From the Defense Health Board: Military Accessions and the Continuum of Mental Health Research.

The Defense Health Board conducted a year-long examination of mental health accession screening and related issues. In its August 2020 report, Examination of Mental Health Accession Screening: Predictive Value of Current Measures and Processes, the Board recommends a paradigm shift in how mental health impacts on readiness are understood and addressed. This shift can only occur with the development and implementation of a research plan that follows cohorts of military personnel from recruitment through their military career.

Broadening the cancer and cognition landscape: the role of self-regulatory challenges.

Background: The potentially detrimental effects of cancer and related treatments on cognitive functioning have emerged as one of the key foci of cancer survivorship research, but little is known about how psychological variables other than depression influence these relationships. To illustrate the potential of social psychological perspectives, we examine how a self-regulatory analysis and specific self-regulatory challenges of contending with cancer-related expectancies and stereotypes provide conceptual frameworks for understanding some of the potential causes and consequences of cancer-related cognitive deficits.

Methods: Literatures on cancer-related cognitive deficits, self-regulatory ego depletion, expectancy stereotypes, and their points of convergence are briefly reviewed.

Considering the unspoken: the role of death cognition in quality of life among women with and without breast cancer.

This study examined how breast cancer diagnosis influences underlying cognitions and explicit worries about death, and their roles in health-related quality of life (QOL). Forty-two women who underwent surgery for the removal of either a cancerous or benign breast mass indicated their worries about dying and completed measures of death-thought accessibility and QOL. Women with cancer reported lowered physical, emotional, and functional well-being.

Stress, coping and cognitive deficits in women after surgery for breast cancer.

Research on neuropsychological difficulties among cancer patients has focused on chemotherapy as a primary cause, yet several studies have now shown that some patients evidence cognitive weaknesses prior to chemotherapy. As an alternative to the 'chemo-brain' theory, this study examined the hypothesis that stress and coping style may be associated with observed neuropsychological difficulties among female cancer patients. Thirty-six women completed neuropsychological testing and psychological questionnaires following surgery for breast cancer and prior to any subsequent treatments.

Tai Chi effects on neuropsychological, emotional, and physical functioning following cancer treatment: a pilot study.

Objective: To examine the effects of a 10-week Tai Chi (TC) program on neuropsychological, psychological, and physical health of female cancer survivors.

Design: Twenty-three women with a history of cancer participated in 60-min TC classes two times/week for 10-weeks.

Main Outcome Measures: Before and after the intervention, participants completed neuropsychological tests (memory, executive functioning, language, and attention); 5 tests of balance; and self-report questionnaires of neuropsychological complaints, stress and mood, and fatigue.

Validation of WAIS-III four-subtest short forms in patients with traumatic brain injury.

In an effort to identify four-subtest Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) short forms valid for estimating Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) among individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), seven tetrad versions of the WAIS-III were evaluated in a convenience sample of patients referred for neuropsychological assessment (n = 176). Estimated FSIQ scores were compared to actual FSIQ scores via correlation analyses, repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs), and frequency analyses. All short form-estimated FSIQ scores correlated highly with actual scores (all rs > .

Investing in our future: unrealized opportunities for funding graduate psychology training.

Purpose: Changes in the health care environment have brought challenges and opportunities to the field of psychology. Practitioners have been successful in modifying service models to absorb losses of financial support for behavioral health care, due to managed care and public policy changes, while simultaneously managing the growing need for these services. However, in this reactive mode of responding to evolutions in the health care system, the field of psychology has at times lost sight of the long-term vision required to promote psychology's inclusion in the health care system of the future.

Effects of a creative expression intervention on emotions, communication, and quality of life in persons with dementia.

Background: Effective nonpharmacological interventions are needed to treat neuropsychiatric symptoms and to improve quality of life for the 5.3 million Americans affected by dementia.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the effect of a storytelling program, TimeSlips, on communication, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and quality of life in long-term care residents with dementia.

Does rurality affect quality of life following treatment for breast cancer?

Purpose: The present research examined the extent to which rural residence and social support seeking are associated with quality of life (QOL) among breast cancer patients following chemotherapy.

Methods: Female breast cancer patients (n = 46) from communities of varying degrees of rurality in a Midwestern state completed psychological and QOL measures at 1-month postchemotherapy. Analyses assessed the relationships between QOL outcomes, rurality, and social support seeking.

Brain injury and health policy: twenty-five years of progress.

Legislative advocacy is a prerequisite for the development of research and community services benefiting individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Dr Mitchell Rosenthal and other leaders in rehabilitation began the process of advocating for TBI services more than 25 years ago, before many in the field fully appreciated the necessity of these efforts. Since that time, substantial gains have been made through advocacy efforts on behalf of individuals with TBI and their families.

Cognitive and psychological factors associated with early posttreatment functional outcomes in breast cancer survivors.

Breast cancer survivors experience cognitive difficulties following chemotherapy, yet the effects of these deficits on functional outcomes have not been systematically evaluated. This study assessed the relationships between postchemotherapy cognitive difficulties and functional outcomes. Forty-six women with breast cancer were seen at 1-month postchemotherapy; data were collected on cognitive functioning, psychological variables, and physical symptoms.

Neuropsychological functioning and quality of life during the first year after completing chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Objective: Research has documented modest cognitive difficulties among women treated for breast cancer. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of these subtle cognitive changes on quality of life after treatment.

Methods: Data are presented from women breast cancer patients who completed neuropsychological tests and questionnaires regarding quality of life 6 and 12 months post-chemotherapy (n's=39 and 33).

Breast cancer and "chemobrain": the consequences of cognitive difficulties following chemotherapy and the potential for recovery.

Up to one-third of women breast cancer survivors report difficulties with concentration, multi-tasking, and memory. Research in the University of Missouri, Department of Health Psychology, suggests that these cognitive difficulties are associated with poorer quality of life among breast cancer survivors after treatment. This article discusses this treatment side effect and its consequences for daily functioning, highlights ongoing research on the potential role of stress in the development of cognitive difficulties, and reviews treatment options.

Relationships among spiritual beliefs, religious practises, congregational support and health for individuals with traumatic brain injury.

Objective: To determine relationships among spiritual beliefs, religious practises, congregational support and health for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Design: A cross-sectional analysis of 61 individuals with TBI evaluated in an outpatient clinic using the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS) and the Medical Outcomes Scale-Short Form 36 (SF-36).

Results: For persons with TBI the BMMRS Meaning and Values/Beliefs sub-scales were significantly correlated with the SF-36 General Health Perception sub-scale and the BMMRS Religious Support sub-scale was significantly correlated with the SF-36 General Mental Health sub-scale.

The Frontal Systems Behaviour Scale (FrSBe) as a predictor of community integration following a traumatic brain injury.

Primary Objective: This study examined the relationships between the Frontal Systems Behaviour Scale (FrSBe), neuropsychological tests and community integration outcomes among individuals with a history of TBI.

Methods: Seventy-six individuals with a history of TBI were consecutively recruited from patients seen in a Neuropsychology clinic in an academic healthcare setting. Participants completed neuropsychological tests, the FrSBe and the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) as part of a standard clinical neuropsychological evaluation.

Evaluation of the traumatic brain injury early referral programme in Missouri.

Purpose: Missouri's traumatic brain injury (TBI) early referral programme connects individuals with TBI to state services in the acute stages of recovery. This study evaluated the impact of this programme on service utilization and functional outcomes.

Method: Sixty-seven individuals in the Early Referral (ER) programme were compared with 31 individuals who received services later in their recovery (controls) in terms of their functioning upon programme enrollment and programme services received.

Vocational outcomes of state vocational rehabilitation clients with traumatic brain injury: a review of the Missouri Model Brain Injury System Studies.

Although there is considerable research on the vocational outcomes of individuals with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), there has been minimal research on the characteristics of persons with TBI who seek services from state vocational rehabilitation services. Such research is deemed critical given the significant number of individuals who request such services, as well as the significant federal and state costs associated with these programs. The current article reviews a series of studies completed collaboratively between the University of Missouri-Columbia and Missouri Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR).

The potential for neuropsychology to inform functional outcomes research with breast cancer survivors.

Cancer survivorship research has yielded important insights into the impact of breast cancer and associated treatments on such issues as vocational functioning, social role and community functioning, and quality of life. Efforts to understand factors that may impact these functional outcomes have specifically focused on medical, individual, and environmental variables. A relatively recent line of study suggests that neuropsychological functioning is an important individual variable to consider when assessing outcomes among breast cancer survivors, as there is evidence that at least a portion of women undergoing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer will evidence an apparent decline in neuropsychological functioning.