The Impact of Brief Interventions on Functioning Among those Demonstrating Anxiety,Depressive, and Adjustment Disorder Symptoms in Primary Care: The Effectiveness of the Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) Model

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - Limited scalability combined with limited opportunities for patients to receive evidence-based interventions in traditional behavioral health...     

The Efficient Assessment of Self-Esteem: Proposing the Brief Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

Self-esteem is defined as sense of self-worth and self-respect, being crucial for understanding people’s well-being and success. It is one of the most studied constructs in the social sciences, with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) being the most used measure. Across four studies (N = 1450), we tested the psychometric parameters of an abbreviated version of the RSES. Through Item Response Theory, the five best items were selected to form the unidimensional Brief Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (B-RSES), a reliable and valid measure of self-esteem, which is invariant across age groups and gender. In addition, both RSES and B-RSES correlated very similarly with the Big Five Personality Factors. Also, the B-RSES was strongly correlated with three other short measures of self-esteem, besides being more strongly associated with a range of variables such as conscientiousness and self-competence in comparison to the other three short scales. Together, the B-RSES is especially useful in research that requires rapid evaluation and the use of multiple variables.

     

Depression Screening,Assessment, and Treatment for Patients with Coronary Heart Disease: A Review for Psychologists

Depression prevalence is between 15% and 20% in coronary heart disease patients, such as those with angina, or after a myocardial infarction or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The presence of depression places a coronary heart disease patient at twofold higher risk for further major cardiac events and death, as well as poor quality of life and early exit from the labour force. As a consequence, several learned societies, including the National Heart Foundation of Australia, have published guidelines that recommend questionnaire screening to improve identification and management strategies for depression in coronary heart disease patients. Psychologists in hospitals, community settings, and private practice can have a key role in the realisation of the National Heart Foundation of Australia's aims. We review the recent guidelines and outline implications for psychologists to identify and manage depression in coronary heart disease patients. The evidence reviewed suggests that cognitive‐behavioural therapy and problem‐solving therapy are frontline non‐pharmacological interventions for depression in CHD patients.     

The Mating Sociometer and Attractive Others: A Double-Edged Sword in Romantic Relationships

Eighty-one participants were recruited to test the sensitivity of the mating sociometer to mate-value feedback in the context of ongoing intimate relationships. Experiences of social rejection/acceptance by attractive opposite-sex confederates were manipulated. The effects of this manipulation on self-esteem, relationship satisfaction and commitment, perceptions of dating alternatives, and friendship-dedication were assessed. Social rejection/acceptance by members of the opposite sex altered relationship satisfaction and commitment; this causal link was amplified by changes in state self-esteem; and these effects were specific to intimate relationships and did not generalize to friendship-dedication. This research supports a domain-specific conceptualization of sociometer theory, extending the theory in important directions.     

“This is My Community”: Reproducing and Resisting Boundaries of Exclusion in Contested Public Spaces

The way that public space is structured has significant implications for identity, social interaction, and participation in society. For those experiencing homelessness, with no or limited private space, survival hinges on the accessibility and livability of public space. However, the increasing privatization of public space in the United States has contributed to the implementation of anti‐homeless ordinances in cities, restricting sitting, standing, panhandling, and sleeping in public. This study analyzes data from interviews with housed and unhoused community members, text from a local policy document, and ethnographic observations to explore how boundaries between “insiders” and “outsiders” are drawn in public space and mediated through individual discourse. Our findings suggest that boundaries of exclusion are constructed through dominant narratives that portray the unhoused as a threat to safety and economic vitality, thus justifying the need for regulation and punishment through the criminalization of homelessness. Yet, informants also demonstrate resistance to this narrative by discussing how criminalization of homelessness perpetuates dehumanization, violence, and economic inequality. Policy implications for the regulation of public space are discussed.     

Measurement and Predictive Invariance of a Work–Life Boundary Measure Across Gender

Pervasive gender norms influence the way in which men and women create and experience work–life boundaries and work–life conflict, which may lead to differing conceptions of work–life boundary management. Measurement equivalence/invariance (ME/I) and predictive invariance analyses were conducted on the WorkLife Indicator^TM (WLI), a measure of work–life boundary management, to determine if men and women maintain similar conceptualizations of work–life boundary constructs and if work–life outcomes are predicted equally well by WLI scales across gender. Three of the five WLI scales exhibited ME/I; however, half of the WLI scale–criterion pairings failed to demonstrate predictive invariance. These results indicate that measurement and/or predictive invariance cannot be assumed when using work–life boundary assessments across gender.     

Anorexia nervosa and brain tumor in a 14-year-old girl

A 14-year-old girl with anorexia nervosa (AN) was found to have an intracranial neoplasm. Atypical psychological symptoms prompted further evaluation, including electroencephalogram and neuroimaging, which revealed a sellar and suprasellar mass. This patient had an eating disorder and a brain tumor, which appear to be two unrelated conditions. However, it remains unclear how each affected the other. The diagnosis of AN, like all other psychiatric disorders, requires that possible medical etiologies and coexisting medical problems be excluded. AN and other eating disorders are particularly difficult to diagnose in children and adolescents because they often do not present in the manner typical of adults. Perceptual and cognitive disturbances associated with AN are difficult to evaluate because children and adolescents normally change over time as they progress through different stages of development. Therefore, it is particularly important to evaluate for the presence of medical conditions when a diagnosis of an eating disorder is made in a child or adolescent.     

Making an Art of Creativity: The Cognitive Science of Duchamp and Dada

Dada is the infant terrible of art history, an anarchic movement that is typically referred to as nihilistic, pathological, and firmly enshrined within the modernist paradigm and the context of WWI. Through the lens of classical, romantic, and psychoanalytic notions, it certainly appears almost antithetical to creativity. Yet from a cognitive point-of-view, Dada marks a watershed in the understanding of creativity, and articulates principles of creative cognition with surprising insight and precision many decades ahead of science.