Mothering, substance use disorders and intergenerational trauma transmission : an attachment-based perspective

Background: A growing body of research underlines that interpersonal trauma in childhood leads to heightened susceptibility for substance use disorders (SUDs) in later life. Little research has been conducted on parenting experiences of mothers in recovery from substance use, taking into account their own upbringing as a child and the potential aftermath of interpersonal childhood trauma. Methods: Through in-depth qualitative interviews, 23 mothers with SUDs reflected on parenting experiences and parent-child bonding, related to both their children and parents. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and data were analyzed adopting thematic analysis. Results: Throughout the narratives, consequences of trauma on mothers' sense of self and its subsequent impact on parenting arose as salient themes. Five latent mechanisms of intergenerational trauma transmission were identified: 1) early interpersonal childhood trauma experiences in mothers; 2) trauma as a precursor of substance use; 3) substance use as a (self-fooling) enabler of parental functioning; 4) continued substance use impacting parental functioning; and 5) dysfunctional parental functioning and its relational impact upon offspring. Discussion: Findings suggest disruptive attachment can increase the vulnerability for SUDs on the one hand, but can be an expression of underlying trauma on the other, hence serving as a covert mechanism by which trauma can be transmitted across generations. Results indicate the need for preventive, attachment-based and trauma-sensitive interventions targeted at disruptive intergenerational patterns

Virtual Reality and Education : evaluating the Learning Experience

The paper presents the evaluation of two different case studies involving educational virtual reality experiences for adults and children. The case studies concern applications for two different content domains, archeology and mathematics education, both developed for high-end projection-based virtual reality systems such as the CAVE®. In the first case of archaeology education, an evaluation study was performed in situ with adults and children who used the virtual environment during their museum visit. In the second case of learning abstract mathematics, the evaluation study was held in a controlled laboratory setting. The evaluation methods used ranged from quantifiable pre- and post- questionnaires and log files to the more qualitative methods of direct observation and semi-structured interviewing. Emphasis was given both on usability issues and on the evaluation of effectiveness in terms of learning.L'article presenta l'avaluació de dos estudis de cas diferents que fan referència a experiències educatives per adults i nens utilitzant la realitat virtual. Els estudis de cas consisteixen en aplicacions a dos continguts diferents, l'ensenyament de l'arqueologia i de les matemàtiques, desenvolupades ambdues per sistemes de realitat virtual projectada d'alta definició com CAVE®. En el primer cas que es refereix a l'ensenyament de l'arqueologia, es va dur a terme un estudi in situ amb adults i nens que van utilitzar l'entorn virtual durant una visita a un museu. En el segon cas, el de l'ensenyament de matemàtiques abstractes, l'estudi avaluatiu es va dur a terme en un context controlat de laboratori. Els mètodes avaluatius utilitzats abastaren des de qüestionaris quantificables (per abans i després de l'experiència) fins a mètodes més cualitatius d'observació directa i entrevistes semi-estructurades. S'enfasitzà tant els aspectes relacionats amb les possibilitats d'ús, com l'avaluació de l'efectivitat en termes d'aprenentatge, així com en l'eficàcia del desplegament a llarg termini de la Realitat Virtual en condicions realistes d'ús, especialment quan la tecnologia es pugui convertir en habitual i el contingut prevalgui sobre el mètode expositiu.El artículo presenta la evaluación de dos estudios de caso diferentes referentes a experiencias educativas para adultos y niños utilizando la realidad virtual. Los estudios de caso consisten en aplicaciones a dos contenidos diferentes, la enseñanza de la arqueología y de las matemáticas, desarrolladas ambas para sistemas de realidad virtual proyectada de alta definición como CAVE®. En el primer caso referido a la enseñanza de la arqueología, se llevo a cabo un estudio in situ con adultos y niños que utilizaron el entorno virtual durante una visita a un museo. En el segundo caso, referido a la enseñanza de matemáticas abstractas, el estudio evaluativo se llevo a cabo en un contexto controlado de laboratorio. Los métodos evaluativos utilizados abarcaron desde cuestionarios cuantificables (para antes y después de la experiencia) hasta métodos más cualitativos de observación directa y entrevistas semi-estructuradas. Se enfatizó tanto los aspectos relacionados con las posibilidades de uso, como la evaluación de la efectividad en términos de aprendizaje, así como en la eficacia del despliegue a largo plazo de la Realidad Virtual en condiciones realistas de uso, especialmente cuando la tecnología se pueda convertir en habitual y el contenido prevalezca sobre el medio expositivo

The Benefits of Art Therapy for Mental Health Clinicians Who Have Experienced Vicarious Trauma

The American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics (2014) stresses that the most important aspect of counseling is to promote the welfare of client and to respect their dignity. This literature review demonstrated that clinicians\u27 engagement with traumatized clients could influence the ongoing and cumulative effects of their exposure to clients’ stories and emotional expression of their traumatic experiences. When a clinician is impacted by vicarious trauma (VT) symptomatology, the relationship with their clients may suffer, putting both at risk for ongoing and unintended harm. One method of enhancing a holistic, healing sense of self is to utilize art therapy as a treatment modality not only to mitigate the impact of VT but also to enhance the clinicians’ ability to experience vicarious posttraumatic growth (VPTG) and resiliency. The literature further indicated that gathering data through visual imagery allowed for opportunities to explore data with a different lens, which was not readily available through quantitative or qualitative research. By combining arts-based research (ABR), along with quantitative and qualitative research of the literature, this critical inquiry explored the benefits of utilizing art therapy with clinicians who have experienced VT

Vicarious Trauma from COVID-19 Shows Vicarious Resilience as the Best Response for Its Probative Academic Underpinnings

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand vicarious resilience (VR) as the best response to COVID-19 for vicarious trauma (VT) and its transition into a permanent solution via phenomenology for the general populace. At this stage in the research, VR was generally defined as overcoming adversity. Vicarious resilience was a layman’s term. The scientific name for VR was a construct called clinical theory (CT), research (R), and practice (P) (CTRP). Vicarious resilience was CTRP and vice versa. The theory guiding this study was grounded theory by Glaser and Strauss to build the CTRP construct, then by phenomenology from Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, and Stein showing CTRP transition as permanent (Burns et al., 2022; Ritunnano et al., 2022). Vicarious resilience required both theories as an existential need. Hernandez et al. (2007) created the CTRP construct under both theories and called the scientific construct CTRP in layman’s term as VR. Data collection occurs primarily through semi-structured interviews. Participating interviewees qualified themselves for the semi-structured interviews through a survey to determine if they have VT from COVID-19. Qualified interviewees then answer the relevant questionnaire to create a narrative about their VT. Data analysis strategies began with acknowledging trauma as a medically legitimate condition recognized in the ICD-10 trauma coding. Next, identifiable themes from NVIVO provided a roadmap from the meaning in the narrative of the semi-structured interviews. Themes then yielded measurable changes, such as actions that revealed VR akin to meditation, spirituality, and yoga practices

Increasing Vegetable Intakes: An Updated Systematic Review of Published Interventions

Vegetable consumption is important for a variety of health reasons, yet intakes are typically lower than recommended. Interventions to improve fruit and vegetable consumption are available, but these interventions are typically more successful for fruit consumption, while vegetable intakes remain low. This chapter details the interventions currently available that focus specifically on improving vegetable intakes. A systematic review of the published literature was conducted in 2015, and this has been updated for this chapter. Databases - PubMed, PsychInfo and Medline were searched over all years of records until January 2017 using pre-specified terms. Our searches identified 119 studies, detailing 206 interventions. Interventions aimed to use or change hedonic factors, such as taste, liking and familiarity (n=103), use or change environmental factors (n=54), use or change cognitive factors (n=28), or a combination of strategies (n=21). Increased vegetable acceptance, selection and/or consumption were reported to some degree in 186 (90%) interventions. Greatest success appears to be achieved in interventions that improve education, change the environment or use multiple approaches, but long-term success and cost-effectiveness are rarely considered. A focus on long-term benefits and sustained behaviour change is required

Entrepreneurial learning from failure : an interpretative phenomenological analysis

This paper develops a deeper conceptualisation of venture failure from a learning perspective. Moving beyond the causes of failure, I seek to develop a richer picture of the impact and outcomes of failure and the learning processes by which entrepreneurs actively grieve for, and recover from, the loss of a business. Based on interpretative phenomenological research with eight entrepreneurs, this paper adds valuable empirical weight to extant conceptual discussions of failure. Marrying emergent literature on entrepreneurial learning with theories of failure, I propose distinctive higher-level learning processes triggered by failure that prove fundamental in personal and business terms. These learning outcomes provide entrepreneurs with invaluable insights into the 'pressure points' of the entrepreneurial process, significantly augmenting levels of entrepreneurial preparedness for future enterprising activity

Effective Experiences: A Social Cognitive Analysis of Young Students’ Technology Self-Efficacy and STEM Attitudes

The development of computer skills, as well as computer self-efficacy, has increased in importance along with the role of technology in everyday life. Childhood is a critical time for the development of these skills since early inequalities may substantially impact future life outcomes. In a context of a computing intervention designed to improve digital inclusion, we hypothesize that students’ enactive learning experience (conceptualized as their computer usage) and their vicarious learning experience (conceptualized as their perception of their teacher’s computer usage) are associated with the development of perceived technology efficacy and STEM (Science, Technology, Education, and Math) attitudes. Data are from a sample of elementary school students from an urban school district in the Southeastern United States. The results show that both their direct experiences and their perception of their teacher’s computer usage have strong impacts on students’ technology efficacy and STEM attitudes, and the former is the stronger predictor of the outcomes examined. The findings suggest that programs aiming to improve digital inclusion should emphasize students’ direct learning experience, which would later improve their attitude toward STEM fields

Exploring Virtual Reality and Doppelganger Avatars for the Treatment of Chronic Back Pain

Cognitive-behavioral models of chronic pain assume that fear of pain and subsequent avoidance behavior contribute to pain chronicity and the maintenance of chronic pain. In chronic back pain (CBP), avoidance of movements often plays a major role in pain perseverance and interference with daily life activities. In treatment, avoidance is often addressed by teaching patients to reduce pain behaviors and increase healthy behaviors. The current project explored the use of personalized virtual characters (doppelganger avatars) in virtual reality (VR), to influence motor imitation and avoidance, fear of pain and experienced pain in CBP. We developed a method to create virtual doppelgangers, to animate them with movements captured from real-world models, and to present them to participants in an immersive cave virtual environment (CAVE) as autonomous movement models for imitation. Study 1 investigated interactions between model and observer characteristics in imitation behavior of healthy participants. We tested the hypothesis that perceived affiliative characteristics of a virtual model, such as similarity to the observer and likeability, would facilitate observers’ engagement in voluntary motor imitation. In a within-subject design (N=33), participants were exposed to four virtual characters of different degrees of realism and observer similarity, ranging from an abstract stickperson to a personalized doppelganger avatar designed from 3d scans of the observer. The characters performed different trunk movements and participants were asked to imitate these. We defined functional ranges of motion (ROM) for spinal extension (bending backward, BB), lateral flexion (bending sideward, BS) and rotation in the horizontal plane (RH) based on shoulder marker trajectories as behavioral indicators of imitation. Participants’ ratings on perceived avatar appearance were recorded in an Autonomous Avatar Questionnaire (AAQ), based on an explorative factor analysis. Linear mixed effects models revealed that for lateral flexion (BS), a facilitating influence of avatar type on ROM was mediated by perceived identification with the avatar including avatar likeability, avatar-observer-similarity and other affiliative characteristics. These findings suggest that maximizing model-observer similarity may indeed be useful to stimulate observational modeling. Study 2 employed the techniques developed in study 1 with participants who suffered from CBP and extended the setup with real-world elements, creating an immersive mixed reality. The research question was whether virtual doppelgangers could modify motor behaviors, pain expectancy and pain. In a randomized controlled between-subject design, participants observed and imitated an avatar (AVA, N=17) or a videotaped model (VID, N=16) over three sessions, during which the movements BS and RH as well as a new movement (moving a beverage crate) were shown. Again, self-reports and ROMs were used as measures. The AVA group reported reduced avoidance with no significant group differences in ROM. Pain expectancy increased in AVA but not VID over the sessions. Pain and limitations did not significantly differ. We observed a moderation effect of group, with prior pain expectancy predicting pain and avoidance in the VID but not in the AVA group. This can be interpreted as an effect of personalized movement models decoupling pain behavior from movement-related fear and pain expectancy by increasing pain tolerance and task persistence. Our findings suggest that personalized virtual movement models can stimulate observational modeling in general, and that they can increase pain tolerance and persistence in chronic pain conditions. Thus, they may provide a tool for exposure and exercise treatments in cognitive behavioral treatment approaches to CBP