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The present study has the purpose to develop and apply a new training program in order to promote the use of social skills in a group of adults with intellectual disabilities. It contains a quasi-experimental methodological design to prove the program effectiveness. The sample used consists of 21 adults with intellectual disabilities, users of an occupational therapy day entity (10 persons participated in the program and 11 did not). The social skills were evaluated using an adjusted version of the Social Skills Scale Model of Gismero (2010). The outcomes of this study show a significant improvement in the overall score of the group included in the program in comparison with the rest of the group. Likewise, the group under the program obtained an increase in the scores within 5 out of 6 subscales evaluated. The identified improvements are key elements for the individual development of this group. The implications of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and objective: A higher adherence to Mediterranean diet is considered as a protective factor against the large number of deaths attributable to the main chronic degenerative diseases in developed countries. Self-rated health is established as a good indicator of population health status and as a predictor of mortality. Studies exploring the relationship between the adherence to Mediterranean diet and self-rated health are scarce, especially, in young adults. Our aim was to explore the factors related, specially the adherence to a priori-defined Mediterranean diet with self-rated health in a cohort of Spanish university students. Methods: We analyzed data from 1110 participants of Spanish DiSA-UMH (Dieta, Salud y Antropometría en universitarios de la Universidad Miguel Hernández) study. Diet was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire and the adherence to Mediterranean diet was calculated using the relative Mediterranean Diet Score (rMED; score range: 0-18) according to the consumption of 9 dietary components. Self-rated health was gathered from the question: “In general, how do you consider your health to be? (Excellent, good, fair, poor, very poor).Information on sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics was also collected. Multinomial logistic regression(using relative risk ratio, RRR) was used to analyze the association between the adherence to Mediterranean diet(low rMED: 0-6 points; medium: 7-10 points; high: 11-18points) and self-rated health (Excellent (reference), good and fair/ poor/very poor).Results: A low, medium or high adherence to Mediterranean diet conformed to 26.8%, 58.7% and 14.4%of participants, which of them reported an excellent(23.1%), good (65.1%) and fair/poor or very poor health, respectively. In multivariate analysis, a lower adherence to Mediterranean diet was significantly (p<0.05) associated with a poorer self-rated health. Compared to a low adherence to Mediterranean diet (low rMED), a medium adherence was related to a lower risk of good (RRR= 0.81; 95% Cl: 0.67-0.97) or fair/poor or very poor (RRR= 0.70; 0.58-0.85); the highest adherence (high rMED) was associated with a lower risk of good(RRR= 0.69; 0.61-0.79) or fair/poor or very poor (RRR=0.68; 0.65-0.72) self-rated health. Smoking, low physical activity and excess weight were associated with a poorer self-rated health (p<0.05).Conclusions: A considerable proportion of university students (one in four) has a low adherence to Mediterranean diet, which was associated significantly with a poorer self-rated health. Other potential modifiable factors as smoking, low physical activity and excess weight were also associated with a poorer self-rated health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To identify dietary patterns among participants in a representative nutritional survey in the Valencia Community, and to analyze the association with socio-demographic characteristics and lifestyles. METHODS: Data for this study were from 1803 participants (973 women) in the Nutrition and Health Survey conducted in 1994 on a representative sample of adult population of Valencia Community. Diet was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire. Foods intakes were adjusted for 1,000 calories and grouped in 26 groups. Cluster analysis was used to identify dietary patterns using standardized values of the variables (z-scores). RESULTS: Three dietary patterns were identified and labeled as follows: the Prudent pattern (57.2%), characterized by a low-medium intake of most food of groups; the Mediterranean pattern (29.1%) characterized by high intake of fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry, cheese, and legumes; and the Western pattern (13.7%) characterized by high intake of meat and processed meats, high fat content foods, sweets and sugar, beverages, and alcoholic beverages. The Mediterranean pattern obtained higher scores for known diet quality index defined a priori. Using the Mediterranean pattern as reference, Western pattern included significantly more young people, higher number of men and smokers, and the Prudent pattern higher number of men, lower physical activity and lower alcohol consumption. CONCLUSION: Three dietary patterns were identified among participants in the Nutrition Survey of Valencia conducted in the mid-1990S: Prudent, Mediterranean and Western. The Prudent pattern was the most prevalent; the Mediterranean pattern was associated with healthier lifestyles and behaviors; and the Western pattern, the less prevalent although more frequently followed by youth, men and smokers. Further Nutrition Surveys should be carried out to make nutritional surveillance and analyze health effects of these observed patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is an important public health problem related to a higher risk of death from chronic degenerative diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and several types of cancer. In epidemiological studies of big sample size, only self-reported weight and height can be collected for feasibility reasons and body mass index (BMI) estimates may be questioned. OBJECTIVES: In this study we compare self-reported and measured weight, height and BMI in a mostly young population of university students, and explore factors associated with discrepancies between self-reported and measured data. METHODS: In the period 2006-2012, 628 University students (476 women) from health sciences subject gave consent to participate in this study. Self-reported weight and height were collected by questionnaire and compared with weight and height measured afterward in health exams wearing light clothes and using standardized protocols. The validity of self-reported anthropometric estimates was explored by correlation coefficients and sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and kappa to detect measured overweight/obesity (BMI >= 25 kg/m²). Multiple linear regression was used to explore the factors related to the discrepancies between self-reported and measured data. RESULTS: The mean of self-reported weight, height and BMI was 62.5 kg, 167.6 cm and 22.1 kg/m² and the mean of measured data was 62.6 kg, 167.4 cm y 22.2 kg/m² respectively. Correlations between self-reported and measured data were r = 0.97 for weight, 0.96 for height and 0.95 for BMI. The sensitivity to detect overweight (IMC >= 25 kg/m²) using self-reported data was 81.0%, the specificity was 98.5%, the predictive value was 90.6% and the kappa index was 0.75. The discrepancy between measured and self-reported weight, height and BMI was associated with a higher age, and a higher sleeping time was also associated to discrepancies in self-reported and measured height. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the self-reported weight and BMI may underestimate the true weight and BMI, and self-reported height overestimate, the validity of self-reported anthropometric measures is adequate to use be used in epidemiological studies among young people with a high educational level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify dietary patterns among participants in a representative nutritional survey in the Valencia Community, and to analyze the association with socio-demographic characteristics and lifestyles. Methods: Data for this study were from 1803 participants (973 women) in the Nutrition and Health Survey conducted in 1994 on a representative sample of adult population of Valencia Community. Diet was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire. Foods intakes were adjusted for 1,000 calories and grouped in 26 groups. Cluster analysis was used to identify dietary patterns using standardized values of the variables (zscores). Results: Three dietary patterns were identified and labeled as follows: the Prudent pattern (57.2%), characterized by a low-medium intake of most food of groups; the Mediterranean pattern (29.1%) characterized by high intake of fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry, cheese, and legumes; and the Western pattern (13.7%) characterized by high intake of meat and processed meats, high fat content foods, sweets and sugar, beverages, and alcoholic beverages. The Mediterranean pattern obtained higher scores for known diet quality index defined a priori. Using the Mediterranean pattern as reference, Western pattern included significantly more young people, higher number of men and smokers, and the Prudent pattern higher number of men, lower physical activity and lower alcohol consumption. Conclusion: Three dietary patterns were identified among participants in the Nutrition Survey of Valencia conducted in the mid-1990S: Prudent, Mediterranean and Western. The Prudent pattern was the most prevalent; the Mediterranean pattern was associated with healthier lifestyles and behaviors; and the Western pattern, the less prevalent although more frequently followed by youth, men and smokers. Further Nutrition Surveys should be carried out to make nutritional surveillance and analyze health effects of these observed patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: The vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy has been associated with adverse events during pregnancy and the postnatal child development. In this study we examined plasma levels of vitamin D [25(OH)D3] and factors associated with plasma deficiency and insufficiency in pregnant women in northern Spain. Methods: We analyzed data from 453 pregnant women participating in the INMA-Asturias cohort in which was determined 25(OH)D3 by high resolution liquid chromatography. Dietary intake of vitamin D was estimated through a food frequency validated questionnaire. We estimated the prevalence of deficiency [25(OH)D3 <20 ng / ml] and insufficiency [20 to 29.9 ng / ml] of vitamin I) and analyzed the distribution of 25(OH)D3 per month extraction and other factors. Results: The mean concentration of 25(OH)D3 was 27.7 ng/ml (range 6.4 to 69.5). 27.4% of pregnant women had deficient levels and 35.3% inssuficient. Levels of 25(OH)D3 were higher in the summer months (median 34.1 ng/ml). There was a higher percentage of deficiency in pregnant women with overweight/obesity (34.5%) and under 25 years (47.8%). The average daily intake of vitamin D was 5.48 mg / day (SI) 2.82 range 1.09 to 32.52). Intake during the months of October to May was associated with levels of 25(OH)D3. 8.6% reported taking supplements of vitamin I). Conclusions: We detected a high proportion of pregnant women with deficient or insufficient vitamin D levels, especially in the months of October to May, in pregnant women with overweight and obesity, and the youngest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]