JOURNAL OF APPLIED BIOBEHAVIORAL RESEARCH最新文献

Sports-related concussions (SRCs) are a public health problem. However, caregivers of youth athletes (CYAs) do not receive targeted education even though they are primary decision makers for youth athletes (YAs) who incur injuries. The purpose of this study was to understand CYA's SRC perceptions via the Health Belief Model (HBM) and Message Source Credibility in order to guide development of CYA SRC health education messages. Key informants (n = 20, e.g., sports personnel, medical practitioners, and researchers) who interact with CYAs and YAs and 30 CYAs (3 males, 27 females) from five different states were interviewed. Questions aimed to identify CYA's understanding of SRC prevention, recognition, treatment, and disposition through the framework of the HBM and message source credibility. CYAs had high-perceived severity of SRCs regardless of sport but mixed views of susceptibility. Despite receiving SRC education, CYAs consistently stated their own lack of understanding and low self-efficacy. The sources and amount of information CYAs receive are barriers to education. Therefore, a health communication intervention from a trusted source that focuses on HBM constructs like perceived susceptibility, education barriers, and cues to action both pre- and post-injury may fill the current educational gap.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is typically associated with the experience of diffuse pain and physical impairment. Depression also commonly co-exists in patients with FM and has been correlated with pain intensity and physical functioning. Previous research suggests an association between pain intensity and physical functioning; however, the direct causal relationship between improvements in pain intensity and in functioning is not observed in many FM patients. This may suggest that another factor such as depression is mediating this relationship. The present work examined mediating role of depression. Two hundred sixteen patients with FM completed measures of pain intensity, depression, and physical function as part of a larger longitudinal study. Assessments were completed at baseline, 12, 24, and 36 weeks. Longitudinal mediational analyses indicated that depression is a partial mediator of the relationship between pain intensity and physical functioning at all four assessment points. Beta coefficients for the path from pain to physical functioning ranged from 0.18 to 0.36, with attenuated path coefficients ranging 0.03–0.08, still showing significant but decreased associations when depression was added as a mediator. Clinical implication includes the importance of treating comorbid depression in patients with FM early in the course of treatment to prevent engagement in the cycle of disability.

This study aimed to demonstrate the relevance of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) measures to the assessment of chronic low back pain. A literature search was conducted to find all relevant articles regarding the PROMIS domains of pain impact, behavior, interference, quality, and intensity, as well as the other PROMIS domains of sleep disturbance, fatigue, satisfaction with social roles, anxiety, depression, and physical function. Findings were compiled. Although few measures assessed low back pain specifically, all were found reliable and valid, and useful for a wide variety of other populations. The PROMIS has several advantages over other “legacy” measures, including generalizability, comparability, ease of access and use, having a wide range of methodologies to utilize in assessment, and free availability to the public. Having the PROMIS available at no additional cost will help further research by making it more accessible.

To increase our understanding of predictors of healthy behavior patterns in Native American children. Children from the Southwest (N = 145) United States were administered a questionnaire with predictors of healthy living behaviors (i.e., perceived health status and perceived physical shape [fitness]). Using structural equation modeling, significant path estimates were present for self-efficacy in predicting beliefs, for (removing) barriers, and for adult/peer support. Further, belief, barriers, and peer social support significantly predicted goals/intentions to be physically active. For children's perceived physical shape (fitness), similar results were found except with no significant relationship between self-efficacy and (removing) barriers. Efforts focusing on increasing support systems and improving experiences (leading to positive efficacy/beliefs) can lead to significantly greater goals/intentions and perhaps the adoption of healthy behavior patterns by children.

The purpose of this study is to see if social support that is exchanged in religious institutions moderates the relationship between stressful life events and cholesterol. The data come from a nationwide survey of adults of all ages (N = 816). Based on data from blood samples, cholesterol was measured by subtracting high-density lipoprotein from total cholesterol. Questions were administered to assess how often study participants provide and receive spiritual support from fellow church members. Spiritual support is assistance that is exchanged with the explicit purpose of increasing the religious beliefs and behaviors of the recipient. Controls were established in the analyses for a number of health behaviors (e.g., exercise), other types of religious involvement (e.g., church attendance), and demographic characteristics (e.g., age, sex, education). The study variables were assessed with ordinary least squares regression procedures. The data suggest that providing spiritual support tends to reduce the magnitude of the relationship between stress and cholesterol. In contrast, similar stress-buffering effects were not observed with the measure of receiving spiritual support at church. The findings contribute to mounting evidence on the relationship between religion and health because they are based on biological measures.

Purpose: Intervention content written by adults for youth can result in miscommunication due to generational and cultural differences. Inviting at-risk youth to participate in the creation of intervention material can augment acceptability for their peers. Methods: To improve intervention messaging, this study examines the utility of a card sort technique when creating cellular phone text messages to be used in a preventive substance-use intervention. During focus groups with 24 youths who are exiting the foster care system—a population with distinct cultural attributes—participants were asked to rate stage of change-specific health messages rooted in Motivational Interviewing and the Transtheoretical Model. Results: Participants unanimously favored content that encouraged autonomy and choice. Statements that invited a “look to the future” were also rated favorably. Messages that referenced the past were not rated well, as were suggestions for professional assistance. Finally, encouragement to receive social support for change was met with ambivalence. While some participants regarded support as helpful, many others felt a severe lack of support in their lives, possibly prompting further substance use. Conclusions: Youth exiting foster care constitutes a unique population whose voice is paramount in the development of interventions. The content present in traditional approaches to substance-use prevention (e.g., increasing social support) may not apply to this group of vulnerable youth. The card sort technique has strong potential to evoke youth-specific intervention content that is more readily understood and accepted by target audiences. Intervention content written by adults for youth can result in miscommunication due to generational and cultural differences. Co-creation, rather, can augment acceptability. We examined the utility of a card sort technique when creating text messages for a preventive substance use intervention. Twenty-four youth exiting foster care rated messages rooted in Motivational Interviewing and the Transtheoretical Model. Participants favored content that encouraged autonomy or “looking forward.” Messages about the past and suggestions for professional assistance were rated poorly. Encouragement to rely on social support was met with ambivalence, as some felt discouraged that they lacked supports. The voice of foster youth is paramount for intervention development. This technique has strong potential to evoke content that is more readily understood and accepted.

This study investigated how aging modulates semantic encoding. We used a task where participants were required to determine the semantic relatedness between the cue and target stimuli. Single-character Chinese words were the cues, whereas two-character words describing the cues were the targets. The targets can be visual-based (appearance) or associative-based (meaning). Experiment One compared the reaction times on the two types of targets between older (n = 29) and younger participants (n = 31). Older participants performed significantly slower on the visual- than associative-based trials, while the younger participants showed no difference. The results suggest that aging would hinder semantic encoding of visual- rather than associative-based processes. The slowness in processing is likely attributable to age-related decline in attentional control. Experiment Two tested the aging effect on top-down attentional control by presenting pre-cue before each trial on older (n = 26) and younger participants (n = 49). The results indicated that valid pre-cue reduced the latency differences between the visual- and associative-based trials among the older participants. The valid pre-cues were found to effectively shorten the reaction time of the visual-based trials suggesting possible facilitation of attentional control among the older adults. Our findings substantiate age-related attentional control decline only in visual- but not associative-based processing. Future studies should explore the mechanisms underlying such differential age-related effect.

Anger management styles (i.e., anger-in and anger-out) characterize a person's typical response to anger. Anger-in, the suppression of anger, and anger-out, the outward expression of anger, have been associated with increased acute and chronic pain. Previous research suggests that anger-in is related to pain because of its shared variance with negative affect; anger-out is believed to be related to pain because of a disruption of endogenous opioid systems. It is currently unknown whether anger management styles promote pain by facilitating central sensitization or spinal nociception. This study assessed the relationship between anger management styles and markers of central sensitization (i.e., temporal summation of pain [TS-pain] and nociception flexion reflex [TS-NFR]), spinal nociception (nociception flexion reflex [NFR] threshold), and measures of pain experience. One hundred nine healthy pain-free individuals completed the study. A bootstrapped mediation analysis was conducted to test whether negative affect mediated relationships with anger-in. Results suggested that anger-in and anger-out were associated with lower NFR thresholds (facilitated spinal nociception), but no other outcome. Negative affect did not mediate either of these relationships. These results suggest that anger management styles may amplify spinal nociceptive processes in healthy humans without altering central sensitization.