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PubMed2006

Factors influencing help-seeking from informal networks among African American victims of intimate partner violence.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the challenges African-American women in abusive relationships face when they consider seeking-help from their informal networks. Data are reported from interviews with 15 African-American women who were self-identified as having survived physical intimate partner violence. A 13-item, semi-structured interview guide was developed in order to elicit information from participants. All of the interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded for analysis. This analysis revealed emergent themes from these interviews concerning the social factors and perceptions that influence help-seeking behavior. Participants perceived their informal networks as willing to offer instrumental support. However, informal networks were not emotionally supportive. Participants also noted that the African-American community at-large believes victims of violence to be "stupid" for remaining in violent relationships. Additional results are also discussed. Results may be used to help enhance efforts to reduce the rates of intimate partner violence among African-Americans.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Everyday pain responses in children with and without developmental delays.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether children with developmental delays respond to painful events differently than nondelayed children. METHODS: Sixty families participated. Children between the ages of 2 and 6 years were observed at daycare centers while engaged in usual daily activities, such as free play. Spontaneous painful incidents and the child's responses were recorded using an observational measure (Dalhousie Everyday Pain Scale) designed to capture pain behavior. RESULTS: Children with developmental delays (n = 24) displayed a less intense distress response to an equivocal pain event than nondelayed children (n = 36). Children with developmental delays were more likely to display no reaction following a pain event, whereas children without delays cried more often. Further, children with developmental delays engaged in fewer help-seeking behaviors and were less likely to display a social response following a pain event than nondelayed children. CONCLUSIONS: Children with developmental delays appear to react in a different manner to pain events than nondelayed children do; we discuss a possible socio-communicative deficit.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Debunking the myths of adolescence: findings from recent research.

This review summarizes some of the important research findings on adolescence that have accumulated during the past two decades. Current understanding of the adolescent age-period is first discussed with particular attention to the previously held myths about adolescence. Second, a review of existing studies that have examined the problems and help-seeking behaviors of adolescents is presented. Overall, the majority of recent research findings suggest adolescence should not be characterized as a time of severe emotional upheaval and turmoil because the majority (80%) of adolescents manage this transition quite well. Nevertheless, a sizable proportion of youth (20%) do not fare so well, with many not receiving the help they may need.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2006

Perceptual asynchrony: motion leads color.

It is widely accepted that motion and color are processed in separate brain areas of primates. Numerous studies on monkeys suggest that neural mechanisms responsible for motion processing respond faster than those for color. Recent studies on humans, however, provide contradictory evidence. Is this discrepancy due to a gap between species (animal vs. human), or between measures (neurophysiological vs. behavioral)? To help resolve this issue, event-related potentials were acquired as human participants viewed motion and color stimuli. Results indicated that the physiological response evoked by motion arose earlier than that by color, which is consistent with previous findings in animals. This temporal precedence of motion signal processing over color was corroborated in a parallel behavioral experiment.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Genetic differences in the operant rate-depressant effects of ethanol between four inbred mouse strains.

The use of genetically defined populations in studies of ethanol on schedule-controlled behavior can help determine genetically underlying responses to ethanol as well as the role of environmental constraints in the expression of gene effects. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the rate-depressant effects of ethanol in four inbred mouse strains, A/J, CBA/J, C3H/HeJ and DBA/2J. Ethanol dose-dependently decreased high rates of behavior maintained by fixed-ratio responding for study in all four strains. In general, DBA/2J mice were the least sensitive to the rate-depressant effects of ethanol, with an A/J averaging 19.29% greater than the other three inbred strains. The results of this experiment demonstrate that genetic factors play a role in determining responsitivity to even a complex learned behavioral sequence such as lever press responding with a fixed ratio schedule, and that sensitivity to the effects of ethanol on fixed-ratio responding for water is not genetically related to acute narcotic effects or reinforcing effects of ethanol.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Moderate and severe erectile dysfunction equally affects life satisfaction.

PURPOSE: To explore the life satisfaction of patients with erectile dysfunction (ED) and to examine the relation between severity of ED and life satisfaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study sample was recruited from patients who presented in an andrologic outpatient clinic complaining of ED. All patients underwent the basic clinical evaluation and were assessed by the International Index of Erectile Dysfunction (IIEF) and the Life Satisfaction Inventory (LSI). RESULTS: The study included 69 patients with ED (age range 22-71 years, mean 49.5, SD 13.7). The LSI appeared to have satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.82). Men with ED had significantly lower satisfaction with their sexual life (t = -13.756, d.f. = 68, P = 0.000), but also significantly lower total score of satisfaction with their life (t = -2.793, d.f. = 68, P = 0.007) compared with available normative data from healthy population. However, when compared with controls, men with ED showed significantly higher satisfaction scores on their financial status (t = 5.075, d.f. = 68, P = 0.000) and on their leisure time activities (t = 4.029, d.f. = 68, P = 0.000). Regarding ED severity, mild ED affects patients' satisfaction with sexual life less than do moderate and severe ED. Interestingly, no difference was identified between moderate and severe ED groups. CONCLUSIONS: Men who seek help for ED have lower satisfaction with sexual life and lower satisfaction with their overall life compared with healthy people. Severity of ED seems to be an important factor, as men with moderate ED perceive the impact of ED on their life satisfaction equally with those with severe ED. ED patients gain more satisfaction from other domains of their life, provided they adopt coping behaviors that help compensate for their low overall life satisfaction. Furthermore, as ED patients do not differ from healthy people in their expressed subjective rating of quality of life (QoL), life satisfaction may be more sensitive than QoL assessment in the evaluation of the impact of ED on our patients' life.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Clinical teaching in physical therapy: student and teacher perceptions.

Many practicing physical therapists participate in the most crucial phase of a student's education by serving as Clinical Instructors. The purposes of this study were to identify the clinical teaching behaviors perceived as most effective and most hindering by students and CIs and to compare the response rates of students in bachelor's and master's degree programs. A published 58-item questionnaire was completed by 172 participants from eight physical therapy education programs. The results were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance. The perceived most helpful teaching behaviors pertained to providing information through feedback. The perceived most hindering behaviors were intimidating questioning and correcting student errors in the presence of patients. The different student and CI ratings for the item "leaves student alone until asked to supervise" has important ethical and educational implications. Master's and bachelor's degree students' ratings differed significantly on four teaching behaviors. Different instructional methods might be necessary for educating these students.

Behavior↗
PubMed1997

Does depression generate negative life events?

This prospective study investigated whether major depressive disorder can cause negative life events. One hundred and thirteen normal college men have been followed biennially from age 26 until age 62. Fourteen major negative life events were assessed retrospectively by a self-report checklist. A blind rater read each man's complete records over the 35 years and used the same checklist prospectively. The negative life events were divided into dependent and independent groups according to whether the men's own behavior could have played a role in causing the events. In comparison with the normal control group, depressed individuals had a higher density of dependent negative life events after their first episode of depression. This difference did not exist for the occurrence of independent negative life events. Independent negative life events tended to be related to help seeking behaviors rather than to depression. This study confirmed our hypothesis that affective spectrum disorder can generate self-induced negative life events, which may contribute to the chronicity of the disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Sexual knowledge, attitudes, and risk behaviors of students in Turkey.

This survey produced baseline information about student knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), their sexual attitudes, and their behavior to help establish control and education programs. The study was conducted at Ege University, Izmir, Turkey, during the 1999-2000 academic year. A total of 2,217 first- and fourth-year students determined by stratified sampling constituted the study group. All students who volunteered to participate completed a questionnaire assessing sociodemographic and knowledge factors, sexual attitudes, behavior, and history of STDs. The rate of students having had sexual experience was 36.6%. Males were more sexually active than females. Most students (71.4%) began sexual activity at ages 15-19 without any difference by gender. Males reported significantly more sexual partners than females. Similarly, the rate of male students never using condoms was significantly higher than females. Condom was the most frequent contraception method, followed by oral contraceptives and withdrawal. Mean score on the knowledge questions was 16.29 (highest score 30). The most widely known STD was HIV infection and AIDS. Students' knowledge of transmission routes, signs and symptoms, and risk groups of STDs was insufficient. Main sources of knowledge were visual and print media, and friends. Most students (84.7%) viewed prevention from STDs as a person's own responsibility. Young people in Turkey are sexually active and tend to engage in high-risk behavior. However, their knowledge on sexual health and sexually transmitted diseases is insufficient. Study results suggest a need for implementation of STD control programs and provision of school sexuality education for adolescents and young adults.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

The influence of health behavior clusters on dietary change.

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to identify cancer preventive health behavior clusters and to determine if clusters responded differently to a year-long intervention to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. METHODS: The North Carolina Strategies for Improving Diet, Exercise, and Screening (NC STRIDES) is a health communications intervention (n = 595) among colorectal cancer survivors and a comparison population. Cluster analysis was used to identify nonoverlapping groups based on fruit and vegetable intake (servings/day), physical activity (minutes/day), multivitamin use (yes/no), and body mass index (kg/m2). Logistic regression was performed to assess positive change in fruit and vegetable servings, using the healthiest cluster as the reference group. RESULTS: Five clusters were formed; they differed significantly by health behaviors and demographics. Clusters 1 and 2 (those following the "Healthy Choices" and "Eating Well" patterns) were eating more than 5 A Day before the intervention (8.6 and 6.9 servings/day), and did not show any increase. Cluster 3 ("Physically Active") reported an increase of 1.3 servings/day to reach 5.4 servings/day, and Clusters 4 and 5 ("Average Americans" and "Most Challenged") improved one serving/day for final intakes of 5.2 and 5.0 servings/day. CONCLUSIONS: These findings illustrate some differences in magnitude of response to a fruit and vegetable intervention based on health behavior profiles. Creating clusters or other categories from baseline health behaviors may help to further improve targeting and/or tailoring in health promotion interventions.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Pregnant smokers who quit, pregnant smokers who don't: does history of problem behavior make a difference?

More than half of women who smoke in the USA continue to do so while pregnant. While socioeconomic and demographic factors that distinguish pregnancy quitters from persistent smokers have been identified, less is known about behavioral factors that are associated with persistent smoking. Because smoking during pregnancy is not only an individual, but also a maternal behavior, it may have different behavioral correlates than women's smoking has in general. We propose a conceptual framework in which smoking during pregnancy is viewed as a maternal problem behavior. We explore this conceptualization by examining whether persistent smoking during pregnancy is associated with a pattern of psychosocial risk- and health-compromising behaviors in multiple domains, with pilot data from a small clinic-based sample. Data are presented for 96 predominantly Caucasian, working-class pregnant women recruited from prenatal clinics in the USA. Smoking during pregnancy was measured repeatedly by self-report and biochemical assay. Participants were non-smokers (37%), pregnancy quitters (17%), and persistent smokers (46%). These groups were compared in terms of their history of problem behavior in three domains: interpersonal difficulties, problems in adaptive functioning and problematic health behaviors. With few exceptions, smokers were more likely to have problematic relationships, poorer adaptive functioning and to engage in problematic health behaviors, than both pregnancy quitters and non-smokers. This pattern of problem behavior may interfere with the effectiveness of standard public health prenatal cessation interventions for a sub-group of women. Examining pregnancy smoking as part of a broader matrix of problem behavior may help to identify pregnant women most at risk for persistent smoking and inform the development of targeted interventions.

Chicago↗
PubMed2006

The virtual cutting edge: the internet and adolescent self-injury.

The 2 studies reported here use observational data from message boards to investigate how adolescents solicit and share information related to self-injurious behavior. Study 1 examines the prevalence and nature of these message boards, their users, and most commonly discussed topics. Study 2 was intended to explore the correlations between content areas raised for discussion. Both studies were intended to shed light on the role of message boards in spreading information about self-injurious practices and influencing help-seeking behavior. More than 400 self-injury message boards were identified. Most are populated by females who describe themselves as between 12 and 20 years of age. Findings show that online interactions clearly provide essential social support for otherwise isolated adolescents, but they may also normalize and encourage self-injurious behavior and add potentially lethal behaviors to the repertoire of established adolescent self-injurers and those exploring identity options.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Alexithymia and health behaviors in healthy male volunteers.

The association between alexithymia and maladaptive health behaviors was evaluated in 118 young, healthy men, aged 18-45 years. Subjects completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-26), and a health behaviors questionnaire, measuring alcohol and drug use, sedentary lifestyle, poor nutritional consumption, and risky sexual practices. In forced hierarchical regression analyses, the association between alexithymia and health behaviors was evaluated after adjusting for age, body mass index, social support, ambivalence over expression of emotion, and the expression of emotion. Results indicated that: (1) the TAS-26 and difficulty identifying feelings was associated with poor nutritional consumption; (2) difficulty identifying feelings was associated with greater alcohol and drug use; and (3) difficulty communicating feelings was associated with a more sedentary lifestyle. There was no association between risky sexual practices and alexithymia. These results suggest that, in young men, difficulties with identifying emotions and communicating emotions are associated with maladaptive nutritional habits, a sedentary lifestyle, and substance abuse, even after adjusting for other psychosocial and demographic variables. Such maladaptive health behaviors may help explain the association between alexithymia and premature mortality.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

The effect of positive and negative health behavior during gestation on pregnancy outcome.

This study examined the effects of substance use (alcohol, tobacco and/or drugs (cocaine and/or marijuana)) and healthy maternal behavior (prenatal care, prenatal class, vitamins, regular exercise) during gestation on pregnancy outcome. Live births from the nationally representative 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey were analyzed. Pregnancy outcomes (infant birth weight, weeks gestation, one and five minute Apgar scores, whether or not the infant was transferred to another hospital after delivery and whether or not the infant was rehospitalized) were studied in multiple linear regression and logistic regression models. The relationship of the interaction of substance use and healthy behaviors and outcome was studied in all models. It was found that women engaging in substance use while pregnant were less likely to engage in healthy behavior. However, in general, engaging in healthy behaviors had the largest positive effects on outcome for those women who engaged in multiple substance use while pregnant. Significant interactions between healthy and unhealthy behavior were found for birth weight, weeks gestation and five minute Apgar scores, indicating that engaging in positive health behavior may help moderate some of the deleterious consequences of substance use during pregnancy.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Effects of social stories on prosocial behavior of preschool children with autism spectrum disorders.

Social Stories are a popular intervention for preschool children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but little research on Social Stories has been conducted with this population. This study investigated the effects of Social Stories on prosocial behavior of three preschool children with ASD in an inclusive setting. An ABAB design was used for two participants, while an ABACBC was used for the third. Social Stories increased appropriate behavior and decreased inappropriate behavior for two participants. The addition of verbal prompts (condition C) was necessary to increase appropriate behavior for the third participant. Maintenance probes were conducted to assess whether stories became imbedded in classroom routines. Results are discussed in relation to applications, study limitations, and areas for future research.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Identifying, understanding, and working with grieving parents in the NICU, part II: strategies.

Supporting parents in coping with stress and loss improves the health and development of their child. This article looks at the need for monitoring the health and well-being of parents of infants in the NICU, including practical matters for health care professionals providing follow-up care. It is important to increase public and professional awareness of the grief response. Practical suggestions for coping with the NICU experience, many of them from professionals who are also parents of NICU patients, are offered for grieving parents and family members.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1997

Treatment of somatization in primary care.

A large proportion of patients present to primary care with chronic, stress-related symptoms having no organic cause. Biomedical treatment of these patients is usually ineffective and expensive. A 6-week behavioral medicine intervention designed to provide adjunctive treatment to primary care was evaluated in a randomized, controlled study. Thirty-eight individuals receiving treatment and 44 waiting for treatment completed the SCL-90-R at times corresponding to 1 week before (time 1) and 1 week after the course (time 2). The treatment group was then followed up at 6 months. After correction for initial levels, the treatment group reported significantly less somatization, anxiety, and depression than did the wait-list group at time 2. Within the treatment group, decreases in somatization, anxiety, and depression were statistically significant and were maintained 6 months later. Within the wait-list group, distress remained unchanged. A review of relevant literature reveals that a general behavioral medicine course such as the one studied here has an important adjunctive role in primary care, since 1) subsyndromal psychological distress is common in primary care; 2) physicians are reluctant to address psychosocial issues; 3) negative mood is associated with poor health; 4) negative mood is associated with high, inappropriate medical utilization; and 5) negative mood is associated with help-seeking behavior.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Does the effect of behavioral counseling on fruit and vegetable intake vary with stage of readiness to change?

BACKGROUND: We have recently shown that brief behavioral counseling based on the stage of change (SOC) model stimulates greater increases in fruit and vegetable intake over 12 months than nutritional education in adults living in a low-income urban area. We tested the hypothesis that behavioral counseling would overcome the greater obstacles to change in precontemplators and contemplators compared with those initially in the preparation stage. METHOD: Two hundred and seventy-one adults took part in a parallel group randomised controlled trial comparing behavioral counseling and nutritional education. Counseling was delivered in two 15-min sessions and accompanied by written material. Self-report changes in fruit and vegetable consumption over 12 months were analysed on an intention-to-treat basis and related to baseline stage of change. RESULTS: At baseline, 148 (54.6%) of participants were in preparation, 54 (19.9%) in contemplation and 69 (25.5%) in precontemplation. Preparers were younger, more educated and more likely to be female than were precontemplators and contemplators. In the nutritional education group, baseline stage predicted changes over 12 months, with larger increases in fruits and vegetables in the preparation than in the precontemplation or contemplation groups. This was not the case with behavioral counseling, in which increases in consumption were unrelated to baseline stage. CONCLUSION: Tailored behavioral counseling helped to overcome the barriers to increasing fruit and vegetable intake present among participants in contemplation stage but not the precontemplation or preparation stages.

Adult↗