Physical recovery in Arthroscopic knee surgery: unique contributions of coping behaviors to clinical outcomes and stress reactivity

Few studies have examined whether certain coping behaviors are associated with physical outcomes following surgery. This prospective, longitudinal study investigated the effect of active and avoidant coping behaviors on two physical outcomes over time, pain and knee function, in a group of patients experiencing knee arthroscopic surgery (n = 81). Structured interviews and physician clinical assessments were conducted preoperatively and at 3 and 24 weeks postoperatively. Coping behavior was assessed during the preoperative interview, and patients were divided into high and low avoidant and active coping groups. Using repeated measures MANCOVA/ANCOVA, avoidant coping was significantly associated with knee pain and active coping was associated with knee function. Serum cortisol levels were available for a patient subset (n = 16); higher cortisol was related to both avoidant coping and poorer functioning during early recovery. Results suggest that these divergent coping behaviors are differentially associated with stress reactivity and physical outcomes in healthy patients undergoing minor knee surgery.     

Sentence Completion Correlates of Airline Pilot Attitude and Proficiency

Sentence completion scores for dependency, anxiety, and hostility were correlated with sentence completion measures of good flying attitude and omissions for 300 male airline pilot candidates. The scoring-by-example method used with the first three variables was highly reliable and avoided scoring overlap. All sentence completion scores were also correlated with 15 traditional measures of pilot qualification such as mechanical information and signal reaction time. While the proficiency measures were generally unrelated to the projective measures, a good attitude towards flying was positively associated with coping (not omitting sentence completion items) and the extreme suppression of anxiety and hostility under stress. Civilian airline pilots appear similar to military pilots in their exaggerated display of good adjustment.     

Development and Psychometric Characteristics of the Dissociation Tension Scale

The newly developed Dissoziations-Spannungs-Skala (Dissociation Tension Scale; DSS) is a self-rating instrument for the assessment of psychological and somatoform dissociative features (ranging from normal up to pathological) as well as aversive inner tension occurring within the past 7 days. The DSS contains 21 items assessing dissociative symptoms and 1 additional item assessing aversive inner tension. Ratings are made on a time-oriented scale ranging from 0% (never) to 100% (constantly). We measured the psychometric qualities of the DSS in a total of 294 patients and healthy controls. Internal consistency of the DSS was high (Cronbach's α = .92; Gutmann's split-half r = .92). We found good support for convergent, discriminant, and differential validity. There was clear evidence for the DSS being a sensitive instrument for the assessment of changing symptomatology. Assessment of dissociation and other psychopathological features over the same period of time are now possible.     

The Development of the 2-Way Social Support Scale: A Measure of Giving and Receiving Emotional and Instrumental Support

A number of studies support the refinement of various types of social support into 2 primary dimensions: emotional support and instrumental support. There is increasing recognition of benefits aligned with giving as well as receiving social support, yet there has been no single measure published that incorporates all of these elements. This study presents the development of the 2-Way Social Support Scale (2-Way SSS) using community samples (n = 372; n = 417) and provides evidence for the scales’ factor structure, reliability, and validity. The 2-Way SSS concurrently appraises 4 principal dimensions: (a) giving emotional support, (b) giving instrumental support, (c) receiving emotional support, and (d) receiving instrumental support. The completeness of the scale, combined with the generic quality of the items, enhances its utility across a diversity of contexts. Importantly, this scale provides a measurement tool that will enable the comparison of social support research outcomes across studies and populations.     

Early gray-matter and white-matter concentration in infancy predict later language skills: A whole brain voxel-based morphometry study

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) brain scans were obtained from 19 infants at 7 months. Expressive and receptive language performance was assessed at 12 months. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) identified brain regions where gray-matter and white-matter concentrations at 7 months correlated significantly with children’s language scores at 12 months. Early gray-matter concentration in the right cerebellum, early white-matter concentration in the right cerebellum, and early white-matter concentration in the left posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC)/cerebral peduncle were positively and strongly associated with infants’ receptive language ability at 12 months. Early gray-matter concentration in the right hippocampus was positively and strongly correlated with infants’ expressive language ability at 12 months. Our results suggest that the cerebellum, PLIC/cerebral peduncle, and the hippocampus may be associated with early language development. Potential links between these structural predictors and infants’ linguistic functions are discussed.     

The Role of Filipino Occupational Therapists in Substance Addiction and Rehabilitation: A Q-Methodology

More than the shortage of manpower, occupational therapists (OTs) in substance addiction and rehabilitation (SAR) practice have remained underused and misunderstood in the Philippines. This study aimed to identify the role of Filipino OTs in people with SUD based on the perspectives of OTs, mental health professionals, and former service users and carers in the community. Using Q-Methodology (QM), this research revealed a tripartite role for Filipino OTs in SAR: (a) “Promoter of occupational participation,” (b) “Collaborator to enhance participation and well-being,” and (c) “Facilitator of environmental supports for occupational participation.”     

Adult attachment avoidance and automatic affective response to sad facial expressions

The present work represents the first study to investigate the relationship between adult attachment avoidance and anxiety and automatic affective responses to basic facial emotions. Subliminal affective priming methods allowed for the assessment of unconscious affective reactions. An affective priming task using masked sad and happy faces, both of which are approach‐related facial expressions, was administered to 30 healthy volunteers. Participants also completed the Relationship Scales Questionnaire and measures of anxiety and depression. Attachment avoidance was negatively associated with affective priming due to sad (but not happy) facial expressions. This association occurred independently of attachment anxiety, depressivity, and trait anxiety. Attachment anxiety was not correlated with priming due to sad or happy facial expressions. The present results are consistent with the assumption that attachment avoidance moderates automatic affective reaction to sad faces. Our data indicate that avoidant attachment is related to a low automatic affective responsivity to sad facial expressions.     

Social skills and social phobia: An investigation of DSM-IV subtypes

Social phobia is characterized as pervasive social timidity in social settings. Although much is known about this disorder, aspects of its clinical presentation remain unexplored, in particular characteristics that distinguish the generalized and non-generalized subtypes. For example, it remains unclear whether patients with the non-generalized subtype display social skills deficits in social interactions, and if so, are these deficits clinically, as well as statistically, significant? In this study, adults with either the non-generalized (NGSP; n = 60) or generalized (GSP; n = 119) subtype of social phobia and adults with no psychological disorder (n = 200) completed an extensive behavioral assessment of social skill and social anxiety. As expected, adults with NGSP and GSP reported equal distress and displayed similar rates of avoidance during an Impromptu Speech Task when compared to adults with no disorder. In contrast, the three groups were distinctly different when interacting with another person in various social situations. Adults with NGSP displayed social skill deficits when compared to individuals with no disorder, but they had fewer deficits than the GSP subtype. However, the identified skill deficits were clinically as well as statistically significant only for the GSP subtype. The results are discussed in terms of the contribution of skill deficits to the conceptualization and treatment of social phobia.     

Going beyond the facts: Young children extend knowledge by integrating episodes

The major question posed in this research was whether 4- and 6-year-olds productively extend their knowledge by integrating information acquired in separate episodes. The vehicle was a read-aloud activity during which children were presented with a novel fact in each of two passages. In Experiment 1, both age groups showed evidence of integration between the passages. For the 6-year-olds, the evidence came in the form of responses to open-ended questions. The 4-year-olds recognized the correct answers but did not generate them in the open-ended question format. The 6-year-olds who generated the correct answers also were likely to recall both of the individual facts presented in the passages. In Experiment 2, we tested whether the 4-year-olds’ integration performance would improve if their memory for the individual facts improved. Extra exposure to the individual facts resulted in higher levels of integration performance in both recall and recognition testing. The roles of memory and other potential sources of age-related differences in integration performance are discussed.