch-speaking employees by using a weekly longitudinal study design consisting of an intake survey administered once and a subsequent questionnaire administered three times with a one-week time interval. Longitudinal effects were examined by using (moderated) mediation statistical analyses performed with the SPSS-extension PROCESS. Contrary to the expectations, analyses showed that although the relationships between the study’s variables trended in the expected directions, no significant bi-directional relationship was found between one’s appraisal of workload as a threat stressor, level of anxiety, and engagement in physical activity. In addition, no significant influence of supervisor support on the “typical” relationship between the variables was shown. Nevertheless, according to the expectations, analyses showed a significant effect of one’s level of anxiety on one’s appraisal of workload as a threat stressor (p = .012). This finding suggests that employee strain reaction impacts employee perception of their job stressors. With the present study being among the first ones to examine the complete indirect relationships between the RP components and the alleviating effect of supervisor support on the “typical” relationship of the RP, I discuss the contributions of the study’s findings to the existing literature and how it can encourage further investigation of the RP and its alleviation to promote employee well-being.Show less
Aim: In view of the serious negative consequences that shyness and anxious behavior can entail on children's quality of life, namely higher risks for internalizing problems, relationship...Show moreAim: In view of the serious negative consequences that shyness and anxious behavior can entail on children's quality of life, namely higher risks for internalizing problems, relationship difficulties, peer rejection and victimization, school adjustment issues, and poor academic success, we explored possible predictors. It was investigated whether parental stress, sleep disturbances, and physical activity predict shy behavior in five-year-old children. Methods: The study was based on the collected data from “The Cool Little Kids” project in collaboration with the "Jij en Je Gezondheid" study from the “Gemeentelijke Gezondheitsdiensten”. The survey had a cross-sectional design with a sample size of 4855 (51.66% girls), with a mean age of 5.1 (SD: 0.5, range from 4 to 7). The data was collected in the regions Amsterdam and Groningen in the years 2021 and 2022 through parental report questionnaires about the well-being of the children. Results: The study outcome supports the positive correlation of parental stress, sleep disturbances, and physical inactivity with shyness. However, the effect sizes of the model and the individual predictors are small. Conclusion: The obtained results underline the impact of parental stress and child habits on shyness. For an improved quality of life for children in their early and forthcoming life stages, the current focus on social anxiety disorders deserves an even shift to factors favoring shyness. This paper might serve as a guideline regarding the factors to be addressed considering future research and intervention programs for shy and anxious children.Show less
Background. Sleep’s positive impact on children’s development, health and psychological well-being renders crucial the investigation of precipitating and perpetuating factors of sleep disturbances...Show moreBackground. Sleep’s positive impact on children’s development, health and psychological well-being renders crucial the investigation of precipitating and perpetuating factors of sleep disturbances to prevent or address them. Aim. This study examines whether sleep disturbances in 10-year-olds are associated with eating habits, physical activity and parental stress. Methods. A total of 349 participants took part in the current study (Mean age = 10.21 years, SD = 0.49, boys = 50.14%). A regression analysis was run using sleep disturbances as a dependent variable, eating habits, physical activity and parental stress as independent variables and sex, ethnicity and region as covariates. Results. Eating habits, physical activity and parental stress did not have any predictive value for sleep disturbances. Conclusion. We conclude that sleep disturbances in 10-year-old children are not associated with eating habits, physical activity and parental stress. These results contradicting previous findings might be partially explained by some limitations of our study, such as the low internal consistency of our questionnaires and the potentially biased view of parents filling in the questionnaires.Show less
Background. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system. Symptoms include fatigue, worsening mobility, and cognitive impairment. Unemployment is common in...Show moreBackground. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system. Symptoms include fatigue, worsening mobility, and cognitive impairment. Unemployment is common in the MS-community. Within 10 years of disease onset 50-80% of MS-patients will be unemployed. Absenteeism often precedes unemployment. Work absenteeism has been associated with several physical and psychological factors in MS, such as fatigue, and use of maladaptive coping styles. Our aim is to investigate both fatigue and maladaptive coping as possible predictors for work absenteeism. To our knowledge coping and fatigue have not been investigated together with respect to work absenteeism in MS-patients. It is important to study absenteeism to prevent future unemployment as much as possible. Method. We investigated 269 employed MS-patients (age 21-63, Mage = 42.09, SDage = 9.39, 77.3% female) of which 47 had been absent within the last seven days. Participants completed questionnaires regarding fatigue (checklist for individual strength), coping style (coping inventory for stressful situations), and work absenteeism. We conducted three logistic regression analyses in which absenteeism was the dependent variable. Fatigue was investigated with subjective fatigue, motivation, concentration, and physical activity as predictors. Coping style was investigated with task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidant coping as predictors. The last analysis investigated both fatigue and coping as predictors for absenteeism with all previous predictors mentioned. Results. A model in which multidimensional aspects of fatigue predict absenteeism was significant (X2(4) = 30.46, p < .001), fatigue, concentration, and physical activity were significant predictors of absenteeism (Bfatigue = 0.04, p = .036; Bconcentration = 0.07, p = .011, Bphysical_activity = -0.03, p = .032 respectively).Show less
General abstract Background: Unhealthy lifestyle increases the change of early mortality of patients with or at risk of Cardiometabolic Diseases (CMDs). Positive effects of eHealth physical...Show moreGeneral abstract Background: Unhealthy lifestyle increases the change of early mortality of patients with or at risk of Cardiometabolic Diseases (CMDs). Positive effects of eHealth physical activity interventions have been recently found. In human supported eHealth interventions feedback and support is primarily provided by a healthcare professional, and in self-help eHealth interventions feedback is primarily automated and displayed via text or graphical form. Incorporating human contact by healthcare professionals showed its first improvements on physical activity. However, influential differences between human supported eHealth interventions and self-help eHealth interventions on physical activity remain unclear. Objective: In this meta-analysis we first evaluated the overall effectiveness of eHealth physical activity intervention in patients with or at risk of Cardiometabolic Diseases (CMD). Second, we analyzed the influence of human support and self-help on the effectiveness of different type(s) of eHealth physical activity intervention. Methods: Our meta-analysis was based on the PICO and PRISMA statements. We searched for English and Dutch studies between 1995 and 2020. We included randomized controlled trials focused on interactive web- mobile based physical activity interventions, and with the goal to modify healthy physical activity in patients of 18 years and older. Baseline and post measures of outcome measurement ‘BMI’ and ‘step count’ were collected. Risk of bias assessment was performed by Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. We estimated the pooled effect sizes with a random-effects model meta-analysis. Results: A total of 36 studies (N=6,919) fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were included in our meta-analysis, including seven self-help interventions and 29 human supported interventions. We found a significant increase in BMI (Hedges’G 0.29, 95% CI. 0.45 - 0.12) and daily step count (Hedges’G 0.79, 95% CI. 1.37 - 0.22) in the eHealth physical activity intervention group. The subgroup analysis showed that both human-supported and self-help interventions significantly reduced BMI (Hedges’G 0.29; 95% CI 0.45 - 0.12). We found a significant increase in daily step count in the human-supported interventions (0.71; 95% CI 1.34 - 0.09; p = < 0.01), but no significant increase was found in the (group) with self-help interventions (0.11; 95% CI 2.34 - 0.32; p = 0.13). We found no significant difference in effectiveness between human-supported and self-help interventions on BMI (Q(1) = 0.35; 95% CI -0.47 - -0.18; p = 0.552) and daily step count (Q(1) = 1.06 CI -0.32 - 2.44). Discussion: eHealth physical interventions are effective on BMI and daily step count, but there is no significant variety in physical activity outcomes between human supported interventions and self-help interventions. Our results support that physical activity is one of the greatest modifiable behaviors for eHealth physical activity interventions. Future meta-analysis should continue with a multimorbid approach by adapting the shared underlying risk factors.Show less
Physical inactivity is related to multiple health problems. Financial incentives have been shown to be motivating factors in prompting people to increase their amount of physical activity. From...Show morePhysical inactivity is related to multiple health problems. Financial incentives have been shown to be motivating factors in prompting people to increase their amount of physical activity. From these incentives, deposit contracts (DC) based on loss aversion mechanisms are suggested as the most cost-effective method. Here, personal investment is made at the beginning of the intervention, which the depositor gradually earns back through physical activity, simultaneously avoiding the aversive feeling of financial loss. However, the uptake of the DCs has been poor, for largely unknown reasons. The present study examined the role of probable predictors behind the uptake of the DC, i.e., the decision to accept the physical challenge and pay the required deposit. The two week challenge involved increasing the daily amount of walking by 120 % from the previous base level, monitored by mobile application. The participants consisted of healthy, young students from European universities. Based on previous studies, it was hypothesized that risk proneness, gender, previous levels of physical activity and related self-efficacy beliefs could predict the uptake of the deposit contract. Among the eligible participants accomplishing the pre-intervention steps, the percentage of uptake was 79 %. The results from the multiple logistic regression analysis showed that risk proneness was the only studied variable that predicts uptake. Thus, risk proneness is one potential factor to be included in DC-based interventions for young adults. However, the results should be interpreted cautiously due to limitations, the most important being biased gender distribution, small sample size and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.Show less
For patients with non-dialysis dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD) it is of vital importance to engage in physical activity and to adhere to a healthy diet. As a significant amount of patients...Show moreFor patients with non-dialysis dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD) it is of vital importance to engage in physical activity and to adhere to a healthy diet. As a significant amount of patients does not seem to adhere sufficiently to these self-management behaviors, the study objective was to examine psychological factors that are associated with adherence to these self-management behaviors. In this study, the univariate, direct associations between perceived control, anxiety and adherence to a healthy diet or engagement in physical activity were investigated. Specifically, this study tested whether the relationship between perceived control and the self-management behaviors was mediated by symptoms of anxiety. A cross-sectional design was used to investigate the relationships between perceived control, anxiety and the self-management behaviors. An online survey consisting of self-report measures was administered on 145 patients with non-dialysis dependent CKD that received treatment in Dutch hospitals. The Brief IPQ, GAD-7, SQUASH and questions based on nephrology guidelines were used to measure perceived control, anxiety, physical activity and adherence to a healthy diet, respectively. Cognitions of helplessness, measured with the ICQ, were used as an additional expression of low perceived control. The direct relationships were tested with a number of bivariate regression analyses and bootstrapping was used to test the mediation effect. Findings show that perceived control was directly and positively related to physical activity (b* = .18, p = .045). Cognitions of helplessness were found to be directly and positively associated with anxiety (b* = .21, p = .01). Patients did not seem to engage less in the self-management behaviors when they experienced lower levels of perceived control or more cognitions of helplessness, as a consequence of having more symptoms of anxiety. Findings suggest that patients with higher levels of perceived control, might engage in more physical activity and that patients with more cognitions of helplessness might experience increased anxiety. An important implication of these findings is that is seems necessary to design cognitive behavioral interventions that aim to enhance levels of perceived control in patients with non-dialysis dependent CKD. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed.Show less
Background. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system. Symptoms include fatigue, worsening mobility, and cognitive impairment. Unemployment is common in...Show moreBackground. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system. Symptoms include fatigue, worsening mobility, and cognitive impairment. Unemployment is common in the MS-community. Within 10 years of disease onset 50-80% of MS-patients will be unemployed. Absenteeism often precedes unemployment. Work absenteeism has been associated with several physical and psychological factors in MS, such as fatigue, and use of maladaptive coping styles. Our aim is to investigate both fatigue and maladaptive coping as possible predictors for work absenteeism. To our knowledge coping and fatigue have not been investigated together with respect to work absenteeism in MS-patients. It is important to study absenteeism to prevent future unemployment as much as possible. Method. We investigated 269 employed MS-patients (age 21-63, Mage = 42.09, SDage = 9.39, 77.3% female) of which 47 had been absent within the last seven days. Participants completed questionnaires regarding fatigue (checklist for individual strength), coping style (coping inventory for stressful situations), and work absenteeism. We conducted three logistic regression analyses in which absenteeism was the dependent variable. Fatigue was investigated with subjective fatigue, motivation, concentration, and physical activity as predictors. Coping style was investigated with task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidant coping as predictors. The last analysis investigated both fatigue and coping as predictors for absenteeism with all previous predictors mentioned. Results. A model in which multidimensional aspects of fatigue predict absenteeism was significant (X 2 (4) = 30.46, p < .001), fatigue, concentration, and physical activity were significant predictors of absenteeism (Bfatigue = 0.04, p = .036; Bconcentration = 0.07, p = .011, Bphysical_activity = -0.03, p = .032 respectively). A model in which coping style predicts work absenteeism was non-significant (X 2 (3) = 5.88, p = .118). The model in which both fatigue and coping were investigated was significant (X 2 (7) = 30.80, p < .001), however this model did not yield any additional information. Conclusion. Fatigue, concentration, and physical activity predict work absenteeism for MS-patients. Possible interventions might be CBT or motivational interviewing, both these interventions can be used to minimize work absenteeism.Show less
Onder kinderen is er wereldwijd steeds meer sprake van overgewicht. Deze stijging is ook in India waar te nemen. Het doel van dit onderzoek is analyseren of actieve en passieve tijdsbesteding...Show moreOnder kinderen is er wereldwijd steeds meer sprake van overgewicht. Deze stijging is ook in India waar te nemen. Het doel van dit onderzoek is analyseren of actieve en passieve tijdsbesteding mediatoren zijn in het verband tussen de sociaaleconomische status (SES) en de Body Mass Index (BMI) bij schoolgaande kinderen in India. De steekproef bestaat uit 293 kinderen tussen de 10 en 14 jaar (M=12.38, SD=1.169) uit Pune (India). Het gaat om 161 jongens en 123 meisjes, van de overige 9 kinderen is het geslacht onbekend. Gegevens betreffende BMI zijn verzameld door middel van een zelfrapportage van BMI, gegevens over tijdsbesteding aan de hand van een dagboek dat tijdens interviews werd ingevuld en de SES is vastgesteld op basis van de soort school. De uitkomsten van dit onderzoek laten zien dat actieve tijdsbesteding geen mediator is en dat passieve tijdsbesteding een partiële mediator is voor het verband tussen SES en BMI. Preventie van overgewicht moet zich dan ook vooral richten op de hoge SES kinderen, door middel van het ontmoedigen van passieve tijdsbesteding.Show less
