Health Psychology Open最新文献

Living with long-term conditions requires adaptation and coping. It is unclear how young adults - often still in unstable social relationships - and their partners or friends cope with the challenges of a long-term condition. Our study aimed to explore how young adults and their friends or partners arrange themselves with this situation. In a comparative design, we interviewed 24 young adults with differing long-term conditions and 30 of their friends or partners in episodic interviews, which we analyzed with thematic coding. We identified four patterns of dyadic arrangements of coping for both sides: Joint Management and Supportive Arrangement show congruence and cooperation in dealing with the condition. Divergence and Diffusiveness illustrate conflicts and tensions. Our results show the importance romantic partners or close friends can have for dyadic disease management in young adulthood and suggest including friends and partners in training courses on long-term conditions and in professional support.

Background and Objective: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to influence social behavior and public well-being. This study investigates AI's role in promoting kindness and identifies ethical strategies to foster empathy, support, and compassionate communities. Materials and Methods: This qualitative content analysis involved purposive sampling of 30 participants, including AI experts, social scientists, religious leaders, developers, and users. Semi-structured interviews were conducted until theoretical saturation was reached. Data were analyzed using Granheim and Lundman's method. Trustworthiness was ensured using Lincoln and Guba's criteria: credibility (via member checking), transferability (detailed contextual descriptions), dependability (audit trail), and confirmability (researcher reflexivity and documentation). Results: Five key themes emerged: emotional well-being, social justice, behavioral change, ethical responsibility, and education. AI fosters prosocial behavior, enhances social inclusion, and promotes sustainable relationships. Conclusion: When ethically and thoughtfully applied, AI can support and complement, but not replace, human relationships, particularly in promoting kindness and prosocial behaviors. This approach can strengthen social cohesion, enhance public health, and improve community well-being. Explicitly acknowledging AI's supportive role reinforces the manuscript's ethical positioning and conceptual clarity.

Our study aims to understand the barriers and facilitators surrounding continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) in adolescents experiencing diabetes distress from type 1 diabetes through a biopsychosocial lens. We qualitatively analyzed interviews of 21 adolescents and coded their emotional experiences. Findings show that biologically, adolescents noted improved mood with healthier glucose ranges and future health prospects. Psychologically, adolescents preferred a sense of control over when to use, and take a break from, their CGM. Socially, they described mixed feelings surrounding how CGM use impacts relationships with friends, with family, and at school. The biopsychosocial framework captures the complexity and interplay among these factors, highlighting the desire for identity exploration, sense of belonging, and good health as important themes in adolescent diabetes management with a CGM. Clinicians can play a crucial role by bringing a biopsychosocial understanding of the CGM experience into care conversations for adolescents and families to consider.

Background: The Russian-Ukranian war (RUW) broke in 2022. Finland is a neighboring country of Russia. People in Finland could be assumed to be especially vulnerable to war-related stress. We examined the relationship between time spent following the RUW from media, sleep problems and psychological distress in university students. Methods: The participants were university students who responded anonymously to a questionnaire. They reported their age, gender, time spent following RUW, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and sleep problems. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS and Mplus for structural equation modeling. Results: The time spent following RUW from media was associated with greater psychological distress, and more sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbances accounted for more than 12% of the association between time spent following RUW and psychological distress. Conclusions: Present findings suggest that sleep problems should be taken into account when supporting students. Support programs should emphasize the importance of sleep in psychological well-being.

In romantic relationships, gratitude promotes positivity, satisfaction and maintenance behaviour. However, little is known about specific domains of and ways of expressing gratitude in long-term relationships, particularly, as studies so far relied on pre-formulated self-report questionnaires that may fail to capture expressions of gratitude beyond direct verbal expressions. The research questions were: How do individuals experience gratitude in their current romantic relationship and how do they describe their partner's expressions of gratitude? Forty-three older couples were interviewed separately by phone. Interview data were analysed with qualitative content analysis. Overall, a strong sense of gratitude was mentioned for the partner's personality, the relationship quality, the partner's support, their joint achievements and the life they have created together. Gratitude was expressed verbally, but also in idiosyncratic ways through love expressions, signs of affection, or gifts. To conclude, gratitude seems to be an integral part of long-term relationships and may be beneficial for healthy aging.

This study aimed to explore the challenges that patients faced when severely ill with COVID-19 and during their rehabilitation journeys following the first wave in Sweden. Eight patients that were treated in an intensive care unit were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Three themes were generated through thematic analysis: "transition into illness" (with subthemes: underestimated severity, uncertainty and worry); "to be cared for in a hospital setting" (with subthemes: loss of responsibility, loss of memory and time, contradictory feelings of being hospitalized, physical impact as frustrating); and "after care: managing on your own" (with subthemes: appreciation for care, care gaps and insufficient care, compromised ability, mental health, and self-efficacy for self-managed rehabilitation and post-traumatic growth). The findings indicated that the Swedish open strategy may be beneficial in other countries as it facilitated post-traumatic growth and that there should be a structured rehabilitation strategy in place in case of future pandemics.

Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) comprises a group of genetically and clinically heterogeneous disorders characterized by skin fragility and blistering. It is currently incurable, and care is complex because of the rarity of the disease. Epidermolysis bullosa has a major impact on the lives of people living with it and on their families. In this study, we aimed to explore health care professionals' (HCPs) experiences of treating and following up on children with EB and their families. Nine HCPs from several health care disciplines participated in semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis. Two main themes were identified: caring as an act of balance and facilitating collaboration. All participants experienced the following as challenging: (a) balancing between professional decisions and the provision of guidance to parents and (b) dealing with their own emotions. More systematic research is needed on the psychological impact of caring for children with EB and their families on HCPs.

This study explores how parents of adolescents perceive their children's eating behaviours and body image influences. Data collected through semi-structured interviews with 14 parent pairs were thematically analysed. Three themes were identified that contained ambivalences and contradictions in parents' perceptions: 1. Normalising weight loss while also questioning dieting, 2. Valorising but also criticising unrealistic beauty ideals, and 3. Pathologising the overweight seemingly only on a health basis, but also due to appearance. All themes were reflective of the influence that dominant social messages on body image have on parental perceptions, primarily sustaining problematic eating behaviours and beauty ideals. They are also illustrative of the challenges that parents face in navigating opposing societal messages about eating practices and body image, leading them to implicit and explicit ambivalences and contradictions. The implications of the findings are discussed, along with suggestions for the development of a socially sensitive and informed parent support program.

Teenagers with chronic illnesses gain uniquely increased awareness of the triumphs, challenges, and responsibilities associated with their condition. Although some studies have explored the experiences of adolescents with cancer, few have studied other chronic illness groups. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to explore adolescent perceptions of living and growing with a chronic illness. 12 individuals (ages 13-17) diagnosed with one or more chronic health conditions participated in a semi-structured interview. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, five themes were generated by the researchers: (1) trajectory of illness over time, (2) illness- and treatment-related restrictions, (3) interpersonal concerns, (4) reaching acceptance, and (5) perceived gains/benefits. Participants identified negative aspects of a chronic illness while also noting positive impacts on their lives. Despite little overlap in diagnoses, similar themes and experiences were present among participants, suggesting some level of generalizability among chronic health conditions.

Exercise-related cognitive error represent the extent to which individuals view their exercise engagement through a negative and biased lens. Three datasets were examined to develop a short form of the original 16-item exercise-related cognitive errors questionnaire (E-CEQ) and evaluate evidence of validity. Exploratory factor analysis on datasets 1 (N = 394), 2 (N = 177), and 3 (N = 1027) suggested that a seven-item, one-factor model fit the data. Findings suggested that the ECEQ short form had a unidimensional factor structure that did not vary based on age or gender. As evidence of criterion-related validity, similar magnitude correlations were observed for the E-CEQ short-form (ECEQ-SF) and the original E-CEQ with key exercise variables in datasets 1 and 2 (| rs | ranged from .20 to .76). The ECEQ-SF captures the extent to which individuals view their perceived exercise barriers through a cognitively errored lens.