Prenatal meditation influences infant behaviors

Meditation is important in facilitating health. Pregnancy health has been shown to have significant consequences for infant behaviors. In view of limited studies on meditation and infant temperament, this study aims to explore the effects of prenatal meditation on these aspects. The conceptual framework was based on the postulation of positive relationships between prenatal meditation and infant health. A randomized control quantitative study was carried out at Obstetric Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong. 64 pregnant Chinese women were recruited for intervention and 59 were for control. Outcome measures were cord blood cortisol, infant salivary cortisol, and Carey Infant Temperament Questionnaire. Cord blood cortisol level of babies was higher in the intervention group (p < 0.01) indicates positive health status of the newborns verifies that prenatal meditation can influence fetal health. Carey Infant Temperament Questionnaire showed that the infants of intervention group have better temperament (p < 0.05) at fifth month reflects the importance of prenatal meditation in relation to child health. Present study concludes the positive effects of prenatal meditation on infant behaviors and recommends that pregnancy care providers should provide prenatal meditation to pregnant women.     

Quelle validité pour une mesure de la satisfaction au travail en un seul item ?

Single-item measures of job satisfaction have several advantages. However, there still exist debates on their use. In this article, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this type of measurement, and present an empirical study to compare the results of the assessment of job satisfaction with measures which, in theory, should be linked with it (perceived stress, psychological distress, satisfaction with life). The results tend to highlight the validity of the single-item measures of job satisfaction. Indeed, on the one hand, the observed correlations between the single-item measure and the global or multifactorial job satisfaction measures are satisfactory (from .65 to .85). On the other hand, correlations with other relevant measures in occupational health are all significant (P < .01) and between .239 and .529. We present, then, some results highlighting the influence of some job characteristics on job satisfaction for the sample interviewed. Finally, we discuss the application of a single-item measure, emphasizing the benefits of it and especially the idea that this evaluation offers a consideration of the subjective perception of job satisfaction.     

Integrated Primary Care: An Inclusive Three-World View Through Process Metrics and Empirical Discrimination

Integrating behavioral health services within the primary care setting drives higher levels of collaborative care, and is proving to be an essential part of the solution for our struggling American healthcare system. However, justification for implementing and sustaining integrated and collaborative care has shown to be a formidable task. In an attempt to move beyond conflicting terminology found in the literature, we delineate terms and suggest a standardized nomenclature. Further, we maintain that addressing the three principal worlds of healthcare (clinical, operational, financial) is requisite in making sense of the spectrum of available implementations and ultimately transitioning collaborative care into the mainstream. Using a model that deconstructs process metrics into factors/barriers and generalizes behavioral health provider roles into major categories provides a framework to empirically discriminate between implementations across specific settings. This approach offers practical guidelines for care sites implementing integrated and collaborative care and defines a research framework to produce the evidence required for the aforementioned clinical, operational and financial worlds of this important movement.     

The Problem of Integrating Behavioral Health in the Medical Home and the Questions It Leads to

Psychology and other behavioral health professions have amassed a broad empirical and clinical literature suggesting many medical presentations are best responded to with the addition of evidence based behavioral interventions. Despite this, psychology has not achieved a regular presence as part of medical practice. We suggest specific reasons for the current state of affairs including clinical, operational, societal labels, financial and training dimensions. Medical, psychological, administrative, and financial perspectives are reviewed. If the goals of health care system reform are to be reached then we must identify and challenge the current limitations of health care. This paper will identify the elements that need to be changed in order for psychology to be integrated into medicine rather than excluded from its policy, planning and operations.     

Gender differences in health anxiety: An investigation of the interpersonal model of health anxiety

Health anxiety (HA) involves persistent worry about one’s health and beliefs one has an illness or may contract a disease. In the present study, gender differences in Noyes et al.’s (2003) interpersonal model of health anxiety (IMHA) were examined. Using a sample of 950 undergraduates (674 women; 276 men), multigroup confirmatory factor analyses suggested the measurement model for key dimensions of the IMHA (i.e., reassurance-seeking, alienation, worry, and absorption) were invariant across gender. This suggests key dimensions of this model are applicable to and generalizable across women and men. Coefficients alpha for and bivariate correlations between these IMHA dimensions were also roughly comparable across women and men. As hypothesized, mean levels of reassurance-seeking and worry were significantly higher in women compared to men. No gender differences were observed in mean levels of alienation or absorption. Reassurance-seeking and worry appear salient in the interpersonal behavior and emotional life of women with HA. The present study helps to clarify gender differences in the IMHA and other HA models involving similar variables.     

Stresses reported by UK trainee counselling psychologists

This study examined stressors and psychological distress in 109 UK counselling psychology trainees. The research focus was two-fold. What is the profile of stressors that counselling psychology trainees report about the components of training? What relationship is there between this profile, and other characteristics of trainees, including their level of current psychological distress? Data from a stress survey and from the General Health Questionnaire were examined. High stress scores were found on three aspects of the stress survey (‘academic’, ‘placements’, ‘personal and professional development’), but not–surprisingly–on the aspect, ‘lack of support systems’. Significant stress differences were reported for gender and age of participants, and highly significant positive relationships were found between General Health Questionnaire and stress scores. Overall, the results suggest actions to be taken. Further research is needed to clarify unavoidable and avoidable stressors in training, and the reduction of trainees’ experience of training stress to the necessary minimum needs to be adopted as an active target by programmes.     

Assessing Hypochondriasis: Findings on the Survey of Health Concerns

We describe a brief self-report measure for assessing hypochondriacal fears in adults. Called the Survey of Health Concerns (SHC), the measure was developed using DSM IV criteria for diagnosing hypochondriacal disorder as a guide. The measure was standardized on a sample of 188 college students. It was shown to have good internal and temporal reliability over a 2-week period. Moreover, scores on the SHC correlated significantly with worry proneness as measured by the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, and with the Hs scale of the MMPI-2, which together support the convergent validity of the measure. While men and women scored the same, participants who were being treated for a medical condition scored higher than those who were not being treated. Men who were under a doctor's care scored especially high, although this was based on a small sample of men and the effect could be spurious. A principal component factor analysis revealed two primary factors: one that described participants who felt poorly, made frequent trips to the doctor, and were fearful of illness and dying, and another that described participants who were particularly fearful of infectious diseases and took active steps to avoid becoming sick. Relatively little is known about hypochondriacal disorder. One reason for the dearth of knowledge in this area is that there has been no practical and reliable way to assess hypochondriacal fears, or more generally speaking, people's tendency to worry about their health. The SHC may help to fill this void. Results are admittedly preliminary and further study in medical settings is needed.     

Can I Be Ill and Happy?

Can one be ill and happy? I use a phenomenological approach to provide an answer to this question, using Merleau-Ponty’s distinction between the biological and the lived body. I begin by discussing the rift between the biological body and the ill person’s lived experience, which occurs in illness. The transparent and taken for granted biological body is problematised by illness, which exposes it as different from the lived experience of this body. I argue that because of this rift, the experience of illness cannot be captured within a naturalistic view and propose to supplant this view with a phenomenological approach. The latter approach accounts for changes in the ill person’s relationship to her social and physical world. These changes, I argue, cannot be captured by a naturalistic perspective. I then propose the notion of health within illness as a useful concept for capturing the experience of well-being reported by some ill people. I present empirical evidence for this phenomenon and assess its philosophical significance. Finally, I suggest that adaptability and creativity are two common positive responses to illness, demonstrating that health within illness is possible. The three elements combined – the transformed body, health within illness and adaptability and creativity – serve as the basis for a positive answer to the question posed above.     

An investigation of the theoretical content of physical activity brochures

New evidence-based physical activity (PA) guidelines and recommendations for constructing messages supplementing the guidelines have been put forth. As well, recent reviews have identified theoretical constructs that hold promise as targets for intervention: self-regulation, outcome expectancies and self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to examine the integration of messages targeting self-regulation, self-efficacy and outcome expectancies in existing physical activity brochures. Twenty-two PA brochures from Canadian and American National Health Organizations were assessed for their use self-efficacy, self-regulatory processes and outcome expectancies. Brochures were analyzed line-by-line using a modified version of the validated Content Analysis Approach to Theory-Specified Persuasive Educational Communication (CAATSPEC; Abraham, Southby, Quandte, Krahé, & van der Sluijs, 2007). Two independent raters coded a third of the brochures (n = 7). Inter-rater reliability was acceptable for 17 of the 20 categories (rs > .79). Discrepancies in all categories were discussed and agreement was reached. The remaining brochures were coded by one of the two raters. Usage of the three key theoretical constructs accounted for only 36.43% of brochure content (20.23% self-efficacy, 10.40% outcome expectancies, 5.80% self-regulation). Brochures lacked the use of a variety of theoretical strategies, specifically goal-setting, planning and verbal persuasion and rarely highlighted the affective benefits of physical activity. In the future brochures should aim to place increased emphasis on self-regulation, self-efficacy, and affective outcome expectancies.