Interpersonal positive reframing in the daily lives of couples coping with breast cancer

Abstract

Objectives: This study examined word use as an indicator of interpersonal positive reframing in daily conversations of couples coping with breast cancer and as a predictor of stress.

Design: The Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) were used to examine naturally occurring word use conceptually linked to positive reframing (positive emotion, negative emotion, and cognitive processing words).

Sample: Fifty-two couples coping with breast cancer.

Methods: Couples wore the EAR, a device participants wear, that audio-recorded over one weekend (>16,000 sound files), and completed self-reports of positive reframing (COPE) and stress (Perceived Stress Scale). LIWC, a software program, measured word use.

Findings: Both partners’ word use (i.e., positive emotion and cognitive processing words) was associated with their own reported positive reframing, and spouses’ word use was also indicative of patients’ positive reframing. Results also revealed that, in general, words indicating positive reframing predicted lower levels of stress.

Conclusions: Findings supported the hypothesis that partners—and particularly spouses of breast cancer patients—may assist each other’s coping by positively reframing the cancer experience and other negative experiences in conversation.     

Linguistic Validation of the US Spanish Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire, General Health Version

INTRODUCTION: There are no measures of health-related absenteeism and presenteeism validated for use in the large and increasing US Spanish-speaking population. Before using a Spanish translation of an available English-language questionnaire, the linguistic validity of the Spanish version must be established to ensure its conceptual equivalence to the original and its cultural appropriateness. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the linguistic validity of the US Spanish version of the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire, General Health Version (WPAI:GH). METHODS: A US Spanish translation of the US English WPAI:GH was created through a reiterative process of creating harmonized forward and back translations by independent translators. Spanish-speaking and English-speaking subjects residing in the US self-administered the WPAI:GH in their primary language and were subsequently debriefed by a bilingual (Spanish-English) interviewer. RESULTS: US Spanish subjects (N = 31) and English subjects (N = 35), stratified equally by educational level, with and without a high school degree participated in the study. The WPAI-GH item comprehension rate was 98.6% for Spanish and 99.6% for English. Response revision rates during debriefing were 1.6% for Spanish and 0.5% for English. Responses to hypothetical scenarios indicated that both language versions adequately differentiate sick time taken for health and non-health reasons and between absenteeism and presenteeism. CONCLUSION: Linguistic validity of the US Spanish translation of the WPAI:GH was established among a diverse US Spanish-speaking population, including those with minimal education.     

语感教学:语文教育新视角

语文能力的核心是语言能力,语言能力的培养首先表现在如何提高学生的语感素质。加强语文教育中的语感教学,构建培养语感的教学实践体系,势在必行。     

母语为汉语者听觉性语言中枢的定位

目的采用脑磁图(magnetoencephalography,MEG)的等价偶极子定位法(equivalent current dipole,ECD)和合成孔径磁场定位法(synthetic aperture magnetometry,SAM)定位母语为汉语健康自愿者的听觉性语言中枢,探讨汉字的语言加工过程。方法对15例母语为汉语的健康受试者采用北京大学附属第一医院制定的利手评定标准进行利手评定,采用给予听动物名称、植物名称的语言任务刺激,用MEG记录刺激后产生的诱发磁场,将采集的数据与MRI叠加,定位听觉性语言中枢。结果所有受试者听到动物名称、植物名称后均在双侧大脑半球诱发出明显的晚发磁反应波,其中左侧大脑半球磁反应波分化较右侧大脑半球好。结论母语为汉语的正常人听觉性语言中枢与经典的语言中枢基本相符,即听觉性语言中枢定位于左侧颞中回、颞上回、缘上回。     

Understanding native Russian listeners’ errors on an English word recognition test: Model-based analysis of phoneme confusion

Abstract

Objective: Word recognition is a basic component in a comprehensive hearing evaluation, but data are lacking for listeners speaking two languages. This study obtained such data for Russian natives in the US and analysed the data using the perceptual assimilation model (PAM) and speech learning model (SLM). Design: Listeners were randomly presented 200 NU-6 words in quiet. Listeners responded verbally and in writing. Performance was scored on words and phonemes (word-initial consonants, vowels, and word-final consonants). Study sample: Seven normal-hearing, adult monolingual English natives (NM), 16 English-dominant (ED), and 15 Russian-dominant (RD) Russian natives participated. ED and RD listeners differed significantly in their language background. Results: Consistent with the SLM, NM outperformed ED listeners and ED outperformed RD listeners, whether responses were scored on words or phonemes. NM and ED listeners shared similar phoneme error patterns, whereas RD listeners’ errors had unique patterns that could be largely understood via the PAM. RD listeners had particular difficulty differentiating vowel contrasts /i-I/, /æ-ε/, and /ɑ-Λ/, word-initial consonant contrasts /p-h/ and /b-f/, and word-final contrasts /f-v/. Conclusions: Both first-language phonology and second-language learning history affect word and phoneme recognition. Current findings may help clinicians differentiate word recognition errors due to language background from hearing pathologies.     

Solution-focused brief therapy for Chilean primary care patients: Exploring a linguistic adaptation

Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is a resource-based, future-oriented therapeutic approach that focuses on finding exceptions to problems and identifying coping strategies to build solutions. SFBT has been efficacious with individuals with alcohol use disorders. Chile experiences high levels of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related health consequences. Despite the international dissemination of SFBT, this is the first study to attempt a linguistic adaptation of SFBT in a Latin American country. We conducted 9 cognitive interviews to examine 13 translated main SFBT tools and 3 focus groups to gather information on cultural aspects of alcohol use in primary care. Results suggest that Chileans understood most SFBT tools, albeit with some linguistic modifications of original translations, and that family, gender, and meaningful issues should be considered when working with individuals with alcohol use disorders.     

Predicting emotional health indicators from linguistic evidence of psychological distancing

Psychological distancing, a form of cognitive reappraisal, involves construal of emotionally valenced stimuli in an objective manner, or with perceived spatial and temporal distance. Prior work suggests that in appropriate contexts, reappraisal broadly, and distancing specifically, is related to adaptive mental and physical health outcomes. Additionally, recent research suggests that shifting language to be more distant (i.e., linguistic distancing [LD]) can have adaptive emotion regulatory effects. The present study addressed whether LD is also associated with adaptive health indicators. Participants transcribed their thoughts while viewing negative or neutral stimuli in one of three ways: (a) by implementing objective language, (b) by implementing spatially and/or temporally far away language, or (c) by responding naturally. Across psychological distancing groups, LD was associated with lower negative affectivity (lower perceived stress and depression symptoms), better general well‐being (better emotional well‐being and energy and vitality), and better emotion regulation (ER; greater reappraisal frequency and fewer difficulties in implementing ER). Participants who used more LD in the objective group had lower negative affectivity, better general well‐being, and better ER, and those in the far group had better ER. The results reveal linguistic mechanisms underlying ER and its relationship to health indicators, suggesting future examination of LD interventions.     

上下文效应对大学生面孔吸引力的影响

目的 研究上下文效应在大学生面孔吸引力的影响.方法 采用实验法对随机选取的唐山市3所高校的160名大学生单独进行实验处理,让被试对其所在组的照片上人物的面孔吸引力作出5维度等级评价,并用统计学方法对数据进行统计分析.结果 大学生实验组与对照组对一般吸引力的异性面孔照片评价存在显著性差异(x2=51.30,P＜0.01).不同性别的大学生在相貌评价过程中的影响存在显著差异(x2=11.06,P＜0.05).结论 大学生在评价面孔吸引力的过程中会受到上下文效应的影响.男性大学生在评价面孔吸引力的过程中比女性大学生更容易受到上下文效应的影响.     

Linguistic Indicators of a False Confession

To date, most investigations of false confessions have focused on their prevention rather than their identification. In this study we investigated whether certain linguistic variables might help to distinguish between false confessional statements and true accounts. Using a within-subjects design, we elicited both false confessional statements and true accounts from 85 participants. We examined these for the presence of nouns, verbs and adjectives. Additionally, participants completed the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) to determine the relationship between noun, verb and adjective use and self-reported measures of state anxiety. Results showed that whereas nouns and verbs failed to discriminate between false confessions and true accounts, adjective use significantly decreased during false confessions. Anxiety was not associated with veracity. The current findings suggest that there are measurable linguistic differences between false confessions and true accounts that cannot be attributed to level of state anxiety.     

Linguistic characteristics of individuals with high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome

This study examined the linguistic characteristics of high functioning individuals with autism and Asperger syndrome. Each group consisted of 10 participants who were matched on sex, chronological age, and intelligence scores. Participants generated a narrative after watching a brief video segment of the Social Attribution Task video. Each participant was then asked 10 questions related to the stimulus video. The narrative samples and responses to the questions were analysed linguistically. Individuals with high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome performed similarly on most measures of language function; however, results suggest there may be pragmatically‐based differences between the groups in the use of verb tense markers.