Clinical research on behavioral activation as treatment for post‐traumatic stress disorder: A brief review and meta‐analysis

Behavioral activation (BA), an effective treatment for depression, has recently been receiving attention as a possible intervention for PTSD. BA interventions could be particularly useful in treating underserved populations (i.e., individuals with lower socioeconomic status). A literature search was conducted, which identified seven outcome studies that examined the effectiveness of stand‐alone BA treatment for individuals with PTSD. All studies identified for this brief review demonstrated clinically significant reductions in PTSD symptoms using BA as an intervention. A meta‐analysis of these few studies revealed a nonsignificant effect (Cohen's d = 0.713, p = .512) despite reporting an average symptom reduction of 25.8%. Other studies utilizing BA treatment for PTSD do so in tandem with other interventions and were excluded from analysis. This brief review summarizes the literature on the use of BA as a stand‐alone treatment for PTSD and suggests that future research seek to confirm the usefulness of BA as a potential treatment modality for mental health‐care providers treating individuals with PTSD.     

Exploring the relationships between pedestrian behaviours and traffic safety attitudes in six countries

The majority of cross-cultural research on traffic safety has investigated driver behaviour, yet in most low- and middle-income countries, where the weight of the road fatality burden is felt, motorisation rates are significantly lower than in higher-income countries. As such, this approach necessarily excludes large parts of the populations in those settings. In order to investigate the link between traffic safety attitudes and road user behaviours, this study used a self-report measure of pedestrian behaviour, applying it in six countries; Bangladesh, China, Kenya, Thailand, the UK, and Vietnam. Focus was on the relationships between a respondent’s attitude towards risky or rule violating on-road behaviours (of other road users, or more generally, not specific to pedestrians), and the extent to which they reported performing three types of risky pedestrian behaviours (i.e., intentional rule violations, errors in judgement or memory, and aggressive behaviours). Data from a sample of 3,423 individuals was subjected to a series of regression models, revealing significant links between attitudes and pedestrian behaviours in all countries, in all three behavioural factors, after controlling for age, gender, and exposure to the road environment. Differences were found between countries in the strength of these relationships, with weaker connections between attitudes and behaviours in Kenya, and stronger connections in China (with other countries in-between the two). Results are discussed in terms of the need to understand the relationships between social cognitive constructs in the specific country in which a road safety intervention is intended to be implemented.     

Effects of speed display signs on driving speed at pedestrian crossings on collector streets

This study was designed to evaluate the short- and long-term effects of speed display signs on driving speed at pedestrian crossings in a low-speed (40 km/h) urban environment. Driving speeds were compared 1 week before installation, after installation (1 week; 1 month; 3 months; 5 months) and 1 week after removal. The main results showed that the speed displays decreased the mean speed by 0.5–2.9 km/h, which translates to a 4–22% drop in pedestrian fatality risk. Furthermore, there was a drop in the proportion of speeding vehicles and approaching speed of individual vehicles. The decrease in speed persisted over time, suggesting that speed displays may reduce speeds in the long term. In conclusion, installing speed displays at pedestrian crossings on collector streets reduces driving speeds and could contribute to the safety of pedestrians.     

Effects of route familiarity on drivers’ psychological conditions: Based on driving behaviour and driving environment

Route familiarity affects a driver’s mental state and indirectly affects traffic safety; however, this important factor is easily overlooked. Previous research on route familiarity has only analysed psychological states in terms of unfamiliarity and familiarity, the influence of driving behaviour and driving environment on psychological states has been ignored. As a result, the mechanisms through which the route familiarity influence driver psychological states, and vice versa, are unclear. This study proposes a quantitative framework for studying driver psychological condition and route familiarity using experimental data from a real driving task and driving environment data. The experimental data included 1022 observations obtained by 23 participants over 7 consecutive trials on 6 unfamiliar experimental routes with large differences in scenarios; environmental data were automatically extracted after segmenting a driving video through the Dilated Residual NetWorks model. The results reveal that (1) the relationship between the driver’s psychological condition and route familiarity is not monotonic and is different for straight and turning sections; (2) the driver’s psychological condition is influenced by the visual scene elements and the type of road section, and the results of the multivariate regression analysis quantified the variability of the influence; and (3) unlike a majority of findings on distracted driving, our study suggest that the driver’s attention to the external environment in the urban distracted driving state will gradually approach a ‘distraction threshold’, and the time and size of the ‘distraction threshold’ are influenced by the driver. This study can further the development of urban traffic safety research and help urban designers plan and improve urban landscapes to ensure drivers maintain stable mental states when they drive.     

Antécédents et conséquences du comportement proactif au travail des cadres hospitaliers sur leur comportement d’innovation au travail : un modèle de médiation séquentielle-modérée

This article reports the results of the analysis of the antecedents and consequences of nurse managers’ proactive work behaviour. We tested a moderated sequential mediation model in which work engagement and proactivity mediate the relationship between work climate and innovation and analysed the moderating role of feedback in the relationship between proactivity and innovation. This study was conducted among 290 nurse managers and we found that work engagement and proactivity sequentially mediated the relationship between work climate and innovation. Moreover, feedback moderates the relationship between proactivity and innovation. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these results.     

Psychometric properties of the Driving Behaviour Scale (DBS) among polish drivers

Anxiety can negatively affect an individual’s psychological wellbeing and lead to mild-to-moderate functional impairment in various areas of their lives. Despite this, the relationship between anxiety and driving performance has received very little empirical attention. The Driving Behaviour Scale (Clapp, Olsen, Beck, et al., 2011, Clapp, Olsen, Danoff-Burg, et al., 2011) was developed as a measure of anxious driving behaviours to support research in this area. The current study details adaptation and validation of the Driving Behaviour Scale (DBS; Clapp, Olsen, Beck, et al., 2011, Clapp, Olsen, Danoff-Burg, et al., 2011) in 310 university students in Poland. The overall internal consistency for the DBS was 0.76, while the two subscales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (safety/cautious = 0.75 and hostile/aggressive behaviours = 0.85). The reliability estimates for performance deficit returned a lower coefficient of 0.65. Factor analysis produced a three-factor solution that supported the original structure of the DBS. The DBS may be utilised as a measure of driving anxiety in samples drawn from the general population.     

Parents’ moral intentions towards antisocial parent behaviour: An identity approach in youth sport

ObjectivesGrounded in personal and social identity theory, the purpose of this study was to examine whether parents’ personal and social identity perceptions influence their moral intentions towards antisocial parent behaviour in a youth sport setting.DesignParents of competitive youth ice hockey players (N = 437) read a vignette that either described a parent from the participant’s own team (i.e., ingroup), or a parent from an opposing team (i.e., outgroup) acting antisocially towards an athlete from the participant’s own team, an opposing athlete, or their own child. Parents were asked whether they would respond to the antisocial behaviour in the form of direct or indirect criticism or report the behaviour to the coach or to the league.ResultsParents were more likely to directly criticize ingroup parents than outgroup parents and they were more likely to indirectly criticize outgroup parents than ingroup parents. Further, parents with stronger social identities reported higher intentions to indirectly criticize an outgroup parent. There were no main effects for reporting behaviour (to coach or league), and personal identity did not moderate relationships with moral intentions towards antisocial behaviour.ConclusionBy providing parents with a situation that includes antisocial parent behaviour in the immediate youth sport environment, novel insight was gathered with regard to what contextual elements might drive parents’ intention to criticize, but not report antisocial behaviour.     

Barriers and facilitators affecting the sustainability of dialectical behaviour therapy programmes: A qualitative study of clinician perspectives

Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a psychological treatment developed for individuals experiencing chronic suicidality and high‐risk behaviours. Despite the substantial evidence supporting the effectiveness of DBT, many programmes have problems with its sustainability. The goals of the current qualitative study were to identify factors that impact the sustainability of DBT programmes within a publicly funded mental health system and identify factors that are particularly relevant for youth DBT programmes. Interviews with trained adult and youth DBT clinicians (N = 31) were conducted to explore their experiences providing DBT. Three major themes that emerged as barriers to the sustainability of DBT programmes included the following: systemic challenges, conflicts within the consultation teams and clinician burnout. Factors influencing the success of DBT programmes included the following: systemic support, clinician commitment and “buy in”, and team cohesion. Factors specific to providing DBT with youth (i.e. level of commitment, simplifying the language, and parental investment) and recommendations for sustainability for adults and youth programmes were also identified. Findings of this study provide valuable information on factors impacting DBT programmes within the unique context of a Canadian mental health service system, where community‐based services are publicly funded. These findings have clear clinical utility and can be used to generate solutions to clinicians' perceived barriers and to foster perceived facilitators within similar contexts.     

睡眠剥夺对风险决策的影响机制探讨

许多行业的决策者必须在睡眠不足的状态下做出选择与判断。睡眠剥夺是睡眠不足的实验室模型, 被证明能显著影响风险决策, 但内在机制不明。基于前人研究基础提出假设模型, 即睡眠剥夺通过影响个体的反馈加工、风险感知、抑制控制、决策理性, 进而影响风险决策。拟通过实验室研究与现场研究, 采用简单赌博任务、概率折扣任务、双选择Oddball任务等研究范式, 对比睡眠剥夺前后被试在执行上述实验任务时的行为差异, 同时比较执行控制网络、奖赏网络等脑功能网络连接强度, 以及任务诱发的FRN等脑电成分在睡眠剥夺前后的变化, 进而论证上述反应被试反馈加工等心理过程的行为-脑电-脑成像指标的变化与睡眠剥夺后被试风险决策变化的关系。研究结果将科学地解释睡眠剥夺影响风险决策的内在机制, 为进一步探讨如何规避睡眠不足导致的决策失误提供理论与实证依据。