The lived experiences of people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in relation to exercise

The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of people diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Seven active exercisers with MS participated in semi-structured interviews regarding their exercise experiences since diagnosis. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA; Smith?&?Osborn, 2003 Smith, JA and Osborn, M. 2003. “Interpretive phenomenological analysis”. In Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods, Edited by: Smith, JA. 51–80. London: Sage.  [Google Scholar]). Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. The results and interpretations of narratives revealed a number of functional limitations due to the severity of MS symptoms, which were found to have a major effect on the ability of the participants to exercise. Furthermore, psychological problems and the heightened behavioural adjustments to the progressive disability led to re-appraisal of ability to exercise. Previous, relevant exercise experience made participants more determined to continue to be able to exercise after diagnosis. The wider exercise experience narratives were related to concerns about safety, dependability on others to overcome the challenges, and potential environmental hazards. The loss of spontaneous opportunities to exercise because of these actual and perceived barriers was key to this population. This research highlighted the need to rethink the health and social service arrangements in relation to exercise provision for individuals with MS.     

Efficacy of a Brief Relaxation Training Intervention for Pediatric Recurrent Abdominal Pain

This study is a preliminary investigation of the efficacy of a brief intervention for recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) via a multiple baseline across subjects design. The intervention consisted of a single 1-hour session including psychoeducation and coaching of breathing retraining; the length, duration, and content of the intervention were designed with a goal of maximum portability to primary-care settings. Five children with recurrent abdominal pain participated in this study, 1 of whom served as a pilot participant. Children received the intervention at 1-week intervals. Parent and child reports of each child's abdominal pain, general somatic complaints, functional disability, and anxiety were collected throughout the study. All children participated in a 3-month follow-up session. Results indicated that this brief intervention was successful in lessening abdominal pain, as demonstrated by decreased Abdominal Pain Index (API) scores in two children and decreased abdominal pain following breathing retraining practice in all children. The intervention was also successful in decreasing some children's general somatic symptoms. Functional disability and anxiety symptoms remained consistent for all children throughout the study, which may be due to low levels of these symptoms pretreatment. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.     

Prologue: Introduction and Overview to Special Volume

Abstract

The editors provide an overview of the obstacles that prevent us from ending child abuse in the United States and briefly summarize the various articles in this volume that address these obstacles from multiple points of view.     

Electroencephalographic registration of low concentrations of isoamyl acetate

Previous research has demonstrated electroencephalogram (EEG) changes in response to low-odor concentrations, resulting in near-chance detection. Such findings have been taken as evidence for olfaction without awareness. We replicated and extended previous work by examining EEG responses to water-water control, 0.0001, 0. 001, 0.01, and 1 ppm isoamyl acetate (IAA) in water paired with water only. Detection was above chance (>50%) for.001 and above, and alpha decreased only to those concentrations, suggesting that EEG changes corresponded to IAA awareness. However, when correct trial EEGs were compared to incorrect trial EEGs during.001 ppm, right posterior/central alpha decreased during incorrect trials and alpha decreased more globally (including frontal sites) during correct trials. These data may not reflect awareness or unawareness per se. Instead, results are discussed regarding activation of perceptual systems in the posterior region during incorrect trials and the activation of frontal action systems during a subset of correct trials.     

Assessing volunteer motives: a comparison of an open‐ended probe and Likert rating scales

The purpose of the present study was to compare the motives of volunteers (career, esteem, protective, social, understanding, and value) as assessed by an open‐ended probe and the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) which employs a Likert rating scale. One‐hundred‐and‐twenty‐nine individuals, who volunteered for an organization that focuses on episodic volunteering in the community, completed both measures of volunteer motives and reported their frequency of volunteering for the organization. The Spearman rank correlation between the rankings of the six volunteer motives in the two distributions was 0.71. The maximum variance shared between the same motive as assessed by the two methods was 0.14. Frequency of volunteering for the organization was predicted by the value (positive predictor) and social (negative predictor) VFI scale scores. A post hoc analysis of the data from the open‐ended probe revealed three additional motives for volunteering—enjoyment, religiosity, and team building. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Probability weights in rank-dependent utility with binary even-chance independence

We examine the effects of a weak version of expected utility's independence axiom on the probability weighting function in rank-dependent utility. Our weak independence axiom says that a 50-50 lottery between a two-outcome gamble and its certainty equivalent is indifferent to the certainty equivalent. A variety of nonlinear probability weighting functions satisfy this axiom, but most weighting functions proposed by others do not. Nevertheless, the axiom accommodates weighting functions that are quite similar to the inverse S-shaped concave-convex functions of others that overvalue small probabilities and undervalue large probabilities.     

Perceiver and relationship effects on perceptions of HIV status: A naturalistic study in a high drug use sample.

This article examines the effect of target, perceiver, and relationship characteristics on the perceiver's assessment that the target may be HIV seropositive (HIV+). A sample of 267 persons was recruited from low income, high drug use neighborhoods. Respondents (perceivers) were asked to name people (targets) with whom they had a social, drug sharing, or sexual relationship. Perceivers described 1,640 such relationships. Perceivers were asked about the targets' age, gender, and race/ethnicity, whether the targets were good-looking, their level of trust with the target, and how long they had known them. Perceivers were then asked to evaluate the chances that the target mentioned was HIV+. Two regression models were estimated on the 1,640 relationships mentioned. Model 1 included variables reflecting only target characteristics as independent variables. Model 2 included variables reflecting target characteristics as well as variables reflecting perceivers and perceiver-target relationship characteristics. The results showed that targets that were female, younger, and good-looking were perceived as being less likely to be HIV+. However, when accounting for perceiver and relationship effects, some of the target characteristic effects disappeared.