Health Psychology Research最新文献

Introduction: Fibromyalgia is a complex disorder characterized by distributed and persistent pain often associated with fatigue and depression. The underlying causal agents of this dysfunction are not clear. Ketamine has been used to treat chronic pain in a variety of pain syndromes, including fibromyalgia, but the dosing protocols used are neither standardized nor consistent across cases. The current case presents an opportunity to contribute to a progression towards a consensus on ketamine dosing for fibromyalgia.

Case presentation: A 60-year-old female presented with indications of fibromyalgia and was administered a 9-session IV ketamine treatment for pain. The initial dosing was 50 mg, with a concentration of 1.0 mg/ml at an infusion rate of 0.8 mg/kg/hr. This was increased to 200 mg and eventually to 240 mg, maintaining a ketamine concentration 4.0-4.8 mg/ml at an infusion rate of 1.5 mg/kg/hr.

Management and outcomes: Following the first 9-session therapy, the patient reported >50% pain relief from pre-infusion levels and was placed on a maintenance regimen in perpetuity. This regimen involves two monthly IV ketamine infusions, one day apart for two hours at a maintenance rate of 4.8 mg/kg/hr.

Conclusion: Ketamine by IV is an effective option for pain management in patients with fibromyalgia. Compared to previous case studies, it is recommended that increased total dose, frequent administration, and longer duration of infusions all may be necessary for ketamine to maximize its beneficial effects.

Background: Swearing deserves attention in the physical therapy setting due to its potential positive effects on pain, physical performance, and therapeutic alliance. The purpose of this case report is to describe the strategic use of swearing in the clinical setting.

Case presentation: A 44-year-old female completed an episode of physical therapy after undergoing patellofemoral arthroplasty. Swearing was formally included into the plan of care, and the patient swore out loud during the most challenging and painful interventions.

Results: The patient reported that repeating a swear word was funny, distracted the patient, and made the patient feel more confident. The patient and physical therapist self-reported a strong therapeutic alliance.

Conclusion: There is evidence repeating a swear word out loud can strengthen the therapeutic alliance, improve physical performance, and decrease pain. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of a patient swearing during an episode of physical therapy care.

Aim: The present research sought at investigating the association between visual perception skills and written mathematical communication skills among a sample of students with learning disabilities in mathematics in Jordan.

Method: This was a cross-sectional correlational study that included a sample of 90 primary-stage students who were diagnosed as having learning disabilities in mathematics. To collect data, the researchers developed two data collection tools; the visual perception skills test (50 items) and the written mathematical communication skills test (6 items). The tests were validated and ensured for reliability before implementation on the original study sample. The data gathered in this study was analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS).

Results: The results showed that there was a significant statistical association between visual discrimination and Written mathematical communication skills test (r=0.218), visual closing test and Written mathematical communication skills test (r=0.411), shape relationship perception test and Written mathematical communication skills test (r=0.438), Visual Integration and Spatial Relationship Perception Test and Written mathematical communication skills test (r=0.614), Visual information recall test and Written mathematical communication skills test (r=0.154). The results showed that there was a significant positive association between visual perception skills and written mathematical communication skills (r=0.509).

Conclusion: The study ended up with that there is a significant positive association between visual perception skills and written mathematical communication skills among students with learning disabilities in mathematics. The study recommends developing mathematical educational material based on the visual approach and improving these skills among students with learning disabilities to develop their written mathematical communication skills.

Background: Despite the established contribution to psychological well-being in young subjects, the investigation of reflective functioning and dissociative experiences in help-seekers adolescents still appears an unmet need.

Objective: The study aimed to assess reflective functioning and dissociative symptoms in help-seekers adolescents, and compare them to gender-matched healthy controls.

Methods: The Reflecting Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ) was used to investigate mentalizing; the Adolescent Dissociative Experience Scale (A-DES) was used to explore dissociative symptoms.

Results: The study involved 102 adolescents (mean age 18.06 ± 1.78 years), split into "help-seekers" (N= 51; mean age 19 ± 1.98 years) and healthy controls (N= 51; mean age 17.12 ± 0.84). "Help-seekers" adolescents showed lower RFQ-certainty scores (mean 3.39 ± 2.47), compared to healthy controls (mean 6.73 ± 5.01). Furthermore, "help-seekers" adolescents reported higher scores on RFQ-uncertainty (mean 7.73 ± 4.38), compared to healthy controls (mean 5.14 ± 4.17), which indicates a greater lack of knowledge about mental states (hypomentalizing). Eventually, "help-seekers" adolescents showed significantly worse dissociative symptoms (A-DES total mean score 3.49 ± 2.04), compared to healthy controls (A-DES total mean score 2.06 ± 1.43).

Conclusion: The importance of an assessment in early adolescence denotes a topic of increasing concern, in order to identify failures in reflective functioning and the onset of dissociative experiences among help-seekers adolescents, toward the implementation of tailored psychological interventions.

The present study involves a Qualitative research design. The study intends to assess the effectiveness of interventions on the diabetic participants. In the present study, four participants screened with high perceived stress, moderate depression, poor sense of gratitude, were selected. The study consisted of three successive phases such as baseline assessment, intervention, and follow-up. Pre-test and Post-test design were adopted. Qualitative data were expressed as percentages, and Schwartz and Blanchard's technique was administered. Participants have shown improvement in positive dimension scores and there is reduction in negative dimension scores. Blood glucose level readings are also marked before, during, and after the intervention. Participants are found to control their blood glucose level, but the change in the glucose level is not clinically significant.

A survey of 200 residents of the state of Georgia, United States was conducted to assess the knowledge of heart attacks. Results depict that Georgia residents have only a basic understanding of heart attack symptoms suggesting the need for medical professionals to spend more time educating their patients on their health in simple terms so that the patients can be knowledgeable on their personal health.

Heavy societal stigma of certain conditions has created an environment where individuals may be hesitant to seek professional care. Urology is a specialized field that focuses on many of these conditions that society has deemed taboo to discuss. In this review, we address barriers that have prevented patients from seeking urologic care in order to better understand and elucidate important concerns within development of the physician-patient relationship. Recognizing these concerns can also assist in public health outreach approaches to motivate patients for seeking urologic care. The scope of this review was limited to three highly prevalent conditions affecting both men and women, including urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and genitourinary syndrome of menopause.

Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) are frequently present in the general population as patients age with approximately a third of individuals experiencing LUTS during their lifetime. LUTS can be further defined as having any of the following symptoms: urinary hesitancy, straining, nocturia, increased urination frequency, and dysuria. LUTS has the potential for patients to contribute their symptoms to what can normally occur as we age. This can lead to a decrease in patients seeking care and could negatively impact patients' health-related quality of life (HRQL). In conjunction with LUTS, we obtained from our analysis that LUTS and depression are closely related and worsening depressive symptoms may increase the severity of LUTS. We also discerned three categories of factors that can yield major depression namely adversity, internalizing, and externalizing factors. Within these categories, trauma, social support, genetic factors, and minimal education appeared to increase the risk of depression in patients. With the recent increase in mental health awareness and more access to mental health care amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, further screening, and collaboration between providers to treat both urological and psychiatric symptoms could improve patient outcomes. It is important for providers to have an increased understanding of the mental and physical impact both LUTS and depression can have on patients' wellbeing. This has the potential to help patients be more open about their symptoms with the aim of better addressing LUTS and depression to positively impact their HRQL.