Psychological Well-Being and Health Related Quality of Life among a Group of Low-Income Women Living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa

This study documented the relationships among biomedical factors, psychosocial factors, health related quality of life (HRQOL) and suicidality in respect of HIV positive women in KwaZulu-Natal. One hundred and thirty three (133) women over the age of 18 years (mean age 32.96 yrs; SD = 7.28) participated in the study. Participants completed a Suicidality Measure (SM: Sheebhan, Janavs, Amorim, Janavs, Weiller, Hergueta, Baker & Dunbar, 1998), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSS: Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988) and the Health Related Quality of Life Survey—SF-36 (Ware, Kosinski & Dewey, 2002). Information on social/contextual variables including income, marital status, employment status, number of children was obtained. Participants completed two biomedical measures, CD4 count and time since diagnosis information. The findings revealed a compromised level of HRQOL in the participants. After controlling for biomedical factors, psychosocial measures did not explain differences in quality of life. Perceived social support was inversely related to suicidality. Newly diagnosed patients were less likely to think of suicide as an option.     

Influences on Career Choice Among Psychology Undergraduate Students: Role of Social Agents

The study explored factors that mediate the choice of psychology as a major subject by undergraduate students. Participants were a convenience sample of 368 students from two higher education institutions in Southern Africa (males =186, females =182, mean age = 22.35 years, SD=2.84 years). Data were collected using a survey that investigated social agents that are considered important in students' career choices. The data were analysed to explore differences by family and peer influences. The findings suggest that the students in the sample regarded social influences important in their choice of psychology as a major subject.     

Work-related counselling-a psychodynamic approach

Abstract

The paper sets out to stimulate interest in counsellors and therapists about the unconscious relationships which people form with their work, through describing and analysing what goes on in work-related counselling with a psychodynamic approach. The author draws on twenty-five years of experience to reflect on the changing nature of what was once termed ‘vocational guidance', and offers some short case studies, as examples of ways in which a person's world of work can become intertwined with their internal world in a confusing and disabling way. The core concepts and techniques which have evolved are identified and discussed; attention is directed particularly to the importance of the client's expectations, die effect of time limitation, the place of work in the whole life, and dealing with transference.     

Hope and optimism as related to life satisfaction

This study explored the hope and optimism constructs and their unique variances in predicting life satisfaction. The subscales (Agency and Pathways) of the Adult Hope Scale (Snyder, Harris et al., 1991 Snyder, CR, Harris, C, Anderson, JR, Holleran, SA, Irving, LMSigmon, ST. 1991. The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60: 570–585. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and optimism and pessimism as measured by the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R; Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994) were compared in terms of ability to predict life satisfaction as measured by the domain-specific Quality of Life Inventory (QOLI®; Frisch, 1994 Frisch, MB. 1994. Manual and treatment guide for the Quality of Life Inventory (QOLI), Minneapolis, MN: National Computer Systems.  [Google Scholar]; Study 1, N?=?331) and the global measure Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985 Diener, E, Emmons, RA, Larsen, RJ and Griffin, S. 1985. The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49: 71–75. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Study 2, N?=?215). The Agency subscale of the Adult Hope Scale was the better predictor of life satisfaction in both studies. The implications of these findings for theory and measurement of hope and optimism are discussed.     

Effects of a yoga-based intervention for young adults on quality of life and perceived stress: The potential mediating roles of mindfulness and self-compassion

The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of a yoga-based program on quality of life, perceived stress, mindfulness, and self-compassion in young adults. These variables were measured in 33 self-selected participants of a four-month residential yoga intervention before and after the program. Forty-three demographically matched controls completed the same questionnaires at two time points with a four-month interval inbetween. Participation in the program predicted increases in quality of life and decreases in perceived stress, mediated by mindfulness and self-compassion. Multiple mediator models revealed that the effect of group on quality of life was simultaneously mediated by mindfulness and self-compassion, while the effect of group on perceived stress was only mediated by self-compassion. These positive effects on perceived stress and quality of life suggest that yoga-based interventions may be of value in cultivating subjective well-being in young adults. Furthermore, yoga-based and mindfulness-based interventions may share underlying mechanisms.     

Alexithymia and the automatic processing of affective information: Evidence from the affective priming paradigm

In Study 1, we examined the moderating impact of alexithymia (i.e., a difficulty identifying and describing feelings to other people and an externally oriented cognitive style) on the automatic processing of affective information. The affective priming paradigm was used, and lower priming effects for high alexithymia scorers were observed when congruent (incongruent) pairs involving nonverbal primes (angry face) and verbal target were presented. The results held after controlling for participants' negative affectivity. The same effects were replicated in Studies 2 and 3, with trait anxiety and depression entered as additional covariates. In Study 3, no moderating impact of alexithymia was found for verbal-facial pairs suggesting that the results cannot be merely explained in terms of transcoding limitations for high alexithymia scorers. Overall, the present results suggest that alexithymia could be related to a difficulty in processing and automatically using high arousal emotional information to respond to concomittant behavioural demands.     

Academic Remediation: Educational Applications of Research on Assignment Preference and Choice

SUMMARY

Within educational settings students can choose to engage in assigned academic activities or other, sometimes disruptive behaviors. In the current paper recent research on assignment preference, choice, and choosing is reviewed. Results of these studies show how educators can enhance students' academic behaviors (e.g., on-task behavior), decrease disruptive behaviors, and improve academic performance by (a) allowing students to choose assignments, (b) assigning higher preference academic activities, (c) strengthening reinforcement for engaging in academic activities, and (d) altering assignments to make them more acceptable to students.     

When waiting to choose increases patience

We explore how waiting to choose influences patience. We propose that waiting to make an intertemporal choice increases the assumed value of the items for which people are waiting, leading them to become more patient. Five studies support this model. Study 1 finds that after waiting to choose, people exhibit greater patience than if they had not waited or before they had started to wait. Studies 2a and 2b find that increased valuation (rather than decreased cost of the wait) mediates the impact of waiting on patience. Study 3 further finds that whereas waiting to choose increases preference for a larger-later (over smaller-sooner) item, it also increases willingness to pay to expedite delivery of a single item. Finally, study 4 shows the waiting effect is stronger for hedonic than for utilitarian products. These studies modify existing theory by identifying the conditions under which waiting to choose can improve patience.     

Null's the word: A comparison of memory quality for intensely negative and positive events

Research comparing memories of traumatic and positive events has produced inconsistent results. Complicating the issue, researchers employ a variety of measures (e.g., narrative or questionnaire) that make comparison across studies difficult. Further, this research has been criticised for lacking adequate statistical controls (Sotgiu & Mormont, 2008). Our study employed both narrative and questionnaire methodologies and compared memories for highly negative and positive events while controlling for retention interval, intensity of the event, and word count in the narrative measures. A total of 108 racially diverse college undergraduates wrote narratives and completed the Memory Characteristics Questionnaire about the most negative and the most positive event they had experienced, and memories were assessed for narrative coherence, language indicative of cognition, insight and sensory experience, subjective ratings of clarity, sensory detail, contextual detail, temporal detail, and the inclusion of thoughts and feelings. Results indicate no differences between memories for highly negative and positive events when retention interval and emotional intensity are controlled.     

肿瘤姑息治疗的全程介入

恶性肿瘤严重威胁人类健康,肿瘤本身以及针对肿瘤的治疗不仅会对患者的生理和心理产生重要影响,同时也会对照顾患者的家人产生各种心理影响。现有医疗条件下短时间内难以提高治愈率,就应更加注重将姑息治疗贯穿于肿瘤治疗的始终,不仅要及早介入,甚至延伸至居丧期。在肿瘤治疗过程中不断对肿瘤患者进行评估和适时调整姑息治疗策略,可有效地提高患者生活质量同时降低医疗成本,最终患者能够在不同阶段和各种治疗手段中获得最大受益。