Short-term effects of the "I Spy Feelings" program on emotion regulation in 5- to 6-year-old children.

Introduction: Mental health difficulties in early childhood can have a debilitating and ongoing impact throughout an individual's life; emotion regulation can serve as a protective factor. Therefore, evidence-based prevention programs that teach children effective skills and strategies for emotion regulation are needed.

Methods: As part of the Aussie Optimism pilot study evaluating the "I Spy Feelings" program, this study aims to assess the short-term effects of the program on emotion regulation in pre-primary aged children after 2 months via a longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial.

A pilot randomised controlled trial of guided self-help cognitive behaviour therapy for perfectionism: Impact on diagnostic status and comorbidity.

Background And Objectives: Perfectionism is associated with the development and maintenance of anxiety, mood, and eating disorders. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) results in significant reductions in perfectionism and psychological symptoms however, the majority of studies have not examined clinical samples or impact on diagnostic status and comorbidity.

Methods: Forty participants with elevated perfectionism, of whom 80% had a range of psychological disorders, were randomised to CBT for perfectionism or waitlist control.

Couples Therapy Delivered Through Videoconferencing: Effects on Relationship Outcomes, Mental Health and the Therapeutic Alliance.

Changing technology, and the pervasive demand created by a greater need in the population for access to mental health interventions, has led to the development of technologies that are shifting the traditional way in which therapy is provided. This study investigated the efficacy of a behavioral couples therapy program conducted videoconferencing, as compared to face-to-face. There were 60 participants, in couples, ranging in age from 21 to 69 years old.

Making the Right Connections: Maximizing Lexical Generalization in Lexical Impairments in Primary Progressive Aphasia and Alzheimer's Disease.

Purpose Positive intervention effects following lexical retrieval interventions are increasingly reported with people with progressive language impairments; however, generalization of therapy gains are less frequently evident and less well understood. This study sought to explore the impact of specific therapy ingredients on generalization outcomes. Method Twelve participants with progressive lexical retrieval deficits (four each with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia, logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia, and Alzheimer's disease, amnestic presentation) and their family members participated in a 6-week intervention that aimed to increase access to different word classes (nouns, verbs, and adjectives) through a strategic self-cueing approach.

Attribution Theory, Bystander Effect and Willingness to Intervene in Intimate Partner Violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a crime that is afflicted by a current or previous romantic relationship partner. One in four women has experienced IPV at least once in their lifetime, with physical and psychological consequences. IPV cases tend to go largely unnoticed and under-reported, with low rates of intervention by bystanders.

Mindfulness-Based Compassion Training for Health Professionals Providing End-of-Life Care: Impact, Feasibility, and Acceptability.

Health professionals who care for patients and their families at the end of life (EOL) may experience gratitude, and enhanced spirituality and meaning in life, yet they are also at increased risk of psychological distress, compassion fatigue, and occupational burnout given the stressors they encounter in their work. This research evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a novel six-week mindfulness-based compassion training intervention, which was tailored to health professionals involved in EOL care ("MBCT4HP"), and explored its impact on levels of psychological distress, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, occupational burnout, self-compassion, and mindfulness. We adopted an observational, repeated measures pilot study.

A pilot study of a new bereavement program for children: Lionheart Camp for Kids.

We assessed the acceptability and effectiveness of a new childhood bereavement service known as Lionheart Camp for Kids. Using a pre-post-follow-up design, data pertaining to 12 bereaved children (aged 5-12 years) and their primary caregivers were obtained. Results showed that caregivers reported decreases in children's peer relationship problems, improvements in parental consistency, and reductions in coercive parenting, and there was a trend toward lower self-reported grief by the children.

Validity of the compulsive exercise test in regular exercisers.

Measurement of compulsive exercise is important for the study of eating pathology in individuals who regularly participate in sport and exercise. The current study examined the factor structure, internal consistency and validity of the compulsive exercise test (CET) in regular exercisers. Participants were recruited via the internet and from sport clubs ( = 313 adults; = 32 years; 57% female).

Measuring 8 to 12 year old children's self-report of power imbalance in relation to bullying: development of the Scale of Perceived Power Imbalance.

Background: While power imbalance is now recognized as a key component of bullying, reliable and valid measurement instruments have yet to be developed. This research aimed to develop a self-report instrument that measures power imbalance as perceived by the victim of frequent aggressive behavior.

Methods: A mixed methods approach was used (468 participants, Grade 4 to 6).

A randomized controlled trial of unguided internet cognitive behaviour therapy for perfectionism in adolescents: Impact on risk for eating disorders.

Objective: Perfectionism is a risk factor for the development and maintenance of eating disorders. The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of unguided Internet cognitive behaviour therapy for perfectionism (ICBT-P) as a treatment and prevention for perfectionism and symptoms of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and self-esteem in female adolescents.

Method: Young women (N = 94, 14-19 years) who self-identified as having difficulties with perfectionism but did not have a clinical eating disorder diagnosis were recruited.

Profiling sentence repetition deficits in primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease: Error patterns and association with digit span.

The use of sentence repetition tasks to distinguish dementia syndromes, particularly variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA), is receiving growing attention. Impaired sentence repetition is a core feature of logopenic variant PPA, although the underlying cognitive mechanisms of this impairment and its significance as a diagnostic criterion remain poorly understood. Sentence repetition abilities of 12 people with dementia, using an adapted error classification schema, were analyzed, along with digit span abilities, a measure frequently used to assess working memory capacity, to explore error patterns and correlations.

Biased interpretation in perfectionistic concerns: an experimental investigation.

Background And Objectives: Perfectionism is associated with the development and maintenance of several disorders. Given the importance of perfectionism understanding the biased information processes that underpin it is critical. The present study tested the hypothesis that heightened concern over mistakes subscale scores of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale are characterized by a tendency to impose emotionally negative interpretations on perfectionism-relevant situations.

A pilot randomised controlled trial of metacognitive therapy for prolonged grief.

Objectives: Prolonged grief disorder is associated with significant distress and impairment and thus efforts to improve treatments are essential. The present pilot study tested the efficacy and feasibility of group Metacognitive Grief Therapy (MCGT) designed specifically for prolonged grief symptomatology to reduce the psychological distress and impaired function resulting from bereavement.

Design/participants: Twenty-two bereaved adult participants with prolonged grief symptomatology were randomised to a wait-list control (n=10) or an intervention condition (n=12) with a 3-month and 6-month follow-up.

Modified Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depressive Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease: a Pilot Trial.

Background: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has evidence of efficacy in a range of populations, but few studies to date have reported on MBCT for treatment of anxious and depressive symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Aims: The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of modified MBCT in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression and improving quality of life in PD.

Method: Thirty-six individuals with PD were randomly assigned to either modified MBCT or a waitlist control.

Wearable Activity Technology And Action-Planning (WATAAP) to promote physical activity in cancer survivors: Randomised controlled trial protocol.

: Colorectal and gynecologic cancer survivors are at cardiovascular risk due to comorbidities and sedentary behaviour, warranting a feasible intervention to increase physical activity. The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) is a promising theoretical framework for health behaviour change, and wearable physical activity trackers offer a novel means of self-monitoring physical activity for cancer survivors. : Sixty-eight survivors of colorectal and gynecologic cancer will be randomised into 12-week intervention and control groups.

Mindfulness and avoidance mediate the relationship between yoga practice and anxiety.

Objectives: There is accumulating evidence that yoga and mindfulness meditation can alleviate symptoms of anxiety, although the mechanisms by which this occurs remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between yoga practice and self-reported anxiety as well as the potential mediating roles of mindfulness and emotional avoidance.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, 367 participants were recruited online and completed measures of anxiety, avoidance, and mindfulness.

Do Parent Mental Illness and Family Living Arrangement Moderate the Effects of the Aussie Optimism Program on Depression and Anxiety in Children?

Parent mental illness and family living arrangement are associated with depression and anxiety in children, and may influence the effects of programs that aim to prevent these disorders. This study investigated whether these family context factors moderated the intervention effects of the enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills program on depression and anxiety in primary school children. The intervention was a universal, cognitive-behavioral program, with a one hour session each week for 10 weeks, delivered by trained teachers.

Determining stability in connected speech in primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease.

Purpose: Using connected speech to assess progressive language disorders is confounded by uncertainty around whether connected speech is stable over successive sampling, and therefore representative of an individual's performance, and whether some contexts and/or language behaviours show greater stability than others.

Method: A repeated measure, within groups, research design was used to investigate stability of a range of behaviours in the connected speech of six individuals with primary progressive aphasia and three individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Stability was evaluated, at a group and individual level, across three samples, collected over 3 weeks, involving everyday monologue, narrative and picture description, and analysed for lexical content, fluency and communicative informativeness and efficiency.

Parenting and family adjustment scales (PAFAS): validation of a brief parent-report measure for use with families who have a child with a developmental disability.

Background: Children with a developmental disability are three to four times more likely than their typically developing peers of developing significant emotional and behavioural problems. There is strong evidence to suggest that individual biological and psychological factors interact with family functioning to precipitate and perpetuate these problems.

Aims: This study examined the psychometric properties of a brief measure, the Parent and Family Adjustment Scales (PAFAS) for use with parents of children with a developmental disability.

Social support following bereavement: The role of beliefs, expectations, and support intentions.

Social support is one of the strongest determinants of bereavement outcomes, yet little is understood about the community's recognition of grief and intentions to provide social support to grieving persons. A total of 476 adults responded to an online vignette and questionnaire measuring grief norms and supportive intentions. Respondent gender, age, and bereavement status all had some association with expectations of grief, intentions to support, perceived helpfulness of support attempts, and opinions toward the diagnostic classification of grief.

Mechanisms of Change During Attention Training and Mindfulness in High Trait-Anxious Individuals: A Randomized Controlled Study.

The first aim of this study was to compare attention manipulation techniques deriving from metacognitive therapy (the Attention Training Technique; ATT) and mindfulness-based approaches (Mindfulness-Based Progressive Muscle Relaxation, MB-PMR) to a thought wandering control (TWC) condition, in terms of their impact on anxiety and four mechanisms: distancing, present-focused attention, uncontrollability and dangerousness, metacognitive beliefs, and cognitive flexibility (Stroop task). The second aim was to test indirect effects of the techniques on anxiety via the mechanism measures. High trait anxious participants (N = 81, M = 23.

A longitudinal investigation of perfectionism and repetitive negative thinking in perinatal depression.

Repetitive negative thinking and perfectionism have both been proposed as processes that are related to depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study was to investigate concurrent and prospective relationships between antenatal and postnatal depression, perfectionism, and repetitive negative thinking. A longitudinal design was used and 71 women were followed from their third trimester of pregnancy to six weeks post birth.