The relationship between maternal chronic pain and child adjustment: the role of parenting as a mediator.

The role of parenting in the relationship between maternal chronic pain and negative child outcomes, including internalizing, externalizing, and social and health problems, was investigated. Parenting strategies used by mothers with chronic pain were compared to parenting strategies used by a control group of mothers without pain. Thirty-nine mothers experiencing chronic pain, their 55 children, 35 pain-free mothers, and their 48 children participated in the study. The results showed that for mothers with chronic pain, dysfunctional parenting strategies and the quality of the mother-child relationship were related to negative child outcomes. Mothers with chronic pain were more likely to engage in lax parenting and report reduced relationship quality with children than were control mothers. For the chronic pain group, over-reactive parenting was found to mediate the relationship between maternal physical functioning and child adjustment. Dysfunctional parenting strategies may constitute part of the risk that maternal chronic pain poses for children. The similarities between the impact of maternal chronic pain on child adjustment and that of other maternal stressors, such as depression, are discussed. PERSPECTIVE: In mothers with chronic pain, poor maternal physical functioning was associated with increased maternal over-reactive behavior that was in turn related to poor child adjustment. Maternal over-reactive behavior did not, however, differ in chronic pain and control mothers.     

Uncertainty and adjustment during radiotherapy

The relationships among uncertainty, hope, symptom severity, control preference, and psychosocial adjustment were examined in persons having radiotherapy for cancer. After 15 days of radiotherapy, both uncertainty (17%) and hope (16%) explained significant amounts of the variance in adjustment. At the end of treatment, uncertainty (18%), hope (11%), and symptom severity (7%) all significantly increased the explained variance in adjustment. Greater uncertainty and less hope were associated with more adjustment problems; symptom severity increased the explanation of adjustment difficulty at treatment completion. There was no evidence that uncertainty had positive effects in this sample. Findings also showed that control preference was unrelated to the concepts of interest in this sample.     

青年乳腺癌患者家庭韧性与社会支持及心理社会适应的关系

目的 探讨青年乳腺癌患者家庭韧性与社会支持及心理社会适应的关系.方法 采用便利抽样法,选取河南省某三级甲等医院的263例青年乳腺癌患者为研究对象,采用一般资料调查表、中文版家庭坚韧性量表、社会支持评定量表、疾病心理社会适应问卷进行调查,采用Pearson相关分析探究家庭韧性、社会支持与心理社会适应的相关关系,构建中介效...     

Family support and child adjustment in single-parent families

The complex phenomenon of single parenthood is explored within Roy's (Roy & Roberts, 1981) adaptation framework. Correlation analysis of a large family data set supported the literature and the conceptual framework. Findings suggested that single parents experienced a characteristic set of stressors distinguishing them from two-parent families. The mere availability of help with parenting seemed less important in fostering the children's positive adaptation than the quality of the relationship among the adults involved with the children. Practitioners are advised to address family support and the ability to cope with environmental factors when developing a treatment plan.     

护理硕士生一般自我效能感、应对方式和社会支持对学习适应性影响研究

目的:了解护理硕士生的学习适应性现状,并探讨其一般自我效能感、应对方式和社会支持与学习适应性的关系。方法:采用方便抽样法选取全国10所院校的全日制护理硕士生290人进行问卷调查。结果:护理硕士生的学习适应性总体得分为3.67±1.15,处于中等偏上水平;不同年级护理硕士生学习适应性的学习态度学习效果教学互动学习方法4个维度得分有统计学差异;一般自我效能感、积极应对方式和主观支持对护理硕士生的学习适应性具有正向预测作用,消极应对方式对其学习适应性具有负向预测作用;不同年级护理硕士生的学习适应性影响因素不完全相同。结论:护理硕士生应尽量采用积极应对方式,学校及护理教育者应培养其自我效能感,并为其提供必要的社会支持,以提高护理硕士生的学习适应性。     

Social support needs in adjustment to stroke

Persons experiencing recent onset of stroke show wide variation in their adjustment process. This study evaluates how much these individual differences are a function of interpersonal needs for social contact after the rehabilitation process. Subjective needs for social relations are measured and compared with adjustment to stroke. Variation in the expression of and desire for social support appears to be related to outcome of rehabilitation and adjustment to chronic physical limitations.     

Sources of social support and adjustment among Chinese cancer survivors: gender and age differences

Introduction

Social support has shown to improve adjustment among cancer survivors. However, it is unclear how health benefits of social support depend on the source of support, age, and gender. Chinese culture emphasizes relationship harmony and interdependence, providing a unique opportunity to address these questions. This study investigated how support from different sources was associated with adjustment to cancer and how the association was moderated by gender and age.

Methods

Chinese cancer survivors (N?=?238) from Beijing completed a questionnaire packet assessing support from different sources (e.g., family, friends, special others, society, and cancer organization) and adjustment (e.g., quality of life and positive and negative affect).

Results

Perceived support from family was greater than support from other sources among Chinese cancer survivors. After controlling for support from other sources, greater support from family and society was associated with higher quality of life, more positive affect, and less negative affect. Support from family showed a stronger negative correlation with negative affect among males, and support from special others showed a stronger negative correlation with negative affect among females. Support from society had a stronger positive association with quality of life, and support from friends had a stronger negative association with quality of life among younger survivors than among older survivors.

Conclusions

Findings highlight that health benefits of social support depend on the source of support, gender, and age among Chinese cancer survivors. The study has implications for delivering individualized healthcare services tailored to the preferences of cancer survivors based on their cultural backgrounds and demographic characteristics.     

Depression as a mediator in the longitudinal relationship between psychological stress and alcohol use

Abstract

The study examined whether depression mediated the relationship between psychological stress on later alcohol use, and if differences in age, gender and rurality affected the relationship. Utilizing a 14-year study of 527 community-dwelling older adults, latent growth structural equation regression modeling was used to test if the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) mediated the relationship between the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Age, gender and distance from the city center were added to the model to determine their influence. Results indicated that depression mediated the relationship between stress and current alcohol use scores. This relationship remained when age, gender and distance from the city center were added into the model. Men had higher AUDIT values and lower PSS intercept scores, younger participants and participants living further from the city center had higher longitudinal averages of PSS values, while participants living closer to the city center had higher AUDIT values. In a sample of older, healthy participants, the relationship between psychological stress and alcohol use was mediated by depression over time.     

Histamine: new thoughts about a familiar mediator

Any health-care provider knows that the sneezing, wheezing, and itching that are commonplace most often involve a small molecule, namely, histamine. In addition to its inherent physiologic role, this seemingly small "actor" is of profound historical and fiscal significance. This is evidenced in part by the awarding of the 1936 Nobel Prize in physiology or Medicine to Sir Henry Hallett Dale and Dr Otto Loewi who discovered the actions of histamine and the 1957 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine to pharmacologist Dr Daniel Bovet who discovered the first antihistamine, pyrilamine (neoantergan)(1). (see Supplementary Data for full reference).     

Social support for women during chronic illness: the relationship among sources and types to adjustment

The purpose of this study was to explore who in the network provided what type of support in relation to psychosocial adjustment for women experiencing chronic illness. The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire was administered to 125 chronically ill women, along with measures of depression (CES-D), family illness demands (Demands of Illness Inventory), marital quality (Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale), and family functioning (FACES-II). Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to examine the average amount of support from four main sources: partner, family, friends, and others. Women perceived more support from the partner than from any other source. Family members provided more affective support than friends or others. Friends provided more affirmation than family or others. After the partner, women reported confiding about their illness more to health care providers, counselors, or religious personnel than family or friends. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed for the amount of support from each source and the measures of individual, dyadic, or family adjustment. In general, affect, affirmation, and reciprocity from both the partner and family were associated with less depression, higher marital quality, and better family functioning.     

应对方式在护理实习生积极心理品质与职业认同感间的中介作用

目的探讨临床护理实习生积极心理品质、应对方式与职业认同感之间的关系。方法使用中国大学生积极心理品质量表、护理专业学生职业认同感问卷、简易应对方式问卷对272名护理实习生进行调查。采用AMOS 21.0软件对三者之间的关系进行路径分析。结果积极心理品质对职业认同感具有直接正向预测作用,路径系数为0.48,应对方式是积极心理品质与职业认同感的中介变量。结论教育者在护理专业教学及实践过程中,应有意识地培养学生的积极心理品质,使其面对困难时采取积极应对方式,从而提高学生职业认同感,促进其职业生涯良性发展。     

The relationship between problem-solving self-appraisal and psychological adjustment

This study examined whether college students' self-appraisal of their problem-solving effectiveness (i.e., perceived confidence, personal control, approach-avoidance) is related to their psychological adjustment, as measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Subjects (N = 671) were initially given the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI; Heppner & Petersen, 1982), with 40 subjects who scored in the top 16% and 40 in the lower 16% of the PSI scores selected for additional participation; 67 (81% of the random sample) subsequently completed the study by responding to the MMPI. The data were analyzed on a scale-by-scale basis, as well as through profile analyses by two psychologists skilled in the interpretation of MMPI profiles. Results revealed that self-appraised ineffective (as opposed to effective) problem-solvers scored more negatively on a general index of psychological adjustment (the sum of all the clinical scales), differed on all of the hypothesized validity and clinical scales (F, K, F minus K, D, Pt, and Sc), and differed on all of the hypothesized additional scales (A, Es, Dy, Do, Re, Pr, St, Es minus A, and Do minus Dy). In addition, the profile analyses by the two psychologists suggested that the self-appraised ineffective problem-solvers were less well adjusted psychologically than the self-appraised effective problem-solvers, thus supporting the findings from the scale-by-scale analyses. Whereas behavioral adjustment has been previously linked to the ability to cope with problematic situations, perhaps an equally important variable is the person's appraisal of his/her coping ability.The authors would like to express gratitude to Robert H. Dolliver, Theodore F. Henrichs, and Joseph T. Kunce for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, as well as to John F. McGowan for his assistance in rating the MMPI profiles of the subjects. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Anaheim, August 1982.     

The LONI Debabeler: a mediator for neuroimaging software

Brain image analysis often involves processing neuroimaging data with different software packages. Using different software packages together requires exchanging files between them; the output files of one package are used as input files to the next package in the processing sequence. File exchanges become problematic when different packages use different file formats or different conventions within the same file format. Although comprehensive medical image file formats have been developed, no one format exists that satisfies the needs of analyses that involve multiple processing algorithms. The LONI Debabeler acts as a mediator between neuroimaging software packages by automatically using an appropriate file translation to convert files between each pair of linked packages. These translations are built and edited using the Debabeler graphical interface and compensate for package-dependent variations that result in intrapackage incompatibilities. The Debabeler gives neuroimaging processing environments a configurable automaton for file translation and provides users a flexible application for developing robust solutions to translation problems.     

The intimate mediator: a carer's experience of Alzheimer's

This research arose out of a collaboration between a service user (M) and two researchers. Following M's invitation to us to explore issues surrounding a carer's experience of Alzheimer's, we jointly agreed a research strategy in which we would engage in a series of interviews with M, with the aim of developing insight into how the intimate carer's complex journey can support and benefit other family caregivers faced with similar challenges. Using a broadly hermeneutic-phenomenological method, three essential themes emerged to describe the carer's journey: (i) something is wrong; (ii) the challenging shared journey: being the carer; (iii) coping through meaning-making: advocacy. We arrive at a position which considers the unique role of an intimate carer as a 'liminal' figure between the private world of an Alzheimer's sufferer and the public world of health and social care systems. The paper concludes with a consideration of how the unique role of the intimate carer as mediator could be more respectfully involved as an ongoing knowledge source for care planning and treatment decisions. Specific areas of consideration in this regard include mechanisms for such user involvement in policy making, day-to-day care delivery, and developments in the support of other carers. We hope to highlight the 'intimacy' of this position and the distinctive benefits and challenges of such intimacy in providing a crucial level of user knowledge and 'evidence' for ongoing treatment decisions. We also hope to highlight the value and power of single-case study in generating useful insights for practice.     

Social support and psychological adjustment to chronic coronary heart disease: operationalization of Johnson's behavioral system model

No comprehensive theory of social support and psychological adjustment to chronic illness such as coronary heart disease (CHD) exists. This article reviews the literature on social support and adjustment to CHD from the perspective of Johnson's behavioral system model. It is argued that the quality of social support or nurturing is the major factor predicting cardiac crippled behaviors or dependency following myocardial infarction (MI). The variables of self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and perceptions of functional capacity are identified as variables affecting choices such as return to work and adherence to the treatment regimen and the behavioral outcome of dependency following MI.