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Results for “Beliefs”

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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Fear-avoidance beliefs as measured by the fear-avoidance beliefs questionnaire: change in fear-avoidance beliefs questionnaire is predictive of change in self-report of disability and pain intensity for patients with acute low back pain.

OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this study were to investigate the association among measures of fear-avoidance beliefs, pain intensity, and lumbar flexion and to determine if changes in these measures were predictive of treatment outcome following physical therapy for acute low back pain. It was hypothesized that items of the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire would be correlated with concurrent measures of pain intensity and lumbar flexion. In addition, it was hypothesized that changes in fear-avoidance beliefs would be predictive of changes in self-report of pain intensity and disability. STUDY DESIGN: Patients underwent a standard examination that included measures of fear-avoidance beliefs, pain intensity, lumbar flexion, and disability from low back pain. Patients were then re-examined after 4 weeks of physical therapy treatment. PATIENTS: Sixty-three patients with acute low back pain enrolled in a clinical trial of physical therapy treatment. RESULTS: Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire items were consistently correlated with lumbar flexion, but not with measures of pain intensity. Pearson correlations indicated that changes in disability were significantly associated with changes in fear-avoidance beliefs and pain intensity, but not changes in lumbar flexion. Changes in fear-avoidance beliefs explained significant amounts of variance in changes in average pain intensity while controlling for changes in lumbar flexion. Changes in fear-avoidance beliefs explained significant amounts of variance in changes in disability while controlling for changes in average pain intensity. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that fear-avoidance beliefs have a similar association with pain intensity, physical impairment, and disability for patients with acute and chronic low back pain. This study provides preliminary support for the use of the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire as an outcome measure for patients with acute low back pain.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2002

Death beliefs, superstitious beliefs and health anxiety.

OBJECTIVES: The present study explored the association between beliefs about death, superstitious beliefs, and health anxiety. It was hypothesized that negative beliefs about death and superstitious beliefs would be positively correlated with health anxiety. Conversely, positive beliefs about death were hypothesized to be negatively correlated with health anxiety. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, correlational and multiple regression design was adopted. METHOD: A sample of 106 Roman Catholics and 197 Atheists completed a questionnaire measuring aspects of health anxiety, spiritual beliefs, and control variables consisting of demographics. RESULTS: Negative beliefs about death and superstitious beliefs were related to health anxiety within both the Roman Catholic and Atheist samples. The expected negative relationship between positive beliefs about death and health anxiety was not supported in either sample. Multiple regression analyses indicated that death beliefs and superstitious beliefs, in combination with background variables, significantly predicted health anxiety in the Roman Catholic sample. For Atheists, although death and superstitious beliefs were identified as significant predictors, when considered with other variables, the additional variance accounted for was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Negative beliefs about death and superstitious beliefs appear to be positively associated with health anxiety. These types of beliefs may have the potential to offer a useful addition to cognitive-behavioural models of health anxiety.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Understanding how patients form beliefs about pharmacists' trustworthiness using a model of belief processing.

OBJECTIVE: To determine what information people use in forming beliefs about pharmacists' trustworthiness and to determine whether these pieces of information can be categorized using elements of a model of belief processing. DESIGN: Participants in two focus groups were asked about the trustworthiness of pharmacists in one dispensing scenario and two pharmaceutical care scenarios. Transcripts were analyzed, and each piece of information provided was coded as an evidence statement or a claim, according to a model of belief processing. SETTING: University campus. PARTICIPANTS: University staff and students. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Information used to form beliefs about pharmacists' trustworthiness and classification of the information using constructs from the model of belief processing. RESULTS: Coders identified 92 evidence statements and 19 claims. An evaluation of the data across the scenarios using predetermined criteria showed 20 evidence statements and 11 claims to be the most salient pieces of information used to form beliefs about pharmacists' trustworthiness. In considering the pharmaceutical care scenarios, participants focused more on communication and interpersonal skills when forming a trustworthiness belief. The information could be categorized as evidence statements or claims, which are parts of arguments as described by a model of belief processing. CONCLUSION: The study participants used the pharmacists' credentials, communication skills, personableness, and appearance to form trustworthiness beliefs. Overall, they wanted pharmacists to be honest, knowledgeable, and caring. Variables used to form trustworthiness beliefs represent different levels of abstraction that can be detected and coded using a model of belief processing.

Focus Groups↗
PubMed1993

A Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) and the role of fear-avoidance beliefs in chronic low back pain and disability.

Pilot studies and a literature review suggested that fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity and work might form specific cognitions intervening between low back pain and disability. A Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) was developed, based on theories of fear and avoidance behaviour and focussed specifically on patients' beliefs about how physical activity and work affected their low back pain. Test-retest reproducibility in 26 patients was high. Principal-components analysis of the questionnaire in 210 patients identified 2 factors: fear-avoidance beliefs about work and fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity with internal consistency (alpha) of 0.88 and 0.77 and accounting for 43.7% and 16.5% of the total variance, respectively. Regression analysis in 184 patients showed that fear-avoidance beliefs about work accounted for 23% of the variance of disability in activities of daily living and 26% of the variance of work loss, even after allowing for severity of pain; fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity explained an additional 9% of the variance of disability. These results confirm the importance of fear-avoidance beliefs and demonstrate that specific fear-avoidance beliefs about work are strongly related to work loss due to low back pain. These findings are incorporated into a biopsychosocial model of the cognitive, affective and behavioural influences in low back pain and disability. It is recommended that fear-avoidance beliefs should be considered in the medical management of low back pain and disability.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2004

Beliefs in personality disorders: a test with the personality disorder belief questionnaire.

The hypothesis that each personality disorder (PD) is characterized by a specific set of beliefs was tested in a sample of 643 subjects, including non-patient controls, axis-I and axis-II patients, diagnosed with SCID-I and -II interviews. Beliefs of six PDs (avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid, histrionic, borderline) were assessed with the Personality Disorder Belief Questionnaire (PDBQ). Factor analyses supported the existence of six hypothesized sets of beliefs. Structural equation modeling (SEM) supported the hypothesis that each PD is characterized by a specific set of beliefs. Path coefficients were however in the medium range, suggesting that PDs are not solely determined by beliefs. Nevertheless, empirically derived cutoff scores of the six belief subscales were reasonably successful in classifying subjects, percentages ranging form 51% to 83%. It appeared that there was a monotonical increase in scores on each belief subscale from non-patient controls, to patients without any PD, to patients with PDs (other than the pertinent PD), to patients with the pertinent PD. This suggests that PD-related beliefs are at least partly associated with (personality) psychopathology in general. Another explanation is that many patients' position on the underlying dimensions is not high enough to lead to a DSM PD diagnosis, but high enough to lead to an elevated belief score.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Belief in good luck and psychological well-being: the mediating role of optimism and irrational beliefs.

The authors examined the relationship of belief in good luck with depression and anxiety within the context of a number of cognitive and personality variables used to explain depression and anxiety. Undergraduate students (46 men, 98 women) were administered measures of belief in good luck, depression, anxiety, optimism, neuroticism, attribution style, self-esteem, and irrational beliefs. The results showed that belief in good luck was significantly related to optimism and irrational beliefs. A number of models were tested to determine whether irrational beliefs or optimism mediated the relationship between belief in good luck and depression and anxiety. The findings suggested that negative relationships between belief in good luck and both depression and anxiety are best addressed by the theory that belief in good luck engenders optimistic traits and a reduced level of irrational beliefs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Relationships among children's beliefs, perceptions of their parents' beliefs, and their moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

The purposes of this study were to (a) examine the relationship between children's beliefs (value, competence, and goal orientations) pertaining to fitness-oriented activities and their participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), (b) determine whether children's own beliefs are related to their perceptions of their parents' beliefs about them (value, competence, goal orientations, expectancies), and (c) examine the relationship between children's perceptions of their parents' beliefs and their MVPA. Self-report questionnaires and structured interviews were administered to children (N = 81, ages 11-15) in a one-on-one situation in their homes to tap their own beliefs, their perceptions of their parents' beliefs, and to assess children's level of MVPA through the use of two-day recall and peer comparison measures. Multivariate multiple-regression analyses revealed that children's beliefs about their MVPA could predict a significant amount of the variance in their self-reported MVPA and that children's perceptions of their parents' beliefs were unrelated to their MVPA. Follow-up canonical correlation analyses showed that the most significant and positive predictors of MVPA were children's perceptions of competence and the degree to which they endorse a task and ego orientation. S second multivariate multiple-regression analysis revealed that children's perceptions of their parents' beliefs about them and their own beliefs about MVPA were significantly related. These findings are discussed within the framework of a Family Influence Model for understanding children's MVPA participation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Perceived parental beliefs about the causes of success in sport: relationship to athletes' achievement goals and personal beliefs.

This study examined the relationship between perceived parental beliefs and young athletes' achievement goal orientations and personal beliefs about the causes of success in sport. Participants were 183 male and female athletes, 11-18 years old, involved in team sports. Athletes completed the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire, the Beliefs about the Causes of Sport Success Questionnaire, and two modified versions of the latter inventory to assess their perceptions of their parents' beliefs. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that perceived parental beliefs were related to goal orientations and personal beliefs in a conceptually coherent fashion. Thus, the perceived parental belief that effort leads to success in sport was related to athletes' task orientation and personal belief that effort causes sport success. In contrast, the perceived parental beliefs that superior ability, external factors, and using deceptive tactics are precursors to success in sport corresponded to athletes' ego orientation and the same personal beliefs. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the socialization experiences of young athletes.

Achievement↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Determining the food irradiation beliefs of community nutrition educators: do beliefs influence educational outreach?

OBJECTIVE: To develop an instrument to measure the food irradiation beliefs of community nutrition educators and to determine the influence of those beliefs on food irradiation educational outreach. DESIGN: Survey development, cross-sectional telephone survey. SETTING: Cooperative Extension Program. PARTICIPANTS: All Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) county extension agents serving in the most populated counties in Texas (n = 134, response rate = 99%). These participants may not be representative of all FCS extension agents. VARIABLES MEASURED: Food irradiation beliefs and educational outreach as well as selected demographic variables. ANALYSIS: To determine validity and reliability of the instrument, factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha were conducted, respectively. To determine if food irradiation beliefs influenced food irradiation educational outreach, logistic and multiple regression analyses were conducted, with significance set at P < .05. RESULTS: The instrument had adequate reliability; two belief scales were identified through factor analysis, referred to as Safety Beliefs and Understanding Beliefs. Additionally, regression analysis suggested that educators' beliefs about food irradiation influenced the amount of food irradiation education they provided. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Results suggest that educators' beliefs about the safety and their understanding of food irradiation are predictors of the educational outreach they provide about it, indicating the potential value of professional development regarding food irradiation.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed1987

Mental health, belief deficit compensation, and paranormal beliefs.

The present study examined the relationship between religious and nonreligious paranormal beliefs and mental health, as well as the possibility that nonreligious subjects compensate for a lack of identification with traditional religion by increased nonreligious paranormal beliefs. Subjects were 80 undergraduates categorized as religious or nonreligious on the basis of scores on the Traditional Religion subscale of the Paranormal Belief Scale. Religious subjects had significantly higher total paranormal belief scores than nonreligious subjects. Those adopting religious paranormal beliefs were actually somewhat more likely to adopt other nonreligious paranormal beliefs. The failure of nonreligious subjects to compensate fully for this traditional religious belief deficit was reflected in their mental health ratings on the Langer's Mental Health Scale (Langer, 1962). Paranormal beliefs were found to be negatively correlated with reported symptoms of psychopathology, supporting the formulation that paranormal beliefs may serve to ensure psychic integrity by acting as "self-serving cognitive biases."

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Erosion of belief and disbelief: effects of religiosity and negative affect on beliefs in the paranormal and supernatural.

The authors investigated the effects of religiosity and negative affect on beliefs in the paranormal and supernatural among 94 undergraduate students enrolled in psychology classes at a small, private U.S. university. They hypothesized that religiosity would predict differential beliefs in the supernatural versus the paranormal but that negative affect would attenuate these beliefs. In addition, the authors predicted that belief in the supernatural and negative affect would interact to predict belief in the paranormal. Overall, the results were consistent with predictions. The religious participants were skeptical of paranormal phenomena but were accepting of supernatural phenomena. In addition, increased reports of negative affect over the preceding year appeared to attenuate belief in the supernatural for the religious participants. By contrast, for the nonreligious participants, increased belief in both the supernatural and paranormal was predicted when reports of negative affect were high. Finally, the interaction of supernatural belief and negative affect significantly predicted belief in the paranormal.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The Pain Beliefs Questionnaire: an investigation of beliefs in the causes and consequences of pain.

This paper reports the development and validation of the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire (PBQ). This is a 20-item questionnaire covering beliefs about the cause and treatment of pain. It was administered to 294 subjects, comprising 100 chronic pain patients and 194 controls. An exploratory factor analysis revealed 2 factors accounting for 68.15% of the variance. From the final solution 2 scales were derived: the first called Organic Beliefs and the second Psychological Beliefs scale, comprising 8 and 4 items, respectively. The construct validity of the questionnaire was assessed in 2 ways. First, the responses of chronic pain patients and non-patient controls were compared: a significant difference (F(1,236) = 53.04, P < 0.0001) between these 2 groups emerged such that chronic pain patients were more likely to endorse the Organic Beliefs scale items, whereas non-patients were more likely to endorse the Psychological Beliefs scale items. Secondly, as predicted significant associations were observed between scores on the Organic Beliefs scale and scores on the Chance and Powerful Others scales of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC), and also between the Psychological Beliefs and Internal scales of the MHLC. No relationship, however, emerged between these scales and measures of pain intensity. The implications of these findings for the assessment and management of chronic pain patients, and in the understanding of the development of chronic pain, are discussed.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effects of alcohol, expectancy, and alcohol beliefs on anxiety and self-disclosure in women: do beliefs moderate alcohol effects?

This study investigates the effects of alcohol, expectancy, and alcohol-related beliefs on self-reported anxiety and self-disclosure behavior in a social interaction situation. Seventy-two female social drinkers were assigned to eight conditions in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial balanced-placebo design, controlling for drink content, expectancy, and beliefs. Results show that alcohol expectancy resulted in an anxiety reduction in subjects who believed that alcohol has a positive influence on social behavior, whereas expectancy had no effect in subjects with negative alcohol beliefs. Furthermore, subjects who expected alcohol were less anxious when they had positive alcohol beliefs than when they had negative beliefs, whereas beliefs made no difference in subjects who expected tonic. Our results suggest that the effect of alcohol expectancy on social anxiety in women is moderated by differences in the content of their alcohol-related beliefs. We conclude that the inconsistency in previous results about the effect of alcohol expectancy on social behavior might be explained by differences in subjects' alcohol beliefs. Finally, as neither of the three factors had any effect on self-disclosure behavior, we suggest that this behavioral measure is unrelated to self-reported anxiety.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

When can children handle referential opacity? Evidence for systematic variation in 5- and 6-year-old children's reasoning about beliefs and belief reports.

Five- and 6-year-olds (N=51) heard stories in which a character sorted items into two locations. Either the character had a false belief about one of the items (e.g., thought a tin contained biscuits, not Lego), or was only partially informed of an item's dual identity (e.g., did not know that a tie was a present). Children found it easier to reject a report of the character's belief that described the true state of affairs when the character had a false belief (e.g., Is Fred's uncle thinking "where shall I put this Lego?"), than to reject one in which an object known to the character was described using a term of which she was ignorant (e.g., Is Mum thinking "where shall I put this present?"). Similarly, children found it easier to predict the character's incorrect sorting of the target items for false belief (with food not toys) than for dual identity (in the wardrobe not with things to take on a visit). Correct reasoning about beliefs and reports of beliefs that misrepresent an object does not imply mastery of the fact that beliefs represent an object in a particular way.

Child↗
PubMed2001

Influence of beliefs about the consequences of dizziness on handicap in people with dizziness, and the effect of therapy on beliefs.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the longitudinal relationship between beliefs about the consequences of dizziness and handicap levels in dizzy patients, and the effect of therapy on beliefs. METHODS: Symptoms, beliefs, and handicap were assessed at baseline and 6 months follow up in 76 primary care patients complaining of dizziness or vertigo, of whom 33 were assigned to treatment (i.e., vestibular rehabilitation). RESULTS: At baseline most patients believed that dizziness would have negative consequences such as falling, fainting, or losing control. Handicap levels at follow-up were predicted by baseline beliefs that dizziness would have negative consequences. Significant reduction in negative beliefs at follow-up was observed in the patients who received treatment, whereas there was no reduction in negative beliefs in the untreated patients. CONCLUSIONS: Negative beliefs about the consequences of dizziness sustain long-term restriction of activity, and can be modified by therapy.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Conceptual beliefs about human values and their implications: human nature beliefs predict value importance, value trade-offs, and responses to value-laden rhetoric.

Beliefs that may underlie the importance of human values were investigated in 4 studies, drawing on research that distinguishes natural-kind (natural), nominal-kind (conventional), and artifact (functional) beliefs. Values were best characterized by artifact and nominal-kind beliefs, as well as a natural-kind belief specific to the social domain, "human nature" (Studies 1 and 2). The extent to which values were considered central to human nature was associated with value importance in both Australia and Japan (Study 2), and experimentally manipulating human nature beliefs influenced value importance (Study 3). Beyond their association with importance, human nature beliefs predicted participants' reactions to value trade-offs (Study 1) and to value-laden rhetorical statements (Study 4). Human nature beliefs therefore play a central role in the psychology of values.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Belief importance and the theory of planned behaviour: comparing modal and ranked modal beliefs in predicting attendance at breast screening.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was, to compare the predictive utility of two measures of the attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control constructs of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) in predicting intention and subsequent attendance at breast screening. One construct was based on a modal set of underlying beliefs; the other was based on the three beliefs from each construct considered by the participant to be the most important. METHOD: We used a prospective, longitudinal design using a postal questionnaire at Time 1 and objective attendance data from screening records at Time 2. Questionnaires were sent to 1657 women from southeast England due to be invited for X-ray mammography under the UK's National Health Service Breast Screening Programme. After evaluating a set of modal behavioural, normative and control beliefs, women were asked to select the three beliefs they saw as the most important for them, and to rank them. The products of these three beliefs formed the 'important' (vs. the modal) measures. RESULTS: The 'important' attitude and subjective norm measures showed similar associations with direct measures and were equivalent to the modal measures in predicting intention and attendance at screening. The modal control construct was marginally more robust than the 'important' one in its association with the direct measure of control, and with intention. Key individual important beliefs that predicted intention and behaviour were identified. CONCLUSIONS: Measuring belief importance can help more fully identify the structures underlying attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control, and can provide useful information when the TPB is used as the basis for intervention to help change behaviour.

Attitude to Health↗