Older Adults’ Psychosocial Responses to a Fear of Falling: A Scoping Review to Inform Occupational Therapy Practice

Abstract

Falls in older adults are a major health concern, yet the “fear of falling”, a common psychosocial response that can occur post-fall, has seldom been investigated. A scoping review was conducted to identify and map interventions that occupational therapists can use to manage the fear of falling psychosocial response (FoFPR) among older adults. Thirteen electronic databases were searched and 22 studies were retrieved. Cognitive behavioral therapy, guided imagery, and Tai Chi were interventions found to help older adults deal with their FoFPRs. Occupational therapists assisting older adults in this area can play a significant role.     

COVID-19 and Religious Ethics

The editors of the JRE solicited short essays on the COVID-19 pandemic from a group of scholars of religious ethics that reflected on how the field might help them make sense of the complex religious, cultural, ethical, and political implications of the pandemic, and on how the pandemic might shape the future of religious ethics.     

Predictors of Client Attrition in a University-Based Community Counseling Clinic

The purpose of this study was to investigate how symptom distress, social role, interpersonal relationships, gender, age, number of supports, and education level predict client attrition in a community sample. Using binary logistic regression and cross-sectional data, the authors examined the predictive impact of 8 variables on adult client attrition in a university-based community counseling clinic. Results indicated that education level, interpersonal relationships, and number of supports significantly predicted attrition. In this sample, gender, age, symptom distress, social role, and race did not significantly predict attrition. Implications for clinical assessment and counseling practice are discussed.     

Examples,practice problems,or both? Effects on motivation and learning in shorter and longer sequences

Research suggests some sequences of examples and problems (i.e., EE, EP) are more effective (higher test performance) and efficient (attained with equal/less mental effort) than others (PP, sometimes also PE). Recent findings suggest this is due to motivational variables (i.e., self-efficacy), but did not test this during the training phase. Moreover, prior research used only short task sequences. Therefore, we investigated effects on motivational variables, effectiveness, and efficiency in a short (Experiment 1; four learning tasks; n = 157) and longer task sequence (Experiment 2; eight learning tasks; n = 105). With short sequences, all example conditions were more effective, efficient, and motivating than PP. With longer sequences, all example conditions were more motivating and efficient than PP, but only EE was more effective than PP. Moreover, EE was most efficient during training, regardless of sequence length. These results suggest that example study (only) is more effective, efficient, and more motivating than PP.     

大学生情绪智力与心理健康的关系:社会支持的中介作用和手机依赖的调节作用

以621名大学生为被试,采用情绪智力量表、心理症状自评量表、青少年社会支持评定量表、手机依赖指数量表为研究工具,探讨情绪智力与心理健康之间的关系,并在此基础上构建一个有调节的中介模型,探究社会支持的中介作用以及手机依赖在这一中介过程中的调节作用。结果发现：（1）情绪智力对心理健康的影响显著,社会支持在其中起部分中介作用,即情绪智力既可以直接影响心理健康,还可以通过社会支持的中介作用间接影响心理健康;（2）手机依赖调节了情绪智力通过社会支持影响大学生心理健康的中介过程的后半路径,相对于低手机依赖的大学生,高手机依赖大学生的社会支持对心理健康的影响更为显著。关注大学生心理健康,不仅要重视个体因素、生态环境因素的单独影响,更要重视这些因素的联合作用。     

Stigma towards psychosis: Cross‐cultural differences in prejudice,stereotypes, and discrimination in White British and South Asians

Public stigma towards people with mental health problems has been demonstrated in Western societies. Little is known about non‐Western cultures and whether cultures differ in their perceptions of people with mental health problems. Aim of this study was to examine cultural differences in prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination towards people with psychosis. Participants were from White British and South Asian backgrounds (N = 128, aged 16–20 years) recruited from two schools and colleges in the United Kingdom. They completed a cross‐sectional survey on affective, cognitive, and behavioural dimensions of stigma. Results revealed significant cultural differences on all three stigma dimensions. South Asians attributed higher anger (prejudice) and dangerousness (stereotypes) to people with psychosis than White British. They also reported lower willingness to help, greater avoidance, and higher endorsement of segregation (discrimination). The effects of ethnic group on helping intentions, avoidance, and segregation endorsement were mediated by anger and by dangerousness. Understanding cultural differences in stigma towards psychosis will be important for designing stigma interventions as well as treatments for people with different cultural backgrounds.     

Imagined contact and mental illness stigma in an Asian context: Bolstering the effect and examining the impact of factual information

Imagined contact can be effective at reducing social stigma. However, the effect may depend on the strength of the stigma held. We tested the robustness of imagined contact in an Asian setting where stigmatization of mental illness is stronger than in Western countries. In Experiment 1 (n = 167) with five conditions, only an enhanced version of positive imagined contact was able to decrease stigma towards people with schizophrenia through decreasing intergroup anxiety. Given the potential discrepancy between imaginations and reality about experiences with stigmatized groups, in Experiment 2 (n = 121), we tested the hypothesis that after presenting participants with factual information about a mental illness group, imagined contact might backfire, resulting in more negative perceptions. However, enhanced imagined contact alongside factual message about schizophrenia did not increase stigma. The backfiring hypothesis was therefore not supported. Nevertheless, providing realistic information did negate the positive effects of enhanced imagined contact on stigma reduction. In both experiments, we also showed that intergroup anxiety mediated the effect of enhanced imagined contact on various measures of stigma.     

Road user interactions in a shared space setting: Priority and communication in a UK car park

Appropriate communication between road users can lead to safe and efficient interactions in mixed traffic. Understanding how road users communicate can support the development of effective communication methods for automated vehicles. We carried out observations of 66 pedestrian-driver and 124 driver-driver interactions in a shared space setting. Specific actions and reactions of the road users involved were recorded using a novel observation protocol. Overall, results showed that pedestrians’ failure to look towards a driver created the greatest uncertainty in the interaction, with the driver slowing down, but not completely stopping, in response to pedestrians. Looking towards the driver also influenced which road user took priority in driver-driver interactions. Groups of pedestrians were more likely to be given priority than an individual pedestrian, and the use of vehicle-based signals were also associated with taking priority during an interaction. Our observations show the importance of non-verbal communication during road user interactions, highlighting it as an essential area of research in the development of automated vehicles, to allow their safe, cooperative, interactions with other road users. Observations were made on a limited number of interactions to inform challenges facing future automated vehicles. Further work should therefore be done to corroborate and extend our findings, to examine interactions between human road users and automated vehicles in shared space settings.