What predicts personal growth following a deployment? An examination of National Guard soldiers through the lens of posttraumatic growth.

National Guard soldiers experience unique reintegration challenges. In addition to managing the consequences of combat-related trauma, they also navigate multiple transitions between military and civilian life. Despite these obstacles, many soldiers report positive outcomes and personal growth due to deployment, a phenomenon most commonly referred to in the literature as posttraumatic growth (PTG).

Vitamin D supplementation and body composition changes in collegiate basketball players: a 12-week randomized control trial.

Background: Vitamin D promotes bone and muscle growth in non-athletes, suggesting supplementation may be ergogenic in athletes. Our primary aim was to determine if modest Vitamin D supplementation augments favorable body composition changes (increased bone and lean mass and decreased fat mass) and performance in collegiate basketball players following 12 weeks of standardized training.

Methods: Members of a men's and women's NCAA D1 Basketball team were recruited.

Training of interventionists and cultural adaptation procedures: A systematic review of culturally adapted evidence-based parenting programs in Africa.

There has been an increase in the implementation of evidence-based parenting programs from high-income countries to several African countries. In this review, we systematically evaluated intervention studies of culturally adapted parenting programs in nine African countries with the objective of examining the quality of training for interventionists and cultural adaptation procedures. A total of 18 studies, obtained from an electronic search of 6 databases, met the inclusion criteria and were evaluated following PRISMA guidelines.

Health-Related Quality of Life: Longitudinal Analysis From the Time of Breast Biopsy Into the Post-treatment Period.

The physical, psychological, social, and spiritual quality of life (QoL) may be affected by breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, with mixed findings for psychological quality of life and cognitive ability performance. The present study aimed to evaluate QoL in women over 1 year from biopsy for a breast abnormality. Self-reported measures of physical, psychological, social, and spiritual QoL were obtained after biopsy results but prior to treatment initiation (baseline), 4 and 12 months later.

Affair recovery: Exploring similarities and differences of injured and involved partners.

Infidelity is associated with negative effects on couples' relationships, yet some couples are able to overcome these and rebuild their relationship. Few studies have examined this process for couples who stay together after an affair. With a sample of 18 individuals (nine couples), this study explored similarities and differences between injured (i.

Expanding our international reach: Trends in the development of systemic family therapy training and implementation in Africa.

Family therapy is growing around the world including in many parts of Africa. Although the African continent has many mental and family health needs that family therapists are well-suited to treat, barriers to the widespread application of family therapy on the African continent remain. In this article, we review the current state of systemic family therapy (SFT) in Africa.

Establishing Safety in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: A Single-Case Process Study.

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT) is an effective approach to working with distressed couples. It is not only effective in reducing relationship distress, but also in successfully maintaining gains over time. In the current study, we sought to understand the therapy processes that result in the creation of safety during stage one of EFT.

Therapeutic Utility of Discussing Therapist/Client Intersectionality in Treatment: When and How?

The impact of the therapeutic alliance on positive clinical outcomes has been established in the literature; however, literature is lacking on how the intersection of therapist and client identities influences this process. We propose that the relational intersectionality resulting from similarities or differences in therapist and client identities has the potential to impact the bonds, tasks, and goals of treatment (key components of the therapeutic alliance; Bordin, 1979) depending on how it is addressed or avoided in therapy. In this paper, we present a model containing pragmatic steps therapists can follow to navigate these conversations with clients in a way that is therapeutically beneficial and culturally sensitive and attuned.

Strengthening Clinical Research in Marriage and Family Therapy: Challenges and Multilevel Solutions.

There is a critical need for high-quality and accessible treatments to improve mental health. Yet, there are indications that the research being conducted by contemporary marriage and family therapy (MFT) scholars focuses less on advancing and disseminating clinical interventions than in previous decades. In this article, we describe challenges to increasing rigorous clinical research in MFT.

Considering exercise-associated hyponatraemia as a continuum.

Exercise-associated hyponatraemia (EAH) always involves a component of overhydration relative to available exchangeable sodium stores. In the majority of cases, this is purely due to excessive consumption of fluids during exercise. In a lesser number of cases, it is apparent that excessive sodium loss through sweat may play a role by decreasing the amount of acutely available exchangeable sodium.

The Profession of Couple, Marital, and Family Therapy (CMFT): Defining Ourselves and Moving Forward.

The field of Couple, Marital, and Family Therapy (CMFT) has evolved and strengthened, but we still have work to do when it comes to identity, comprehensive scholarly resources, empirical support, and name brand recognition. We explore the reasons for these challenges and propose ways to address them: embracing the interdisciplinary nature of the field, consistently organizing treatment effectiveness by problem rather than by intervention model, continuing innovation in theory development, and utilizing more diverse and meaningful research methods. This approach provides a more accurate representation of the scope of practice of CMFTs, the range of mental and physical health problems we address, and the depth and extent of the existing research on the effectiveness of relational therapies.

Normative data on regional sweat-sodium concentrations of professional male team-sport athletes.

Background: The purpose of this paper was to report normative data on regional sweat sweat-sodium concentrations of various professional male team-sport athletes, and to compare sweat-sodium concentrations among sports. Data to this effect would inform our understanding of athlete sodium requirements, thus allowing for the individualisation of sodium replacement strategies. Accordingly, data from 696 athletes (Soccer, = 270; Rugby, = 181; Baseball, = 133; American Football, = 60; Basketball, = 52) were compiled for a retrospective analysis.

Couples Coping Through Deployment: Findings From a Sample of National Guard Families.

Objective: Military families face numerous changes and stresses as they negotiate deployments and other life transitions. How they cope with these events is an important part of their overall well-being and resilience. This longitudinal study on coping in a sample of National Guard couples examined the association between the predeployment coping (active vs.

A Comparative Case Study of Risk, Resiliency, and Coping Among Injured National Guard.

An injury during deployment disrupts family and life functioning. The purpose of the present study was to provide an in-depth examination of three injured National Guard soldiers showing how differential experiences of navigating multiple systems to obtain treatment for injury resulted in different adjustment trajectories for these soldiers and their families. A comparative case study examined three families where a soldier's injury was a central theme of family adjustment.

Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health Service Use Among National Guard Soldiers.

Objective: Convergent evidence suggests that low socioeconomic status (SES) may be related to reduced mental health service use. However, this relationship has not been tested in the National Guard (NG) population, in which the prevalence of mental health symptoms is high.

Methods: Surveys were completed by 1,262 NG soldiers.

Strengthening the systemic ties that bind: integrating common factors into marriage and family therapy curricula.

Specific models guide the training of marriage and family therapists (MFTs) as they offer both structure and organization for both therapists and clients. Learning models may also benefit therapists-in-training by instilling confidence and preventing atheoretical eclecticism. The moderate common factors perspective argues that models are essential, but should not be taught as "the absolute truth," given there is no evidence for relative efficacy of one empirically validated model versus another, and no single model works in all instances.

Reported barriers to mental health care in three samples of U.S. Army National Guard soldiers at three time points.

The military community and its partners have made vigorous efforts to address treatment barriers and increase appropriate mental health services use among returning National Guard soldiers. We assessed whether there were differences in reports of treatment barriers in 3 categories (stigma, logistics, or negative beliefs about treatment) in sequential cross-sectional samples of U.S.

'They don't look at what affects us': the role of ecodevelopmental factors on alcohol and drug use among Latinos with physical disabilities.

Objectives. Latinos with disabilities disproportionately report substance use, including binge drinking and drug use. Ecodevelopmental factors, including socioeconomic patterning of poverty, social exclusion, and post-colonial racism, have been shown to impact alcohol and drug use.