Psychology & Health最新文献

Objective: This study aimed to compare the differences between the framing of intention (approach vs. avoidance) and the type of self-regulatory capacity (planning vs. inhibition) to predict two behaviours (alcohol vs. vegetable consumption). Interaction effects between temporal self-regulation theory constructs were also explored.

Methods: UK participants were recruited online (N = 254) and completed measures of intention (approach and avoidance), self-regulatory capacity (planning and inhibition), and behavioural prepotency (habit) related to alcohol and vegetable consumption. One week later, consumption was assessed.

Results: Habit strength and approach-intentions consistently predicted consumption across each model for both behaviours. There was mixed support for avoidance-intentions and self-regulatory capacity variables in predicting consumption. Planning was more important in vegetable consumption than in alcohol consumption, and avoidance-intentions were only predictive in alcohol consumption. Inhibition was not significant for either behaviour. The interaction between approach-intention and planning was the only significant moderation detected and was only present in vegetable consumption.

Conclusion: The framing of intentions and the sub-facet of self-regulatory capacity are important to consider when attempting to explain health behaviours. Furthermore, theoretically defined moderation between temporal self-regulation theory variables might also depend on the type of behaviour and specific measured used to capture self-regulatory capacity.

Objective: This study explored the health-related quality of life (HRQL) and health behaviours of adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD) and healthy siblings, drawing on Gap theory which suggests HRQL is the discrepancy between current and ideal selves.

Design: Twenty-three adolescents with SCD and 21 healthy siblings aged 13 to 17 years participated in eight focus groups.

Results: Thematic analysis identified three themes: learning to accept SCD, coping with SCD and influences on health behaviours. Adolescents appear to have normalised and adapted to SCD. Adolescents with SCD have learnt effective coping strategies, such as moderating engagement in exercise. Unlike heathy siblings, they were not encouraged to exercise by parents but were content with their level of participation. Both groups were influenced to exercise by role models or wanting to socialise, and influenced to drink alcohol by peers, but there was limited understanding of the potential negative impacts of alcohol on SCD.

Conclusion: There does not appear to be a discrepancy between adolescents' current and ideal selves, providing optimism about their HRQL. Further consideration of engaging in healthy behaviours is needed, but it is important to strike a balance so that modifications to lifestyle do not impair HRQL.

Objectives: This research aimed to construct and psychometrically test a measure of multiple sociocultural dimensions (i.e. family, peers, media) theoretically associated with exercise behaviours/attitudes in adolescents; the Sociocultural Influences on Exercise Behaviours in Adolescents Questionnaire (SIEBAQ).

Methods and measurement: Part 1 of this study focused on measure construction and psychometric testing, involving item generation and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to refine the item pool, with 905 adolescents (Mage 13.66 years (SD = 0.94); girls = 442). Part 2 sought to explore the convergent validity of the SIEBAQ (n = 846; n = 414 girls).

Results: EFA resulted in a 47-item measure with a nine-factor structure (including social media modelling, parent exercise expectations, peer co-participation; α = 0.72-0.92). Correlations revealed weak-moderate significant relationships between the SIEBAQ and related constructs (e.g. compulsive exercise, sociocultural attitudes towards appearance). Regression analyses with the SIEBAQ identified social media modelling of exercise as a significant predictor of compulsive exercise in boys and girls. Proving exercise ability to significant others also significantly predicted compulsive exercise outcomes.

Conclusion: This newly developed measure holds promise. Further psychometric testing and validation of the SIEBAQ is the recommended next step to confirm the measure's nine-factor structure identified through EFA.

Objective: In high-income countries, people with low socio-economic status (SES) engage in less leisure-time physical activity (PA) than those with higher SES. Beyond a materialistic account of this difference, the role of motivational precursors-among which attitudes are emblematic-remains poorly understood, particularly when it comes to dissociating the automatic vs. deliberative components of attitudes. This pre-registered study aimed to examine the associations between SES (i.e. income and educational attainment) and motivational precursors of PA (i.e. explicit and implicit attitudes), and whether gender and age may moderate these relationships.

Method: We used data from 970 adults (64% of women; mean age = 33 ± 12 years) from the Attitudes, Identities, and Individual Differences (AIID) study.

Results: Results of multiple linear regression analyses showed that participants with the highest level of income (>150,000$ per year) reported more positive explicit and implicit attitudes towards PA than those with lower income. Exploratory analysis further showed that women reported weaker explicit attitudes towards PA, while both explicit and implicit attitudes towards PA became weaker at age increases. In contrast, educational attainment was not significantly associated with those attitudes, and there was only mixed evidence for a moderating role of participants' gender on the pattern of associations.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that both the explicit and implicit attitudes towards PA may be socially patterned. Future intervention studies should examine whether these attitudinal differences could be reduced, and whether such a reduction could help buffer the unequal participation in PA behaviors across social groups.

Objective: Women's preconception health is increasingly viewed as playing a critical role in pregnancy and birth outcomes and is becoming an increasing focus of public health messages within the UK and internationally. However, little is known about how women respond to and are impacted by preconception health messages as they try to conceive a baby.

Methods: Reflexive Thematic Analysis was used to analyse 193 responses from women in the UK to a qualitative survey on experiences of trying to conceive. As part of the survey women were asked to reflect on their engagement with preconception health practices.

Results: Three themes were generated: 1) Being fit for conception; 2) Preconception health and emotional labour, and 3) Interrogating preconception health expectations.

Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that whilst engagement with preconception health changes was empowering for some, more troubling implications included: heightened self-surveillance, stress, risks to wellbeing, and feelings of responsibility for poor outcomes. This demonstrates the importance of considering the unintended consequences of preconception health messaging in the shape of increased 'reproductive burden'. Furthermore, future development of preconception health policy and practice must also consider women's access to psychological support when trying to conceive.

Objective: Lifestyle change is essential for managing chronic- or life-threatening somatic conditions. Virtual reality offers opportunities for designing immersive and engaging lifestyle interventions that enable patients to translate behavioural changes into daily living. This review maps the state-of-the-art to provide directions for future research and intervention development.

Methods: A systematic scoping review was conducted by searching five bibliographic databases to explore the characteristics and feasibility of immersive virtual reality interventions for lifestyle change in people with chronic- or life-threatening somatic conditions.

Results: Forty-seven studies met inclusion criteria, and three different lifestyle behaviours were addressed in ten different conditions. Stress management (63.8%) was widespread, whereas physical exercise (19.1%), diet (4.3%), and combinations (12.8%) were less frequent. Gamification elements were often used (85.1%), unlike adaptation (27.7%) or personalisation (25.5%). Interventions focusing on the process of lifestyle change without performances of the target behaviour during immersion were scarce (8.5%). Feasibility-, acceptability-, and user experience outcomes were mainly positive despite some technical issues and side effects.

Conclusion: Future directions revolve around combining adaptation and personalisation, improving user experience, exploring the role of gamification, and adjusting the focus on practising lifestyle behaviour based on individual goal-setting- and behaviour change stages.

Self-compassion is associated with reduced stress and health-promoting behaviours through enabling a positive attitude towards the self in times of difficulty. However, limited research has investigated the role of self-compassion in understanding the relationship between daily stress and eating styles. This study examined whether trait self-compassion was associated with daily eating behaviours and eating styles. It also tested moderation and mediation models that linked trait self-compassion, daily stress and daily eating. A sample of 146 individuals completed a measure of trait self-compassion at baseline and then a 7-day daily diary. At baseline, self-compassion was found to be associated with uncontrolled, restrained, emotional, and intuitive eating styles. Multilevel modelling found that daily hassles were positively associated with total snacking (unhealthy and healthy) behaviours. Trait self-compassion was associated with less daily hassles. However, self-compassion was not associated with between-meal snack consumption and did not moderate daily stress-snacking relationships. Multilevel mediation analyses revealed no indirect effects of self-compassion on between-meal snacking, daily hassles or uplifts. Future research ought to replicate the current findings and explore fluctuations in self-compassion at a daily level. Greater understanding of a state-trait approach to self-compassion is warranted for the associations with daily stress and eating behaviours.

Objective: Supporting the uptake of protective health measures is key to the management of new and existing health threats. We present and test a novel theory-grounded messaging approach that combines death reminders with exposure to an NHS prime located on the facemask of the spokesperson.

Methods: In two preregistered online RCTs in samples of UK nationals who identified as White/Caucasian, we tested public health communications concerning COVID-19 vaccination (Study 1) and booster (Study 2).

Results: In Study 1, our messaging approach increased protective behavioural intentions in a de-facto vaccine-resistant population with lower levels of interpersonal trust. In Study 2, some vaccinated participants seemed to have reacted to the health communication in ways intended to restore personal freedom, rejecting the booster advice provided.

Conclusions: Overall, the current findings show that our tailored messaging approach can affect people's COVID-19-related protective health intentions depending on individual differences. We discuss insights concerning the psychological mechanisms underpinning our effects and present testable directions for the optimisation of the tailoring of our messaging approach towards behaviour change.

Objective: Burns are a common cause of unintentional injuries in childhood and a significant global public health issue. Parents of paediatric burn patients are a vulnerable group for psychological distress.

Methods and measures: The present systematic review aimed to synthesise the existing evidence on the factors/predictors and consequences of parental distress following paediatric burn injuries. According to PRISMA guidelines, Web of Science, PubMed, and PsycINFO databases were searched until November 2021.

Results: Of the thirty-eight articles included, only fourteen were longitudinal. Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality using an established tool, and most were of fair quality. Twenty-eight studies explored factors/predictors of parental distress, twenty studies identified its consequences, and eleven studies reported subgroup differences. Parents' and children's sociodemographic, psychological, psychosocial, family, and burn-related variables were significantly associated and/or contributed to parental distress. Initial levels of parental distress were considered a strong predictor of long-term distress. Parental distress was a significant potential risk factor for children's traumatic symptoms, behaviour problems, and worse health outcomes, including quality of life, with mothers being the most affected. Most parental distress symptoms decreased over time.

Conclusion: Our findings underlined the need for routine parent psychosocial screening and the implementation of trauma-informed multidisciplinary care.

Objective: This systematic review aims to examine psychological interventions that target emotion regulation and broader emotional processes in the perinatal period, to bring together existing evidence, and to provide a comprehensive perspective on how these interventions address women's emotional challenges during pregnancy and the postpartum year.

Methods and measures: Following PRISMA 2020, 2,950 records were screened, 89 full texts assessed, and 11 studies (randomised controlled and quasi-experimental) were included. Eligible studies involved perinatal women, evaluated interventions with an explicit emotional focus, and reported validated outcomes on emotion regulation, affect, anxiety, or depression.

Results: Eleven studies were identified, including interventions such as Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Unified Protocol, Emotion-Focused Therapy, and self-compassion-based writing. Most reported significant improvements in emotion regulation and reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms. For example, Agako et al. (2023) reported a large effect on emotion regulation (d = 1.5). Across studies, effects were generally in the moderate-to-large range.

Conclusion: Emotion-focused and emotion regulation-based interventions in the perinatal period show promising potential for enhancing women's emotional functioning and well-being. Findings highlight the importance of integrating emotion regulation-based approaches into perinatal psychological support programs, though limitations of existing studies warrant cautious interpretation.