The need for public policies to promote healthier food consumption: A comment on Wansink and Chandon (2014)

Current approaches to addressing obesity have fallen short. This is largely due to the many environmental forces that undermine people's self-regulatory capacity to be personally responsible for their food choices. Novel insights from the social sciences are needed to inform voluntary, health-promoting actions by companies, institutions, and citizens as well as the design of public health policies. Voluntary interventions that rely on nudges should complement traditional public health strategies such as taxation and restriction of child-targeted marketing in schools. In this commentary, we discuss four food policy issues that would benefit from consumer psychology research: (a) the restriction of food marketing to children, (b) provision of nutrition information through food labels, (c) improving school food environments, and (d) placing limits on portion sizes. Identifying effective solutions for obesity will require approaches that integrate psychological, public health, and legal perspectives and methods.     

Public Trust in Genomic Risk Assessment for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Patient trust in personal medical information is critical to increasing adherence to physician recommendations and medications. One of the anticipated benefits of learning of one’s genomic risk for common diseases is the increased adoption of screening, preventive care and lifestyle changes. However, the equivocal results thus far reported of the positive impact of knowledge of genomic risk on behavior change may be due to lack of patients’ trust in the results. As part of a clinical study to compare two methods of communication of genomic risk results for Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), we assessed patients’ trust and preferred methods of delivery of genomic risk information. A total of 300 participants recruited from the general public in Durham, NC were randomized to receive their genomic risk for T2DM in-person from a genetic counselor or online through the testing company’s web-site. Participants completed a baseline survey and three follow-up surveys after receiving results. Overall, participants reported high levels of trust in the test results. Participants who received their results in-person from the genetic counselor were significantly more likely to trust their results than those who reviewed their results on-line (p?=?0.005). There was not a statistically significant difference in levels of trust among participants with increased genetic risk, as compared to other those with decreased or same as population risk (p?=?0.1154). In the event they undergo genomic risk testing again, 55 % of participants overall indicated they would prefer to receive their results online compared to 28 % that would prefer to receive future results in-person. Of those participants preferring to receive results online, 77 % indicated they would prefer to have the option to speak to someone if they had questions with the online results (compared to accessing results online without the option of professional consultation). This is the first study to assess satisfaction with genomic risk testing by the method of delivery of the test result. The higher rate of trust in results delivered in-person suggests that online access reports may not result in serious consideration of results and lack of adoption of recommended preventive recommendations.     

Clinical Utility of Chromosomal Microarray Analysis of DNA from Buccal Cells: Detection of Mosaicism in Three Patients

Mosaic chromosomal abnormalities are relatively common. However, mosaicism may be missed due to multiple factors including failure to recognize clinical indications and order appropriate testing, technical limitations of diagnostic assays, or sampling tissue (s) in which mosaicism is either not present, or present at very low levels. Blood leukocytes have long been the “gold standard” sample for cytogenetic analysis; however, the culturing process for routine chromosome analysis can complicate detection of mosaicism since the normal cell line may have a growth advantage in culture, or may not be present in the cells that produce metaphases (the lymphocytes). Buccal cells are becoming increasingly utilized for clinical analyses and are proving to have many advantages. Buccal swabs allow for simple and noninvasive DNA collection. When coupled with a chromosomal microarray that contains single nucleotide polymorphic probes, analysis of buccal cells can maximize a clinician’s opportunity to detect cytogenetic mosaicism. We present three cases of improved diagnosis of mosaic aberrations using buccal specimens for chromosomal microarray analysis. In each case, the aberration was either undetectable in blood or present at such a low level it likely could have gone undetected. These cases highlight the limitations of certain laboratory methodologies for identifying mosaicism. We also present practice implications for genetic counselors, including clinic workflow changes and counseling approaches based on increasing use of buccal samples.     

Differentiating intolerance of uncertainty from three related but distinct constructs

Individual differences in uncertainty have been associated with heightened anxiety, stress and approach-oriented coping. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a trait characteristic that arises from negative beliefs about uncertainty and its consequences. Researchers have established the central role of IU in the development of problematic worry and maladaptive coping, highlighting the importance of this construct to anxiety disorders. However, there is a need to improve our understanding of the phenomenology of IU. The goal of this paper was to present hypotheses regarding the similarities and differences between IU and three related constructs – intolerance of ambiguity, uncertainty orientation, and need for cognitive closure – and to call for future empirical studies to substantiate these hypotheses. To assist with achieving this goal, we conducted a systematic review of the literature, which also served to identify current gaps in knowledge. This paper differentiates these constructs by outlining each definition and general approaches to assessment, reviewing the existing empirical relations, and proposing theoretical similarities and distinctions. Findings may assist researchers in selecting the appropriate construct to address their research questions. Future research directions for the application of these constructs, particularly within the field of clinical and health psychology, are discussed.     

Youth’s Help-Seeking Intentions for ADHD and Depression: Findings from a National Survey

This study investigates the role that youth-level factors play in predicting help-seeking intentions in a nationally representative sample. Eleven help-seeking intentions were examined separately by target conditions (ADHD and depression), gender, race/ethnicity, and self-reported diagnosed/non-diagnosed in respect to the target conditions, and interaction effects were tested. Using factor analysis, a traditional help-seeking scale was created, which captured four help-seeking items, and predictive power of youth-level factors in accounting for traditional help-seeking was tested. Study findings provide practitioners and researchers with fresh evidence on what youth-level factors are associated with which help-seeking intentions, and illustrate the challenges involved in better understanding the complexity of the help-seeking process among youth in the context of ADHD/Depression. With increased understanding of youth’s perceptions and the complexity of their help-seeking behavior, community-based efforts to develop effective strategies that support active help-seeking behavior and eliminate barriers to appropriate care can have a greater likelihood of success.     

The Patient–Doctor Relationship Questionnaire (PDRQ-9) in Primary Care: A Validity Study

This study assessed the validity of the Patient–Doctor Relationship Questionnaire-9 (PDRQ-9) in a primary care sample (N = 180). Convergent validity was assessed through a correlation between the patient-rated PDRQ-9 and the physician-rated Difficult Doctor Patient Relationship Questionnaire-10 (DDPRQ-10). Discriminant validity was assessed through correlations between the PDRQ-9 and patient age, patient- and physician-reported health and psychological distress. To determine if the PDRQ-9 could discriminate between groups, patient PDRQ-9 ratings were compared between patients who were treated by faculty physicians versus those who were treated by residents. An exploratory factor analysis confirmed that the PDRQ-9 was made up of a single factor. The PDRQ-9 scale was internally consistent (α = .96) and significantly and negatively correlated with the DDPRQ-10 (r = ?.22, p = .003) and was not significantly correlated with patient age, health, or psychological distress. PDRQ-9 ratings were statistically greater in patients who were treated by faculty physicians than those who were treated by residents (p = .01). This study provides additional support for the reliability and validity of the PDRQ-9 as a measure of the doctor–patient relationship in a primary care sample.     

Electronic Monitoring of Offenders: An Ethical Review

This paper considers electronic monitoring (EM) a promising alternative to imprisonment as a criminal sanction for a series of criminal offenses. However, little has been said about EM from an ethical perspective. To evaluate EM from an ethical perspective, six initial ethical challenges are addressed and discussed. It is argued that since EM is developing as a technology and a punitive means, it is urgent to discuss its ethical implications and incorporate moral values into its design and development.     

Preliminary investigation of the Kitchen Picture Test (KPT): A new screening test of practical judgment for older adults

Judgment is widely recognized as an important executive function, and deficits in judgment can lead to health risks, safety concerns, and hospitalizations. Surprisingly, relatively few tests of judgment have been developed specifically for older adults—a population particularly vulnerable to executive and functional declines. The Kitchen Picture Test (KPT) is a new screening measure of practical judgment. In two independent studies (Study 1, N = 99 nursing home patients; Study 2, N = 163 nursing home and assisted living patients), psychometric analyses confirmed strong evidence for reliability, construct validity, and predictive validity. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated from sensitivity and 1-specificity values for diagnoses of dementia versus no dementia. A KPT cut score can be used for identifying persons to be referred to appropriate health-care professionals who have specific expertise in the evaluation and treatment of cognitive impairment.     

Mind-Wandering and Childhood ADHD: Experimental Manipulations across Laboratory and Naturalistic Settings

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - The conceptual overlap between mind-wandering and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related impairments is considerable, yet little...