Spirituality in Disability and Illness

Spirituality appears with increasing frequency in the research literature, and a paradigm involving mind-body-spirit interaction is emerging. The relationship of spirituality to disability and illness is at the center of a growing body of knowledge. A comprehensive literature review supported spirituality as coping method among individuals experiencing a variety of illnesses including hypertension, pulmonary disease, diabetes, chronic renal failure, surgery, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, polio and addictive illnesses. Additionally, spirituality is a resource when dealing with critical illness as well as terminal illness and end of life issues, and it is utilized by both patients, and family members. Discussion of research findings, implications for health care practice and future research is also presented.     

Common and Specific Dimensions of Self-Reported Anxiety and Depression in Adolescent Outpatients

To investigate the common and specific dimensions of anxiety and depression in adolescents, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, A. T., & Steer, R. A. Manual for the Beck Anxiety Inventory. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation 1993a) and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. Manual for Beck Depression Inventory (2nd Ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation 1996) were administered to 840 adolescent (13–17 years old) outpatients who were diagnosed with various types of psychiatric disorders. A Schmid-Leiman transformation was used with the iterated-principal-factor pattern matrix of the BAI and the BDI-II loadings. The amounts of orthogonalized common variance that were explained by the one second-order (56%), one first-order depression (22%), and two first-order anxiety (22%) dimensions were comparable to those previously reported for adult psychiatric outpatients. The results were discussed as supporting the construct of negative affectivity that is proposed in L. A. Clark and Watson’s (1991) tripartite model of anxiety and depression.

The relationship between biological and psychosocial risk factors and resting‐state functional connectivity in 2‐month‐old Bangladeshi infants: A feasibility and pilot study

Childhood poverty has been associated with structural and functional alterations in the developing brain. However, poverty does not alter brain development directly, but acts through associated biological or psychosocial risk factors (e.g. malnutrition, family conflict). Yet few studies have investigated risk factors in the context of infant neurodevelopment, and none have done so in low‐resource settings such as Bangladesh, where children are exposed to multiple, severe biological and psychosocial hazards. In this feasibility and pilot study, usable resting‐state fMRI data were acquired in infants from extremely poor (n = 16) and (relatively) more affluent (n = 16) families in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Whole‐brain intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) was estimated using bilateral seeds in the amygdala, where iFC has shown susceptibility to early life stress, and in sensory areas, which have exhibited less susceptibility to early life hazards. Biological and psychosocial risk factors were examined for associations with iFC. Three resting‐state networks were identified in within‐group brain maps: medial temporal/striatal, visual, and auditory networks. Infants from extremely poor families compared with those from more affluent families exhibited greater (i.e. less negative) iFC in precuneus for amygdala seeds; however, no group differences in iFC were observed for sensory area seeds. Height‐for‐age, a proxy for malnutrition/infection, was not associated with amygdala/precuneus iFC, whereas prenatal family conflict was positively correlated. Findings suggest that it is feasible to conduct infant fMRI studies in low‐resource settings. Challenges and practical steps for successful implementations are discussed.     

Families left behind at the source of migration: implications for career guidance practitioners

Issues surrounding migration are receiving unprecedented attention at the global, regional, as well as national levels. However, a review of the literature shows that there is more focus on international migration compared to internal migration. Further, there is more emphasis on issues related to the migration destination rather than those at the source of migration. Using the cultural preparation process model as a framework, this paper aims to understand the career and livelihood planning needs of those who are left behind. The left-behind families of pine resin tappers in the Changar region of the Indian Himalayas are presented as a case study to draw the attention of career guidance and counselling professionals to this unattended population.     

Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation: The Development and Initial Validation of the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMS-R)

As interest grows in mindfulness training as a psychosocial intervention, it is increasingly important to quantify this construct to facilitate empirical investigation. The goal of the present studies was to develop a brief self-report measure of mindfulness with items that cover the breadth of the construct and that are written in everyday language. The resulting 12-item measure demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and evidence of convergent and discriminant validity with concurrent measures of mindfulness, distress, well-being, emotion-regulation, and problem-solving approaches in three samples of university students. To address potential construct contamination in two items, data are also presented on an alternate 10-item version of the measure.

Mean Beck Depression Inventory-II total scores by type of bipolar episode

The 1996 Beck Depression Inventory-II was administered to 120 outpatients diagnosed with DSM-IV-TR bipolar I disorders who had recently experienced manic, mixed, or depressed episodes. A focused contrast supported the hypothesis that the mean Beck-II total score for the 40 patients with depressed episodes (M=34.1, SD = 13.2) was higher than the mean Beck-II total score for the 40 patients with mixed episodes (M=25.9, SD= 13.6) which was, in turn, higher than the mean Beck-II total score for the 40 patients with manic episodes (M= 11.7, SD=7.8, p<.001). The Beck Depression Inventory-II appears to be useful for measuring self-reported depression in patients with bipolar I disorders.     

Fantasy proneness,creative capacity,and styles of creativity

The Creativity Styles Questionnaire-Revised was used to measure graduate psychology students' (N=173) self-perceptions of creative capacity and styles of creativity (beliefs about and strategies for going about being creative). Participants also completed the Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings, a self-report measure of Fantasy Proneness. The Self-perceived Creative Capacity and Fantasy Proneness scores were significantly correlated (r=.36, p<.001), and these scores were positively correlated with the styles subscale scores of Belief in Unconscious Processes. Use of Techniques, Use of Senses, and negatively correlated with Final Product Orientation. Also, the Fantasy Proneness scores were positively correlated with the Superstition scores and the Environmental Control and Behavioral Self-regulation scores.