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Walter Everaerd

Publications and source records attributed to Walter Everaerd.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Interpretation of change and longitudinal validity of the quality of life for respiratory illness questionnaire (QoLRIQ) in inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation.

The quality of life for respiratory illness questionnaire (QoLRIQ) is an outcome measure for patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study assessed the longitudinal validity, reliability of the change score and the interpretation of changes on the QoLRIQ in inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation, completed by 108 patients with moderate to severe asthma (39) or COPD (69). Domains and total score of the QoLRIQ changed significant (all p < 0.0002) with standardized response means from 0.46 to 0.90. All QoLRIQ-change scores were significantly correlated with self-rated change in health and in disease symptoms and with change in self-assessed health status (r from 0.2 to 0.61). There were several significant correlations between QoLRIQ-change scores and change in experienced invalidity, emotional well-being, anxiety, depressive symptoms and Rand-36-domains (r from 0.2 to 0.68). The intraclass correlation coefficient of change was 0.90. The size of a minimal important difference (MID), computed from a retrospective global rating of change by the patients and with the standard error of measurement, was 0.5 points on a 7-point response scale. Computation of the MID from retrospective assessment of change may not be valid because this change was significantly correlated to post-treatment health status and significantly higher than serial assessment of change. We conclude that the QoLRIQ is sensitive to change, longitudinally valid and reliable, with a MID of 0.5 points. These results enable the use of the QoLRIQ as an outcome measure in clinical trials with patients with moderate to severe asthma or COPD. The longitudinal measurement properties in less severe patients still need to be studied.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Priming the sexual system: implicit versus explicit activation.

We investigated implicit versus explicit activation of the sexual system using a priming paradigm in which sexual slides were preceded by either sexual or neutral primes. In the first experiment, primes were made inaccessible to conscious cognitive elaboration. Identification of sexual targets was facilitated by sexual primes, indicating that sexual representations in memory can be activated automatically. In the second experiment, in which primes were presented at a conscious level, identification of sexual targets was decelerated by sexual primes. Primes elicited subjective sexual arousal in Experiment 2 only, demonstrating that the activation of subjective experience requires conscious cognitive elaboration. With the addition of a sexually specific physiological measure, to be constructed to measure initial genital responses, this paradigm may help elucidate activational mechanisms of sexual response.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Modulation of spinal reflexes by aversive and sexually appetitive stimuli.

In this study, modulation of spinal tendinous (T) reflexes by sexual stimulation was investigated. T reflexes are augmented in states of appetitive and defensive action and modified by differences in arousal intensity. Reflexes were expected to be facilitated by both pleasant (sexual) and unpleasant (anxiety) stimuli. Subjects were exposed to a sexual, an anxiety-inducing, a sexually threatening, and a neutral film excerpt. Genital arousal, emotional experience, subjective action tendencies, and T reflexes were monitored. Self-report and genital data confirmed the affective states as intended. T reflex amplitude significantly increased during viewing of emotionally arousing film excerpts as compared with a neutral film excerpt. T reflexes were facilitated by the sex stimulus to the same extent as by the anxiety and sexual threat stimuli. The results support the view of sexual arousal as an emotional state, generating sex-specific autonomic and general somatic motor system responses, which prepare the organism for action.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

The effect of beta-adrenergic blockade after encoding on memory of an emotional event.

RATIONALE: Animal and human studies lend support to the hypothesis that enhanced memory associated with emotional experiences involves activation of the beta-adrenergic system. Evidence for the role of noradrenaline in emotional memory in humans has been gathered from experimental studies where blockade of the beta-adrenergic system with a beta-blocker selectively impaired long-term memory for an emotionally arousing story (a slide show), when the beta-blocker was given before subjects were confronted with the emotional stimuli. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to test whether effective beta-adrenergic blockade occurring only after the stage of encoding has a similar impairing effect on memory. METHODS: In a double blind experimental design, 60 healthy adult subjects received randomly one tablet of either propranolol (Inderal, 40 mg) or placebo. Drugs were administered just before the slide show begun and (in view of its pharmacokinetics) propranolol reaches peak levels 1 h after drug intake. Physiological arousal was monitored by heart rate and blood pressure. Half of the beta-blocker and placebo groups watched either a neutral or an arousal version of an 11-slide presentation. Memory performance was tested with a surprise free recall and recognition test 1 week later. RESULTS: Memory performance, specifically for the second phase in which emotional elements were introduced, was better in subjects who viewed the arousal version than subjects who saw the neutral version of the slide show. However, no effect of the beta-blocker condition was found. CONCLUSION: This experiment does not support a role for noradrenaline in the post-encoding phase and on the later processes of consolidation and retrieval. Although it remains possible that with a different dosage or timing protocol a post-treatment effect of noradrenaline in humans can be found, this experiment could not find support for it.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed2002

Modest contribution of psychosocial variables to hypoglycaemic awareness in Type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To assess relationships between hypoglycaemic awareness and diabetes-related, psychosocial and demographic characteristics. METHOD: Ninety-eight type 1 diabetic patients completed questionnaires on somatic awareness (Somatic Awareness Questionnaire, SAQ), negative affectivity (Positive And Negative Affectivity Schedule, PANAS), symptom beliefs, bustle and variety of daily life. They then performed up to 70 measurements on a hand-held computer, during 4 to 6 weeks, at home. During every measurement, they rated the presence of 20 symptoms on a 0-6 scale, and estimated and measured their blood glucose level. The percentage of recognised hypoglycaemic episodes was calculated from these data, and used as a measure of hypoglycaemic awareness. RESULTS: Hypoglycaemic awareness was negatively associated with disease duration and antecedent hypoglycaemia, and positively associated with the use of an insulin pump instead of injections, variety in the daily life, somatic awareness, sensitivity of the symptom beliefs and female gender. However, only 17% of the variance in hypoglycaemic awareness was explained. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial variables contribute to hypoglycaemic awareness, to a moderate but statistically significant extent.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2002

Conscious processing of sexual information: interference caused by sexual primes.

The concept Sexual Content-Induced Delay (SCID) refers to a hesitancy in decision making related to erotic material (Geer & Bellard, 1996; Geer & Melton, 1997). Empirical evidence about SCID stems from lexical decision tasks. Our previous studies also showed SCID effects in sex versus neutral categorization tasks in which pictures were used. In these tasks, recognition of sexual pictures is delayed when preceded by consciously presented sexual primes. In the current study, 2 manipulations were added to the categorization task to investigate underlying information processing mechanisms of SCID. Firstly, the appraisal process was influenced by varying the instructions. Secondly, primes with nonsexual emotional content were added to test the specificity of the SCID effect. Thirty-seven undergraduates were asked to categorize sexual and neutral pictures that were primed by sexual, threatening, and neutral primes. Participants ignored or focussed prime content dependent on 2 different instructions. Results showed that the SCID effect only emerged when sexual primes were ignored; however, threatening primes also decelerated recognition of sexual pictures after the ignore instruction. Results of the focus instruction were qualitatively different, that is, participants recognized sexual pictures faster when primed sexually. It was suggested that SCID can be interpreted as the activation of regulatory modules by emotional stimuli in the stage of elicitation of emotional response. In contrast, when the sexual system is already activated, it appears that decisions regarding sexual information are facilitated.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

The enhancement of vaginal vasocongestion by sildenafil in healthy premenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the effect of a single oral dose of sildenafil citrate (Viagra, Pfizer, Inc., New York, NY) on vaginal vasocongestion and subjective sexual arousal in healthy premenopausal women. METHODS: Twelve women without sexual dysfunction were randomly assigned to receive either a single oral 50 mg dose of sildenafil or matching placebo in a first session and the alternate medication in a second session. Subjective measures of sexual arousal were assessed after participants had been exposed to erotic stimulus conditions. Vaginal vasocongestion was recorded continuously during baseline, neutral, and erotic stimulus conditions. At the end of each session, subjects were also asked to specify which treatment they suspected they had received. RESULTS: Significant increases in vaginal vasocongestion were found with sildenafil treatment compared with placebo. There were no differences between treatments on subjective sexual arousal experience. Analyses by suspected treatment received found that significantly stronger sexual arousal and vaginal wetness were reported for the treatment that was believed to be sildenafil vs. the treatment that was believed to be placebo. The suspected treatment sequence was incorrect for half of the women. Sildenafil was well tolerated, with no evidence of significant adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Sildenafil was found to be effective in enhancing vaginal engorgement during erotic stimulus conditions in healthy women without sexual dysfunction but was not associated with an effect on subjective sexual arousal.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Assessing inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation using the patient's view of outcome.

PURPOSE: Assessment of the patient's view of outcome should complement standardized evaluation methods, especially in multi-intervention rehabilitation programs. Assessment of individualized outcomes has not been used previously in pulmonary rehabilitation studies. Therefore, the authors developed a method for assessing the patient's view of outcome. METHODS: Patients and their therapists scored the subjective attainment level of individualized treatment goals on a 6-point response scale. Mean attainment scores, sensitivity to change, reliability, and validity were computed. RESULTS: The study found that 79 patients (20 with asthma and 59 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) who participated in an inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program had 540 treatment goals (range 2-12 goals per patient). The patients had a significantly higher median attainment score than the main therapists (5 versus 4; n = 286; P <.0001). Sensitivity to change of the attainment scores from patients was very high. The patients (n = 42) had a standardized response mean of 3.57 for the attainment scores, as compared to 1.01 for the total score of the Quality of Life for Respiratory Illness Questionnaire. Attainment scores of treatment goals with at least 10 occurrences were significantly correlated with closely related external outcomes. Interrater agreements between patients and therapists as well as among therapists were low (weighted kappa < 0.35). CONCLUSIONS: The patient's view was used to describe the outcome of inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation. Attainment scoring has a high sensitivity to change and a satisfying validity. The low reliability between the individual's point of view and that of the therapist necessitates a clear description for the different levels of expected outcome. The individualized goal attainment method seems to be a promising complementary way of evaluating pulmonary rehabilitation.

Activities of Daily Living↗