Validation studies of the Paranoia Checklist (Portuguese version) in mixed sample of patients and healthy controls

Introduction

Paranoid ideation has been consistently found as a phenomenon presented across the population continuum, and a theme that most people find in their everyday thoughts.

Predicting staff retention from employee motivation and job satisfaction

This study investigated the role of employee motivation and job satisfaction as predictors of staff retention in a foreign exchange bank. Participants were 341 employees of a South African foreign exchange bank division (female?=?62.8%; black?=?31.1%; managers?=?37%, mean years of experience?=?10 years). The employees completed the following self-report measures: Work Preference Inventory, Job Satisfaction Survey, and Employee Retention Questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was applied in the analysis to test the prediction effect of employee motivation and job satisfaction on staff retention. The findings of the model fit revealed that the model (employee motivation and employee job satisfaction) explained an estimated 46% of the variance in the employee retention construct. The job satisfaction construct in the model explained an estimated 66% of the variance in the employee retention construct; while the employee motivation construct explained only 8% of the variance. Organisational talent management should seek to identify employee motivation and job satisfaction interventions that might help to retain talented staff.     

Unconscious vigilance: worldview defense without adaptations for terror, coalition, or uncertainty management

Individuals subtly reminded of death, coalitional challenges, or feelings of uncertainty display exaggerated preferences for affirmations and against criticisms of their cultural in-groups. Terror management, coalitional psychology, and uncertainty management theories postulate this "worldview defense" effect as the output of mechanisms evolved either to allay the fear of death, foster social support, or reduce anxiety by increasing adherence to cultural values. In 4 studies, we report evidence for an alternative perspective. We argue that worldview defense owes to unconscious vigilance, a state of accentuated reactivity to affective targets (which need not relate to cultural worldviews) that follows detection of subtle alarm cues (which need not pertain to death, coalitional challenges, or uncertainty). In Studies 1 and 2, death-primed participants produced exaggerated ratings of worldview-neutral affective targets. In Studies 3 and 4, subliminal threat manipulations unrelated to death, coalitional challenges, or uncertainty evoked worldview defense. These results are discussed as they inform evolutionary interpretations of worldview defense and future investigations of the influence of unconscious alarm on judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).     

When does event valence affect unrealistic optimism?

"Unrealistic optimism" (UO) has been found to be greater for negative (i.e. undesirable) than for positive (i.e. desirable) events. In two studies, we tested whether this "valence effect" is explicable in terms of motivational processes. In each case, participants were students (n = 159 in Study 1, n = 90 in Study 2), UO for the same health event was measured, and valence was manipulated by framing the event either negatively or positively. The degree to which the event would be expected to evoke concern was varied by manipulating the ease with which it could be avoided (Study 1) or the severity of its consequences (Study 2). A similar pattern of results was found in each study: the valence effect was exhibited in the condition where the event would have evoked concern, but not in the condition where it would have evoked little concern. The findings are in accord with an explanation of the valence effect in motivational terms. Implications for health education are discussed.     

Living Well in Later Life: The Influence of Sense of Coherence,and Socio-Demographic,Lifestyle and Health-Related Factors on Older Adults’ Satisfaction with Life

This study aims at exploring a structural model of satisfaction with life’s (SWL) predictors in a cross-national sample of older adults. A quantitative approach was followed with a cross-sectional study design. A community-dwelling sample of 1,234 older adults from four different nationalities residing in Portugal, was assessed regarding SWL, sense of coherence (SOC) and socio-demographic, lifestyle and health-related characteristics. Sampling was performed in lifelong learning centres’ message boards and local community centres’ list-serves in the Lisbon metropolitan area and in the Algarve region. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate a structural model of the self-reported SWL, comprising SOC, socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, education, marital and professional status, household, adult children, income, living setting and religion), as well as lifestyle and health-related characteristics (physical activity, recent disease and medication). Significant predictors are SOC (β?=?0.733; p?<?0.001), religion (β?=?0.725; p?<?0.001), income (β?=?0.551; p?<?0.001), adult children (β?=?0.546; p?<?0.001), education (β?=??0.403; p?<?0.001), living setting (β?=??0.292; p?<?0.001) and medication (β?=??. 197; p?<?0.001). The variables accounted for 24.8 % of the variability of SWL. Moreover, differences between the four nationality groups (F _{(3, 671)}?=?3.671, p?=?0.066) were not found concerning SWL. Sense of coherence is the strongest predictor of self-reported SWL. Other predictors are religion, income, adult children, education, living setting and medication. The four nationalities did not present significant differences, concerning SWL. This study points out the potential factors that influence older adults’ SWL, in particular SOC, religion and income, as promoters of aging well, within a salutogenic model of health for older populations.     

Casa de Alba: Therapeutic community for severe mental health problems

The Romão de Sousa Foundation has worked for three years to establish Casa de Alba which aims to help individuals and families affected by mental health problems. Working within a relational-integrative framework, Casa de Alba has a multidisciplinary team which makes use of therapeutic community theory and a range of psychological therapies and psychosocial interventions including individual and group psychotherapy, occupational therapy, arts, yoga, psychiatric consultation and pharmacotherapy, as well as the encouragement of self-management in everyday activities within the house. The use of over 20 acres of outdoor space will form part of the day to day therapeutic programme with activities such as horticultural therapy, ridding, walking and sports. Supervision will be used to help the staff team integrate different modalities and approaches as well as to improve the service.     

Does spirituality really matter?: A study on the potential of spirituality for older adult's adjustment to aging

This study intended to analyze the indicators of adjustment to aging (AtA) and to investigate the latent constructs that can work as major determinants in spirituality for a cross‐national older community‐dwelling population. Questionnaires were completed to assess the participants' background information. Interviews were performed, addressing one core area: indicators of AtA. Complete data were available for 154 older adults from two nationalities (German and Portuguese), aged between 75 and 103 years (M = 86.6; SD = 6.98). The data were subjected to content analysis. Representations of the associations and latent constructs were analyzed using a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). The most prevalent response of the interviewed participants for indicators of AtA was spirituality (43.2%). Spiritual activities was the most reported response regarding spirituality (20.0%). A significant moderate association was found between spiritual activities and nationality (V = .365; p < .001). Spirituality for older adults was explained by a three‐dimensional overall model: spiritual and existential meaning, limit‐related awareness and community embeddedness. The findings presented in this paper emphasized the need to explore the potential of spirituality for AtA and the need for improving the spiritual dimension of health care for the older cross‐national population.     

Menopausal Symptoms: Is Spirituality Associated with the Severity of Symptoms?

The aim of this study was to explore whether spirituality was associated with menopausal symptoms. Menopausal symptoms, spirituality, health and menopausal status, and socio-demographic variables were assessed in a community sample of 710 peri- and postmenopausal women. A structural model was explored using structural equation modeling. The results evidence spirituality as a significant contributor regarding the severity of most menopausal symptoms. Among others, spirituality had a significant weight in depressive mood (β = ?.414; p < .001), anxiety (β = ?.308; p < .001), cognitive impairment (β = ?.287; p < .001), aches/pain (β = ?.148; p < .001), vasomotor (β = ?.125; p = .005) and sexual symptoms (β = ?.211; p < .001). Some socio-demographic variables, as well as perceived health, also predicted the menopausal symptoms’ severity. Therefore, spirituality can have a positive impact on the menopausal symptoms’ reporting.     

Seeing green: Mere exposure to money triggers a business decision frame and unethical outcomes

Can mere exposure to money corrupt? In four studies, we examined the likelihood of unethical outcomes when the construct of money was activated through the use of priming techniques. The results of Study 1 demonstrated that individuals primed with money were more likely to demonstrate unethical intentions than those in the control group. In Study 2, we showed that participants primed with money were more likely to adopt a business decision frame. In Studies 3 and 4, we found that money cues triggered a business decision frame, which led to a greater likelihood of unethical intentions and behavior. Together, the results of these studies demonstrate that mere exposure to money can trigger unethical intentions and behavior and that decision frame mediates this effect.     

Influence of wearing an unstable shoe construction on compensatory control of posture

This study investigated the influence of wearing unstable shoe construction (WUS) on compensatory postural adjustments (CPA) associated with external perturbations. Thirty-two subjects stood on a force platform resisting an anterior-posterior horizontal force applied to a pelvic belt via a cable, which was suddenly released. They stood under two conditions: barefoot and WUS. The electromyographic (EMG) activity of gastrocnemius medialis, tibialis anterior, rectus femoris, biceps femoris, rectus abdominis, and erector spinae muscles and the center of pressure (CoP) displacement were acquired to study CPA. The EMG signal was used to assess individual muscle activity and latency, antagonist co-activation and reciprocal activation at joint and muscle group levels. Compared to barefoot, WUS led to: (1) increased gastrocnemius medialis activity, (2) increased total agonist activity, (3) decreased antagonist co-activation at the ankle joint and muscle group levels, (4) increased reciprocal activation at the ankle joint and muscle group levels, and (5) decrease in all muscle latencies. No differences were observed in CoP displacement between conditions. These findings demonstrate that WUS led to a reorganization of the postural control system associated to improved performance of some components of postural control responses.