Buddhist-Derived Loving-Kindness and Compassion Meditation for the Treatment of Psychopathology: a Systematic Review

Although clinical interest has predominantly focused on mindfulness meditation, interest into the clinical utility of Buddhist-derived loving-kindness meditation (LKM) and compassion meditation (CM) is also growing. This paper follows the PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis) guidelines and provides an evaluative systematic review of LKM and CM intervention studies. Five electronic academic databases were systematically searched to identify all intervention studies assessing changes in the symptom severity of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (text revision fourth edition) Axis I disorders in clinical samples and/or known concomitants thereof in sub-clinical/healthy samples. The comprehensive database search yielded 342 papers and 20 studies (comprising a total of 1,312 participants) were eligible for inclusion. The Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies was then used to assess study quality. Participants demonstrated significant improvements across five psychopathology-relevant outcome domains: (i) positive and negative affect, (ii) psychological distress, (iii) positive thinking, (iv) interpersonal relations, and (v) empathic accuracy. It is concluded that LKM and CM interventions may have utility for treating a variety of psychopathologies. However, to overcome obstacles to clinical integration, a lessons-learned approach is recommended whereby issues encountered during the (ongoing) operationalization of mindfulness interventions are duly considered. In particular, there is a need to establish accurate working definitions for LKM and CM

Modeling the Effects of Maintenance on the degradation of a Water-feeding Turbo-pump of a Nuclear Power Plant

International audienceThis work addresses the modelling of the effects of maintenance on the degradation of an electric power plant component. This is done within a modelling framework previously proposed by the authors, of which the distinguishing feature is the characterization of the component living conditions by influencing factors (IFs), i.e. conditioning aspects of the component life that influence its degradation. The original fuzzy logic-based modelling framework includes maintenance as an IF; this requires one to jointly model its effects on the component degradation together with those of the other influencing factors. This may not come natural to the experts who are requested to provide the if-then linguistic rules at the basis of the fuzzy model linking the IFs with the component degradation state. An alternative modelling approach is proposed in this work, which does not consider maintenance as an IF that directly impacts on the degradation but as an external action that affects the state of the other IFs. By way of an example regarding the propagation of a crack in a water-feeding turbo-pump of a nuclear power plant, the approach is shown to properly model the maintenance actions based on information that can be more easily elicited from experts

Behind the Scenes of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Psychological Predictors in an Italian Community Sample

Psychological variables may be crucial in favoring or discouraging health-related behaviors, including vaccine acceptance. This study aimed to extend the previous literature by outlining the psychological profile associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in a sample of Italian citizens. Between April and May 2021, 1122 Italian volunteers completed a web survey on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, also including several self-reported psychological measures. A multiple hierarchical logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the psychological variables associated with vaccine hesitancy. Low confidence in COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and safety, low collective responsibility, high complacency, and high calculation (i.e., extensive information searching, and costs–benefit estimates) predicted higher hesitancy. Our results suggest that to be effective, vaccine-related communications should be as clear, understandable, and sound as possible, preventing the spreading of misunderstandings, or even fake information, that may foster people’s insecurities and distrust. Furthermore, the advantages and necessity of vaccination, both at the individual and community-level, should be clearly emphasized. Efficacious vaccine-related communications may be crucial, not only to maintain an adequate immunity rate for COVID-19, but also to inform policymakers and public authorities in the case of possible future infectious outbreaks

Cancer Anxiety Mediates the Association Between Satisfaction With Medical Communication and Psychological Quality of Life After Prophylactic Bilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomy

Background: Prophylactic Bilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomy (PBSO) reduces the risk of developing ovarian cancer. However, the psychological mechanisms that may affect post-surgery Quality of Life (QoL) among patients who underwent PBSO are still largely unknown. Thus, this study aimed at exploring the direct and indirect associations of satisfaction with medical communication and cancer anxiety on post-surgery QoL among women at high risk of developing ovarian cancer. Method: Fifty-nine women (mean age: 50.64 ± 6.7 years) who underwent PBSO took part in this cross-sectional study, filling out a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, a battery of validated psychological measures and an ad hoc developed scale for the assessment of cancer anxiety. We first examined the correlations among all variables of interest, and then tested if cancer anxiety mediated the association between satisfaction with medical communication and post-surgery psychological QoL, controlling both for time from surgery and education. Results: Post-surgery psychological QoL was unrelated from any sociodemographic or clinical variable. Cancer anxiety had a significant direct negative effect on psychological QoL, while satisfaction with medical communication had a significant positive direct effect on it. Finally, cancer anxiety significantly mediated the association between satisfaction with medical communication and post-surgery psychological QoL. Discussion: Results suggest that post-surgery psychological QoL of patients who underwent PBSO may be increased with interventions, delivered in a genetic counselling setting, targeting quality of medical communication and cancer anxiety

Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic

Introduction: While online consultations have shown promise to be a means for the effective delivery of high-quality mental healthcare and the first implementations of these digital therapeutic contacts go back nearly two decades, uptake has remained limited over the years. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered this relative standstill and created a unique turning point, with a massive amount of both professionals and clients having first hands-on experiences with technology in mental healthcare. Objective: The current study aimed to document the uptake of online consultations and explore if specific characteristics of mental health professionals across and beyond Europe could predict this. Methods: An international survey was designed to assess mental health professionals' (initial) experiences with online consultations at the onset of the pandemic: their willingness to make use of them and their prior and current experiences, alongside several personal characteristics. Logistic mixed-effects models were used to identify predictors of the use of online consultations, personal experience with this modality, and the sense of telepresence. Results: A total of 9115 healthcare professionals from 73 countries participated of which about two-thirds used online consultations during the initial COVID-19 outbreak. The current study identifies multiple determinants relating to the use and experience of online consultations, including the professionals' age, experience with the technology before the outbreak, the professional context, and training. Conclusions: Despite strong evidence supporting the relevance of training in digital mental health, this is clearly still lacking. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic presented a first, and potentially transformative, experience with online consultations for many healthcare professionals. The insights from this study can help support professionals and, importantly, (mental) healthcare organisations to create optimal circumstances for selective and high-quality continued use of online consultations

More about orbitally excited hadrons from lattice QCD

This is a second paper describing the calculation of spectroscopy for orbitally excited states from lattice simulations of Quantum Chromodynamics. New features include higher statistics for P-wave systems and first results for the spectroscopy of D-wave mesons and baryons, for relatively heavy quark masses. We parameterize the Coulomb gauge wave functions for P-wave and D-wave systems and compare them to those of their corresponding S-wave states.Comment: 21 pages plus 14 figs, 3 include

Assessment of professional self-efficacy in psychological interventions and psychotherapy sessions: Development of the Therapist Self-Efficacy Scale (T-SES) and its application for eTherapy

Objective: This study aimed to develop the Therapist Self-Efficacy Scale (T-SES), and test its validity in a sample of Italian mental health therapists, to assess their professional self-efficacy concerning their practice of eTherapy in a synchronous video-based setting. Methods: A sample of 322 Italian mental health professionals (37.6% psychologists, 62.4% psychotherapists; Mage = 38.48, SD = 8.509) completed an online survey. Results: The T-SES showed a clear, one-factor structure with good psychometric properties. Significant associations were found with insight orientation, general self-efficacy, self-esteem, and personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. The results showed no differences between psychologists and psychotherapists, or differences based on years of experience. Conclusion: The T-SES is an agile and versatile self-report measure for mental health professionals to assess their self-efficacy concerning their therapeutic activity, which can provide information for tailoring training for eTherapy

Agreement and accuracy using the FIGO, ACOG and NICE cardiotocography interpretation guidelines.

INTRODUCTION: One of the limitations reported with cardiotocography (CTG) is the modest interobserver agreement observed in tracing interpretation. This study compared agreement, reliability and accuracy of CTG interpretation using the FIGO, ACOG and NICE guidelines. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 151 tracings was evaluated by 27 clinicians from three centers where FIGO, ACOG and NICE guidelines were routinely used. Interobserver agreement was evaluated using the proportions of agreement (PA) and reliability with the kappa (k) statistic. The accuracy of tracings classified as "pathological/category III" was assessed for prediction of newborn acidemia. For all measures, 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated RESULTS: CTG classifications were more distributed with FIGO (9%, 52%, 39%) and NICE (30%, 33%, 37%) than with ACOG (13%, 81%, 6%). The category with the highest agreement was ACOG category II (PA=0.73 95%CI 0.70-76), and the ones with the lowest agreement were ACOG categories I and III. Reliability was significantly higher with FIGO (k=0.37, 95%CI 0.31-0.43), and NICE (k=0.33, 95%CI 0.28-0.39) than with ACOG (k= 0.15, 95%CI 0.10-0.21), however all represent only slight/fair reliability. FIGO and NICE showed a trend towards higher sensitivities in prediction of newborn acidemia (89% and 97% respectively) than ACOG (32%,), but the latter achieved a significantly higher specificity (95%) CONCLUSIONS: With ACOG guidelines there is high agreement in category II, low reliability, low sensitivity and high specificity in prediction of acidemia. With FIGO and NICE guidelines there is higher reliability, a trend towards higher sensitivity, and lower specificity in prediction of acidemia. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Standardization of the Italian ALS-CBSTM Caregiver Behavioral Questionnaire

Background: The present investigation aimed at testing the psychometrics and diagnostics of the Italian version of the Caregiver Behavioral Questionnaire (CBQ) from the ALS Cognitive Behavioral Screen (ALS-CBSTM), as well as its case–control discrimination, in a cohort of non-demented patients with ALS. Methods: The caregivers of N = 265 non-demented patients with ALS and N = 99 healthy controls (HCs) were administered the CBQ and the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen-Carer Interview (ECAS-CI). For N = 98 patients, an in-depth behavioural/psychopathological assessment via the Frontal Behavioural Inventory (FBI), the Dimensional Apathy Scale (DAS), the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory-Form Y (STAI-Y), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was also available. Factorial and construct validity, internal reliability, and diagnostics against an abnormal ECAS-CI score were tested in patients. Case–control discrimination was explored through logistic regression. Results: The CBQ was internally reliable (McDonald’s ω = 0.90) and underpinned by a simple, unidimensional structure; it converged with ECAS-CI, FBI, and DAS scores and diverged from STAI-Y and BDI ones. A cutoff of ≤ 33 accurately detected abnormal ECAS-CI scores (AUC = 0.85), yielding optimal error- and information-based diagnostics. The CBQ was independent of demographic and disease-related variables and discriminated patients from HCs (p < 0.001). Discussion: The Italian version of the CBQ from the ALS-CBSTM is a valid, reliable, diagnostically sound, and feasible screener for detecting frontotemporal-like behavioural changes in non-demented patients with ALS. Its adoption is thus recommended within clinical practice and research in the view of providing preliminary information on whether the administration of more extensive behavioural instruments is needed