Experiences of mindfulness training in living with rheumatic disease: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

This study examined experiences of Mindfulness training for 5 adults living with Rheumatic Disease. Focus group data was used to explore the experience and impact of Mindfulness training in participants aged between 46 and 69 diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis, Fibromyalgia or Rheumatoid Arthritis. All participants had completed an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Programme (MBSR) 6 months prior to the study. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis produced two themes: ‘responding to pain’ and ‘psychological well-being’. All participants spoke similarly and with enthusiasm, reflecting the strength of the impact of Mindfulness upon the daily lives of these individuals. Methodological limitations are considered along with clinical applications and suggestions for future research. The findings from this study reinforce the outcomes of previous research and indicate that Mindfulness has potential to improve the health and well-being of individuals living with Rheumatic Disease

A changing culture? Qualitative methods teaching in U.K. psychology

This paper surveys the landscape of qualitative methods teaching in U.K. psychology. First, we provide an overview of the administrative framework for this teaching and highlight the positive development that is the stipulation by key national bodies that undergraduate psychology programs should teach qualitative methods. Second, we discuss an attempt to meet the needs for training and resources that resulted from these stipulations and note how recent changes in the higher education funding landscape have made it more difficult to meet these needs. Third, we review literature on the teaching of qualitative methods in U.K. psychology departments and note the relative paucity of studies addressing this issue. In conclusion, we suggest that the key issue remains the stubbornness of the “quantitative culture” in many departments. The official bureaucratic infrastructure of U.K. psychology teaching may now mandate that qualitative methods be taught, but the tentative conclusions that can be drawn from what literature there is suggest that this obscures various practices at the departmental level, with many programs still providing little more than tokenistic engagement with qualitative methods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved

From theory to impact: bringing work-life initiatives into the mainstream.

In this special issue we focus on the work and influence of Sue Lewis, one of the Community, Work and Family Journal's two founding editors. In launching this journal Sue, together with Carolyn Kagan, aimed to encourage debate and critical examination of, and reflection on, existing perspectives, frameworks and practices (Kagan & Lewis, 2015). They also explicitly aimed ‘to publish work that challenged the status quo, encouraged personal reflection and reflexivity, and put professional and lay views side by side' (Kagan & Lewis, 2015). For this special issue we invited researchers who have worked with Sue at different stages of her career – from her Ph.D. supervisor (Cary Cooper), some of her international research partners (Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Ellen Kossek), her previous colleagues at Manchester Metropolitan University (Carolyn Kagan, Rebecca Lawthom), her national and international research partners on a series of European projects (Julia Brannen, Ann Nilsen, Laura den Dulk, Bram Peper), through to one of Sue's recent Ph.D. students and early career researcher (Uracha Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, Sweta Rajan-Rankin). In the articles that are to follow, the authors draw upon and highlight the considerable and invaluable influences that Sue's work has had in the field of Community, Work and Family. The fact that the authors of these papers have had relationships with Sue that span several decades means that the papers focus on a variety of areas, but some common themes recur throughout the issue. Below we draw out some of these recurring themes and highlight Sue's influence in this area

Critical incidents in a forensic psychiatric population: An exploratory study of motivational factors

This exploratory study examined the motivations for forensic clients’ engagement in critical incidents, specifically hostage-taking, barricades and roof-top protests. Using thematic analysis, a range of themes were identified. These included engaging in such incidents to seek deliberate isolation from others, gaining control, getting their needs meet, a need to communicate and being influenced by their peers. Selection of potential hostages appeared linked to feeling of grievance towards them. Yet the distress of a hostage, along with consideration as to the longer term consequences of their actions both for themselves and morally, appeared to reduce the risk of engagement in such incidents. The results are discussed in terms of Individualism, Self-Determination Theory of Motivation and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs

Teaching qualitative psychology at undergraduate level: Challenges and responses

Teaching qualitative psychology at undergraduate level: Challenges and response

Qualitative undergraduate project supervision in Psychology: current practices and support needs of supervisors across North East England and Scotland

The dissertation is a core component of a psychology undergraduate degree, though very little research has been conducted into supervision processes at undergraduate level. This study examined the accounts of supervisors of qualitative dissertations in order to identify current practices of supervision and possible resources that might support supervision. Seventeen supervisors from psychology departments in North East England and Scotland were interviewed, and three main themes were identified using thematic analysis: the quantitative culture in psychology teaching, supervisors’ expertise, and the supervision process. Supervisors noted that students were typically constrained in their choice of methodology due to limited qualitative methods teaching, lack of training and guidance for supervisors, and concerns about the risks of demanding qualitative projects. Supervisors therefore often reported staying within their comfort zone, electing where possible to supervise only the methods that they themselves use. Recommendations for practical resources are provided to help support students and supervisors in the process of undertaking qualitative psychology dissertations

“Bad Mum Guilt”: The Representation of ‘Work-Life Balance’ in UK Women’s Magazines

The social policy climate, labour market trends and gendered arrangements for paid and family work mean that ‘work-life balance’ remains a key social issue in the UK. Media representations of ‘work-life balance’ are a key source for the construction of gender and working motherhood. Despite evidence of gendered representations in media coverage of other social issues, little attention has been paid to the construction of work-life balance in UK women's magazines. Articles from the highest circulating UK women's magazines are analysed using a discursive approach to explicate constructions of work-life balance and working motherhood. The analysis reveals that multiple roles are constructed as a problematic choice leading to stress and guilt. Problems associated with multiple roles are constructed as individual problems, in a way that decontextualises and depoliticises them and normalises gendered assumptions and a gendered division of labour. Parallels can be drawn between this and wider discourses about women's daily lives and to the UK social policy context

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

ience, this issue p. eaap8757 Structured Abstract INTRODUCTION Brain disorders may exhibit shared symptoms and substantial epidemiological comorbidity, inciting debate about their etiologic overlap. However, detailed study of phenotypes with different ages of onset, severity, and presentation poses a considerable challenge. Recently developed heritability methods allow us to accurately measure correlation of genome-wide common variant risk between two phenotypes from pools of different individuals and assess how connected they, or at least their genetic risks, are on the genomic level. We used genome-wide association data for 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants, as well as 17 phenotypes from a total of 1,191,588 individuals, to quantify the degree of overlap for genetic risk factors of 25 common brain disorders. RATIONALE Over the past century, the classification of brain disorders has evolved to reflect the medical and scientific communities' assessments of the presumed root causes of clinical phenomena such as behavioral change, loss of motor function, or alterations of consciousness. Directly observable phenomena (such as the presence of emboli, protein tangles, or unusual electrical activity patterns) generally define and separate neurological disorders from psychiatric disorders. Understanding the genetic underpinnings and categorical distinctions for brain disorders and related phenotypes may inform the search for their biological mechanisms. RESULTS Common variant risk for psychiatric disorders was shown to correlate significantly, especially among attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia. By contrast, neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders, except for migraine, which was significantly correlated to ADHD, MDD, and Tourette syndrome. We demonstrate that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine. We also identify significant genetic sharing between disorders and early life cognitive measures (e.g., years of education and college attainment) in the general population, demonstrating positive correlation with several psychiatric disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder) and negative correlation with several neurological phenotypes (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and ischemic stroke), even though the latter are considered to result from specific processes that occur later in life. Extensive simulations were also performed to inform how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity influence genetic correlations. CONCLUSION The high degree of genetic correlation among many of the psychiatric disorders adds further evidence that their current clinical boundaries do not reflect distinct underlying pathogenic processes, at least on the genetic level. This suggests a deeply interconnected nature for psychiatric disorders, in contrast to neurological disorders, and underscores the need to refine psychiatric diagnostics. Genetically informed analyses may provide important "scaffolding" to support such restructuring of psychiatric nosology, which likely requires incorporating many levels of information. By contrast, we find limited evidence for widespread common genetic risk sharing among neurological disorders or across neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures. Further study is needed to evaluate whether overlapping genetic contributions to psychiatric pathology may influence treatment choices. Ultimately, such developments may pave the way toward reduced heterogeneity and improved diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders

Genomic Relationships, Novel Loci, and Pleiotropic Mechanisms across Eight Psychiatric Disorders

Genetic influences on psychiatric disorders transcend diagnostic boundaries, suggesting substantial pleiotropy of contributing loci. However, the nature and mechanisms of these pleiotropic effects remain unclear. We performed analyses of 232,964 cases and 494,162 controls from genome-wide studies of anorexia nervosa, attention-deficit/hyper-activity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and Tourette syndrome. Genetic correlation analyses revealed a meaningful structure within the eight disorders, identifying three groups of inter-related disorders. Meta-analysis across these eight disorders detected 109 loci associated with at least two psychiatric disorders, including 23 loci with pleiotropic effects on four or more disorders and 11 loci with antagonistic effects on multiple disorders. The pleiotropic loci are located within genes that show heightened expression in the brain throughout the lifespan, beginning prenatally in the second trimester, and play prominent roles in neurodevelopmental processes. These findings have important implications for psychiatric nosology, drug development, and risk prediction.Peer reviewe