Research group on Mental health and subjective health complaints

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Research group on Mental health and subjective
health complaints

• Leif Edvard Aarø
• Department of Education and Health/
• Research Centre for Health Promotion

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Team 1Support and stress from near social ties
Maurice B. Mittelmark, Professor, Ph.D. (PI),
President of the IUHPE Delia Brancila, Post
doc., M.Phil. Mette Aanes, Research Scholar, M.
Phil. Students from the international masters
programme
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BSRSThe Bergen Social Relationships Scale

• Think about everyone (children, parents,
  siblings, spouse or significant other,
  neighbours, friends, colleagues and others you
  know) while you answer the following
• There are people in my life that i care about,
  but who dislike one another
• There is a person in my life that needs my help,
  but whom I dont know how to help
• There is an important person in my life that
  wants to support me, but who often hurts my
  feelings instead
• There is a person that I have to be around almost
  daily that often henpecks me
• There are people that make my life difficult
  because they expect too much care and support
  from me
• There is someone I care about that expects more
  of me than I can manage
• Describes me very well Describes me quite
  well Does not describe me very well Does not
  describe me at all

Mittelmark, M.B., Aarø, L.E., Henriksen, S.G.,
Siqveland, J., Torsheim, T. (2004). Chronic
stress in the community and associations with
psychological distress A social psychological
perspective. International Journal of Mental
Health Promotion, 6 (1), 4-16.
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The Bergen Social Relationships Scale
(BSRS)CONCLUSIONS FROM NINE STUDIES

• The respondents comprehension was relatively
  homogeneous
• Conceptually different from neighbouring
  concepts
• More women than men report three or more
  stressors
• The scale predicts anxiety and depression at
  least as much as other social support/network
  variables combined
• Studies in Rumenia and Thailand have supported
  the psychometric properties and predictive power
  of the BSRS
• New, large-scale studies in Sweden and Hungary
  have taken on board the BSRS scale

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BPWSThe Bergen Personal Worries Scale
A new scale was developed by Mittelmark and
Bancila in 2005 The Bergen Personal Worries
Scale (BPWS). This instrument is meant to be
used with the BSRS, and therefore interpersonal
stress is excluded from this scale.
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Team 2 Relationships
Frode Thuen, Professor, Ph.D. (PI) Øystein
Mortensen, Research Scholar, Cand.
psychol. Research scholars at Bergen College and
elsewhere
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Empirical study
How are two personality factors (optimism and
perceived control) related to psychological
adaptation after marital disruption? Sample
658 recently divorced persons Findings
Optimism predicts psychological adaptation
(beta.53) Perceived control predicts
psychological adaptation (beta.12) The
assoiation between optimism and psychological
adaptation increases with decreasing control

Thuen, F. Rise, J. (2006). Psychological
adaptation after marital disruption The effects
of optimism and perceived control. Scandinavian
Journal of Psychology, 47, 121-128.
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Relationships
Relationship education in Norway is presented as
a partnership between governmental organizations
and NGOs Preliminary data on the Prevention
and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) are
presented In general, participants evaluate the
workshops positively. It is important to tailor
relationship education to fit the various
customs, beliefs, and challenges of couples
attending programs
Thuen, F., Tafjord Lærum, K. (2005). A
public/private partnership in offering
relationship education to the Norwegian
population. Family Process, 44, 175-185.
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Popularization TV-series Radio interviews
Books Magazines Oral presentations
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Team 3Disability pensions and mental health

• Arnstein Mykletun, Post. doc., Ph.D. (PI)
• Simon Øverland, Cand. Psychol., Research scholar
  (NFR)
• Børge Sivertsen, Ph. D., Post. doc. (UoB)
• Five students from the psychology programme at
  UoB
• External network of collaborators
• Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College,
  University of London,
• Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo
• Network for Psychiatric Epidemiology

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An innovative approach
Data from large-scale community health surveys
(HUSK, HUNT) are merged with data from disability
pension award registries and death registries in
order to examine a set of otherwise untestable
research questions.
Mykletun, A., Øverland, S., Dahl, A.A. et al
(2006). A population-based cohort study of the
effect of common mental disorders on disability
pension awards. American Journal of Psychiatry,
163, 1412-1418.
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Competitive advantage
Such merging of data from different sources is
made possible by the Norwegian system for person
identification the person number system.
Mykletun, A., Øverland, S., Dahl, A.A. et al
(2006). A population-based cohort study of the
effect of common mental disorders on disability
pension awards. American Journal of Psychiatry,
163, 1412-1418.
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Historical cohort design
This historical cohort study used mental and
somatic health data obtained from the Health
Study of Nord-Trøndelag County (the HUNT-study)
carried out from August 1995 until June 1997.
Disability pension award outcomes over a 2-year
follow-up period after baseline assessment were
obtained from the National Insurance
Administration.
Mykletun, A., Øverland, S., Dahl, A.A. et al
(2006). A population-based cohort study of the
effect of common mental disorders on disability
pension awards. American Journal of Psychiatry,
163, 1412-1418.
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Mental disorders underestimated?
Anxiety and depression were robust predictors of
disability pension awards in general, even when
disability pensions awarded for any mental
disorder were excluded. The cost of common
mental disorders is terms of disability pensions
and lost productivity may have been considerably
underestimated by official statistics,
particularly for younger claimants.
Mykletun, A., Øverland, S., Dahl, A.A. et al
(2006). A population-based cohort study of the
effect of common mental disorders on disability
pension awards. American Journal of Psychiatry,
163, 1412-1418.
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Team 4Subjective health complaints
Hege Eriksen, Director, Adjunct Professor, Ph.
D. Holger Ursin, Professor Emeritus, Ph.D. 1
post doc 4 research scholars A comprehensive
network of collaborators
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The Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress (CATS)
Alarm Activation
Load
Stress Response
Stress Stressor Stimuli
Stimulus expectancy
Training
Strain
Sustained Activation
Brief Anabolic
Response outcome expectancy
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Norwegian Network for Back Pain The Research
Unit
Established at the Univeristy of Bergen
1999 Head Holger Ursin Research relevant to
rehabilitation, and primary prevention of back
pain
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Long term sickness compensation
1997
2001
2002
2004
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Common denominators

• Health (mental health, subjective health
  complaints)
• The adult population
• Community settings
• Theory-based studies
• Use of questionnaires and scales for the
  measurement of health, risk factors, and
  protective factors
• Implications for primary prevention and health
  promotion

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Complementary strengths

• High production of doctoral theses
• Popularization skills
• Innovative research designs
• Skills in analyses of data from large-scale
  studies
• Skills in development of scales
• Practical applications in rehabilitation, primary
  prevention and health promotion

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Why me?
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Why not him?
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The Ringelmann effect
Kg. power pulled pr. person
Number of persons pulling together
Kravitz, D.A. Martin, B. (1986). Ringelmann
rediscovered the original article. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 936-41.
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Social loafing

• Social loafing is reduced when
• Each individuals contributions are monitored
• There are wel defined standards for individual
  achievements
• The tast is engaging (involving)
• Group cohesiveness

Latané,B. Williams,K. Harkins,S. (1979). Many
hands make light work the causes and
consequences of social loafing. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 822-832.
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Maurice Mittelmark
Frode Thuen
Hege Eriksen
Arnstein Mykletun