The Family Climate Questionnaire: A general measure of autonomy support from family members.

Introduction: The current study examines the psychometric characteristics of the Family Climate Questionnaire (FCQ), which was intended to measure the degree of autonomy-support among family members for a respondent with health concerns.

Method: The sample included military veterans (N = 350), a portion of whom had congestive heart failure (N = 86) or diabetes (N = 77), and a portion who were referred from primary care for behavioral health concerns (N = 187). Overall, 92.

Social Control and Health Behaviors Among Individuals Living with Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Study.

Background: Positive health behaviors (e.g., exercise, healthy eating habits, good sleep hygiene, treatment adherence) are important in ensuring optimal symptom management and health outcomes among individuals living with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Retrospective audit of a convenience cohort of individuals on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis in Alberta, Canada.

Background: We undertook an audit of a province-wide HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) program in Alberta (Canada).

Methods: A retrospective record review of individuals accessing PrEP in Alberta included demographics, PrEP indication(s), and reported non-prescription drug and alcohol use from March 2016 to June 2019. Hepatitis A, B, C, HIV and syphilis serology, serum creatinine, and nucleic acid amplification tests testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea were collected.

Internet-based family training with telephone coaching to promote mental health treatment initiation among veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder: A pilot study.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among military veterans, yet many affected veterans do not seek treatment. Family members of these veterans often experience compromised well-being and a desire for the veteran to receive mental health care. The Veterans Affairs (VA)-Community Reinforcement and Family Training (VA-CRAFT) for PTSD is an internet-based intervention intended to teach veterans' family members skills to encourage veterans to initiate mental health care.

Social Factors Predict Treatment Engagement in Veterans with PTSD or SUD.

Veterans with PTSD and SUDs often fail to initiate, or prematurely discontinue, mental health treatment in Veteran Affairs Medical Centers (VAMC). While much is known about clinical characteristics and demographic factors impacting treatment engagement in this population, less is known about the role of social factors. This retrospective study examines primary care-based screening assessment and specialty mental healthcare appointment data in a VAMC, to test whether social factors predict treatment initiation and appointment attendance.

Coaching Into Care: Veterans Affairs Telephone-Based Service for Concerned Family Members of Military Veterans.

Many veterans who need mental health treatment are reluctant to seek care, and their family members often do not know how to encourage them to do so. In 2011, a telephone-based service called Coaching Into Care (CIC) was developed to address this concern. Callers are provided with educational resources and referrals; in more complicated cases, callers are provided with up to 6 months of telephone-based coaching.

Deployment communication: Underlying processes and outcomes.

This concurrent embedded mixed methods study explored important aspects of communication occurring between military service members and their intimate partners during a combat deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. Fifty-eight participants (32 military veterans and 26 non-veteran partners) participated in an interview using standardized self-report measures assessing the current level of relationship satisfaction, trauma symptoms of the veteran, and the veterans' trauma exposure. Participants also participated in a semistructured interview focused on combat deployment and reintegration experiences.

Recent advances in the understanding of relationship communication during military deployment.

In recent decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the ability of service members and their intimate partners to communicate while the service member is deployed to a combat zone. Communication among partners is a crucial aspect of intimate relationships that has been demonstrated to be highly associated with couples' satisfaction. In addition, it is often cited by unhappy partners as a primary relationship problem.

Social support predicts self-care confidence in patients with heart failure.

Background: Self-care for patients with heart failure includes engaging in behaviours that maintain medical stability and manage problematic symptoms, as well as the confidence in one's ability to carry out such behaviours. Given the social context of self-care behaviours in heart failure, there has been increasing interest in social support as a predictor of self-care.

Aim: The goal of the present study was to examine the role of social support in self-care across time for persons with heart failure.

The Moderating Role of Perceived Social Support on Alcohol Treatment Outcomes.

Objective: This study examined the extent to which perceived social support is related to longitudinal treatment outcomes among heavy drinkers randomized to a brief, telephone-based care management intervention versus standard care.

Method: This is a secondary analysis of data from a randomized trial comparing an enhanced, brief alcohol intervention to standard care. Participants comprised 136 male, heavy drinkers (mean age = 57.

Health-related social control among older men with depressive symptomatology.

Objectives: Social control attempts, or attempts by social network members to influence a person's behavior, significantly predict men's health behaviors and psychological well-being. Despite the fact that depression is associated with compromised interpersonal functioning and poor health behaviors, the association between social control processes and depression has not been studied. Thus, this pilot study explored differential vulnerability to spouses' social control attempts among older, male primary care patients with varying levels of depression symptom severity and the degree to which these attempts predicted patients' behavioral and affective responses.

Veteran preferences for romantic partner involvement in depression treatment.

Objective: The objective was to examine Veterans' preferences for romantic partner involvement in depression treatment and patient characteristics that are associated with the likelihood of preferred involvement.

Method: One hundred seventy-nine Veterans who met criteria for major or minor depression reported if they wanted their partners to give them medication reminders, accompany them to appointments, and speak with their treatment provider.

Results: Greater depression severity and wanting a partner to be less critical and more encouraging were associated with greater preferences for involvement.

Benefit finding and relationship quality in Parkinson's disease: a pilot dyadic analysis of husbands and wives.

Parkinson's disease (PD) significantly impacts both patients' and spouses' emotional and physical health. However, despite the importance of social relationships for wellbeing, few studies have examined relationship quality and their correlates in individuals with PD and their partners. Specifically, no known studies have examined the association between benefit finding, or the experience of personal growth and other positive changes in the face of a stressor, and perceived marital quality.

What is the best measure of daytime sleepiness in adults with heart failure?

Purpose: To identify the best screening measure of daytime sleepiness in adults with heart failure (HF).

Data Sources: A total of 280 adults with HF completed the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the Stanford Sleepiness Scale, and a single Likert item measuring daytime sleepiness. The sensitivity and specificity of these self-report measures were assessed in relation to a measure of daytime dysfunction from poor sleep quality.

The role of depression in medication adherence among heart failure patients.

The purpose of the study was to explore the association between depression and medication adherence in heart failure (HF) patients. Studies have shown that people with depression are likely to be nonadherent to their prescribed medication treatment. But other studies suggest that nonadherence may be overestimated by people with depression.

Predictors of objectively measured medication nonadherence in adults with heart failure.

Background: Medication nonadherence rates are high. The factors predicting nonadherence in heart failure remain unclear.

Methods And Results: A sample of 202 adults with heart failure was enrolled from the northeastern United States and followed for 6 months.

Double jeopardy: the influence of excessive daytime sleepiness and impaired cognition on health-related quality of life in adults with heart failure.

Aims: To determine how excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and impaired cognition contribute to health-related quality of life (HRQL) in heart failure (HF).

Methods And Results: Adults with chronic HF were enrolled into a prospective cohort study. Data were obtained from 280 subjects enrolled from three sites in the northeastern USA; 242 completed the 6-month study.

Determinants of excessive daytime sleepiness and fatigue in adults with heart failure.

Little is known about excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in heart failure (HF). The aim of this cross-sectional descriptive study was to describe the prevalence of EDS and factors associated with it in HF. A secondary purpose was to explore the correlates of fatigue.

Excessive daytime sleepiness is associated with poor medication adherence in adults with heart failure.

Background: A relationship between excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and poor treatment adherence has been suspected but not confirmed. We hypothesized that medication adherence would be poorer in adults with heart failure (HF) and EDS and that cognitive status would be the mechanism of effect.

Methods And Results: A sample of 280 adults with chronic HF were enrolled into a prospective cohort comparison study.

Modifiable factors associated with sleep dysfunction in adults with heart failure.

Background: Sleep dysfunction contributes to poor quality of life in adults with heart failure (HF). The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with sleep dysfunction that may be modifiable.

Methods: Data were collected from 266 subjects enrolled from three sites in the U.

Primary care-mental health integration in healthcare in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been undergoing tremendous transformation in the past 15 years with regard to the delivery of health care.

Family problems among recently returned military veterans referred for a mental health evaluation.

Context: Existing evidence suggests that military veterans with mental health disorders have poorer family functioning, although little research has focused on this topic.

Objective: To test whether psychiatric symptoms are associated with family reintegration problems in recently returned military veterans.

Design: Cross-sectional survey of a clinical population.

Social support and self-care of patients with heart failure.

Background: Social support can influence treatment adherence of patients with chronic illnesses, which may explain the positive effects of social support on heart failure (HF) outcomes.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of social support among patients with HF, we examined whether aspects of social support were associated with self-care, including medication adherence, dietary adherence, and HF symptom monitoring functions.

Methods: We recruited 74 patients with HF from cardiology clinics of a Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a university-affiliated hospital, and tested the relationships between social support and the patients' self-care.