Treatment Motivation Differences between Minnesota and Methadone Program Patients with Substance Use Disorder in Latvia

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Stress and psychological health: testing the mediating role of cognitive appraisal

This study tested the mediating role of primary (e.g., threat and challenge perceptions) and secondary (e.g., coping potential and control perception) cognitive appraisal in the relationship between occupational stress and psychological health. This mediation was tested using a cross-sectional study based on self-reported measures. The total sample consisted of 2,302 nurses, 1,895 females (82.3%) and 407 males (17.7%), who completed an evaluation protocol with measures of occupational stress, cognitive appraisal, and psychological health. To test the mediating role of cognitive appraisal in the relationship between cognitive appraisal and psychological health, we used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results confirmed that primary and secondary cognitive appraisals partially mediated the relationship between occupational stress and psychological health; however, the direct effects of stress on psychological health cannot be ignored. The findings indicated that cognitive appraisal is an important underlying mechanism in explaining adaptation at work.This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of MInho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653)

Psychological distress on nurses: the role of personal and professional characteristics

This study explored the role of nurses' personal and professional characteristics on the expression of psychological distress, overcoming the limitations of studying humans' responses to work environments using the stress-strain approach. The sample consisted of 2203 registered nurses working in Portugal. The investigation protocol included a Sociodemographic and Professional Questionnaire and the Portuguese version of the General Health Questionnaire-12. A high percentage of nurses (79.3%) showed levels of psychological distress, deserving for clinical attention. Significant differences were found between nurses with and without clinical symptoms of psychological distress. Female nurses, those working in primary health care, and nurses with no hobby and no physical exercise behaviors, presented significant levels of distress, deserving for clinical attention. These nurses reported high levels of anxiety/depression and social dysfunction. More, the absence of a hobby and the lack of physical exercise behaviors constituted as risk factors for the experience of clinical symptoms of distress, anxiety/depression and social dysfunction. These findings represent an important issue in occupational stress research, suggesting that leisure activities may be a protective factor for nurses’ mental health, acting as a “Daily Uplifts” for the stress recovery balance. Thus, in order to ensure the patients’ safety and the quality of health care, health organizations must consider nurses’ personal and professional characteristics that influence their mental health and global functioning when developing occupational health programs.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio