Lifestyle effects of group health education for patients with coronary heart disease

Abstract

In the present study, effects of a health education (INFO) and a PsychoEducational Prevention (INFO + PEP) Programme were Investigated in three hospitals. These programmes were offered to groups of coronary heart disease (CHD) patients and their partners alter discharge from hospital. The INFO was offered to 127 CHD patients in addition to FIT (i.e. standard medical care and physical training). The PEP was offered to 90 Patients in, addition to the INFO and FIT. A control group of 122 patients received only FIT. The INFO and the PEP consisted of four weekly two-hour group sessions each. In addition, the PEP was followed by seven telephone follow-up contacts.

On average, patients improved their lifestyles during the first three months. Between three and twelve months an extra improvement was found for eating habits, whereas there was a relapse for smoking and a sedentary lifestyle. In the short term, angina pectoris and a longer period of heart complaints were parallelled with a decrease in the risk of maintaining unhealthy eating habits, whereas in the long term a longer period of heart complaints a younger age and unemployment predicted a lower risk of maintaining unhealthy eating habits In the short term living with a partner and in the long term female gender were predictive of continued smoking behaviour In the short term, older age, a first CABG and a specific hospital setting decreased the risk of a continued sedentary lifestyle.

The FIT + INFO + PEP had a favourable short-term effect on eating habits. For smoking and a sedentary lifestyle, however, there were negative effects. In the short term patients in the FIT +INFO and those in the FIT +INFO+PEP had significantly more problems in quitting a sedentary lifestyle than those in the FIT intervention in the long term, patients in the FIT + INFO had significantly more problems in stopping smoking compared to these in the FIT.     

Qualitative analysis of feedback on functional imagery training: A novel motivational intervention for type 2 diabetes

Objective: Effective motivational support is needed in chronic disease management. This study was undertaken to improve a novel type 2 diabetes motivational intervention, (functional imagery training, FIT) based on participant feedback and results from a self-management randomised controlled trial.

Design: Qualitative inductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews.

Main outcome measures: Open-ended questions on participant experiences of the FIT intervention content, process, most/least helpful features, suggestions for improvement and general feedback.

Results: Eight themes emerged. Participants thought FIT promoted autonomy and self-awareness. They found the intervention interesting and helpful in keeping their health on track through accountability provided by regular phone calls. However, boredom with repetitive use of imagery, feeling inadequately equipped to manage unhealthy cravings, and difficulty with the time commitment was reported by some. Supplementary written material was recommended.

Conclusion: Several well-received features of FIT overlapped with those from traditional motivational interviewing. FIT sessions should ensure content is regularly adapted to new health-enhancing goals. After self-management behaviour becomes habitual, imagery practice could be restricted to challenging contexts. Provision of a written rationale and use of mindfulness for cravings is recommended. With these improvements, the impact of FIT on diabetic control may be substantially enhanced.     

When ignorance excuses

An ingenious argument – we may call it the Argument from Excuse – purports to show that the Standard View of Ignorance is false and the New View of Ignorance is true. On the former, ignorance is lack of knowledge; on the latter, ignorance is lack of true belief. I defend the Standard View by arguing that the Argument from Excuse is unsound. I also argue that an implication of my case is that Factual Ignorance Thesis (FIT) is false. According to FIT, whenever an agent A acts from factual ignorance, A is morally blameworthy (culpable) for the act only if A is morally blameworthy (culpable) for the ignorance from which A acts.     

Pathways to children's externalizing behavior: a three-generation study

In this study, based on Family Interactional Theory (FIT), the authors tested a longitudinal model of the intergenerational effects of the grandmothers' parent-child relationships and the grandparents' smoking on the grandchildren's externalizing behavior via parents' psychological symptoms, tobacco use, and child rearing. Using Mplus, the authors obtained a structural equation model that demonstrated generational associations from grandmothers (G1) to parents (G2) to their oldest children (G3) and thus was in accord with FIT. They identified a pathway from the grandmothers' parenting to the grandchildren's externalizing behavior via the parents' psychological symptoms, their smoking, and their child rearing. Parents' psychological symptoms in adolescence were associated with their tobacco use in their late twenties, controlling for the continuity of their psychological symptoms and their tobacco use. This 3-generational model adds to the literature on parent-child relationships (G1), smoking from adolescence to early adulthood (G2), and externalizing behavior in the G3 child.     

特征捆绑机制的理论模型

捆绑问题被认为是认知科学和神经科学的中心问题之一,对心理过程的认知神经机制研究起到了重要推动作用。特征捆绑机制研究有认知和神经科学两大范式。特征整合论在认知理论中最具代表性,形式理论修正了其在错觉性结合测量等方面的不足,双阶段理论突出了前注意捆绑。时间同步性理论是影响最大的捆绑理论,神经网络模型为捆绑机制提出了更具体的结构模型。两大范式的整合及由低级认知过程向高级心理过程的深化可能是今后捆绑机制研究的重点     

CROSS-CULTURAL SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES ON TWO NEO-PIAGETIAN COGNITIVE TASKS*

Two studies are reported concerning performance differences and similarities across cultures. Pascual-Leone's tests of mental attention/energy (M-power) were administered to Zulu-speaking township children aged from 7 to 12 years. In study 1, the Compound Stimulus Visual Information task (CSVI) was used to determine whether children (N = 292) performed at theoretically predicted levels previously obtained with middle-class Canadian children. In study 2, the children (N = 252) were required to complete the Figural Intersection Test (FIT) four times. Unlike the CSVI, in which learning is controlled by training prior to testing, the FIT assumes basic familiarity with the general test requirements. The purpose of repeated testing was to assess the extent of learning across trials. The results for study 1 indicate that subjects do perform at the predicted levels on the CSVI and have the same M-power as Canadian children. The results for study 2 indicate that the subjects underperform on trial 1 of the FIT but overperform on trial 2 relative to Canadian children. Deux études sont rapportées concernant des différences et des similarités inter-culturelles de performance. Les tests de l'attention mentale/énergie (‘M-power’) de Pascual-Leone ont été administrés à des enfants âgés de 7 à 12 ans provenant de communautés d'expression Zulu. Dans la première étude, la tâche d'information visuelle du stimulus composé (CSVI) a été utilisée pour déterminer si les enfants (N = 292) pouvaient performer aux niveaux prédits théoriquement qui avaient été préalablement observés chez les enfants Canadiens de classe moyenne. Dans la seconde étude, les enfants (N = 252) devaient compléter quatre fois le test de l'intersection des figures (FIT). Contrairement au CSVI, dans lequel l'apprentissage est contrôlé par l'entraînement qui précède l'administration du test, le FIT assume une familiarité de base avec les prérequis généraux du test. Le but visé par la répétition du test était d'évaluer l'étendue de l'apprentissage en fonction des essais. Les résultats de la première étude indiquent que les sujets obtiennent les performances prévues au CSVI et possèdent le měme niveau de ‘M-Power’ que les enfants Canadiens. Les résultats de la seconde étude indiquent que, par comparaison avec les enfants Canadiens, les sujets livrent une performance inférieure au premier essai du FIT, alors qu'ils obtiennent une performance supérieure au second essai.     

The cognitive consequences of poverty: A neo-Piagetian study with Zulu children

Samples of impoverished Zulu schoolchildren drawn from three age groups were tested repeatedly on the Figural Intersection Test (FIT), a measure of M-power in Pascual-Leone's theory of constructive operators. Results showed an initial underperformance when compared with Canadian and urban Zulu children. This was attributed to the effects of impoverishment. However, impoverished children did acquire the age-related levels of performance after repeated trials, a result consistent with the concept of M-power in the theory of constructive operators.     

Moving towards solutions to some enduring controversies in visual search

How do we find a target item in a visual world filled with distractors? A quarter of a century ago, in her influential 'Feature Integration Theory (FIT)', Treisman proposed a two-stage solution to the problem of visual search: a preattentive stage that could process a limited number of basic features in parallel and an attentive stage that could perform more complex acts of recognition, one object at a time. The theory posed a series of problems. What is the nature of that preattentive stage? How do serial and parallel processes interact? How does a search unfold over time? Recent work has shed new light on these issues.     

Effects of an interdependent group contingency on engagement in physical education

We examined whether a group contingency increased engagement during elementary school physical education sessions. The intervention employed procedures (explicit instruction, goal setting, and reinforcement) drawn from the first tier of classwide function‐related intervention teams (CW‐FIT; Wills et al., 2009). Results showed salutary increases in engagement that corresponded with the teacher's implementation.     

The Conjoint Family Diagnostic Interview and the Family Index of Tension

The present paper is written in response to the, as yet, unmet need for a broadly applicable, clinical rubric for assessing the psychiatric patient's situation in his family. It describes a conjoint family diagnostic interview procedure (CFDI) which enables a clinical interviewer, within a single ninety-minute, problem-focused, conjoint interview, to describe or rate the verbal and nonverbal behavior of a Ten family unit along dimensions relevant to clinical decision-making for the psychiatric patient. A rating instrument, the Family Index of Tension (FIT) will also be described. It provides a convenient format for quantifying the information obtained at the CFDI, facilitating comparisons within and across family systems. Though initially developed and protested on 350 families of hospitalized psychiatric patients, the procedure described appears applicable to all clinical situations in which families, regardless of their composition and background, are seen together with an “identified patient” for purposes of evaluation and treatment planning.     

客体档案理论的过去、现在和未来

客体档案理论是解释认知过程中如何形成时空表征连续性的重要理论之一。首先,从特征整合论所提出的客体档案概念出发,论述了客体档案模型及其实验依据,在此基础上对涉及客体档案形成、保持与更新的特点所存在的争论进行阐述,之后介绍了由客体档案理论新近发展成的事件档案理论及其依据,最后对目前客体档案研究中存在的一些热点问题如客体档案理论的核心假设和客体档案内部存储的信息类型及其关系等做出总结和展望     

Feedback format: Does it influence manager's reactions to feedback?

This study investigated the influence of feedback format (text versus numeric/normative) on leaders' reactions to 360 degree feedback received from bosses, direct reports, and peers. Leaders who received numeric/normative feedback reacted more favourably than those who received text feedback regardless of the source. The reactions recipients experienced following feedback were relevant to changes in their number of development needs compared pre‐ and post feedback. Those who reacted negatively had a larger number of development needs reported post feedback while those who had positive reactions showed fewer development needs post feedback. These findings suggest that, contrary to predictions of feedback intervention theory (FIT), feedback that provided scores and comparative information was reacted to more positively than text feedback that provided only self‐relevant data. In addition, negative reactions to feedback were detrimental to future changes.     

The Positive Influence of Creating a Holistic Facial Composite on Video Line‐up Identification

Witnesses to a crime may be asked to create a facial composite of the offender from memory. They may then view a suspect in a police line‐up. Previous research on this topic has found both recognition impairment and enhancement following composite construction. In Experiment 1, creator‐participants employed the holistic facial composite system system EFIT‐V or the feature‐based E‐FIT system to create a single composite, and in Experiment 2, creators constructed up to three EFIT‐Vs. In both experiments, facial composite creators were one‐and‐a‐half times more likely than non‐composite creating controls to make correct target identifications from a video line‐up. No between condition effects were found in target‐absent trials in Experiment 1. The development of holistic facial composite systems has enhanced suspect identification rates in police investigations, and these results suggest that the use of such a system can also have a positive influence on a composite‐creating witness' later recognition of the suspect. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Feature integration and spatial attention: common processes for endogenous and exogenous orienting

Briand (J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 24:1243–1256, 1998) and Briand and Klein (J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 13:228–241, 1987) demonstrated that spatial cueing effects are larger for detecting conjunction of features than for detecting simple features when spatial attention is oriented exogenously, and not when attention is oriented endogenously. Their results were interpreted as if only exogenous attention affects the posterior spatial attention system that performs the feature binding function attributed to spatial attention by Treisman’s feature integration theory (FIT; 1980). In a series of 6 experiments, we attempted to replicate Briand’s findings. Manipulations of distractor string size and symmetry of stimulus presentation left and right from fixation were implemented in Posner’s cueing paradigm. The data indicate that both exogenous and endogenous cueing address the same attentional mechanism needed for feature binding. The results also limit the generalisability of Briand’s proposal concerning the role of exogenous attention in feature integration. Furthermore, the importance to control the effect of unintended attentional capture in a cueing task is demonstrated.     

Modeling Individual Damped Linear Oscillator Processes with Differential Equations: Using Surrogate Data Analysis to Estimate the Smoothing Parameter

Among the many methods available for modeling intraindividual time series, differential equation modeling has several advantages that make it promising for applications to psychological data. One interesting differential equation model is that of the damped linear oscillator (DLO), which can be used to model variables that have a tendency to fluctuate around some typical, or equilibrium, value. Methods available for fitting the damped linear oscillator model using differential equation modeling can yield biased parameter estimates when applied to univariate time series. The degree of this bias depends on a smoothing–like parameter, which balances the need for increasing smoothing to minimize error variance but not smoothing so much as to obscure change of interest. This article explores a technique that uses surrogate data analysis to select such a parameter, thereby producing approximately unbiased parameter estimates. Furthermore the smoothing parameter, which is usually researcher-selected, is produced in an automated manner so as to reduce the experience required by researchers to apply these methods. Focus is placed on the damped linear model; however, similar issues are expected with other differential equation models and other techniques in which parameter estimates depend on a smoothing parameter. An example using affect data from the Notre Dame Longitudinal Study of Aging (2004) is presented, which contrasts the use of a single smoothing parameter for all individuals versus use of a smoothing parameter for each individual.     

Hierarchical Multinomial Processing Tree Models: A Latent-Class Approach

Multinomial processing tree models are widely used in many areas of psychology. Their application relies on the assumption of parameter homogeneity, that is, on the assumption that participants do not differ in their parameter values. Tests for parameter homogeneity are proposed that can be routinely used as part of multinomial model analyses to defend the assumption. If parameter homogeneity is found to be violated, a new family of models, termed latent-class multinomial processing tree models, can be applied that accommodates parameter heterogeneity and correlated parameters, yet preserves most of the advantages of the traditional multinomial method. Estimation, goodness-of-fit tests, and tests of other hypotheses of interest are considered for the new family of models. The author thanks Bill Batchelder, Edgar Erdfelder, Thorsten Meiser, and Christoph Stahl for helpful comments on a previous version of this paper. The author is also grateful to Edgar Erdfelder for making available the data set analyzed in this paper.     

Assessing change with the extended logistic model

The purpose of this article is to define a method for the assessment of change. A reinterpretation of the extended logistic model is proposed. The extended logistic model for the assessment of change (ELMAC) allows the definition of a time parameter which is supposed to identify whether change occurs during a period of time, given a specific event or phenomenon. The assessment of a trend of change through time, on the basis of the time parameter which is estimated at different successive occasions during a period of time, is also considered. In addition, a dispersion parameter is calculated which identifies whether change is consistent at each time point. The issue of independence is taken into account both in relation to the time parameter and the dispersion parameter. An application of the ELMAC in a learning process is presented. The interpretation of the model parameters and the model fit statistics is consistent with expectations.     

Asymptotic null distribution of person fit statistics with estimated person parameter

Person fit statistics are considered for dichotomous item response models. The asymptotic null distribution is derived for statistics which are linear in the item responses, and in which the ability parameter is replaced by an estimate. This allows the asymptotically correct standardization of linear person fit statistics with estimated ability parameter. The fact that the ability parameter is estimated usually decreases the asymptotic variance.I am indebted to Herbert Hoijtink and three anonymous referees for their comments on a previous version.