Is A Person Thinking About Suicide Likely to Find Help on the Internet? An Evaluation of Google Search Results

It is unclear whether individuals searching the Internet for assistance with thoughts of suicide are likely to encounter predominantly helpful or harmful resources. This study investigated websites retrieved by searching Google for information and support for suicidal thoughts. Google searches retrieved a high percentage of irrelevant websites (26%, n = 136). Of the 329 relevant websites retrieved, the majority were suicide preventive (68%); however, a considerable proportion of sites expressed mixed (22%) or neutral (8%) suicide attitudes, and 1% were explicitly pro‐suicide. The results highlight a need for suicide prevention organization websites to be made more easily accessible. In the meantime, clinicians should be aware of appropriate websites to recommend to clients.     

Comparing thought suppression and mindfulness as coping techniques for spider fear

The current study compared thought suppression, focused attention (mindfulness) and unfocused attention as strategies for managing spider fear. Spider fearful participants were exposed to a strategy induction before completing a Behavioural Approach Test (BAT). The BAT is a 10 step measurement of how close participants are willing to move towards a spider. Participants were instructed to use what they learned in the pre-BAT induction to help them advance through the steps of the BAT. The results of the study indicated that participants given the thought suppression or the unfocused attention induction moved through significantly less steps of the BAT than did those given the focused attention (mindful) induction. Additionally, the thought suppression group felt significantly more anxious than the focused and unfocused attention groups following completion of the BAT. These results are discussed in terms of the impact of thought suppression on avoidance behaviour in phobias.     

Targeting those in need: baseline data from the first English National Health Service (NHS) health trainer service

As part of a wider strategy to reduce health inequalities, England's National Health Service has introduced health trainers (HTs) to facilitate healthier behaviour among disadvantaged groups. This study reports baseline data from the first English HT service: assessing whether the HTs reached socially disadvantaged clients engaging in unhealthy behaviours and describing client belief characteristics relevant to the delivery of the service. Data from 864 clients show that the service reached disadvantaged groups and that those groups were engaging in risky health behaviours. Self-efficacy about changing behaviour was not strong and clients were unlikely to have made explicit behaviour-change plans prior to attending the service. Implications for HT services around targeting those most in need and supporting psychological triggers for change are discussed.     

Analysis of drivers’ behavior under reduced visibility conditions using a Structural Equation Modeling approach

One way to improve safety under reduced visibility conditions (i.e., reduce the chances of visibility related crashes) is to improve drivers’ behavior under such adverse weather conditions. The aim of this paper is to thoroughly examine drivers’ responses under low visibility conditions and quantify the impacts and values of various factors found to be related to drivers’ compliance and drivers’ satisfaction with variable speed limit (VSL) and changeable message signs (CMS) instructions in different visibility, traffic conditions, and on two types of roadways; freeways and two-lane roads.The data used for the analyses were obtained from a self-reported questionnaire survey carried out among 566 drivers in Central Florida, USA. To achieve these goals, Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approaches were adopted.The results revealed that drivers’ satisfaction with VSL/CMS was the most significant factor that positively affected drivers’ compliance with advice or warning messages displayed on VSL/CMS under different fog conditions followed by human factors. Moreover, it was found that roadway type affected drivers’ compliance to VSL instructions under medium and heavy fog conditions. Furthermore, drivers’ familiarity with VSL and human factors were the significant factors affecting drivers’ satisfaction with VSL/CMS advice under reduced visibility conditions. Based on the findings of the present study, several recommendations are suggested as guidelines to improve drivers’ behavior in such reduced visibility conditions by enhancing drivers’ compliance with VSL/CMS instructions.     

Mothers and Children as Informants of Bullying Victimization: Results from an Epidemiological Cohort of Children

Stressful events early in life can affect children’s mental health problems. Collecting valid and reliable information about children’s bad experiences is important for research and clinical purposes. This study aimed to (1) investigate whether mothers and children provide valid reports of bullying victimization, (2) examine the inter-rater reliability between the two informants, (3) test the predictive validity of their reports with children’s emotional and behavioral problems and (4) compare the genetic and environmental etiology of bullying victimization as reported by mothers and children. We assessed bullying victimization in the Environmental-Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative sample of 1,116 families with twins. We collected reports from mothers and children during private interviews, including detailed narratives. Findings showed that we can rely on mothers and children as informants of bullying victimization: both informants provided information which adhered to the definition of bullying as involving repeated hurtful actions between peers in the presence of a power imbalance. Although mothers and children modestly agreed with each other about who was bullied during primary and secondary school, reports of bullying victimization from both informants were similarly associated with children’s emotional and behavioral problems and provided similar estimates of genetic and environmental influences. Findings from this study suggest that collecting information from multiple informants is ideal to capture all instances of bullying victimization. However, in the absence of child self-reports, mothers can be considered as a viable alternative, and vice versa.     

Suicide, schizophrenia, and schizoid-type psychosis: role of life events and childhood factors

The first objective was to identify the provoking events of suicide in patients with schizophrenia or schizoid-type disorder, and to assess the humiliation component of these events. The second objective was to verify if quality of care during childhood is a vulnerability factor for suicide in patients with schizophrenia or schizoid-type psychosis. Thirty-three cases of suicide with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoid-type psychosis were compared with 34 living patients with a similar diagnosis. The psychological autopsy method was used. The assessments were made with the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Axis I mental disorders, the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule, and the Child Experiences and Child Abuse Interview. The suicide group (SG) experienced more often a recent severe event, usually of a humiliation nature, than the control group (CG). It also experienced more severe events associated with aggressive behavior or with psychiatric impairment. Contrary to expectations, the CG had worse scores than the SG for quality of care during childhood. In conclusion, suicide in schizophrenia is related both to environmental stress and to psychiatric impairment.     

Time frames and the distinction between affective and cognitive well-being

We examined whether the empirical differences between affective well-being (AWB) and cognitive well-being (CWB) might be due to (a) the use of different time frames in measures of AWB and CWB or (b) structural differences. In Study 1, a multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) analysis indicated that levels of different components are more similar but do not converge completely when the same time frame is used. In Study 2, we found that people are more likely to consider global life circumstances (as opposed to specific events and activities) when they evaluate their CWB, regardless of the specific time frame. In both studies, the time frame did not moderate the associations between AWB and CWB and important correlates (personality, life circumstances).     

Prospective memory reminders: a laboratory investigation of initiation source and age effects

Prior research indicates that, in some circumstances, reminders may facilitate prospective remembering. However, it remains unclear whether this effect is dependent on the initiation source (self vs. external), whether it is moderated by task type (event vs. time based), or whether the provision of standardized reminders particularly benefits older adults. In the current study, young (n?=?48) and older adults (n?=?47) were tested on a laboratory-based prospective memory task in which they encountered three counterbalanced reminder conditions: no reminders, self-initiated reminders, and experimenter-initiated reminders. The results indicated that while the provision of reminders enhanced prospective memory performance, no difference was seen between self-initiated and experimenter-initiated reminder conditions, nor was there any interaction with age or prospective memory type (event vs. time based). These data support the role of both self- and externally generated external reminders as an aid to prospective remembering. However, the absence of any interaction with age is not consistent with theoretical models of ageing that consider the provision of such reminders to reduce strategic demands (or increase automatic processing).