Abstract The purpose of this study was to assess the relative effects of coping self-efficacy and... more Abstract The purpose of this study was to assess the relative effects of coping self-efficacy and catastrophizing on physical functioning. Over a 9-month period, studying changes in self-efficacy as possible mediator between catastrophizing changes and physical functioning changes might provide evidence for the most promising treatment target. Data came from a randomized, longitudinal controlled trial comparing exercise, self-management and the two combined to treat 254 individuals with early knee osteoarthritis.
The population of older adults and the percentage of people living in urban areas are both increa... more The population of older adults and the percentage of people living in urban areas are both increasing in the U.S. Finding ways to enhance city-dwelling, older adults' social integration, cognitive vitality, and connectedness to nature were conceptualized as critical pathways to maximizing their subjective well-being (SWB) and overall health. Past research has found that gardening is associated with increased social contact and reduced risk of dementia, and that higher levels of social support, cognitive functioning, mindfulness, and connectedness to nature are positively related to various aspects of SWB.
The study developed a computerised version of a previously published mindfulness-based cognitive ... more The study developed a computerised version of a previously published mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) programme and tested its feasibility and effectiveness compared to a CBT-based psychoeducation programme in a randomizedcontrolled pilot study. Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) has been the most prominent model of psychological treatment for chronic pain with a broad range of research supporting its effectiveness. It has also been provided to good effect in computerised form for a range of other problems. However, it is not without its limitations. An evolution of CBT, contextual cognitive-behavioural therapy (CCBT) takes a different perspective on treatment. It focuses on the reduction of avoidance behaviours through increasing acceptance. One technique closely associated with acceptance is mindfulness. There is a strong emerging body of evidence for the effectiveness of acceptance-and mindfulnessbased approaches for a range of difficulties, including chronic pain.
This paper reports on the first test of the value of an online curriculum in social intelligence ... more This paper reports on the first test of the value of an online curriculum in social intelligence (SI). Built from current social and cognitive neuroscience research findings, the 50 session SI program was administered, with facilitation in Spanish by classroom instructors, to 207 students from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid as part of their undergraduate classes. All materials were translated into Castilian Spanish, including outcome measures of SI that have been used in prior studies to provide valid estimates of two key components of social intelligence: 1) Sensitivity to others and 2) confidence in one's capacity to manage social situations. Pre-and Posttest were administered to participants in the SI training, and also to 87 students in similar classes who did not receive the program who served as the control group. Gender and emotional intelligence levels at pretest also were examined as potential individual differences that might affect the impact of the program on study outcomes. Repeated measures ANOVAs on study outcomes revealed significant increases, from pre to post, in most measures of social intelligence for program participants in comparison to controls, with no effects of gender or age on program effectiveness. Prior scores on emotional intelligence were not a prerequisite for learning from the program. Some findings suggest ways the program may be improved to have stronger effects. Nonetheless, the findings indicate that the SI program tested here shows considerable promise as a means to increase the willingness of young adults to take the perspective of others and enhance their efficacy for initiating and sustaining positive social connections.
Nonlinear dynamics, psychology, and life sciences, 2010
Dynamical systems modeling was used to analyze fluctuations in the pain prediction process of peo... more Dynamical systems modeling was used to analyze fluctuations in the pain prediction process of people with rheumatoid arthritis. 170 people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis completed 29 consecutive days of diaries. Difference scores between pain predictions and next-day pain experience ratings provided a time series of pain prediction accuracy. Pain prediction accuracy oscillated over time. The oscillation amplitude was larger at the start of the diary than at the end, which indicates damping toward more accurate predictions. State-level psychological characteristics moderated the damping pattern such that the oscillations for patients with lower negative affect and higher pain control damped more quickly than the oscillations for their counterparts. Those findings suggest that low negative affect and high pain control generally contributed to a more accurate pain prediction process in the chronically ill. Positive affect did not differentiate the damping pattern but, within each ...
Psychosomatic disorders are composed of an array of psychological, biologic, and environmental fe... more Psychosomatic disorders are composed of an array of psychological, biologic, and environmental features. The existing evidence points to a role for genetic factors in explaining individual differences in the development and maintenance of a variety of disorders, but studies to date have not shown consistent and replicable effects. As such, the attempt to uncover individual differences in the expression of psychosomatic disorders as a function of genetic architecture requires careful attention to their phenotypic architecture or the various intermediate phenotypes that make up a heterogeneous disorder. Ambulatory monitoring offers a novel approach to measuring time-variant and situation-dependent intermediate phenotypes. Recent examples of the use of ambulatory monitoring in genetic studies of stress reactivity, chronic pain, alcohol use disorders, and psychosocial resilience are reviewed in an effort to highlight the benefits of ambulatory monitoring for genetic study designs.
To examine daily positive affective disturbance in the context of negative affect (NA) and pain a... more To examine daily positive affective disturbance in the context of negative affect (NA) and pain among patients with fibromyalgia (FM) to determine a) if FM patients experience a deficit in daily positive affect (PA) relative to osteoarthritis (OA) patients; b) if FM patients differ from OA patients in the day-to-day relations of PA and NA; and c) if patients diagnosed with both OA and FM differ from patients with either OA-only or FM-only with respect to major outcomes. A total of 260 women with physician-diagnosed OA (n = 106), FM (n = 53), or OA/FM (n = 101) completed a 30-day electronic diary. Participants were assessed once daily on levels of PA, NA, and pain. Multilevel models indicated that FM patients had less overall PA than OA patients and exhibited a stronger inverse PA-NA relation. Analyses further suggest that the OA/FM group may have been the most impaired of the three included in our study. This group was responsible for a lagged effect of PA on both affects, whereby high PA days resulted in low next-day PA and high next-day NA. FM patients exhibit a PA disturbance compared with OA patients. This disturbance is reflected by an overall deficit in PA and an inability to sustain PA in the face of pain and NA. Patients with both OA and FM may represent a subgroup of FM that is at particular risk for dysregulation of PA.
Objective: To assess whether alleged childhood maltreatment is associated with daily cortisol sec... more Objective: To assess whether alleged childhood maltreatment is associated with daily cortisol secretion in women with chronic pain. Method: Women with fibromyalgia (FM group, n ϭ 35) or with osteoarthritis only (OA group, n ϭ 35) completed diaries and collected three saliva samples daily for 30 days, with compliance monitored electronically. Childhood abuse and neglect were assessed by self-report (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-short form [CTQ-sf]). Multilevel regression analyses estimated associations between maltreatment and diurnal cortisol levels and slopes, controlling for depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and daily experience variables. Results: Women reporting more severe childhood maltreatment had higher cortisol throughout the day. The estimated effect of CTQ on log cortisol ( ϭ 0.007, p ϭ .001) represents a 0.7% increase in raw cortisol level for every unit increase in maltreatment score, which ranged from 25 (no maltreatment) to 106 in this sample. Although different forms of maltreatment were interrelated, emotional and sexual abuse were most closely linked to cortisol levels. Fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis groups showed similar secretory patterns, and maltreatment was associated with elevated cortisol in both. Although maltreatment was related to symptoms of depression, PTSD, and averaged daily reports of positive and negative affect, none of these variables mediated the link between maltreatment and cortisol. Conclusions: In women with chronic pain, self-reported childhood maltreatment was associated with higher diurnal cortisol levels. These results add to the evidence that abuse in childhood can induce long-term changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical activity. They further underscore the importance of evaluating childhood maltreatment in fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions.
The match/mismatch model of pain prediction was tested with a group of rheumatoid arthritis patie... more The match/mismatch model of pain prediction was tested with a group of rheumatoid arthritis patients (N = 227) in a natural setting. Daily diary measures of pain prediction and pain experience were obtained over 30 days. Results revealed a greater number of underpredictors (N = 147) than over predictors (N = 58) in our sample, with a minority (N = 22) overpredicting and underpredicting with equal frequency. Further, people modified their predictions to a greater degree after an over prediction than they did after an under prediction. As expected, anxious participants were less accurate and more prone to over predicting their pain than their less anxious counterparts. In contrast, participants who reported low levels of daily pessimism were more likely than their more pessimistic counterparts to under predict their pain. The findings suggest that people continued to under predict their pain despite repeated disconfirmations and that low levels of pessimism may have accounted for this pattern.
A multidimensional assessment of activity and subjective well-being based on a cognitive model of... more A multidimensional assessment of activity and subjective well-being based on a cognitive model of event causation was tested in a sample of 60 older adults. Activity was conceptualized as involving the occurrence of an event, the presence or absence of a response to that event, and the hedonic tone of the outcome of that transaction. Events were categorized as to whether the environment or the individual initiated them: demands or desires, respectively. Well-being was conceptualized as having two independent components, positive and negative, assessed by positive and negative mood scales and general well-being and quality-of-life scales. Analyses showed that older adults who were responsive to events reported more positive well-being, but high responding was also associated with negative aspects of well-being. Demands interacted with desire responding and outcome; affective outcomes of desired actions were significantly influenced by the occurrence of demand events. Results are interpreted in an expanded model of activity theory.
Abstract The purpose of this study was to assess the relative effects of coping self-efficacy and... more Abstract The purpose of this study was to assess the relative effects of coping self-efficacy and catastrophizing on physical functioning. Over a 9-month period, studying changes in self-efficacy as possible mediator between catastrophizing changes and physical functioning changes might provide evidence for the most promising treatment target. Data came from a randomized, longitudinal controlled trial comparing exercise, self-management and the two combined to treat 254 individuals with early knee osteoarthritis.
The population of older adults and the percentage of people living in urban areas are both increa... more The population of older adults and the percentage of people living in urban areas are both increasing in the U.S. Finding ways to enhance city-dwelling, older adults' social integration, cognitive vitality, and connectedness to nature were conceptualized as critical pathways to maximizing their subjective well-being (SWB) and overall health. Past research has found that gardening is associated with increased social contact and reduced risk of dementia, and that higher levels of social support, cognitive functioning, mindfulness, and connectedness to nature are positively related to various aspects of SWB.
The study developed a computerised version of a previously published mindfulness-based cognitive ... more The study developed a computerised version of a previously published mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) programme and tested its feasibility and effectiveness compared to a CBT-based psychoeducation programme in a randomizedcontrolled pilot study. Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) has been the most prominent model of psychological treatment for chronic pain with a broad range of research supporting its effectiveness. It has also been provided to good effect in computerised form for a range of other problems. However, it is not without its limitations. An evolution of CBT, contextual cognitive-behavioural therapy (CCBT) takes a different perspective on treatment. It focuses on the reduction of avoidance behaviours through increasing acceptance. One technique closely associated with acceptance is mindfulness. There is a strong emerging body of evidence for the effectiveness of acceptance-and mindfulnessbased approaches for a range of difficulties, including chronic pain.
This paper reports on the first test of the value of an online curriculum in social intelligence ... more This paper reports on the first test of the value of an online curriculum in social intelligence (SI). Built from current social and cognitive neuroscience research findings, the 50 session SI program was administered, with facilitation in Spanish by classroom instructors, to 207 students from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid as part of their undergraduate classes. All materials were translated into Castilian Spanish, including outcome measures of SI that have been used in prior studies to provide valid estimates of two key components of social intelligence: 1) Sensitivity to others and 2) confidence in one's capacity to manage social situations. Pre-and Posttest were administered to participants in the SI training, and also to 87 students in similar classes who did not receive the program who served as the control group. Gender and emotional intelligence levels at pretest also were examined as potential individual differences that might affect the impact of the program on study outcomes. Repeated measures ANOVAs on study outcomes revealed significant increases, from pre to post, in most measures of social intelligence for program participants in comparison to controls, with no effects of gender or age on program effectiveness. Prior scores on emotional intelligence were not a prerequisite for learning from the program. Some findings suggest ways the program may be improved to have stronger effects. Nonetheless, the findings indicate that the SI program tested here shows considerable promise as a means to increase the willingness of young adults to take the perspective of others and enhance their efficacy for initiating and sustaining positive social connections.
Nonlinear dynamics, psychology, and life sciences, 2010
Dynamical systems modeling was used to analyze fluctuations in the pain prediction process of peo... more Dynamical systems modeling was used to analyze fluctuations in the pain prediction process of people with rheumatoid arthritis. 170 people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis completed 29 consecutive days of diaries. Difference scores between pain predictions and next-day pain experience ratings provided a time series of pain prediction accuracy. Pain prediction accuracy oscillated over time. The oscillation amplitude was larger at the start of the diary than at the end, which indicates damping toward more accurate predictions. State-level psychological characteristics moderated the damping pattern such that the oscillations for patients with lower negative affect and higher pain control damped more quickly than the oscillations for their counterparts. Those findings suggest that low negative affect and high pain control generally contributed to a more accurate pain prediction process in the chronically ill. Positive affect did not differentiate the damping pattern but, within each ...
Psychosomatic disorders are composed of an array of psychological, biologic, and environmental fe... more Psychosomatic disorders are composed of an array of psychological, biologic, and environmental features. The existing evidence points to a role for genetic factors in explaining individual differences in the development and maintenance of a variety of disorders, but studies to date have not shown consistent and replicable effects. As such, the attempt to uncover individual differences in the expression of psychosomatic disorders as a function of genetic architecture requires careful attention to their phenotypic architecture or the various intermediate phenotypes that make up a heterogeneous disorder. Ambulatory monitoring offers a novel approach to measuring time-variant and situation-dependent intermediate phenotypes. Recent examples of the use of ambulatory monitoring in genetic studies of stress reactivity, chronic pain, alcohol use disorders, and psychosocial resilience are reviewed in an effort to highlight the benefits of ambulatory monitoring for genetic study designs.
To examine daily positive affective disturbance in the context of negative affect (NA) and pain a... more To examine daily positive affective disturbance in the context of negative affect (NA) and pain among patients with fibromyalgia (FM) to determine a) if FM patients experience a deficit in daily positive affect (PA) relative to osteoarthritis (OA) patients; b) if FM patients differ from OA patients in the day-to-day relations of PA and NA; and c) if patients diagnosed with both OA and FM differ from patients with either OA-only or FM-only with respect to major outcomes. A total of 260 women with physician-diagnosed OA (n = 106), FM (n = 53), or OA/FM (n = 101) completed a 30-day electronic diary. Participants were assessed once daily on levels of PA, NA, and pain. Multilevel models indicated that FM patients had less overall PA than OA patients and exhibited a stronger inverse PA-NA relation. Analyses further suggest that the OA/FM group may have been the most impaired of the three included in our study. This group was responsible for a lagged effect of PA on both affects, whereby high PA days resulted in low next-day PA and high next-day NA. FM patients exhibit a PA disturbance compared with OA patients. This disturbance is reflected by an overall deficit in PA and an inability to sustain PA in the face of pain and NA. Patients with both OA and FM may represent a subgroup of FM that is at particular risk for dysregulation of PA.
Objective: To assess whether alleged childhood maltreatment is associated with daily cortisol sec... more Objective: To assess whether alleged childhood maltreatment is associated with daily cortisol secretion in women with chronic pain. Method: Women with fibromyalgia (FM group, n ϭ 35) or with osteoarthritis only (OA group, n ϭ 35) completed diaries and collected three saliva samples daily for 30 days, with compliance monitored electronically. Childhood abuse and neglect were assessed by self-report (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-short form [CTQ-sf]). Multilevel regression analyses estimated associations between maltreatment and diurnal cortisol levels and slopes, controlling for depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and daily experience variables. Results: Women reporting more severe childhood maltreatment had higher cortisol throughout the day. The estimated effect of CTQ on log cortisol ( ϭ 0.007, p ϭ .001) represents a 0.7% increase in raw cortisol level for every unit increase in maltreatment score, which ranged from 25 (no maltreatment) to 106 in this sample. Although different forms of maltreatment were interrelated, emotional and sexual abuse were most closely linked to cortisol levels. Fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis groups showed similar secretory patterns, and maltreatment was associated with elevated cortisol in both. Although maltreatment was related to symptoms of depression, PTSD, and averaged daily reports of positive and negative affect, none of these variables mediated the link between maltreatment and cortisol. Conclusions: In women with chronic pain, self-reported childhood maltreatment was associated with higher diurnal cortisol levels. These results add to the evidence that abuse in childhood can induce long-term changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical activity. They further underscore the importance of evaluating childhood maltreatment in fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions.
The match/mismatch model of pain prediction was tested with a group of rheumatoid arthritis patie... more The match/mismatch model of pain prediction was tested with a group of rheumatoid arthritis patients (N = 227) in a natural setting. Daily diary measures of pain prediction and pain experience were obtained over 30 days. Results revealed a greater number of underpredictors (N = 147) than over predictors (N = 58) in our sample, with a minority (N = 22) overpredicting and underpredicting with equal frequency. Further, people modified their predictions to a greater degree after an over prediction than they did after an under prediction. As expected, anxious participants were less accurate and more prone to over predicting their pain than their less anxious counterparts. In contrast, participants who reported low levels of daily pessimism were more likely than their more pessimistic counterparts to under predict their pain. The findings suggest that people continued to under predict their pain despite repeated disconfirmations and that low levels of pessimism may have accounted for this pattern.
A multidimensional assessment of activity and subjective well-being based on a cognitive model of... more A multidimensional assessment of activity and subjective well-being based on a cognitive model of event causation was tested in a sample of 60 older adults. Activity was conceptualized as involving the occurrence of an event, the presence or absence of a response to that event, and the hedonic tone of the outcome of that transaction. Events were categorized as to whether the environment or the individual initiated them: demands or desires, respectively. Well-being was conceptualized as having two independent components, positive and negative, assessed by positive and negative mood scales and general well-being and quality-of-life scales. Analyses showed that older adults who were responsive to events reported more positive well-being, but high responding was also associated with negative aspects of well-being. Demands interacted with desire responding and outcome; affective outcomes of desired actions were significantly influenced by the occurrence of demand events. Results are interpreted in an expanded model of activity theory.
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