Development of an Internet Intervention to Promote Wellbeing in College Students

Objective

While tertiary students commonly experience distress that substantially impacts functioning and performance, few seek help. Innovative strategies are needed to promote wellbeing and address this distress. The current article describes the development, acceptability testing, and use of an Internet intervention to promote student wellbeing and resilience—thedesk.

Method

Acceptability and useability of the program were evaluated by user analytics and focus groups.

Results

In the first 3.5 years, 118,000 individuals accessed the website and had 163,000 sessions averaging 5.3 min and 6.9 accessed pages. Users’ wellbeing scores were positively skewed, suggesting that the engaged content has broad relevance. While the percentage of people leaving the site after viewing the homepage was considered acceptable at 50%, there is significant room to improve engagement. Responses from consumer focus groups suggested high acceptability, perceived usability, and likely utility. Concerns included data security and, for international students, the need for greater direction on program use.

Conclusions

While further research is needed to evaluate the effects of thedesk on wellbeing and distress, the current results suggest that it provides highly accessible support that is well accepted by most tertiary students and has the potential for use as a stand‐alone intervention or, adjunctively, to increase the impact of other student support.     

低家庭社会经济地位与青少年社会适应的关系:感恩的补偿和调节效应

该研究采用家庭社会经济地位问卷、青少年外化问题行为调查表、焦虑抑郁量表、学业成就问卷和感恩问卷对1518名中学生进行调查,考察了低家庭社会经济地位(低家庭SES)与青少年社会适应的关系,以及感恩在其中的补偿和调节效应。结果发现:1)低家庭SES与外化问题行为和内化问题行为(以焦虑抑郁为指标)显著正相关,与学业成就显著负相关;2)感恩在低家庭SES与青少年社会适应各指标关系间的补偿效应均显著;3)感恩在低家庭SES与青少年社会适应各指标关系间的调节效应均不显著。这表明低家庭SES对青少年发展具有跨领域的不利影响,而感恩在其中具有显著"滞后的"补偿作用,但"同步的"风险缓冲作用有限。     

自尊对情绪面孔注意偏向的影响

研究表明低自尊个体对负性信息表现出高度的警觉和关注,而高自尊个体相对来说注意积极地方面,但并未表现明显偏向。为了精确记录注意选择神经加工时间进程,进一步从电生理学角度对低自尊个体的负性注意偏向进行探讨,本研究运用事件相关电位（ERP）技术对不同自尊个体在点-探测任务过程中的注意偏向进行研究。实验一以129名在校大学生作为被试,以大学生面孔情绪图片（高兴、悲伤和中性）作为实验材料,结果发现,高低自尊个体之间没有出现注意偏向的差异。实验二以实验一筛选出的30名高低自尊个体作为被试,选择了更具负性情绪唤醒的愤怒图片作为实验材料（高兴、愤怒和中性）,行为数据结果发现,两组被试都没有出现注意偏向,相反,无论是在高兴面孔条件下还是在愤怒面孔条件下,低自尊个体的反应时都快于高自尊个体;电生理学数据结果发现,在低自尊个体中,在两种情绪面孔条件下,有效线索的P1峰值显著高于无效线索,而无效线索的N2pc峰值显著高于有效线索。电生理学数据表明,无论是负性的还是正性的情绪性的信息都能引起低自尊个体的更多注意,表明低自尊个体更容易受到情绪性信息的影响。     

The Impact of Periventricular Brain Injury on Reading and Spelling Abilities in the Late Elementary and Adolescent Years

The present study was designed: (1) to investigate the long-term consequences of both the presence and the severity of periventricular brain injury (PVBI) on intellectual, academic, and cognitive outcome in extremely-low-birthweight (ELBW: < 1,000 grams) children at a mean age of 11 years; and (2) to determine the nature of the underlying difficulties associated with academic problems in these children. The results indicated that ELBW children without PVBI performed as well as full-term children on intelligence, academic, and cognitive ability tests. In contrast, ELBW children with mild and severe PVBI achieved significantly lower scores than either ELBW children without PVBI or children who were born at term. A second analysis indicated that, after accounting for Full Scale IQ, working memory and phonological processing were significant predictors of reading and spelling performance in ELBW children. These findings suggest that the presence and severity of PVBI, and not ELBW status alone, is associated with performance on tests of intelligence, and academic and cognitive functioning, and that some of the same factors known to be associated with learning disabilities in full-term children contribute to learning disabilities in ELBW children.     

Effects of dispositional self-focus,appraisal and attention instructions on responses to a threatening stimulus

Abstract

Two studies are reported which explored the relationship between self-focused attention and anxiety. The first study tested the hypotheses that self-focused attention is associated with anxiety in threatening situations and that the relationship is mediated by negative appraisal processes. Study 1 showed no significant interaction between self-focus and negative appraisal on state-anxiety. However, self-focus was associated with increments in state-anxiety, high levels of worry and somatic symptom reports in a threatening situation. The relationship between self-focus and state-anxiety was mediated by somatic symptoms. Study 2 used cognitive and somatic self-attention instructions and external focus instructions to verify the hypothesis that self-focus on somatic arousal is associated with anxiety. It is concluded that specific self-focusing tendencies are associated with the elicitation and exacerbation of anxiety.     

Measuring Fear of Movement/(Re)injury in Chronic Low Back Pain Using Implicit Measures

Fear of movement/(re)injury is assumed to contribute to the development and maintenance of chronic low back pain (CLBP) in a subgroup of patients. Studying fear of movement/(re)injury with implicit attitude measures, without the awareness of the patient, might be a valuable addition to self‐report questionnaires. The aims of the current study were to investigate whether CLBP patients demonstrate more implicit fear of movement/(re)injury than healthy controls, and whether 2 implicit measures are related to each other, and to an explicit self‐report measure of fear of movement/(re)injury. A group of 66 CLBP patients and 30 healthy controls took part in this study. In addition to self‐report questionnaires, fear of movement/(re)injury was implicitly assessed by the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST) and the Go‐No‐Go‐Association Task (GNAT) that aimed to determine the association between back‐stressing movements and the evaluation “threatening”. On both implicit tasks it was found that neither CLBP patients nor healthy controls demonstrated implicit fear of movement/(re)injury, and that CLBP patients did not differ from healthy controls in their level of implicit fear of movement/(re)injury. In general, no associations were found between the EAST and the GNAT, or between implicitly measured and self‐reported fear of movement/(re)injury. One major caveat in drawing inferences from these findings is the poor reliability of these implicit measures. Research towards the psychometric properties of these measures should first be expanded before modifying, and applying, them to more complex domains such as fear of movement/(re)injury.     

Low‐price guarantees as advertisement strategy and compensation policy: The more,the better?

Companies sometimes employ a “lowest price or more than the difference back” policy (i.e., a price‐beating guarantee). We investigated whether such a policy is more effective to attract and retain customers than when the exact price difference is promised (i.e., a price‐matching guarantee). The first study revealed that about 60% of the marketers and shop owners in our sample thought that beating price differences is a more effective strategy than matching price differences. However, the four subsequent studies challenged this assumption. Specifically, the advertisement as well as the provision of price‐beating refunds did not have an incremental positive effect on customers' general attitudes in terms of trust, brand perception, loyalty, and shopping intentions beyond the level that was already reached by price‐matching refunds. Moreover, our mediation analyses revealed that the null effect of price‐matching versus price‐beating was mediated by fairness perceptions. From a theoretical perspective, these results are in line with a fairness account, which holds that people do not only evaluate the economic value of an outcome, but also take equality considerations into account. Because price‐beating is literally more expensive than price‐matching, from a practical point of view, companies should be informed that the employment of a price‐beating guarantee is a cost‐ineffective advertisement strategy and compensation policy.     

Improving executive function using transcranial infrared laser stimulation

Transcranial infrared laser stimulation is a new non‐invasive form of low‐level light therapy that may have a wide range of neuropsychological applications. It entails using low‐power and high‐energy‐density infrared light from lasers to increase metabolic energy. Preclinical work showed that this intervention can increase cortical metabolic energy, thereby improving frontal cortex‐based memory function in rats. Barrett and Gonzalez‐Lima (2013, Neuroscience, 230, 13) discovered that transcranial laser stimulation can enhance sustained attention and short‐term memory in humans. We extend this line of work to executive function. Specifically, we ask whether transcranial laser stimulation enhances performance in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task that is considered the gold standard of executive function and is compromised in normal ageing and a number of neuropsychological disorders. We used a laser of a specific wavelength (1,064 nm) that photostimulates cytochrome oxidase – the enzyme catalysing oxygen consumption for metabolic energy production. Increased cytochrome oxidase activity is considered the primary mechanism of action of this intervention. Participants who received laser treatment made fewer errors and showed improved set‐shifting ability relative to placebo controls. These results suggest that transcranial laser stimulation improves executive function and may have exciting potential for treating or preventing deficits resulting from neuropsychological disorders or normal ageing.     

高低情感开放性者概率内隐序列学习进程差异

大五人格情感开放性子量表(openness/feeling)能否预测内隐序列学习的问题存在争议。本研究采用概率性内隐序列学习范式, 比较高低情感开放性者在各反应刺激间隔(response stimulus interval, 即RSI)的差异。发现：(1) RSI = 0 ms和250 ms, 高分组在转移组块后习得高概率序列, RSI = 500 ms及以上在其之前习得; 所有RSI点低分组都在其之前习得。每个RSI点只有高分组习得低概率序列。证明随RSI增加两者内隐进程有本质差异, openness/feeling子量表可预测内隐序列学习个体差异。(2)低概率序列可作为测量概率性内隐序列学习及个体差异的新指标, 经典转移组块、再认、生成任务的测量效果却十分有限。     

Using differential reinforcement of low rates to reduce children's requests for teacher attention

We evaluated the effectiveness of full-session differential reinforcement of low rates of behavior (DRL) on 3 primary school children's rates of requesting attention from their teacher. Using baseline rates of responding and teacher recommendations, we set a DRL schedule that was substantially lower than baseline yet still allowed the children access to teacher assistance. The DRL schedule was effective in reducing children's requests for assistance and approval, and the teacher found the intervention highly useful and acceptable. The possible mechanisms that account for behavior change using full-session DRL schedules are discussed.