The association between baseline persistent pain and weight change in patients attending a specialist weight management service

To quantify the influence of baseline pain levels on weight change at one-year follow-up in patients attending a National Health Service specialist weight management programme.We compared one-year follow-up weight (body mass) change between patient sub-groups of none-to-mild, moderate, and severe pain at baseline. A mean sub-group difference in weight change of ≥5kg was considered clinically relevant.Of the 141 complete cases, n = 43 (30.5%) reported none-to-mild pain, n = 44 (31.2%) reported moderate pain, and n = 54 (38.3%) reported severe pain. Covariate-adjusted mean weight loss (95%CI) was similar for those with none-to-mild (8.1kg (4.2 to 12.0kg)) and moderate pain (8.3kg (4.9 to 11.7kg). The mean weight loss of 3.0kg (-0.4 to 6.4kg) for the severe pain group was 5.1kg (-0.6 to 10.7, p = 0.08) lower than the none-to-mild pain group and 5.3kg (0.4 to 10.2kg, p = 0.03) lower than the moderate pain group.Patients with severe pain upon entry to a specialist weight management service in England achieve a smaller mean weight loss at one-year follow-up than those with none-to-moderate pain. The magnitude of the difference in mean weight loss was clinically relevant, highlighting the importance of addressing severe persistent pain in obese patients undertaking weight management programmes

Can happiness be taught? The effects on subjective wellbeing of attending a course in positive psychology that includes the practice of multiple interventions.

Previous research has shown that humankind is not becoming happier, and that in fact symptoms of depression continue to rise, despite the belief of many that happiness is the ultimate purpose of human life. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether happiness can be taught through an intervention programme aimed at increasing levels of subjective wellbeing as measured by scales of self-reported happiness and depression. Participants attending a course based on research into Positive Psychology that included the practice of multiple validated interventions made up the experimental group (N=33), and participants in other community education courses made up the control group (N=41). A pre-intervention, post-intervention and follow-up design was used, with participants completing sets of questionnaires designed to test levels of happiness and depression, and additional questionnaires capturing demographic information and signature character strengths. The results of this study suggested that the intervention had a positive effect on increasing happiness and reducing symptoms of depression. The non-randomised groups resulted in a more depressed experimental than control group prior to the intervention. Generally speaking, it was not true that any subgroup benefited more from the intervention than others, nor were happier or more depressed than others. This study appears to support earlier research that found that subjective wellbeing could be increased through education and volitional behaviour. Implications for the findings are discussed in relation to group education and therapeutic intervention both for increasing happiness as well as reducing symptoms of depression

Diary Study of Tertiary Teachers' Emotions

The purpose of this diary study was to investigate the emotions experienced by tertiary teachers in their teaching co'ntexts. Fifteeil tertiary teachers from four tertiary institutions in New Zealand (one university, one polytechnic, and two private tertiary providers) completed emotion diaries based an Oatley and Duncan's (1992) format, over five days. The number of emotions recorded ranged from one to four per day. Happiness and satisfaction were the two most frequently recorded positive emotions; anger and disappointment the most frequent negative emotions. Tension was the mostfrequently recorded bodily effect - similar to Oatley and Duncan's (1992) findings. Examples of tertiary teachers' positive emotional engagement with their teaching and their students were evident, as also were examples of emotional labour investment. Overall the results were comparable to findings reported elsewhere on the emotions of teachers in middle and secondary schools, suggesting a universality of emotions in teaching irrespective of teaching level and previous career experience. This diary study was one part of a multi-method study. Future research directions are discussed

Emotional intelligence and subjective well-being in tertiary teaching: A pilot study

This is the third paper in a series reporting a multi-componential pilot study to investigate the emotional experiences and well-being of teachers in New Zealand tertiary (post-secondary school) institutions. Twelve of the tertiary teachers who completed emotion diaries and who were interviewed about their emotion regulation strategies, also completed a set of online questionnaires that included measures for subjective well-being, happiness and emotional intelligence (El). The small sample size prevents any generalizations, and the results are treated as estimates only. Correlations were found between El scores and tertiary teachers' subjective well-being. Multiple regression analysis of four interview questions obtaining categorical data against participants' El scores, explained a significant amount of variance of these scores. With tertiary teachers being a relatively small cohort nationally compared to overseas samples, these indicators from this small sample provide a basis for recommending a larger and more rigorous study focusing on the New Zealand context in the future. This study contributes to the field in New Zealand specifically because previous New Zealand research evidence suggests that El characteristics of tertiary teachers are significantly related lo student enrolment

Key characteristics for complete case and missing data groups.

<p>Key characteristics for complete case and missing data groups.</p

One-year weight loss separated by pain classification group.

<p>One-year weight loss separated by pain classification group.</p