Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life over Time Among Adolescents and Young Adults with Sickle Cell Disease

Little is known about what factors affect the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with sickle cell disease (SCD), and how their HRQoL changes over time. This retrospective study included 87 AYAs attending a SCD Adolescent Clinic who completed a measure of HRQoL at each visit over the course of approximately 1.3 years. Results suggested that the following were associated with poorer physical HRQoL: being female, more healthcare utilization events, and presence of internalizing symptoms. Internalizing and externalizing symptoms were the only factors correlated with poorer psychosocial HRQoL. Generalized linear mixed models indicated that physical and psychosocial HRQoL improved among all participants during the assessment period, and those with externalizing behaviors reported faster improvement in physical HRQoL over time. AYAs with SCD may benefit from early mental health screening and intervention to optimize clinical care.     

Extreme Nonresponse to Acute Phase Cognitive Therapy for Depression: An Attempt to Replicate and Extend

As with other interventions for major depressive disorder (MDD), cognitive therapy (CT) results in treatment failure for about half of all participants. In 2007, Coffman and colleagues in Seattle studied this topic by identifying a group of patients who demonstrated an extremely poor response to CT (i.e., posttreatment BDI score ≥ 31). They called these patients “extreme nonresponders” (ENR) and described the pretreatment characteristics that predicted response status.     

Increased facial width‐to‐height ratio and perceived dominance in the faces of the UK's leading business leaders

The relative proportion of the internal features of a face (the facial width‐to‐height ratio, FWH) has been shown to be related to individual differences in behaviour in males, specifically competitiveness and aggressiveness. In this study, we show that the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the leading UK businesses have greater FWHs than age‐ and sex‐matched controls. We demonstrate that perceivers, naive as to the nature of the stimuli, rate the faces of CEOs as higher in dominance or success, and that ratings of dominance or success are themselves correlated with the FWH ratio. We find no association with other inferred traits such as trustworthiness, attraction or aggression. The latter is surprising given previous research demonstrating a link between FWH and ratings of aggression. We speculate that the core association may be between FWH and drive for dominance or power, but this can be interpreted as aggression only in particular circumstances (e.g., when the stimuli are comprised of faces of young, as opposed to middle‐aged, men).     

Religion-specific resources for meaning-making from suffering: defining the territory

The purpose of this review paper is to present a case for more proximal and emic approaches to the study of religious meaning-making in suffering. Meaning-making is an important way in which religion and spirituality contribute to adjustment in the context of encountering difficult life events. However, much of the available research on religious meaning-making ignores the contributions of specific religions to the meaning-making process. We begin by presenting a rationale for more sustained attention to religion-specific resources for meaning-making in suffering. Using Park’s meaning-making model as the organising framework, we then articulate how religions contribute unique global beliefs, situational beliefs, meaning-making processes, and valued outcomes to meaning-making. We illustrate these using existing research. Next, we suggest a refinement to Park’s model, offering a preliminary recursive model involving these identified components. We conclude with a brief prospectus informed by our model for future research.     

Can reading time predict mind wandering in expository text?

Prior research has suggested that episodes of mind wandering not only negatively impact text comprehension but also are associated with fluctuations in reading behavior. However, these studies typically do not account for differences in the fundamental nature of the text itself, namely, whether it is narrative or expository in structure. As much research has supported the idea that these text genres are processed differently, it is of interest to determine whether similar changes in reading patterns are observed when mind wandering in an expository text. The present study examined whether fluctuations in sentence‐by‐sentence reading times were associated with periods of mindless reading during processing of an expository text. Results indicated that although mindless reading did negatively impact learning, probed reading time did not vary as a function of mind wandering. These results suggest that research aimed at studying mind wandering while reading may need to account for text genre.     

Moral Injury,Betrayal and Retribution: Australian Veterans and the Role of Chaplains

Journal of Religion and Health - This paper presents additional qualitative results from Phase 1 of a larger study examining potentially morally injurious events/experiences (PMIE) and/or moral...     

Secret Agent Society: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Transdiagnostic Youth Social Skills Group Treatment

Group programs are key for targeting social skills (SS) for children with developmental disorders and/or mental illness. Despite promising evidence regarding efficacy of group treatments, there are several limitations to current research regarding generalizability and effectiveness across diagnoses. This randomized control trial assessed whether the Secret Agent Society (SAS) group program was superior to treatment as usual (TAU) in improving social-emotional functioning for children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and/or anxiety. Eighty-nine youth (8–12) with ADHD, ASD, and/or an anxiety disorder receiving treatment at hospital-based outpatient clinics were randomized to receive SAS (n?=?47) or TAU (n?=?42) over a three-month period, at which point TAU participants were offered the SAS intervention. Parent report showed significant improvement in Emotion Regulation (ER) and Social Skills (SS) for youth in SAS vs. TAU (Fs?≥?6.79, ps?≤?01). Gains for the SAS condition were maintained at 6-months. Intent-to-treat analysis of teacher report indicated youth in SAS had positive gains in SS (F?=?0.41, p?=?0.475) and ER (F?=?0.99, p?=?0.322), though not significantly better than youth in TAU. Clinically reliable improvement rates were significantly higher for SAS participants than TAU for parent and teacher reported SS and ER. Improvements were significant for youth with single and comorbid diagnoses. Results suggest that SAS was superior to TAU in improving SS and ER for youth aged 8–12 with ADHD, ASD, and/or anxiety. Gains maintained in the medium-term. Trial registration number NCT02574273, registered 10/12/2015.

     

Task engagement after mortality salience: The effects of creativity,conformity and connectedness on worldview defence

Terror management research has shown that activating thoughts about mortality (mortality salience) increases defence of one's worldview. This study investigated how worldview defence is affected by engaging in a task that fosters creativity, conformity, or sharing values after being reminded of death. After writing about death or a control topic, participants were randomly assigned to design a t‐shirt with the goal of being as creative as possible, trying to please others but not oneself, or trying to connect with others via shared values. After mortality salience, conforming to others led to increased worldview defence whereas sharing values did not. Further, engaging in a creative task decreased worldview defence after mortality salience. Implications for understanding the interface between different forms of social connectedness, creativity and the management of existential fears are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.