Telehealth behavioral treatment for medication nonadherence: a pilot and feasibility study.

Objective: To evaluate an individually tailored multicomponent nonadherence treatment protocol using a telehealth delivery approach in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease.

Methods: Nine participants, age 13.71±1.

Psychosocial issues in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease: report of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition.

Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can affect many areas of psychosocial functioning, and comprehensive medical care includes consideration of psychosocial issues as well as disease factors. The purpose of this clinical report is to review research on psychosocial functioning in pediatric IBD and to provide recommendations for care providers in the areas of psychopathology, health-related quality of life, and social, family, and school functioning. Youth with IBD are at increased risk for difficulty in all areas reviewed, and many psychosocial factors are associated with disease activity, which highlights the importance of monitoring psychosocial functioning as part of clinical care.

Evaluation of a group-based behavioral intervention to promote adherence in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease.

Objective: To pilot test the feasibility and acceptability of a family-based group behavioral intervention and to improve medication adherence in adolescents diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease.

Methods: Participants were 40 adolescents aged 11-18 years diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease and their primary caregivers, who were randomized to either a four-session Family-Based Group Behavioral Treatment or Usual Care over a 6-week period. Adherence was measured using a multi-method, multi-informant assessment involving caregiver-report and patient-report, pill count data, and electronic monitoring.

Incorporating electronic monitoring feedback into clinical care: a novel and promising adherence promotion approach.

This paper presents case examples that document the preliminary clinical utility of using electronic monitoring (EM) feedback to tailor empirically validated adherence-promoting interventions, delivered in standard clinical practice. Challenges of utilizing EM in standard clinical practice as well as future directions are also discussed. Two adolescents referred for behavioral adherence promotion intervention are described.

Who benefits from emotional expression? An examination of personality differences among gynaecological cancer patients participating in a randomized controlled emotional disclosure intervention trial.

The present study examined the role of neuroticism and extraversion in the effects of written emotional disclosure in patients diagnosed with gynaecological cancer. It was hypothesized that high levels of neuroticism would be associated with an increase in distress after emotional disclosure as mediated by heightened negative affect and avoidance post-disclosure. Conversely, we expected high extraversion to be associated with decreased distress as mediated by heightened positive moods and a decrease in avoidance.

Psychological screening in adolescents with type 1 diabetes predicts outcomes one year later.

Aims: Adolescents with type 1 diabetes are at increased risk for depression and anxiety, which can adversely affect diabetes management, glycemic control, and quality of life (QOL). However, systematic psychological screening is rarely employed. We hypothesized that higher depression and anxiety screener scores would predict higher HbA1c, less frequent blood glucose monitoring (BGM), and poorer QOL one year later.

Individually tailored treatment of medication nonadherence.

Objective: Nonadherence is a significant health care issue in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that requires intervention to improve outcomes. This pilot randomized controlled trial was designed to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of an individually tailored behavioral treatment for nonadherence in adolescents with IBD.

Patients And Methods: Fourteen adolescents ages 14.

Patient and parent psychosocial factors associated with health-related quality of life in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to examine the mediating role of youth depressive symptoms in the relation between parent distress and youth health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a sample of adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Patients And Methods: Sixty-two adolescents, ages 13 to 17 years, with a confirmed diagnosis of IBD completed assessments of depressive symptoms and HRQOL. Each adolescent's primary caregiver completed a measure of parent stress related to his or her child's illness.

Perceived social support and its association with obesity-specific health-related quality of life.

Objective: To (1) describe type and source of social support perceived by obese youth and examine associations with sociodemographic/anthropometric characteristics, and (2) examine relationships between social support and obesity-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Methods: Seventy-four obese youth and their primary caregivers participated. Youth completed the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale and an obesity-specific HRQOL measure, Sizing Me Up.

Explaining the family conflict-glycemic control link through psychological variables in adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

To examine whether individual psychological variables mediate the family conflict-glycemic control relationship. During three study visits spanning 9 months, 147 adolescents with type 1 diabetes completed questionnaires measuring anxiety and depressive symptoms, and diabetes-specific worry. Caregivers similarly completed a measure of diabetes-specific family conflict.

Family functioning and health-related quality of life in adolescents with pediatric inflammatory bowel disease.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between family functioning and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a sample of adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and to specify the domains of family functioning with which these families experience difficulties.

Methods: Sixty-two adolescents, aged 13-17 years, with a confirmed diagnosis of IBD completed assessments of HRQOL. Each adolescent's primary caregiver completed a measure of family functioning.

Transitioning cognitively impaired young patients with special health needs to adult-oriented care: collaboration between medical providers and pediatric psychologists.

Purpose Of Review: Cognitive disability places adolescents with special health needs at risk for poor health outcomes. Consequently, medical providers are faced with the challenge of deciding how to prepare cognitively impaired young adults for successful transition from child-centered to adult-oriented care. We provide a case example to illustrate this complex issue, describe research linking cognitive impairments to functioning in the context of chronic disease management, summarize current transition practices, offer recommendations to facilitate transition planning, and discuss how pediatric psychologists can assist this process.

Family functioning in the context of pediatric chronic conditions.

Objective: The aims were to describe and compare generic family functioning in children with five different chronic conditions and healthy comparisons, and to examine the relations between family functioning and sociodemographic variables.

Methods: A secondary data analysis from six independent studies including 301 children (cystic fibrosis: n = 59; obesity: n = 28; sickle cell disease: n = 44; inflammatory bowel disease: n = 43; epilepsy: n = 70; healthy comparison group: n = 57) was conducted. In each study, parents completed the Family Assessment Device.

Interactions with parents and friends among chronically ill children: examining social networks.

Objective: Children with medical conditions often experience a combination of positive and negative social interactions with parents and friends. Adult research examining cross-domain buffering effects has documented that supportive social ties can make up for shortcomings in other social relationships. This study examined whether negative effects of strained relationships with loved ones can be buffered when children feel supported by individuals in different support networks (i.

Anxiety symptoms in adolescents with type 1 diabetes: association with blood glucose monitoring and glycemic control.

Objective: To examine the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and their association with blood glucose monitoring (BGM) and glycemic control in adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Methods: 276 adolescents and their caregivers completed measures of anxiety symptoms. Adolescents completed a measure of depressive symptoms.

Gender and stress: differential psychophysiological reactivity to stress reexposure in the laboratory.

Research has shown that women are more prone to the development of depression and anxiety disorders throughout their lifetimes. Stress reactivity and adaptation to repeated stressors have been linked to depression and anxiety, but studies examining gender differences in psychophysiological responses to repeated stressors are very limited. This study examined gender differences in response to initial and repeated exposure to a laboratory stressor as well as potential mechanisms for these differences.

The relationship between threat appraisal and social constraints in cancer survivors and their spouses.

: Social constraints stem from unsupportive social environments and are associated with reluctance to discuss stressor-related thoughts and feelings. Support deterioration and erosion models provide a framework for explaining how a cancer patient's threat appraisal contributes to a spouse's inadvertent constraint on the patient's emotional expression. Also, based on social comparison theory and the convoy model, a discrepancy in threat appraisal between patient and spouse may create social constraints.

Math weaknesses in survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia compared to healthy children.

Difficulties in math are the most frequently reported area of academic deficit in survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and the most frequent academic complaint among parents of ALL survivors. However, previous studies that included measures of math skills have been limited by the use of only a single measure of math skills, most often a measure of written calculations, without any assessment of math reasoning or math application skills. Further, the nature of these math difficulties has not been adequately investigated.