Pancreatic Cancer Surveillance Among High-Risk Populations: Knowledge and Intent

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cancer in both men and women in the United States. It has the lowest survival rate of all cancers, largely due to the presence of non-specific symptoms, leading to diagnosis at advanced stages. While the majority of cases of pancreatic cancer are sporadic, up to 10% may be associated with an inherited predisposition. Currently, there is no standard screening protocol for pancreatic cancer, although this will change in the future as technology improves. Additionally, there is little information regarding the perceptions and intent to screen for pancreatic cancer among those with an increased risk due to a hereditary cancer predisposition syndrome, which was the objective of this study. Focus groups and individual telephone interviews were conducted, with questions focused on knowledge about pancreatic cancer and screening, perceived motivators, and perceived barriers related to each of the screening techniques currently available. Participants were recruited from the High Risk Breast Cancer and Pancreatic Cancer Registries at Huntsman Cancer Institute. The findings of this study indicated that individuals from these high-risk groups have low knowledge levels of pancreatic cancer screening, despite their desire for this information. Motivation to undergo a particular screening technique is related to whether the test is recommended by a physician, cost, degree of invasiveness, and comfort level. This information is useful to genetics professionals who counsel at-risk individuals, physicians who formulate patient care plans, and translational researchers who are developing pancreatic screening methods.     

Support groups for medical caregivers of people with HIV diseases

As we enter the second decade of AIDS, medical caregivers are experiencing stress and burnout as a result of their work with people with HIV diseases. There are common themes to the stress, as well as differences in the experience of stress according to the characteristics of the healthcare setting. Caregiver support groups are a means of reducing this stress by helping medical caregivers cope better, manage difficult cases, normalize their feelings, put understanding and context to their experiences, decrease isolation, and instill meaning in their work. The use of support groups across various medical settings is presented.The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Nicholas Covino, Ph.D., Peter Kassel, Psy.D., Randall Paulsen, M.D., Veronica Rempusheski, Ph.D., Dan Silverman, M.D., and Susan Burns Tisdale, R.N., in ongoing research regarding caregiver support groups. The author also wishes to express gratitude to Genya Bernstein, Psy.D., for many editorial contributions.     

Group psychotherapy with the aging gay male: Treatment of choice

This article summarizes many issues facing gay men as they age. Aging for gay men is a complex phenomenon involving identity, self-esteem, internalized homophobia, stereotypes about older gay men, and the paucity of positive gay male images or role models to help direct their development. In this article, I will attempt to illuminate some of the complex variables of aging, as well as illustrate through case examples that group psychotherapy is a particularly helpful forum for skills development for middle age and older gay men. The themes covered include: 1) commitment struggles—especially anxiety management and conflict resolution, 2) self-esteem regulation, 3) projections and internalizations, 4) capacity for intimacy, and 5) unresolved grief and loss due to the impact of AIDS: Alone vs. Lonely.     

The effect of visual-vestibular conflict on the latency of steady-state visually induced subjective rotation

Two experiments were carried out to test the hypothesis that the long onset latency of steady-state subjective rotation induced by rotating a tall striped drum around a stationary observer is the result of visual-vestibular conflict. A reduction of this conflict should, therefore, reduce the length of the latency period. In Experiment 1, visual-vestibular conflict was reduced by providing the observers with corroborating vestibular stimulation at the start of optokinetic stimulation. Onset latencies were found to be significantly shortened with corroborating vestibular stimulation, but to be unaffected by noncorroborating vestibular stimulation. In Experiment 2, testing was done on a group of patients with unilateral (right labyrinth) Ménière’s disease, which produces decreased vestibular sensitivity to rightward body rotation and increased vestibular sensitivity to leftward body rotation. Visual-vestibular conflict during subjective rotation to the right should therefore be decreased, while during leftward subjective rotation it should be increased. The prediction that the latency to steady-state subjective rotation should be shorter than normal with subjective rotation to the left was supported.     

Not just right experiences and obsessive-compulsive features: experimental and self-monitoring perspectives

Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often report compulsions aimed at reducing feelings of something not being just right or sensations of incompleteness. Research using self-report questionnaires has demonstrated a link between not just right experiences (NJREs) and OCD symptoms (Behav. Res. Therapy 41 (2003) 681; Anxiety, 1 (1995) 208). Extending previous work, this paper presents experimental and self-monitoring data on NJREs in an undergraduate sample. NJREs produced distress and urges to change something, but feared consequences were rare. Stronger responses were found for naturally occurring self-monitored NJREs compared to NJREs elicited in the laboratory. Several significant relationships were found between features of NJREs and OC symptoms and constructs theoretically related to OCD (e.g., responsibility, incompleteness), but no significant relationships were found between features of NJREs and non-OCD-related constructs (worry, depressive symptoms, social anxiety). Further consideration of NJREs will be useful in improving our understanding of the phenomenology, neurobiological substrates, and treatment, of OCD.     

The determination of perceived tridimensional orientation by minimum criteria

The hypothesis investigated is that the perceived tridimensional orientation of an object is determined, in monocular vision, by tendencies to make the perceived object as simple as possible. Line drawings seen as “boxes” were viewed by Os who judged the slant fangle with frontal plane) of various edges. For every such edge, there is a determinate hypothetical slant consistent with perfect homogeneity of values on one or more of three variables (angle, length, and slope) Perceived slant was highly predictable from hypothetical slant, though always with some regression to the frontal plane. Results add support to aPrägnanz or minimum-principle theory of space perception.     

The Association between Religious Discrimination and Health: Disaggregating by Types of Discrimination Experiences,Religious Tradition,and Forms of Health

Research finds that experiences of religious discrimination are often associated with poorer health outcomes. However, there remain important questions to consider gaps, including whether religious discrimination has similar health impacts on religious minority groups and religious majority groups, whether religious discrimination is equally harmful for both mental and physical health, and whether specific types of discrimination have different impacts on health. Using survey data from a probability sample of U.S. adults and measures representing a variety of discrimination experience types, our analyses suggest that religious discrimination is indeed harmful for health, but that experiences of religious discrimination do not universally affect mental and physical health in the same ways. Rather than significant differences in the health impacts of religious discrimination across different religious groups, we find more variation in the health impacts of different types of experiences with discrimination. Further, we find that mental health is negatively impacted by a wider range of experiences with religious discrimination than physical health. These findings are in line with social psychological research on the differential health impacts of discrimination, and they highlight the importance of context in studies of the health effects of religious discrimination.     

Effect of orientation on visual and vibrotactile letter identification

The effect of stimulus orientation of letters presented either visually or vibrotactually was examined to obtain basic information on sensory substitution using the tactile sense. The reaction time (RT) to identify the letters F and R presented in normal or mirror-image form at four orientations each was measured. In addition, conditions of 0 degree and 270 degrees of head rotation from vertical and arm rotation from the midline axis were employed. Data from 5 trained subjects showed that vibrotactile RTs were always longer than visual RTs. Stimulus rotation away from normal orientation increased visual RTs significantly but not vibrotactile RTs. Visual orientation effect then seemed to be determined by the body-coordinate system but not the vibrotactile orientation. Although further studies are warranted, from the results of this experiment, any convenient and constant stimulus orientation could be used with a wearable vibrotactile display system to exploit passive touch.     

Use of Socially Dependent Bases of Power: French and Raven's Theory Applied to Workgroup Leadership1

This study examines how supervisors from three different organizations use social power in workgroups. A sample of 127 leaders completed a self-report questionnaire describing social influence attempts using a scale derived from French and Raven's (1959) five bases of social power. The results show no significant differences between organizations in use of the bases of social power. Referent and Expert powers were used significantly more frequently by these leaders than Legitimate, Reward, and Coercive powers. The number of subordinates supervised within the workgroup was significantly correlated with increased use of Coercive power by the workgroup leader. These results are discussed in terms of the potential for using socially dependent influence to explain leaders' direction of workgroup members.     

Checking behavior in a threatening situation

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether compulsive checking was associated with greater checking behavior and slower performance in a personally relevant and potentially threatening task. Students in an abnormal psychology class completed the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory and the Everyday Checking Behavior Scale early in the semester. One month later during the first examination they were asked to record the number of times they went over (checked) each exam question after first answering it. The amount of time taken by subjects to complete this and the final exam was also recorded. The MOCI-check subscale and ECBS were correlated with the number of answer checks. MOCI-check scores were also correlated with the time taken to complete each exam. It was suggested that the characteristic of indecisiveness may be responsible for these relationships.