La gestion des émotions et ses déficits,chez les personnes atteintes de douleur chronique : une revue systématisée des études relatives à l’alexithymie, à l’intelligence émotionnelle, à la régulation émotionnelle et au coping

The goal of this review is to synthesize the data of scientific literature on emotional management and its deficits in chronic pain. We used terms referenced in databases and MesH terms (of the United States National Library of Medicine) to perform a literature search in a powerful online search engine (EBSCOhost research databases). Four hundred and forty-nine papers, taken from international reviews and published of 1994 (because it is in the middle of the 1990s that this theme begins to be handle) to the end of January, 2015, are identified by a total 5 electronic databases with predefined keywords about emotions and chronic pain. Forty-six of which met the inclusion criteria, according to their title, their summary and their complete text. The findings suggest that some emotional management strategies and its deficits can maintain a vicious circle of negative emotional states with physiological and psychopathological consequences. Several studies show that alexithymia, emotional ambivalence and emotional suppression have a deleterious impact on pain, emotional distress (depression, anxiety) and disability. In spite of some contradictions concerning the nature of this effect (sensory or affective pain intensity or even duration of pain), it seems that alexithymia is a major variable implied in chronic pain. Inversely, experiential acceptance has a beneficial effect on psychological distress (depression, anxiety and stress). Emotional disclosure (of stressful or traumatic events) can decrease pain intensity but not disability and mental health. Likewise, emotional expression in daily life seems beneficial, but when the expression of the positive and negative feelings are distinguished, emotional expression of negative feelings increases pain, disability and distress. The whole of these findings emphasize the need to further research about emotional management in chronic non-cancer pain. It is necessary to identify and control the source of potential bias. Some hypotheses have been proposed to explain these findings. In the future, it would be interesting to use a multifactorial approach to investigate the interactions between various processes of emotional management in chronic pain patients.     

Prolonged touch screen device usage is associated with emotional and behavioral problems,but not language delay,in toddlers

BackgroundTouch screen devices are now ubiquitous, and their usage by young children is increasing. However, the effects of these devices on young children are still unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to address the associations of touch screen device exposure with symptomatic emotional and behavioral problems and language development in children between the ages of 18 and 36 months.MethodA total of 161 primary caregivers of children between the ages of 18 and 36 months were recruited from the pediatric ward and outpatient clinic at a medical center in southern Taiwan. All caregivers were asked to fill out the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1½–5 (CBCL 1½–5) and a questionnaire on basic personal information and touch screen device usage, and they were also interviewed with the Communication and Language Screening Test for Birth to Three Chinese-Speaking Infant-Toddlers (CLST). Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to examine the differences among the categories in the demographic variables and to characterize the touch screen device usage behaviors. Pearson’s correlation was used to analyze the relationship between language delay and the extent of touch screen device exposure. After primary univariate analysis, we used multiple regression models to examine the relationships among the effects of touch screen device usage behaviors on children's emotional and behavioral problems and language development.ResultThe children’s mean age was 25.63 months (SD = 5.35). Children who spent more time on touch screen devices were more likely to have emotional problems (β = .219, p < .010, 95 % CI: .279–1.518), anxious/depressive symptoms (β = .206, p < .050, 95 % CI: .170–1.244), somatic complaints (β = .291, p < .001, 95% CI: .455–1.462), social withdrawal symptoms (β = .194, p < .050, 95 % CI: 0.133–1.150), attention problems (β = .300, p < .001, 95 % CI: .432–1.267), and aggressive behaviors (β = .247, p < .010, 95 % CI: .967–3.983). The effects were not noted on language development (β = −.136, p < .100, 95 % CI: −2.595–.147).ConclusionYoung children who spent more time on touch screen devices were more likely to have emotional problems, anxious/depressive symptoms, somatic complaints, social withdrawal symptoms, attention problems, and aggressive behaviors, but not language delay.     

Visual attention control differences in 12-month-old preterm infants

There have been few previous attempts to assess the development of early markers of executive function in infants born preterm despite well-established deficits reported for older preterm children that have been closely linked to poorer academic functioning. The present study investigates early attention control development in healthy 12-month-old age-corrected pre-term infants who were born less than 30 weeks and compares their performance to full-term infants. Eye-tracking methodology was used to measure attention control. Preterm Infants spent less time focused on the target and were slower to fixate attention, with lower gestational age associated with poorer target fixation and slower processing speed. There were no significant group differences observed for inhibition of return or interference control. These findings suggest that specific emerging deficits in attention control may be observed using eye tracking methodology in very preterm infants at this early stage of development, despite scores within the average range on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.     

Participatory planning and children's emotional labor in the production of urban nature

Children have increasingly been called upon to participate in the planning of their communities, especially in projects associated with urban nature and outdoor play spaces. Building upon the concept of emotional labor, we critically explore how children become enrolled in such initiatives. Specifically, we focus on the emotional geographies underlining children's participation, including the emotions children exhibit invest, experience and produce in these projects, as well as the ways these emotions are regulated, framed and used by urban managers and policy-makers in participatory planning activities. Our theoretical framework intersects research on emotional labor with recent geographic literature on children, urban governance, and emotions. We explore the idea of children's and young people's emotional labor through an analysis of a collaborative effort between local nonprofits, government agencies, youth organizations and research institutions aimed at addressing the lack of public green space in a disenfranchised urban community in California. The empirical evidence is drawn from a research project in which we engaged a group of 9–11 year old children in a variety of planning activities involving participatory mapping, use of visual media, and focus groups.     

Massage therapy improves the development of HIV-exposed infants living in a low socio-economic,peri-urban community of South Africa

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of massage therapy on the growth and development of infants of HIV-infected mothers in a low socio-economic community in Cape Town. It was a prospective, randomised, controlled intervention trial that included massage therapy and control groups of HIV-infected mothers and their normal birth weight infants who were enrolled in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme. Participants were recruited at the 6-week clinic visit and followed up every 2 weeks until their infants were 9 months of age. Mother–infant pairs in the massage therapy and control groups included 73 and 88 at 6 weeks and 55 and 58 at 9 months, respectively. Mothers in the intervention group were trained to massage their infants for 15 min daily. The socioeconomic status, immunity, relationship with the partner and mental pain of mothers; the infants’ dietary intake, anthropometry and development (Griffiths Mental Development Scales); and haematological and iron status of mothers and infants were assessed at baseline and follow-up. Nine infants (5.3%) were HIV-infected on the HIV DNA PCR test at 6 weeks. Despite significantly higher levels of maternal mental pain, infants in the massage therapy compared to control group scored higher in all five of the Griffiths Scales of Mental Development and significantly higher in the mean quotient (p = 0.002) and mean percentile (p = 0.004) for the hearing and speech scale at 9 months. Based on the mean difference in scores, the massage therapy group showed greater improvement for all five scales compared to the control group. The mean difference in scores was significantly greater for the hearing and speech quotient (21.9 vs. 11.2) (p < 0.03) and the general quotient percentile (19.3 vs. 7.7) (p = 0.03) in the massage therapy compared to the control group. These scales remained significant when adjusting for the relationship with the partner and maternal mental pain. Both groups had lower scores in the performance scale at 9 months although this was significantly worse in the control compared to the massage therapy group when adjusting for maternal CD4 count, anaemia, relationship with the partner and mental pain. There were no significant differences in the anthropometric measurements between the two groups. In conclusion, based on the Griffiths Scales, massage therapy improved the overall development and had a significant effect on the hearing and speech and general quotient of HIV-exposed infants in this study.     

Determinants of Scanpath Regularity in Reading

Scanpaths have played an important role in classic research on reading behavior. Nevertheless, they have largely been neglected in later research perhaps due to a lack of suitable analytical tools. Recently, von der Malsburg and Vasishth (2011) proposed a new measure for quantifying differences between scanpaths and demonstrated that this measure can recover effects that were missed with the traditional eyetracking measures. However, the sentences used in that study were difficult to process and scanpath effects accordingly strong. The purpose of the present study was to test the validity, sensitivity, and scope of applicability of the scanpath measure, using simple sentences that are typically read from left to right. We derived predictions for the regularity of scanpaths from the literature on oculomotor control, sentence processing, and cognitive aging and tested these predictions using the scanpath measure and a large database of eye movements. All predictions were confirmed: Sentences with short words and syntactically more difficult sentences elicited more irregular scanpaths. Also, older readers produced more irregular scanpaths than younger readers. In addition, we found an effect that was not reported earlier: Syntax had a smaller influence on the eye movements of older readers than on those of young readers. We discuss this interaction of syntactic parsing cost with age in terms of shifts in processing strategies and a decline of executive control as readers age. Overall, our results demonstrate the validity and sensitivity of the scanpath measure and thus establish it as a productive and versatile tool for reading research.     

The German TEIQue-SF: Factorial structure and relations to agentic and communal traits and mental health

Recent research illuminated the links between Agency, Communion, trait emotional intelligence (TEI), and internalizing mental health difficulties (IMHDs). However, for a more complete picture, unmitigated Agency and Communion have also to be considered. Drawing on a sample of N = 405 female occupational therapists, the present study examined (a) the factorial validity of the German TEI Questionnaire Short Form, (b) the relations of TEI to Agency, Communion, and their unmitigated variants, and (c) a multiple predictor-TEI-IMHDs mediation model. The factor structure suggested by TEI theory fitted approximately to the data. Agency and Communion related positively and both unmitigated traits related negatively to TEI. Indirect effects via TEI on IMHDs emerged for all four traits. The results help to integrate TEI within the Agency–Communion framework and suggest that TEI is an important intervening variable that helps to clarify the links of agentic and communal traits to mental health.