Background And Objective: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRDs) are progressive conditions that substantially impact individuals and families. Timely diagnosis and early support are critical for long-term adjustment. However, current dementia care models do not meet needs of patients and families.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychol Sex Orientat Gend Divers
September 2024
Minority stress is the leading explanation for sexual minority women's (SMW) higher rates of, and heavier, alcohol use compared to heterosexual women. Little is known about how both partners' sexual minority stressors impact alcohol consumption in a dyadic context, and even less research has considered these effects at the day-level. This study utilizes dyadic daily diary data to test associations of each partner's sexual minority stress events with drinking outcomes (day-level alcohol use, heavy episodic drinking [HED], and estimated blood alcohol content [eBAC]) among women in same-gender relationships ( 159 couples).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Strong support for family-based interventions in child and adolescent weight management exists. However, family-based interventions have not been as well documented in adult populations. Given that many adults operate within family systems that could influence their weight management behaviors, research is needed to establish possible family-level variables as intervention targets for adult weight loss programs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: Testing mechanisms of action (MoAs) hypothesized to underlie behavior change can enhance intervention effectiveness. Rigorous measurement of putative mechanisms is critical to this effort, but measures are rarely validated with respect to target MoAs.
Objective: This study aimed to elucidate challenges of linking measures to putative MoAs and to identify priorities for future research.
Objective: Sleep disturbance is a "hallmark" symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Poor sleep (including short sleep) after combat-related trauma can also predict subsequent PTSD. Less is known about the association between sleep duration and PTSD symptoms when PTSD is induced by acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCouple-based HIV interventions that increase uptake of two or more effective biomedical HIV prevention methods may be a promising HIV prevention strategy for young Black and Latino heterosexual couples. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews with 23 Black and Latino adolescent and young adult heterosexual couples that explored their attitudes toward using combination HIV prevention methods (CHPMs). A qualitative hybrid thematic analysis approach was used to identify key themes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoc Psychol Personal Sci
July 2023
It is unknown how co-rumination, or perseverating on problems or feelings another person, unfolds in the daily lives of romantic couples. Using a variance decomposition procedure on data from a 14-day dyadic diary, we assessed how much variance in co-rumination was attributable to temporally stable and varying factors, as well as whether co-rumination is better measured as a couple-level or individual-level process. Within-person, within-couple fluctuations in co-rumination contributed most (~33%) to the total variance and summary scores based on these fluctuations were reliable.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PSS) due to acute cardiac events are common and may lead patients to avoid secondary prevention behaviors. However, patients' daily experience of cardiac event-induced PSS has not been studied after a potentially traumatic cardiac hospitalization.
Method: In an observational cohort study, 108 mostly male patients with coronary heart disease were recruited after evaluation for suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
Introduction: COVID-19 has had a profound impact on relationship functioning, though effects have been heterogeneous. Reasons for divergent effects on relationship functioning remain unclear. Theoretical models suggest that it is not just stress exposure that leads to adverse relationships outcomes, but also subjective response to these stressors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSurvivors of cardiac arrest (CA) and their family members often experience significant fear-based distress (cardiac fear; i.e., fear about the CA survivor's heart).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Video-based telemedicine (vs audio only) is less frequently used in diverse, low socioeconomic status settings. Few prior studies have evaluated the impact of telemedicine modality (ie, video vs audio-only visits) on clinical quality metrics.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess telemedicine uptake and impact of visit modality (in-person vs video and phone visits) on primary care quality metrics in diverse, low socioeconomic status settings through an implementation science lens.
Weight management requires resisting immediate temptations in one's environment (self-control) as well as the ability to persevere towards one's long-term goals despite minor setbacks (grit). This study sought to establish relationships between self-control, grit, and behavioral and health outcomes in the context of a couples-based weight management intervention. Couples (n = 64 dyads) in a behaviorally based intervention completed measures of self-control and grit at study entry and the end of treatment (6 months).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe conducted a nationwide, randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of Healing Choices, a novel interactive education and treatment decision program rooted in the self-regulation theory framework, on decisional conflict and psychological distress at 2-month post-intervention in women with early-stage breast cancer. Patients were randomized to receive the National Cancer Institute's standard print material (control) or standard print material plus Healing Choices (the intervention). The final sample at 2-month post-intervention consisted of N = 388 participants (intervention: n = 197; control: n = 191).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiverse fields rely on the development of effective interventions to change human behaviors, such as following prescribed medical regimens, engaging in recommended levels of physical activity, getting vaccinations that promote individual and public health, and getting a healthy amount of sleep. Despite recent advancements in behavioral intervention development and behavior-change science, systematic progress is stalled by the lack of a systematic approach to identifying and targeting mechanisms of action that underlie successful behavior change. Further progress in behavioral intervention science requires that mechanisms be universally prespecified, measurable, and malleable.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are common after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and predict increased morbidity and mortality. Climate change contributes to worse mental and cardiovascular health outcomes, thus, PTSS represent a potential mechanism linking climate change to adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Because people living in areas with lower socioeconomic status (SES) experience greater climate vulnerability, have worse cardiovascular health, and may be more susceptible to PTSS, any effect of temperature on PTSS could be amplified in this population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Telemedicine is increasing in popularity but the impact of this shift on patient outcomes has not been well described. Prior data has shown that early post-discharge office visits can reduce readmissions. However, it is unknown if routine use of telemedicine visits for this purpose is similarly beneficial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic changed nearly every aspect of daily life and had detrimental effects on mental health. Yet, impacts have been heterogeneous. We tested whether fluctuations in local COVID-19 percent positivity rates were associated with daily anxiety and depression in couples living in NYC, as well as whether these associations varied by relationship quality or season.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEncounters with discrimination are a normative experience for many Black and Latino adolescents and young adults (AYAs); these experiences may be even more common for expecting AYAs. While the harmful effects of discriminatory experiences on mental and physical health have been well explored, relatively little is known regarding the impact of discrimination on relationship quality and sexual health-specifically HIV/STI risk.Using the Actor Partner Interdependence Model, we examined both actor and partner effects of discrimination on relationship quality and willingness to be non-monogamous in a sample of 259 pregnant adolescent and young adult couples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: It is unknown how hospital- and systems-level factors have impacted patient safety in the intensive care unit (ICU) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to understand how the pandemic has exacerbated preexisting patient safety issues and created novel patient safety challenges in ICUs in the United States.
Methods: We performed a national, multi-institutional, mixed-methods survey of critical care clinicians to elicit experiences related to patient safety during the pandemic.
Purpose Of Review: To summarize the prevalence, correlates, and health consequences of poor mental health in the increasingly sizable population of survivors of Sudden cardiac arrest (CA) and to describe current intervention research in this area.
Recent Findings: After CA many patients report high psychological distress, including depression, generalized anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. Emerging evidence suggests that distressed patients' attention may narrow such that anxious awareness of afferent cardiac signals e.
Br J Health Psychol
February 2023
Objective: This study sought to integrate the NIH Science of Behaviour Change (SOBC) measures repository comprising measures of putative mechanisms with mechanisms of action (MoA) identified by the Human Behaviour-Change Project (HBCP).
Design: Participants were 30 international experts recruited from professional networks and societies. In three anonymous virtual rounds, experts established consensus on hypothesized links between 26 MoAs and 44 self-report measures.