A Brief Gratitude Writing Intervention Decreased Stress and Negative Affect During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Exploring ways to mitigate the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic is important for long-term health. Expressive and gratitude-focused writing are effective methods to help individuals process traumatic or stressful events. Gratitude-focused writing may yield additional benefits because it helps individuals appraise events positively.

Internalized Weight Stigma, Psychological Well-Being, and Sleep in Women.

Background: Many women internalize negative attitudes regarding body shape and size because of the societal standards for women's ideal body shapes and sizes. Internalized weight stigma is related to poorer physical and psychological health. A growing body of research has documented the links between other forms of internalized stigma (e.

Self-Compassion in PLWH: Less Internalized Shame and Negative Psychosocial Outcomes.

People living with HIV (PLWH) may experience internalized shame, which has been associated with negative psychosocial outcomes. Some of these psychosocial outcomes also are linked with worsening disease. Self-compassion, however, is the antithesis of internalizing shame, with elements of self-compassion (self-kindness, mindfulness, common humanity) at odds with indicators of internalized shame (negative beliefs about the self, desire to withdraw or avoid emotion, feelings of isolation).

Weight-related shame and guilt, intuitive eating, and binge eating in female college students.

Shame and guilt are associated with greater eating disorder symptomatology, including binge eating. These emotional states may be related to binge eating as a result of one's attempt to use food as a means of coping. Little research has examined associations between weight-specific negative emotions and eating behaviors.

Internalised HIV-stigma, loneliness, depressive symptoms and sleep quality in people living with HIV.

Objective: People living with HIV (PLWH) commonly report sleep disturbances which are associated with long-term health consequences, including disease progression. PLWH also experience internalised stigma as a result of their HIV status, which can be associated with increased loneliness and depression. Little attention focuses on the impact of these factors on sleep.

Gender differences in disclosure concerns and HIV-related quality of life.

HIV-related disclosure concerns are associated with higher rates of concealment and poorer well-being, including poorer health related HIV quality of life (HIV-QOL). Little research, however, has examined whether gender differences exist in the links between HIV disclosure concerns and HIV-QOL. We expected that disclosure concerns and gender would be associated with HIV-QOL, such that the relationship between disclosure concerns and poorer HIV-QOL to be stronger in women living with HIV (WLWH) than in men living with HIV (MLWH).

Ethnic differences in the links between benefit finding and psychological adjustment in people living with HIV.

Experiencing growth after the diagnosis of a life threatening illness is commonly reported among people living with HIV (PLWH). The links between benefit finding and better adjustment in PLWH have been identified, but it is less clear whether these links vary by ethnicity. Minority stress theory suggests that individuals from minority populations may have unique stress experiences, which can have negative health implications but may also provide opportunity for growth.

Self-reported sleep disturbance is associated with lower CD4 count and 24-h urinary dopamine levels in ethnic minority women living with HIV.

Background: Sleep disturbance is associated with dopamine dysregulation, which can negatively impact immune status. Individuals living with HIV experience more sleep difficulties, and poor sleep may compound immune decrements associated with HIV infection. Little research has examined associations between sleep, dopamine, and immune status (CD4 count) in individuals with HIV.

Oxytocin, social support, and sleep quality in low-income minority women living with HIV.

Sleep disturbances are highly prevalent in women with HIV, and few studies examine potential protective factors that may reduce risk for sleep disturbances in this high-risk population. This study predicted that HIV-specific social support from various sources (i.e.

Ethnicity moderates the relationship between perceived stress and benefit finding in HIV+ men who have sex with men (MSM).

Background: Numerous studies conducted within the USA demonstrate higher levels of benefit finding in ethnic minority individuals compared to nonminority individuals living with chronic disease.

Purpose: As benefit finding may be a salient buffer for the effects of stress, the current study examined the association between perceived stress and benefit finding in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)+ men who have sex with men (MSM) living in the southeast USA and investigated whether ethnicity was a moderator of this relationship. We hypothesized that benefit finding would be greater in ethnic minority MSM than in white MSM and that ethnic minority MSM with high levels of stress would experience greater benefit finding than their white MSM counterparts.

Stress buffering effects of oxytocin on HIV status in low-income ethnic minority women.

Background: Elevated perceptions of psychosocial stress and stressful life events are linked to faster disease progression in individuals living with HIV and these associations may be stronger for women from ethnic minority populations. Levels of neurohormones such as oxytocin (OT), cortisol, and norepinephrine (NE) have been shown to influence the effects of psychosocial stress in different populations. Understanding how intrinsic neuroendocrine substances moderate the effects of stressors in minority women living with HIV (WLWH) may pave the way for interventions to improve disease management.

Ethnic identity and perceived stress in HIV+ minority women: the role of coping self-efficacy and social support.

Background: Ethnic minority women living with HIV (WLWH) face multiple stigmas that can contribute to overwhelming levels of stress, which could hamper their ability to manage their chronic disease. Little is known about whether having a greater sense of ethnic identity might insulate WLWH from stress. It is also possible that certain cognitive and interpersonal factors (i.

Spousal support following knee surgery: roles of self-efficacy and perceived emotional responsiveness.

Objective: The objective was to investigate self-efficacy to manage recovery from surgery and perceptions of the spouse's emotional responsiveness of adults recovering from knee surgery as mediators of the association between the quality of support from the spouse following surgery and recovery outcomes.

Research Method: In-person interviews of married older adults (N = 134) with osteoarthritis of the knee who underwent total knee replacement surgery were conducted at 1 month before surgery, 1 month after surgery, and at 3 months after surgery.

Main Outcome Measures: Outcomes were knee limitations and depressive symptoms.

Men's serostatus disclosure to parents: associations among social support, ethnicity, and disease status in men living with HIV.

Background: Directly disclosing a positive HIV serostatus to family members can affect psychological and disease status. Perceptions that one is in a supportive family environment may moderate these effects; however, ethnic differences may exist in the support processes of families coping with HIV.

Methods: We examined the role of serostatus disclosure to parents, HIV-specific family support, and ethnicity (Latino versus non-Hispanic White) in explaining disease status (HIV Viral Load, CD4+ cell count) in a sample of men living with HIV (MLWH).

Disclosing HIV serostatus to family members: Effects on psychological and physiological health in minority women living with HIV.

Background: Directly disclosing a positive HIV serostatus to family members can have psychological and physiological health benefits. Perceptions that one is in a supportive family environment may enhance these benefits.

Purpose: We examined a mediated moderation model in which we expected interactions between serostatus disclosure to family members and HIV-specific family support to be associated with women's perceived stress, which in turn would explain depressive symptoms and 24-h urinary cortisol in women living with HIV (WLWH).

Spouses' use of pressure and persuasion to promote osteoarthritis patients' medical adherence after orthopedic surgery.

Objective: The authors investigated health-related effects of social control (influence) that spouses exert in relation to osteoarthritis patients' medical adherence after total knee replacement surgery. Patients' behavioral and emotional responses to control were examined as mediators of associations between spouses' use of two control strategies (pressure, persuasion) and patients' physical and psychological recovery.

Design: The authors used a three-wave panel design with assessments at one month before surgery, 1 month and 3 months after surgery.

Hostility, emotional expression, and hemodynamic responses to laboratory stressors: reactivity attenuating effects of a tendency to express emotion interpersonally.

The present study examined the interactive effects of hostility and a predisposition towards emotional expression or suppression in interpersonal situations. We also attempted to partially replicate findings from a recent investigation which provided evidence of lower myocardial and greater vascular responses in high-hostile relative to low-hostile individuals. Undergraduate students (n=99) participated in a protocol consisting of rest periods, speech preparation and presentation, a social-evaluative mental arithmetic task, and a stress interview.

Emotional support and affect: associations with health behaviors and active coping efforts in men living with HIV.

The present study represents a cross-sectional examination of the relationship between affect, social support and illness adjustment in men diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Positive and negative affect were examined as separate mediators of the relationship between emotional support received from a primary support provider and illness adjustment in 105 men living with HIV. Results suggested that depressive symptoms emerged as a mediator between emotional support and engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors (assessed by summary index).

Psychosocial and behavioral interventions for chronic medical conditions.

Purpose Of Review: This paper critically reviews recent studies that have used behavioral or psychosocial interventions aimed at preventing type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and HIV/AIDS as well as the psychosocial management of cardiovascular disease, HIV and cancer.

Recent Findings: Behavioral (lifestyle) interventions can decrease risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Psychosocial interventions have proven efficacy for alleviating distress in patients medically treated for cancer, cardiovascular disease and HIV/AIDS.

Effects of spousal control and support on older adults' recovery from knee surgery.

The authors investigated associations between spousal control (influence) and support on the recovery outcomes for 70 men and women (mean age = 70) undergoing an increasingly common surgical treatment for osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Spouses' positive (motivating) and negative (pressuring) control and spouses' emotional (understanding) and problematic (dismissing) support were examined as predictors of patients' adherence and improvement in well-being. Positive control was associated with better adherence, but only among patients whose spouses provided little problematic support.