Description:
There is mounting evidence in clinical trials that therapist-assisted Internet cognitive behavior therapy (TAICBT) is efficacious in the treatment of depression and anxiety. Nevertheless, many clinical service providers (both individuals and organizations) question whether offering this form of treatment in clinical practice is feasible. As such, having information on the factors involved in the development of this service is essential. In this article, we describe the steps taken to develop a TAICBT service that registered professionals and students (under supervision) can use with clients suffering from symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety, and panic disorder. We share salient decisions made in developing this web application and the necessary unit policies and procedures. We also offer lessons learned and practical recommendations to providers who may want to translate this promising TAICBT research into practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Description:
The article presents a study which examined the influence of nature and nature-related views on consumer behavior, which utilizes an interpretivist approach and grounded theory method. The study offers a definition of nature and its relationship with humans, a description of nature lovers and the relationship of nature with the concept of self. The authors hypothesize that the mutual relationship between nature and man would lead to an environment-friendly consumption that is geared towards nature conservation.
Description:
The experiences in close relationships revised (ECR-R) is widely used to assess romantic attachment dimensions. Investigating cultural limitations in its applicability is imperative. This study aims to examine the instrument’s: (1) factor structure in two large and normative samples of Greek (N = 1706, M age = 16.16; SD = 2.16; 49.7% male) and Cypriot (N = 1279; M age = 15.54; SD = 0.65; 44.9% male) adolescents; (2) measurement invariance between these groups, accounting for potential gender and age effects. Results supported the two-factor structure and indicated partial invariance of the constructs between Greek and Cypriot adolescents. Findings support limitations in the use of instruments adapted for Greece in Cyprus.
Description:
This study examined the applicability and measurement invariance of the bifactor model of the 10 Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) core subtests in groups of children and adolescents (age range from 6 to 16 years) with low (IQ /=80; N = 816; % male = 75.0) IQ scores. Results supported this model in both groups, and there was good support for measurement invariance for this model across these groups. For all participants together, the omega hierarchical and explained common variance (ECV) values were high for the general factor and low to negligible for the specific factors. Together, the findings favor the use of the Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) scores of the WISC-IV, but not the subscale index scores. (PsycINFO Database Record
Description:
Handwriting difficulties are often included in descriptions of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). They are cited as the most common reason for referral to health professionals following parent and teacher concerns about slow and untidy writing. The aim of this study was to compare handwriting performance in English children with and without DCD across a range of writing tasks, to gain a better understanding of the nature of 'slowness' so commonly reported. Twenty-eight 8-14 year-old children with a diagnosis of DCD participated in the study, with 28 typically developing age and gender matched controls. Participants completed the four handwriting tasks from the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) and wrote their own name; all on a digitising writing tablet. The number of words written, speed of pen movements and the time spent pausing during the tasks were calculated. The findings confirmed what many professionals report, that children with DCD produce less text than their peers. However, this was not due to slow movement execution, but rather a higher percentage of time spent pausing. Discussion centres on the understanding of the pausing phenomenon in children with DCD and areas for further research.
Description:
Mental time travel is an adaptive capacity that enables humans to engage in deliberate, prudent action on the basis of remembering past episodes (episodic memory) and simulating future scenarios (episodic foresight). This capacity has become a popular and rapidly growing topic of interdisciplinary research. Perhaps the most influential and frequently tested neuroscientific hypothesis in this domain is that the hippocampus is a hub in a critical neural network for mental time travel, support for which is now commonly assumed by most researchers in the area. In light of.recent findings revealing limitations with existing measures of episodic foresight, we critically evaluate the available evidence for this hypothesis and find that it is inconclusive. We suggest that this is due in significant part to the exclusive and widespread reliance on noisy verbal measures and discuss this case as an example of a more general issue pertaining to the measurement of episodic foresight. Accordingly, we suggest that an essential focus of future research should concern the development of objective measures that capture capacity differences by requiring people to put foresight not just into words, but into action. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Description:
Same-sex friendship can increase an individual's health, happiness, and sense of social connectedness. To date, few studies have explored young men's accounts of their friendships and the communication strategies within close male friendships. The present qualitative study explored the ways in which 7 young, White, heterosexual, working/middle-class men from rural Victoria construct their understanding of their friendships and the discursive strategies used to signify meaning, specifically the role of insults, in close male friendships. Drawing on tools from discursive theory, thematic analysis of the data demonstrated that discursive strategies including insults, silences, and direct interrogation were used to signify closeness, gratefulness, concern, and masculinity and dominance. These discursive strategies are informed by hegemonic representations of masculinity, which the young men negotiate within everyday interactions with close male friends. The findings further support past research that suggests that in the absence of explicit verbal expression of closeness, male friendships can be intimate and psychosocially significant. It is suggested that health promotion in men should focus on informal spaces where men can enjoy each other's company. By exploring the breadth of communication styles and strategies of men, we are better equipped to understand men's needs.
Description:
This study was the first to delineate the role of grandiose narcissism and vulnerable narcissism, in addition to self-esteem and self-monitoring, in predicting authentic self-presentation on Facebook. Facebook users (N = 155) answered questions about their personality as well as the persona they present on Facebook, and Euclidean distances quantified the congruence between the two personas. Self-monitoring (ability to modify self-presentation) was included as a control variable in regression analysis. As hypothesised, grandiose narcissism predicted more congruent presentation between the true self and the Facebook self, while vulnerable narcissism predicted a greater difference between the two personas. In contrast to predictions, self-esteem was not associated with congruence between the two selves; however, a follow-up moderation analysis revealed a significant self-esteem vulnerable narcissism interaction. Specifically, for individuals with average and low levels of self-esteem, there is more incongruence between the true self and the Facebook self as a function of increased vulnerable narcissism. Given the psychological benefits associated with authentic self-presentation on Facebook, these findings inform understanding of the negative affective processes of vulnerable narcissists and their self-presentation on this popular social networking medium.