BMC Psychology最新文献

Background: Caregiver stress can pose serious health and psychological concerns, highlighting the importance of timely interventions for family caregivers of people with dementia. Single-session mindfulness-based interventions could be a promising yet under-researched approach to enhancing their mental well-being within their unpredictable, time-constrained contexts. This trial will evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of a blended mindfulness-based intervention consisting of a single session and app-based follow-up in reducing caregiver stress.

Methods/design: The study is a single-blinded randomized controlled trial with two arms (intervention versus an education session on dementia care) and assessments at baseline, 8 weeks, and 6 months. The eligibility criteria include: family caregivers aged 18 years or older; providing care for an individual with a confirmed medical diagnosis of dementia for at least 3 months prior to recruitment, with a minimum of 4 hours of daily contact; and exhibiting a high level of caregiver stress. The intervention comprises a 90-minute group-based session with various mindfulness practices and psychoeducation. Participants will receive a self-practice toolkit to guide their practice over a duration of 8 weeks. Sharing activities will be implemented through an online social media platform. The primary outcome is perceived caregiving stress. The secondary outcomes include depressive symptoms, positive aspects of caregiving, dyadic relationship, trait mindfulness, and neuropsychiatric symptoms of care recipients. The feasibility outcomes include eligibility and enrollment, attendance, adherence to self-practice, and retention, assessed using mixed methods.

Discussion: The study will contribute to the evidence base by investigating whether a single-session mindfulness intervention is effective and feasible for reducing caregiver stress among family caregivers of people with dementia.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT06346223. Registered on April 3, 2024.

Introduction: Tokophobia is an intense and pathological fear of pregnancy and childbirth. Despite its significance, no research in Lebanon has investigated primary tokophobia within the general population. Nevertheless, it is crucial to assess the attitudes of both women and men, as potential future parents, towards pregnancy and childbirth, particularly during these challenging times for the Lebanese population. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Tokophobia Severity Scale (TSS) and Fathers' Fear of Childbirth Scale (FFCS) for assessing primary tokophobia among Lebanese nulliparous women and childless men, respectively.

Methods: This cross-sectional investigation encompassed all Lebanese governorates; 651 women and 618 men were recruited via social media platforms, using a snowball sampling technique. The questionnaire included the Tokophobia Severity Scale, the Fathers' Fear of Childbirth Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire, and the Lebanese Anxiety Scale.

Results: Factorial analysis of the TSS in women revealed a three-factor model: concerns related to personal complications (Factor 1), fetal well-being (Factor 2), and outward behavioral responses to fear (Factor 3). The FFCS also yielded a three-factor measurement model: emotional responses during the partner's childbirth (Factor 1), concerns regarding the hospital environment during childbirth (Factor 2), and anxieties surrounding the perinatal health of both the partner and child (Factor 3). Both scales were internally consistent with Cronbach's alpha > 0.9, indicating their reliability. The TSS and FFCS demonstrated statistically significant correlations with measures of anxiety and depression, thus attesting to convergent validity.

Conclusion: The results of this study provide evidence for the psychometric validity and reliability of the TSS and FFCS scales in Arabic-speaking populations. Given the previously overlooked nature of primary tokophobia in these populations, the availability of these validated instruments can significantly enhance the ability to detect and address this condition, ultimately facilitating the provision of necessary support services.

Background: The number of adolescents reporting that they are stressed has more than doubled among both boys and girls. Most focus is given to girls because they typically not only report higher levels of stress but also feel stressed more frequently than boys do. However, studies have confirmed that boys' experience of stressors is the same, implying that genders are equally prone to experiencing stress. Although male and female adolescents appear to experience stress in a similar way, how they cope with these stressors might differ. This study focused on boys' experiences of stress and how they cope with it.

Method: Eight focus groups were conducted with 39 adolescent boys aged 12-19 years enrolled in four schools in southern Sweden. The data was analysed inductively with conventional content analysis.

Results: The analysis resulted in three categories: Stress perception - time as a key factor, Identifying stressors and levels of stress, and Silent struggles and distractions. The boys had experienced considerable stress in their lives, despite their limited understanding of the concept. Their coping skills focused on engaging in sports or distracting themselves from stressors while relying less on social support from peers, school staff, or family.

Conclusions: Adolescent boys might need assistance in identifying stress and clearly voicing their specific concerns. They should also be provided with spaces that are free from stigmatization and judgement. Parents, teachers, and school nurses should be equipped with the appropriate tools and education on how to discuss stress and mental health in general with adolescent boys to prevent possible negative long-term consequences for both their physical and mental health.

Background: The WHO-5 well-being index is a brief rating scale extensively used to evaluate well-being symptoms. Despite the increasing number of studies validating this instrument across different samples from different countries, its psychometric properties remain unexplored in the Philippine context. Bridging this gap, the present study assessed the psychometric properties of the WHO-5 in Filipinos amid the pandemic.

Methods: In study one, exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was conducted using a sample of Filipinos (N = 2,521) from the general population and a unidimensional model of well-being was extracted. In study two, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to examine the one-factor model in 1,289 Filipino government workers. In study three, nomological validity was examined by performing a mediation analysis using 407 Filipino left-behind emerging adult children with dysfunctionality as mediator, pandemic-related adversities as independent variable, and well-being as the dependent variable.

Results: The results of ESEM and CFA provided support for the WHO-5 one-factor model. Moreover, the negative relationship of well-being to anxiety, depression, and distress lend evidence to the scale's criterion validity. The results of the mediation analysis performed in study three implied that those who experienced pandemic-related adversities tended to have greater dysfunctionality, and in turn, had lower levels of well-being.

Conclusions: Overall, the findings suggest that the WHO-5 well-being index is a psychometrically sound tool for measuring Filipinos' well-being.

Objective: We aim to estimate the prevalence of baseline clinically significant distress in Chinese patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) before receiving the first radiotherapy and assess factors predictive of distress.

Methods: One hundred and sixty-eight patients were enrolled to complete a set of questionnaires including Distress Thermometer (DT) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Of these, 131 questionnaires were available for the final analysis. The accuracy of DT was validated using HADS as the gold standard, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were employed to identify the optimal cutoff score of DT.

Results: Distress was reported in sixty-two patients (47%). Patients who were visited in the last week (p = 0.022) and those with medical-related occupations (p = 0.017) were less likely to suffer from psychological distress. Additionally, religious belief was negatively associated with both the DT and HADS-T scores, indicating that patients with religious beliefs were less likely to report high levels of distress (odds ratio (OR) for DT ≥ 4 = 0.291, p = 0.039; OR for HADS-T ≥ 15 = 0.316, p = 0.047). Factors such as age, gender, marital status, education and residency did not contribute to distress levels. DT was significantly correlated with HADS-T (Correlation coefficient (r) = 0.624, p < 0.001) and the best cutoff score of DT was 4 in screening distress.

Conclusions: DT was a brief and effective tool to screen distress among HNSCC patients.

Background: The current study examined the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the Adolescent Distress-Eustress Scale (ADES) in Saudi Arabia. It assessed the factorial structure through a confirmatory factor analysis, composite reliability through Cronbach alpha and McDonald's omega scores, gender invariance, and convergent validity through its correlation to resilience.

Methods: A total of 505 high school students from 21 randomly selected schools in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (mean age of 16.66 ± 1.10 years, 52.7% females) participated in the study. The questionnaires were translated using the forward and backward technique.

Results: Findings revealed good internal consistency of the Arabic ADES (McDonald's ω being 0.82 for distress and 0.79 for eustress). Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the two-factor structure of the scale and demonstrated measurement invariance across gender at the configural, metric, and scalar levels. Girls had higher Distress scores, while boys reported higher eustress scores, which was consistent with previous studies. Finally, the ADES distress and eustress scales were significantly correlated to resilience supporting convergent validity.

Conclusion: The present study supports the reliability and validity of the Arabic version of the ADES as a self-report method to assess Eustress and Distress in adolescents. Pending further validations to support the present findings, this measure can be utilized by schools, mental health providers, and researchers to support Arabic speaking adolescents globally.

Background: This study explored the relationship between attention, negative emotions, empathy, mindfulness, and psychological trauma in catastrophic events to reduce psychological trauma in the public.

Methods: A total of 526 adults in Guangxi Province, China, were investigated using self-rating scales for post-traumatic stress disorder, emotion, and empathy, as well as a five-factor self-rating mindfulness scale and a catastrophic incident concern questionnaire.

Results: The results revealed the following: (1) Emotion significantly mediated attention and psychological trauma. (2) Empathy had a significant mediating effect on attention and psychological trauma. (3) Mindfulness moderated the relationship between negative emotions and psychological trauma, amplifying the impact of emotions on trauma rather than buffering it.

Conclusions: When people pay attention to catastrophic events, they should remain sensible and restrained, and avoid excessive emotional involvement to reduce the excessive psychological trauma caused by the event.

Mathematical ability is influenced by genes and environment. This study focused on the effect of DRD2, a candidate gene for working memory, on mathematical ability. The results in child participants revealed associations between the DRD2 gene and mathematical ability. It was found that individual's mathematical ability was influenced by Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in DRD2, both in the form of haplotypes and in the way of interaction with parental education. These findings suggest that dopaminergic genes are linked to mathematical ability. This study provides evidence for the genetic basis of mathematical ability and offers guidance for personalized intervention in mathematical education.

Backgrounds: This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ).

Methods: A total of 340 adult participants who had been working for at least 8 h a day completed the study questionnaire online. The questionnaire consisted of sections on demographics and socioeconomic characteristics, the IWPQ, and the ultrashortened version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-3). Principal component analysis (PCA) with Promax rotation was conducted to assess the e three-factor structure for the Turkish version of the IWPQ. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine internal consistency. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess test-retest reliability. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated between the IWPQ and UWES-3 scales to evaluate convergent validity.

Results: The three factors accounted for a total variance ratio of 60.7%. Cronbach's alphas of three subscales (task performance, contextual performance, and counterproductive work behavior) were 0.894, 0.875, and 0.796, respectively. Test-retest reliability showed high agreement, with ICCs of 0.96, 0.98, and 0.91 for the respective scales. There was a statistically significant correlation between UWES-3 and the task performance subscale (ρ = 0.367 and p < 0.001), a statistically significant correlation between UWES-3 and the contextual performance subscale (ρ = 0.403 and p < 0.001), and a statistically significant correlation between UWES-3 and the CWB subscale (ρ=-0.352 and p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ) identifies work performance.The Turkish version of the IWPQ scales demonstrated validity and reliability in assessing individual work performance.

Background: Prior research has found that children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading difficulties (RD) are at an elevated risk of developing further cognitive deficits and developmental challenges [1]. ADHD and RD are characterized by a deficit in working memory, which negatively affects learning and behavior. The main aims of this study were to design a working memory training app and examine its effectiveness through a 5-week training program in Chinese children with ADHD and/or RD.

Methods: There were three experimental groups, with 26 participants in the ADHD group, 38 participants in the RD group, and 24 participants in the ADHD + RD group. The typically developing (TD) control group had 32 participants. All participants completed the pretest and posttest assessments on executive function and reading performance.

Results: The findings indicate that the experimental groups improved performance in verbal and visual-spatial working memory as well as Chinese word reading. There was an overall reduction in functional impairment following the training, in contrast to the TD group.

Conclusion: This study showed that working memory can be improved through computerized training in children with ADHD and/or RD. The implications of future research in working memory are discussed.

Trial registration: Clinical Trials Identifier: NCT06567444 (retrospectively registered) on 20 August 2024.