Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

K D McCaul

Publications and source records attributed to K D McCaul.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Component analysis in smoking prevention research: effects of social consequences information.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of information about the negative social consequences of cigarette smoking on adolescents' beliefs and intentions to smoke. In contrast to the large-scale, multiple component interventions most commonly conducted, this study compared two brief videotaped messages that contained either social consequences or control information. Fifty-four seventh graders enrolled in health education classes participated. Measures collected immediately after the intervention and at a one month follow-up indicated that the social consequences information successfully altered subjects' smoking-related beliefs. The social consequences information also affected intentions to smoke in the future, but only for subjects who had previously experimented with smoking. Female smokers' intentions to continue smoking were reduced, but the intervention had the opposite effect on male smokers. The discussion addresses the importance of examining the effects of prevention program components on different subsamples of adolescents in small-scale process evaluations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Increasing the adherence of diabetic adolescents.

This study examined the effects of sequentially introducing self-monitoring, goal setting, and behavioral contracting procedures on increasing the regimen compliance of nonadherent adolescent diabetics. For each of three insulin-dependent subjects, a multiple-baseline across-behaviors design was used to study three of the following target behaviors: urine testing, insulin injections, exercise, wearing diabetic identification, and home blood glucose testing. In addition to self-monitoring of adherence, measures of metabolic control of diabetes were collected before and after an 8-week treatment and at a 2-month follow-up. Adherence increased and was maintained at desired levels for two of the subjects following introduction of goal setting procedures. Metabolic control measures also showed substantial improvement for these subjects. The third subject, whose family was experiencing a variety of severe problems, did not show reliable improvement. The data suggest that graduated goal setting is a promising approach for improving adherence to diabetic regimens.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Attention, distraction, and cold-pressor pain.

This article compares the effects of distracting oneself from, versus attending to, the sensations produced by cold-pressor stimulation. Experiment 1 revealed that distraction is a better coping strategy than attention to sensations when subjects are asked to report pain threshold and tolerance. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the hypothesis that distraction is effective because persons hold a commonsense belief in the benefits of distraction as a coping device. Neither experiment supported the commonsense hypothesis as an explanation for the findings of Experiment 1. In a final experiment, subjects were assigned to either a distraction, attention, or no-instructions condition and were asked to report their distress during a 4-minute cold-pressor trial. Distraction reduced distress early in the trial, but attention to sensations proved to be a superior strategy for the last 2 minutes of the trial. It is proposed that distraction and attention to sensations may be differentially effective depending on the duration of the painful stimulus. Possible mediating processes underlying the two strategies are discussed.

Attention↗
PubMed1982

Predicting adolescent smoking.

Two hundred and ninety-seven seventh grade students (143 males and 154 females) participated in a prospective study to predict adolescent cigarette smoking behavior one year later. Predictor variables included 10 survey items assessing the smoking behavior of students' friends and family, students' school behavior and beliefs about smoking and students' intentions to smoke in the future. The one-year follow-up survey was administered under "bogus pipeline" conditions to enhance the validity of self-reported smoking status by including the collection of saliva thiocyanate samples. Univariate analyses indicated that smokers differed from nonsmokers on a number of measures and that there were few sex differences on either the survey variables or on smoking status. Stepwise discriminant function analyses revealed that it was possible to accurately predict the onset of adolescent cigarette smoking by combining the survey variables. The three variables that consistently accounted for the greatest proportion of te variance were number of friends who smoke, intentions to smoke in the future and percent of older siblings who smoke. The implications of this work for programs intended to prevent adolescent smoking are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Behavior control over aversive events: does control that requires effort reduce anxiety and physiological arousal?

Although it has been suggested that the ability to control (avoid) an aversive event will reduce arousal, it may be that the effort associated with exercising the control will offset the arousal reduction associated with avoidance. To determine whether the amount of effort required to control an aversive event influenced the amount of anxiety and physiological arousal associated with the aversive event, 89 subjects participated in a 3 (unavoidable threat, avoidable threat, no threat) X 2 (high-effort task performance, low-effort task performance) X 2 (anticipation period, performance period) factorial experiment. The results indicated that (a) the aversive event (threat of electrical shock) increased subjects' anxiety and physiological arousal; (b) exercising control was effective for decreasing subjects' anxiety to the non-threat level but only when low effort was required; (c) the prospect of control decreased subjects' physiological arousal to the no-threat level while the subjects were waiting to exercise control over the aversive event; however, (d) while actually exercising the control, subjects showed high physiological arousal like that of subjects who could not control the event. These findings impose important qualifications on the speculations concerning the influence of control.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1980

Sensory information, fear level, and reactions to pain.

An experiment was conducted to investigate the conditions under which sensory information has beneficial versus detrimental value as preparatory information to assist individuals in coping with stress. Fourteen high fear and twelve low fear college women underwent exposure to the cold pressor test. Half of each fear group was provided with sensory information about the sensations produced by the cold pressor and half received a control message. Distress judgments made during the cold pressor showed (a) that sensory information effectively reduced distress for low fear women, but (b) sensory information exacerbated the distress of high fear women--at least during early portions of the cold pressor test. The data generally support Leventhal's (1979) perceptual-motor theory of emotion and have pragmatic implications for those persons who provide preparatory information to individuals anticipating a stressful encounter.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1979

Effects of paced respiration and expectations on physiological and psychological responses to threat.

While waiting to receive electric shocks, 105 males either (a) regulated their breathing at one half the normal rate, (b) regulated their breathing at the normal rate, or (c) did not regulate their breathing rate. Half of the subjects in each breathing condition were told that their breathing task would aid them in relaxing, whereas the other half were not given that expectation. Subjects in a no threat condition were not threatened with shocks, did not regulate their breathing, and were not provided with expectations. The results indicated that slowing respiration rate reduced physiological arousal as measured by skin resistance and finger pulse volume (but not heart rate) and reduced self-reports of anxiety. Expectations did not influence arousal. These data provide evidence for the effectiveness of paced respiration as a coping strategy, and they resolve the conflicting findings of previous investigations.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Control of respiration as a means of controlling responses to threat.

After a 30-minute rest period, (a) subjects in a respiration tracing condition began replicating their breathing patterns from the rest period; (b) subjects in an attention tracing condition participated in a comparable task that did not involve the control of respiration; and (c) subjects in a no-tracing condition were not assigned to perform any task. After the tracing manipulation was introduced, half of the subjects were assigned to a threat condition and informed that they would receive a series of painful electric shocks, whereas the other subjects were assigned to a no-threat condition and informed that they would receive red light stimulation. Analyses of heart rate and self-report data indicated that (a) the threat manipulation was effective; (b) controlling respiration did not reduce subjects' stress responses; and (c) subjects in the no-tracing condition were the only stressed subjects to show decreases in physiological arousal over time, an effect that may have been due to their use of a cognitive coping strategy (situation redefinition). These findings do not provide evidence that control of respiration is an effective strategy for controlling stress but do suggest that, when not interferred with, subjects can employ relatively effective, self-generated cognitive coping strategies.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Coping and adjustment to breast cancer.

This study examined possible predictors of adjustment to breast cancer. Sixty-one women participated soon after they were diagnosed with Stage I or Stage II breast cancer. Measures were gathered at diagnosis and again 4 months later. Predictor variables included aspects of the disease and treatment process and reported coping behavior. The most consistent predictor of distress and, to a lesser extent, quality of life, was avoidant coping: women who reported more avoidant coping were more distressed. These data fit well with most previous research and suggest one way of identifying women who may be more at risk for special difficulties coping with the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Adherence to IDDM regimens: relationship to psychosocial variables and metabolic control.

Thirty-four adolescents (ages 12-14 yr) with IDDM completed a questionnaire assessing regimen adherence over the previous week and psychosocial measures potentially related to adherence. Four aspects of the IDDM regimen were studied: insulin injections, dietary patterns, glucose testing, and exercise. Psychosocial variables included (1) Social Learning Theory measures of diabetes-specific family behaviors and barriers to adherence and (2) more general measures of family interaction. Glycosylated hemoglobin levels were predicted accurately (R = 0.68) from a combination of three adherence measures. The psychosocial measures were not directly related to metabolic control, but they were associated with adherence. Degree of adherence to one aspect of the IDDM regimen was not related to adherence to other aspects of the regimen and different psychosocial variables predicted adherence to different regimen components. The diabetes-specific measures were generally more predictive of adherence than were the more global measures. Implications and limitations of this cross-sectional, correlational study were discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Supportive and nonsupportive family behaviors: relationships to adherence and metabolic control in persons with type I diabetes.

The Diabetes Family Behavior Checklist (DFBC) was administered to 54 adults and 18 adolescents (less than 19 yr of age) with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Subjects and family members completed parallel forms of the DFBC at initial and 6-mo follow-up home interviews. During each of these periods, adherence was assessed via self-report, 1 wk of self-monitoring, and 24-h dietary recalls. The results showed reliable differences between adolescents and adults. More negative interactions with family members were reported by adolescents and their family members, and adolescents were in poorer metabolic control. For adults but not adolescents, negative DFBC scores were prospectively predictive of poorer regimen adherence over the 6-mo interval for measures of glucose testing, insulin injection, and dietary adherence. In addition, higher negative DFBC scores for adults were marginally associated with higher HbA1 levels (P less than 0.10). We conclude that the DFBC is a promising measure of family interaction related specifically to the IDDM regimen and that, for adults, higher levels of nonsupportive family behaviors may be related to reduced regimen adherence and poor control.

Adolescent↗