A self-esteem measure for patients with cancer

Abstract

In assessing the quality of life of patients with cancer. :in important. though largely ignored. variable is self-esteem. The development of an instrument to measure self-esteem, using visual analogue scales, is described. This instrument was administered to 170 patients with newly diagnosed early breast cancer. Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma three months and one year alter diagnosis. The instrument was acceptable to patients; internal consistency and test-retest reliability data are reported. Self-esteem scores were inversely correlated with depression and trait anxiety scores, and positively correlated with internal locus of control. Self-esteem was not significantly affected by tumour grade or stage. or by the extent to which patients felt disabled by the symptoms and side effects of their disease and treatment. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Initial Interview with Asian American Clients

When grouped with Pacific Islanders, Asian Americans constitute the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. In this article, the authors provide background information for understanding the diversity and commonalities within Asian American populations and discuss the challenges of initial assessment with clients who identify as Asian Americans. We conclude this article with guidelines for conducting an effective initial interview with Asian American clients.     

First Impressions After Various Types of Deception: Less Favorable Following Expectancy Violation

This experiment involving 96 undergraduates tested whether the expectancy-violation model could explain how different types of discovered verbal deception influence first impressions. A female confederate responded to a participant's question about her weight with a lie, true, secretive, or technically true (i.e., equivocal) statement. The confederate who lied or kept her weight a secret was less well liked, was seen as less moral, was less likely to be recommended as a dating partner, and made a worse overall impression than one who told the truth or equivocated. Violation of expectations for an honest answer mediated the relation between type of deception and both liking and recommendation as a dating partner. Thus, violating people's expectations for an honest answer can cause one to be seen in a less favorable light.     

Transsaccadic integration of bystander locations

The present study investigated whether and how the location of bystander objects is encoded, maintained, and integrated across an eye movement. Bystander objects are objects that remain unfixated directly before and after the saccade for which transsaccadic integration is being examined. Three experiments are reported that examine location coding of bystander objects relative to the future saccade target object, relative to the saccade source object, and relative to other bystander objects. Participants were presented with a random‐dot pattern and made a saccade from a central source to a designated saccade target. During this saccade the position of a single bystander was changed on half of the trials and participants had to detect the displacement. Postsaccadically the presence of the target, source, and other bystanders was manipulated. Results indicated that the location of bystander objects could be integrated across a saccade, and that this relied on configurational coding. Furthermore the present data provide evidence for the view that transsaccadic perception of spatial layout is not inevitably tied to the saccade target or the saccade source, that it makes use of objects and object configurations in a flexible manner that is partly governed by the task relevance of the various display items, and that it exploits the incidental configurational structure in the display's layout in order to increase its capacity limits.     

Work-life Balance Policies: The Use of Flexitime

This study investigated the use of flexitime as a Work-life balance (WLB) policy and understanding employee perceptions regarding the use of flexitime among South African employees. A qualitative design with an exploratory approach was used. A non-probability purposive sample (n = 15) was taken in the financial sector. Data collection was done by was means of semi-structured interviews. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. Four main themes were extracted. The first two themes related to the various ways in which participants use flexitime and the influencing factors. Participants use flexitime according to their own preference (e.g., Spillover of working hours, dividing one's working day into smaller work hours, working from different locations) and were influenced by factors such as client's needs and expectations, own workload/pressure and personal commitments/responsibilities. The third theme related to various perceptions regarding the level of position of management, visibility and also personal life and situation. The last theme indicated that the use of flexitime have consequences, which include amongst others delay in work/deadlines, reduced productivity or performance, increased workload and health consequences.     

La perception de la responsabilité sociale des Entreprises : adaptation et validation française de l’échelle de Maignan et Ferrell, 1999

This study proposes to apply the paradigm of Churchill in the case of the adaptation in french and validation of the Maignan and Ferrell scale (1999) based on the model developed by Carroll (1979). This model proposes to distinguish four principles of social responsibility: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibility. Four factors were highlighted in a first exploratory study conducted among 320 workers. This structure was confirmed during a second confirmatory investigation among 287others workers. If the four identified factors do not match exactly to the theoretical chosen model, they bring value to support the differences in social responsibility between the internal actors and external actors.     

Emotional state and local versus global spatial memory

The present work investigated the effects of participant emotional state on global versus local memory for map-based information. Participants were placed into one of four emotion induction groups, crossing high and low arousal with positive and negative valence, or a control group. They then studied a university campus map and completed two memory tests, free recall and spatial statement verification. Converging evidence from these two tasks demonstrated that arousal amplifies symbolic distance effects and leads to a globally-focused spatial mental representation, partially at the expense of local knowledge. These results were found for both positively- and negatively-valenced affective states. The present study is the first investigation of emotional effects on spatial memory, and has implications for theories of emotion and spatial cognition.     

Engaging in imagery versus verbal processing of worry: Impact on negative intrusions in high worriers

Chronic, excessive, and uncontrollable worry is the defining characteristic of generalised anxiety disorder. Worry largely consists of verbal thought and it has been postulated that this predominance of verbal thought in worry may contribute to its perseveration. In an investigation of this issue, high worriers were trained to engage in either imagery or verbal processing. Mentation was sampled before and after a five-minute period of worry during which participants engaged in either imagery of the worry topic or verbal processing of the worry topic. Verbal worry resulted in a significant increase in negative intrusions, consistent with previous research. Furthermore, imagery was associated with a decrease in negative intrusions. The results support the theory that the predominantly verbal nature of worry may be responsible for the uncontrollability and maintenance of worry.