Those Who Get Left Behind

Overview: For most people, losing a friend or loved one is the most difficult thing that they will have to deal with in their life. When that person is an adolescent who may not have personally dealt with death before and especially a death from suicide, the process of grieving can become even more difficult and complicated. In 2009, 4,630 young adults ages 10-24 died by suicide (“Youth Suicidal Behavior”). For each of these deaths a conservative estimate is that “as many as 6 to 10 survivors (persons close to the suicide victim) remain to cope with the loss” (Mitchell et al. 12). Most people can see that this is a tragedy, an epidemic, but to many, it is also just a number. Personally, I will never be able to look at this statistic without thinking that it would have been one less had the decisions that my friend, Cherelle, made that year been altered. In April of my freshman year of high school I lost Cherelle to suicide, and I have lived the past four years of my life affected by her choice in more ways that I ever would have imagined. While we were never terribly close, her choice changed the way that I look at just about everything in life. While researching this topic, I came across a statement by Jane Wolfe, who spoke as both a professional who deals with adolescents and as a parent who lost her child to suicide. While addressing the effects the suicide of a student has on a school Wolfe writes, “For many of the students and teachers in the school, the concept of ‘normal’ has been changed forever” (5). I don’t think that Wolfe could have put it better because the suicide of a peer or a student is something that will affect the lives of numerous survivors, probably for the rest of their lives. Since the day that I found out about Cherelle’s death, I saw, and still see, changes in myself and in many of my friends who were also close to Cherelle. Personally, I would argue that the estimated 6-10 lives affected by each suicide is much too low, as I saw dozens of people grieving, devastated and forever affected by Cherelle’s death. Adolescent suicide is a tragedy in our country, and there is no question that something needs to be done to change that. However, what I want to focus on is those who survive the suicide of a friend or family member- the survivors that get left behind

Exploring views on satisfaction with life in young children with chronic illness: an innovative approach to the collection of self-report data from children under 11

The objective of this study was to explore young children’s views on the impact of chronic illness on their life in order to inform future development of a patient-based self-report health outcome measure. We describe an approach to facilitating self-report views from young children with chronic illness. A board game was designed in order to obtain qualitative data from 39 children with a range of chronic illness conditions and 38 healthy controls ranging in age from 3 to 11 years. The format was effective in engaging young children in a self-report process of determining satisfaction with life and identified nine domains. The board game enabled children aged 5–11 years with chronic illness to describe the effects of living with illness on home, family, friends, school and life in general. It generated direct, non-interpreted material from children who, because of their age, may have been considered unable or limited their ability to discuss and describe how they feel. Obtaining this information for children aged 4 and under continues to be a challenge

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Feasibility and Participants' Satisfaction

The Internet-based psychotherapeutic intervention Onco-STEP for adolescent and young adult (AYA)-aged survivors of pediatric cancer was developed, implemented, and participants' satisfaction was evaluated by use of questionnaires. The intervention consisted of two modules: “Looking Back,” aimed to reduce posttraumatic stress symptoms, and “Looking Ahead,” supported coping with cancer-related fears of relapse and progression. The writing program was fully completed by 20 participants (Mage=27.3±4.8 years at study; 70% female). The majority was satisfied and perceived the treatment components as helpful. Results demonstrate that an Internet-based psychotherapeutic intervention for AYA-aged survivors of pediatric cancer is feasible and accepted by the target population

An Index of Child Well-being in the European Union

While the living conditions of children and young people in the European Union have gained increasing recognition across the EU, the well-being of children is not monitored on the European level. Based on a rights-based, multi-dimensional understanding of child well-being we analyse data already available for the EU 25, using series data as well as comparative surveys of children and young people. We compare the performance of EU Member States on eight clusters with 23 domains and 51 indicators and give a picture of children’s overall well-being in the European Union. The clusters are children’s material situation, housing, health, subjective well-being, education, children’s relationships, civic participation and risk and safety

Muslim and Gay: Seeking identity coherence in New Zealand

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Culture, Health & Sexuality on 2015, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2015.1079927The process of accepting oneself as gay and of ‘coming out’ to family and friends is well documented. For Muslim men, this is complicated by the tension between their emerging sexual identity and their religious and cultural birth identity, which labels homosexuality as sinful. This paper explores this process in a sample of five gay Muslim men living in New Zealand, a liberal secular society where homosexuality is widely accepted and gay rights are endorsed in legislation. Identity Process Theory drives the analysis, which identifies five themes encapsulating the process of striving for psychological coherence: resistance, acceptance, tension, renegotiation and pretence. Initial phases of denial and anger at their emerging sexuality are strongly linked to the conflict with their religious identity. Later, acceptance of their sexuality as natural and even God-given protects them from blame for their ‘sins’. In contrast to earlier work in the UK, for most men, renegotiation of their Muslim identity is adopted as the key strategy for achieving intrapsychic coherence. However, at an interpersonal level, families remain a source of conflict, temporarily resolved through pretence. Renegotiating religious identity leaves men having to pretend not just to be straight, but also to be strongly religious.tru

Leisure experiences in extracurricular activity participation enhance adolescent coping efficacy

This thesis investigates the relationship between adolescents’ involvement in extracurricular activities and coping efficacy. Adolescence is a dynamic phase of a young person’s life that can, for some, involve heightened stress. Developing confidence in adolescence to cope with potential stress is vital for a young person’s healthy transition into adulthood. This thesis pursued three main objectives when exploring whether structured extracurricular leisure time activities may provide a positive context for adolescent coping efficacy. First, the thesis investigated whether, and to what intensity, activity participation enhanced coping efficacy either immediately or longer term. Second, the developmental experiences in activities that might give rise to the benefits to coping efficacy were studied. Third, the question of whether the potential benefits of extracurricular activities applied to at-risk adolescents to a greater extent than to those not at-risk was investigated. A large representative sample of adolescents from Western Australia was surveyed as part of the Youth Activity Participation Study of Western Australia (YAPS-WA). The adolescents were asked about their leisure time experiences, coping efficacy and risk-taking behaviours as well as additional demographic information. The empirical studies of which this thesis is composed draw on multiple waves of data from YAPS-WA. Study 1 (Chapter 3) is a longitudinal paper which utilised both Wave 1 and Wave 2 data from the YAPS-WA project (see Appendix A and B for a copy of entire Wave 1 and 2 surveys, respectively). Study 2 (Chapter 4) investigated data from Wave 7 (see Appendix C for a copy of entire Wave 7 survey). Study 3 used data from Wave 3 from the YAPS-WA project (see Appendix C for a copy of entire Wave 3 survey). Study 1 investigated the relationship between extracurricular activity intensity in the first year of high school (year 8) and coping efficacy one year later. This study compared the predictive strength of participation in sporting and non-sporting activities and tested whether they made independent or overlapping contributions to coping efficacy. Further, the question of whether activity participation intensity showed a linear or a nonlinear relationship with coping efficacy was addressed. The study showed that, in bivariate analyses, greater sporting intensity predicted significantly greater coping efficacy in both years. In contrast, non-sporting activity intensity had a quadratic association with coping efficacy. Results suggested that different types of activity participation might have different optimal patterns of participation for coping efficacy. After controlling for gender, school SES, initial coping efficacy, and current participation, non-sporting activity intensity in year 8 significantly predicted coping efficacy one year later. Overall, the findings suggest that sporting activities have immediate benefits proportional to intensity of participation whereas non-sporting activities have an enduring benefit for coping efficacy, but may not produce maximum benefit at very high level of intensity. Study 2 focused on the experiences within extracurricular activities that may foster positive coping efficacy. The main findings of this study revealed that the relationship between extracurricular activity intensity and adolescent coping efficacy was fully mediated by the developmental experiences within the activities. Specifically, analyses demonstrated that experiences of initiative in sports and positive peer interactions in non-sporting activities explained the relationship between greater intensity of participation and adolescent coping efficacy. In contrast, experiences of leadership and positive adult interaction did not contribute to coping efficacy. These findings reveal that extracurricular activities are beneficial to adolescent coping to the extent that they afford specific developmental experiences. Study 3 examined the relations between non-sporting extracurricular activity participation intensity and risky behaviour. Adolescents’ coping efficacy was tested as a moderator of the association between extracurricular activity participation and risk-taking among adolescents at different levels of contextual risk. Results for moderately at-risk youth indicated a significant interaction, such that greater activity intensity was associated with less risk-taking for adolescents with higher coping efficacy. However, higher intensity activity participation predicted more risk-taking for adolescents with low coping efficacy. This research demonstrates that the benefits associated with extracurricular activities extend to coping efficacy, and some also endure over time. The experiences that benefit coping efficacy differ between types of activities, with sports contributing unique initiative-oriented experiences to coping efficacy whereas non-sports contribute relationship-oriented experiences. Contrasting with sports participation, greater intensity of participation in non-sports may not always be beneficial to coping efficacy – particularly if the extra hours are not conferring additional opportunities for developmental experiences. The findings indicate that different forms of extracurricular participation may have different optimal patterns of participation. Furthermore, the protection that activities offer against risk-taking may vary depending on adolescents’ coping efficacy. Overall, the findings indicate that involvement in structured, extracurricular leisure time pursuits can enhance coping efficacy in adolescence. All three studies offer insight into the complex relationship between activity participation and coping efficacy. The findings of this thesis have relevance to both policy and clinical psychological practice, which will be discussed in more detail

Early signaling, referral, and treatment of adolescent chronic pain: a study protocol

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chronic pain is prevalent among young people and negatively influences their quality of life. Furthermore, chronic pain in adolescence may persist into adulthood. Therefore, it is important early on to promote the self-management skills of adolescents with chronic pain by improving signaling, referral, and treatment of these youngsters. In this study protocol we describe the designs of two complementary studies: a signaling study and an intervention study.</p> <p>Methods and design</p> <p>The signaling study evaluates the Pain Barometer, a self-assessed signaling instrument for chronic pain in adolescents. To evaluate the feasibility of the Pain Barometer, the experiences of youth-health care nurses will be evaluated in semi-structured interviews. Also, we will explore the frequencies of referral per health-care provider. The intervention study evaluates Move It Now, a guided self-help intervention via the Internet for teenagers with chronic pain. This intervention uses cognitive behavioural techniques, including relaxation exercises and positive thinking. The objective of the intervention is to improve the ability of adolescents to cope with pain. The efficacy of Move It Now will be examined in a randomized controlled trial, in which 60 adolescents will be randomly assigned to an experimental condition or a waiting list control condition.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>If the Pain Barometer is proven to be feasible and Move It Now appears to be efficacious, a health care pathway can be created to provide the best tailored treatment promptly to adolescents with chronic pain. Move It Now can be easily implemented throughout the Netherlands, as the intervention is Internet based.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Dutch Trial Register NTR1926</p