Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Internalized And Anticipated Stigmatization In Patients With Gout, Maria Kleinstäuber, Leonie Wolf, Annie S. K. Jones, Nicola Dalberth, Keith J. Petrie

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: To investigate the relationship between stigma perception and demographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables. Methods: A sample of 50 patients with gout and prescribed urate-lowering medication (84% were males, mean serum urate 0.34 mmol/l) completed questionnaires on internalized and anticipated stigma, demographics, clinical gout-related variables, and psychosocial variables (illness perceptions, illness-related disability, illness-related body satisfaction, intentional nonadherence). Serum urate level was obtained from the most recent blood test. Results: In this sample, 26% experienced internalized stigma, 26% expected to be stigmatized by friends or family members, and 14% by health care workers. Univariate regression analyses showed that younger age, ethnicity …

Evaluating Commonalities Between Different Medically Unexplained Symptoms, Dan Guo, Maria Kleinstäuber, Malcolm Henry Johnson, Frederick Sundram

Psychology Faculty Publications

This commentary presents commonalities in medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) across multiple organ systems, including symptoms, aetiological mechanisms, comorbidity with mental health disorders, symptom burden and impact on quality of life. Further, treatment outcomes and barriers in the clinician–patient relationship, and cross-cultural experiences are highlighted. This discussion is necessary in aiding an improved understanding and management of MUS due to the interconnectedness underlying MUS presentations across the spectrum of medical specialties.

Developing A Computer Game For Measuring Delay Discounting, Haylee Downey, Ryan L. Becker

Research on Capitol Hill

Would you prefer $75 now or $100 in the future? What about an unhealthy dessert now or good health in the future? Both of these questions involve a smaller sooner reward option and a larger later reward option. These types of choices can be described in part by delay discounting.

• Delay discounting is the tendency for rewards to lose value when they are presented after a delay .
• Impulsivity is defined as a pattern of choosing smaller sooner rewards. High levels of impulsivity are associated with problematic behaviors.

High levels of impulsivity are associated with high levels of delay discounting. …