The role of meaning in gastric cancer patients: relationships among meaning structures,coping, and psychological well-being

ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives: Research demonstrates that the experience of cancer invariably violates patients’ meaning structures, prompting them to use coping strategies to alleviate stress and enhance well-being. The current study aimed to examine the mediating effects of coping strategies in the relationship between global and situational meaning and psychological well-being in gastric cancer patients.

Design and Method: One hundred eighty-seven patients (96 women and 91 men) with gastric cancer completed questionnaires measuring meaning in life, changes of beliefs and goals, coping, and psychological well-being. Participants were between 27 and 82 years of age. They were diagnosed with gastric cancer from 1 to 3.2 years ago. Using Structural Equation Modeling, both the direct and indirect associations between meaning structures, coping, and psychological well-being were examined.

Results: Meaning in life exerted significant indirect effects on psychological well-being through three coping strategies: problem-, emotion-, and meaning-focused. The relationship between changes of beliefs and goals and psychological well-being was also mediated by coping.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that coping strategies are mediators in the relationship between global and situational meaning and psychological well-being. They also provide empirical evidence that in severe cancer-related stress conditions both meaning structures and coping strategies influence patients’ psychological well-being.     

Habituation To The Reinforcer May Contribute To Multiple-schedule Behavioral Contrast

Habituation to the reinforcer may contribute to multiple-schedule behavioral contrast. According to this argument, reducing reinforcers in one component of a multiple schedule reduces habituation to the reinforcer. Reducing habituation enhances the value, or effectiveness, of the remaining reinforcers, producing positive contrast. Enriching the reinforcers in one component increases habituation to that reinforcer. Increasing habituation decreases the effectiveness of the reinforcer, producing negative contrast. Such an idea is simple and parsimonious. It is not contradicted by any well-established finding in the contrast literature. It makes several tested and untested predictions that are unusual. However, habituation cannot explain all contrast. A complete explanation requires postulating that at least one additional mechanism, controlled by the conditions of reinforcement in the following component, also contributes to contrast.     

Within-session changes in the VI response function: separating food density from elapsed session time.

Previous studies examining the relationship between response rate and reinforcement rate on variable-interval schedules (the variable-interval response function) have confounded elapsed session time with within-session changes in food density. The present experiments attempted to manipulate these factors independently and thus isolate their effects on responding. In Experiment 1, 7 rats pressed a bar for food on a series of four variable-interval schedules (7.5 s, 15 s, 30 s, and 480 s). Elapsed session time was held constant while food density was manipulated via a presession feeding. Changes in food density altered the form of the variable-interval response function, independently of elapsed session time. In Experiment 2, 8 rats responded on the same series of variable-interval schedules as in Experiment 1, but food density was held constant and elapsed session time was manipulated via the use of timeout periods. The results revealed no evidence for an effect of elapsed session time independent of food density. The present results extend a recent analysis of the variable-interval response function by Dougan, Kuh, and Vink (1993) by identifying food density as an important factor determining the form of the function. The present results also help clarify the controversy over the correct empirical form of the variable-interval response function by further defining the variables responsible for differences in the form of that function.     

Personality disorders and psychosocial changes after intensive psychotherapy: A prospective follow-up study of an outpatient psychotherapy project, 5 years after end of treatment*

This report presents the results of a 7-year prospective outcome study designed to examine the psychosocial changes during and after therapy among 25 outpatients suffering from personality disorders and psychoses. The therapeutic approach was based mainly on object relations theory and psychodynamic self-psychology, and focused in particular on affect consciousness, parental images, self-image and interpersonal relations. Twenty patients completed the form which measured psychosocial changes during therapy, and 21 persons participated at follow-up. The data show statistically significant changes in the capacity to tolerate intimate relationships and actually establish such relationships, improved quality of contact in relationships with friends, a general raising of socioeconomic status and reduced use of ordinary health and social services. Both the global psychosocial outcome at follow-up as measured by HSRS and the general level of symptoms measured by SCL-90 suggest that 76% of the sample had reached a level of psychosocial functioning and adaptation that can be defined as “no-caseness”.     

Functional cerebral changes in multiple sclerosis patients during an autobiographical memory test

Our aim was to investigate the functional underpinnings of autobiographical memory (AM) impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. To that end, 18 patients and 18 controls underwent the autobiographical interview (AI). Subsequently, the 36 participants underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session designed to assess the construction and elaboration of AMs. A categorical control task was also presented. Patients were trained in the fMRI procedure to optimise the procedural aspects accompanying the task itself. Although the patients obtained significantly poorer AI scores (p < .001), their performance on the easier AM fMRI task was efficiently carried out, allowing relevant comparisons with healthy controls. Relatively to healthy controls, the patients showed increased and bilateral cerebral activations (p < .005) during the construction and elaboration phases. The prefrontal, temporal and posterior cerebral region activations were located within the core network sustaining AM, with the bilateral prefrontal region being centrally involved. The parametric neural responses to the difficulty of access and amount of details of memories were also significantly different for the two groups, with the right hippocampal region showing a particularly increased recruitment (p < .005). The findings suggested the presence of functional cerebral changes during AM performance and supported the presence of AM retrieval deficit in MS patients.     

Whispering gallery mode sensor for phase transformation and solidification studies

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) sensors are created by coupling a dielectric microresonator with the evanescent field of an optical fiber. Since the sensor is created by two separate entities, most of the existing studies are limited to using them in fluid environments, such as air or water, for the ease of manipulation and placement in the optimum configuration. This work is focused on studying the possibility of using WGM sensors inside a solid material. The sensor is immersed in water, which is cooled to solid state and the sensor survival is monitored. In subsequent studies, three remelting cycles are carried out and temperature measurements are obtained through the sensor. The sensor output is calibrated with the temperature data obtained from a thermocouple. The results show that a linear relationship exists between temperature and WGM shift, which enables application of these sensors in temperature measurement. Considering that the sensitivity of WGM sensors is very high (10^?6 N force and 10^?5 K temperature), they can be used for high resolution studies on solidification in cryogenic environments.     

On epistemic and moral certainty: A wittgensteinian approach

Abstract

Epistemic and moral certainities like ‘This is a hand’ or ‘Killing people is evil’ will be interpreted as constitutive rules of language games, such that they are unjustifiable, undeniable and serving as obliging standards of truth, goodness and rationality for members of a community engaging in the respective practices.     

Habituation contributes to within-session changes in free wheel running.

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that habituation contributes to the regulation of wheel running. Rats ran in a wheel for 30-min sessions. Experiment 1 demonstrated spontaneous recovery. Rats ran more and the within-session decreases in running were smaller after 2 days of wheel deprivation than after 1 day. Experiment 2 demonstrated dishabituation. Running rate increased immediately after the termination of a brief extra event (application of the brake or flashing of the houselight). Experiment 3 demonstrated stimulus specificity. Rats completed the second half of the session in either the same wheel as the first half, or a different wheel. Second-half running was faster in the latter case. Within-session patterns of running were well described by equations that describe data from the habituation, motivation, and operant literatures. These results suggest that habituation contributes to the regulation of running. In fact, habituation provides a better explanation for the termination of wheel running than fatigue, the variable to which this termination is usually attributed. Overall, the present findings are consistent with the proposition that habituation and sensitization contribute to the regulation of several forms of motivated behavior.     

Elucidating satisfaction with physical activity: An examination of the day-to-day associations between experiences with physical activity and satisfaction during physical activity initiation

Satisfaction with physical activity is known to be an important factor in physical activity maintenance, but the factors that influence satisfaction are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to elucidate how ongoing experiences with recently initiated physical activity are associated with satisfaction. Participants (n?=?116) included insufficiently active volunteers who initiated a self-directed physical activity regimen and completed daily diaries about their experiences for 28?days. We used multilevel models to examine the associations between experiences with physical activity and satisfaction. Significant between-person effects demonstrated that people reporting higher average levels of positive experiences and lower levels of thinking about the negative aspects of exercise were more likely to report higher levels of satisfaction (ps?<?.05). Positive experiences and perceived progress toward goals had significant within-person effects (ps?<?.01), suggesting that day-to-day fluctuations in these experiences were associated with changes in satisfaction. These findings elucidate a process through which people may determine their satisfaction with physical activity.