Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Act With Cf: A Randomized Trial Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Vs Supportive Psychotherapy For Adults With Cystic Fibrosis, C. Virginia O'Hayer, Patrick J. Smith, Christopher F. Drescher, Heather Bruschwein, Chelsi N. Nurse, Hallie M. Kushner, Krista Ingle, Michael J. Stephen, Jeffrey B. Hoag

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: Psychological distress, including anxiety and depression, is common among adults with CF, associating with poor quality of life, lung function, and healthcare utilization. This 3-year, multi-site, telehealth-delivered randomized trial sought to determine whether Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT with CF) is superior to supportive psychotherapy (SP), in improving psychological functioning for adults with CF.

METHODS: One hundred twenty-four adults with CF and elevated anxiety and/or depressive symptoms were recruited coincident with the first COVID lockdown, from Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, University of Virginia, Augusta University, Duke University Medical Center, and social media. Participants were randomized to 6 weeks of …

Metabolic Stress Induces A Double-Positive Feedback Loop Between Ampk And Sqstm1/P62 Conferring Dual Activation Of Ampk And Nfe2l2/Nrf2 To Synergize Antioxidant Defense, Eun-Ji Choi, Hyun-Taek Oh, Seon-Hyeong Lee, Chen-Song Zhang, Mengqi Li, Soo-Youl Kim, Sunghyouk Park, Tong-Shin Chang, Byung-Hoon Lee, Sheng-Cai Lin, Sang-Min Jeon

Staff and Researcher Publications

Co-occurring mutations in KEAP1 in STK11/LKB1-mutant NSCLC activate NFE2L2/NRF2 to compensate for the loss of STK11-AMPK activity during metabolic adaptation. Characterizing the regulatory crosstalk between the STK11-AMPK and KEAP1-NFE2L2 pathways during metabolic stress is crucial for understanding the implications of co-occurring mutations. Here, we found that metabolic stress increased the expression and phosphorylation of SQSTM1/p62, which is essential for the activation of NFE2L2 and AMPK, synergizing antioxidant defense and tumor growth. The SQSTM1-driven dual activation of NFE2L2 and AMPK was achieved by inducing macroautophagic/autophagic degradation of KEAP1 and facilitating the AXIN-STK11-AMPK complex formation on the lysosomal membrane, respectively. In contrast, …

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Cannabis Use, And The Endocannabinoid System: A Scoping Review, Jennie Ryan, Mitchell Fruchtman, Andrea Sparr-Jaswa, Amy Knehans, Brooke Worster

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

There is emerging evidence that the endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays a significant role in the pathophysiology of many psychiatric disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Increasing evidence suggests that a number of neurobiological correlates between endogenous cannabinoid function and cognitive dysfunction are seen in ADHD, making the ECS a possible target for therapeutic interventions. Cannabis use and cannabis use disorder are more prevalent in individuals with ADHD, compared to the general population, and there is growing popular perception that cannabis is therapeutic for ADHD. However, the relationship between cannabis use and ADHD symptomology is poorly understood. Further understanding of …

The Neurodivergent Perinatal Experience — A Systematic Literature Review On Autism And Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Jata K. Elliott, Kate Buchanan, Sara Bayes

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Neurodivergent individuals often face unique challenges during the perinatal period, which can significantly impact their experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenting. Despite growing awareness of neurodiversity, there remains a gap in perinatal care that fully addresses the lived experiences and needs of those with neurodivergent conditions such as Autism (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Objective: To compile and analyse recent literature on the perinatal experiences of neurodivergent parturients. To provide an overview of current knowledge, identify prevalent challenges, and suggest opportunities for improving perinatal services. Additionally, we aim to highlight research gaps that guide future studies and enhance …

Thriving Beyond Adversity: A Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study Using A Strength-Based Approach Depicts Indigenous Adolescents With Less Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces) Had Fewer Neurodevelopmental Disorders (Ndds), Md Irteja Islam, Bernadette Yan Yue Lam, Tuguy Esgin, Alexandra Martiniuk

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Improving social and emotional well-being (SEWB) among Indigenous adolescents is crucial. Since neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are common in Indigenous people and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are important contributors to negative health outcomes throughout the lifespan, we investigated whether limited ACE exposure is associated with reduced risk of NDDs in Australian Indigenous teens using the data from multiple waves (Wave 1 to Wave 9, and Wave 11) of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC). We also examined the role of other protective factors, such as Indigenous cultural identity and school connectedness, against NDDs. A strengths-based approach using mixed-effects logistic regression …

Mental Fatigue And Self-Care In Informal Oncology Caregivers: A Descriptive Mixed Methods Study, Megan Wayne

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Purpose:

This dissertation study aimed to enhance understanding of informal caregiver wellbeing by exploring the presence of mental fatigue, the relationships among mental fatigue, self-care, and informal oncology caregiver quality of life (QOL), and determining whether differences exist in self-care engagement and QOL between caregivers who report high and low levels mental fatigue.

Problem:

Healthcare is becoming increasingly reliant on informal caregivers for the management and care of individuals with serious illnesses such as cancer. Previous research has shown that informal caregivers routinely experience many negative effects as a result of providing care including decreased mental health and …

Building Resilience: A Specialty Clinic Tailored To Older Adults At Risk For Violence And Abuse, Melba A Hernandez-Tejada, Deborah M Little, Madeline J Bruce, Sarly Butte, Jason Burnett, Leila Wood, Ron Acierno

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Both structural (e.g., ageism) and personal (e.g., stigma) barriers hinder older adults' access to and engagement with mental health care. These barriers are particularly problematic for those vulnerable to interpersonal violence and abuse (e.g., due to social isolation). This study presents a quality improvement program aimed at older adults who have experienced significant stressful events, particularly elder mistreatment, within a larger trauma specialty clinic. Leveraging home-based telemedicine, the clinic provides evidence-based psychotherapy tailored to the needs of older adults.

Methods: From 2021 through 2023, the authors retrospectively examined treatment initiation, engagement, completion, and clinical outcomes among 231 older adults …

The Mediational Role Of Religiosity In The Relationship Between Emotional Regulation And Relationship Satisfaction In Uae And Turkey: A Cross-Sectional Study, Beril Berksu

Theses

Marriage and romantic relationships are significant turning points in personal and social development, contributing to overall well-being and health. In romantic relationship studies, relationship satisfaction is one of the most researched aspects and is affected by various variables, which are gender, relationship duration, and other factors. Among these, religiosity and emotional regulation have been proposed as important aspects as well. However, there is still a gap in the literature to understand how these aspects are connected in non-Western countries like Turkey and the UAE regarding cultural differences. The study aims to explore the mediating role of religiosity in the relationship …

The Association Of Migration-Related Stress With Poor Mental Health Among Recently Resettled Afghan Refugees, Munjireen Sifat, Sarah Kenney, Venera Bekteshi, Shawn Chiang, Motolani Ogunsanya, Laili Boozary, Adam Alexander, Darla Kendzor

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The resettlement of Afghan refugees in Oklahoma City, OK, provides a critical context for examining the mental health challenges faced by this population due to post-migration stressors.

METHODS: This study utilized online surveys to recently resettled Afghan refugees in Oklahoma City, with support provided by bilingual research assistants to accommodate low literacy rates. Surveys, initially in English, were professionally translated into Dari and Pashto and validated through back-translation.

RESULTS: Participants (N = 348) were majority of Pashtun ethnicity. High rates of mental health issues were evident, with 62.1 % of participants screening positive for depression and 20.1 % …

Borderline Personality Disorder: A Narrative Review On Effective Psychotherapies, Marina Neri, Antonino Reitano, Lavinia Rinnone, Antonio Bruno, Fabrizio Turiaco, Felicia Matilde Ferreri, Carmela Mento, Maria Rosaria Anna Muscatello, Fiammetta Iannuzzo

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental disorder characterized by pervasive patterns of relational instability, chronic feelings of emptiness, sense of abandonment, self-injurious and anticonservative attempts. Pharmacological treatment has been found useful only for the management of severe symptoms and management of comorbidities, while psychotherapy is the main treatment for BPD. Although the disorder has long been considered resistant to any treatment, in recent years research has not only shown that BPD can be treated but also provided several manualized and empirically validated psychotherapeutic treatments. This paper set out to examine the most effective current psychotherapies for the treatment …

First_Page Settings Order Article Reprints Open Accessarticle Internalized Racism And Mental Health: The Moderating Role Of Collective Racial Self-Esteem, Steven M. Sanders, Tiffany R. Williams, April T. Berry, Claudia Garcia-Aguilera, Kiera Robinson, Reniece Martin, Paigean Jones

Psychological Sciences and Counseling Faculty Research

Internalized racism is the internalization of beliefs about racism and colonization that contribute to the acceptance of negative messaging or stereotypical misrepresentations that inform perceptions about worth and ability. Internalized racism is associated with psychological distress in racially diverse people. Collective racial self-esteem is a potential protective factor that can serve as a moderator in reducing distress and facilitating psychological well-being. The sample for the present study consisted of 526 participants who self-identified as African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Latinx American, or American of Arab or Middle Eastern descent. The researchers used regression with the Process macro to investigate the …

The Short Stress State Questionnaire In German (Sssq-G), Veronika Ringgold, Grant Shields, Felicitas Hauck, Miriam Kurz, Lena Schindler-Gmelch, Luca Abel, Robert Richer, Bjoern M. Eskofier, Nicolas Rohleder

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Although the physiological stress response is well established, self-reported stress has received less attention. Some validated measures assess task-related stress via self-report in English. However, no such measure exists in Germany. Aims: To address this research gap, we translated and validated the Short Stress State Questionnaire in German (SSSQ-G). It assesses stress-related affective states (e.g., anger) and appraisals (e.g., feelings of control). We expected to replicate the factor structure of the English SSSQ in the SSSQ-G. Methods: We included the SSSQ-G in five studies that induced stress either via the gold standard task for acute stress …

The Recent History And Near Future Of Digital Health In The Field Of Behavioral Medicine: An Update On Progress From 2019 To 2024, Danielle Arigo, Danielle E Jake-Schoffman, Sherry L Pagoto

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

The field of behavioral medicine has a long and successful history of leveraging digital health tools to promote health behavior change. Our 2019 summary of the history and future of digital health in behavioral medicine (Arigo in J Behav Med 8: 67-83, 2019) was one of the most highly cited articles in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine from 2010 to 2020; here, we provide an update on the opportunities and challenges we identified in 2019. We address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on behavioral medicine research and practice and highlight some of the digital health advances it prompted. We …

Digital, Social Micro-Interventions To Promote Physical Activity Among Midlife Adults With Elevated Cardiovascular Risk: An Ambulatory Feasibility Study With Momentary Randomization., Danielle Arigo, Leah M Schumacher, Kiri Baga, Jacqueline A Mogle

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

BACKGROUND: Although regular physical activity (PA) mitigates the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) during midlife, existing PA interventions are minimally effective. Harnessing social influences in daily life shows promise: digital micro-interventions could effectively engage these influences on PA and require testing.

PURPOSE: This feasibility study employed ecological momentary assessment with embedded micro-randomization to activate two types of social influences (i.e., comparison, support; NCT04711512).

METHODS: Midlife adults (N = 30, MAge = 51, MBMI = 31.5 kg/m2, 43% racial/ethnic minority) with ≥1 CVD risk conditions completed four mobile surveys per day for 7 days while wearing PA monitors. After 3 days …

Expert Consensus In A Politically-Charged Environment: Motivated Reasoning In Information Processing, Austin L. Katz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the abundance of information online, what drives news consumption? It has been theorized that there are two distinct conflicting motivations which operate simultaneously when consumers encounter new information: the motivation to reach accurate conclusions and the directional motivation to reach conclusions that are consistent with a person’s preexisting beliefs or predispositions (e.g., Kunda 1990). This experiment tests situations in which both motivations are simultaneously made salient in the context of reading headlines to decide what news to read and how accurate the news is likely to be.

A new fact-check manipulation was used to draw attention to the accuracy …

Investigating Potential Interactive Effects Between Limbal Rings And Facial Attractiveness, Matt C. Howard, Mitch Brown

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Limbal rings are dark bands in the eyes that circle the iris. Previous research suggests that the presence of limbal rings augments perceptions of male faces as healthy and attractive, particularly among female perceivers. Nonetheless, a degree of heterogeneity exists in attractiveness effects across different stimulus sets. One possibility of this discrepancy could be previously undetected differences in attractiveness across different social targets that impede a clearer understanding for the signal value of limbal rings. Namely, it could be possible that the attractiveness advantage of faces with limbal rings is most apparent among highly attractive stimuli. This study sought to …

A Trans-Theoretical Systematization Of Clinical Interventions Based On Dynamical Systems Research (Dsr), Giulio De Felice, David Pincus

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The scientific literature focused on the categorization of therapists’ interventions in clinical sessions, and their effects on patients, is not very extensive and often autoreferential. The most relevant findings clearly show the eclecticism of clinicians, grounding only 10–14% of their interventions on the specific theoretical approach to which they belong. Despite that, a trans-theoretical systematization of clinical interventions is lacking. The present work aims to verify the feasibility of a trans-theoretical categorization of clinical interventions based on Dynamical Systems Research in psychotherapy (DSR). For this purpose, the authors present the results of three literature reviews. The first sections of this …

Demographic Characteristics, Perinatal Smoking Patterns, And Risk For Neonatal Health Complications Among Pregnant Smokers In The United States Who Begin Using Electronic Cigarettes During Pregnancy: A Descriptive Study Using Population-Based Surveillance Data., Hui Nian, Rachel Odland, Samantha Mindlin, Lin Ammar, Hilary Tindle, Angela M Miller, Kelli K Ryckman, Ethan Xie, Tina V Hartert, Brittney M Snyder, Steven M Brunwasser, Pingsheng Wu

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

INTRODUCTION: Health agencies have called for research evaluating e-cigarette (EC) use in supporting prenatal smoking cessation. This study aimed to describe (1) the characteristics of smokers who begin using electronic cigarettes (ECs) during pregnancy, (2) how frequently smokers reduce or eliminate pre- and post-natal combustible cigarette (CC) use, and (3) the risk for neonatal health complications among smokers who initiate ECs during pregnancy.

AIMS AND METHODS: Pregnant women using CCs exclusively during prepregnancy, who participated in a U.S. surveillance study, were classified by their reported late-pregnancy smoking behavior as CC-exclusive users, EC initiators, or quitters. EC initiators were further subclassified …

Social Inequalities In Child Mental Health Trajectories: A Longitudinal Study Using Birth Cohort Data 12 Countries, Tim Cadman, Demetris Avraam, Jennie Carson, Ahmed Elhakeem, Veit Grote, Kathrin Guerlich, Mònica Guxens, Laura D. Howe, Rae Chi Huang, Jennifer R. Harris, Tanja A.J. Houweling, Eleanor Hyde, Vincent Jaddoe, Pauline W. Jansen, Jordi Julvez, Berthold Koletzko, Ashleigh Lin, Katerina Margetaki, Maria Melchior, Johanna Thorbjornsrud Nader, Marie Pedersen, Costanza Pizzi, Theano Roumeliotaki, Morris Swertz, Muriel Tafflet, David Taylor-Robinson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

BACKGROUND: Social inequalities in child mental health are an important public health concern. Whilst previous studies have examined inequalities at a single time point, very few have used repeated measures outcome data to describe how these inequalities emerge. Our aims were to describe social inequalities in child internalising and externalising problems across multiple countries and to explore how these inequalities change as children age. METHODS: We used longitudinal data from eight birth cohorts containing participants from twelve countries (Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom). The number of included children in each …

Early Use Of Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotics In Bipolar Disorder Type I: An Expert Consensus, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Introduction: Long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) are not routinely offered to patients living with bipolar disorder type I (BP-I), despite widespread evidence that supports their benefits over oral antipsychotics, particularly in early disease. Methods: A round-table meeting of psychiatrists convened to discuss barriers and opportunities and provide consensus recommendations around the early use of LAIs for BP-I. Results: LAIs are rarely prescribed to treat BP-I unless a patient has severe symptoms, sub-optimal adherence to oral antipsychotics, or has experienced multiple relapses. Beyond country-specific accessibility issues (e.g., healthcare infrastructure and availability/approval status), primary barriers to the effective use of LAIs were identified …