Self-Compassion, Self-Injury, and Pain

We conducted an experiment to examine self-compassion and responses to pain among undergraduate women with and without histories of self-injury. After a writing task that has been shown to increase self-compassion in a values-affirming condition relative to a neutral control condition, participants completed a self-report measure of state self-compassion and the cold pressor task. As predicted, participants with a history of self-injury reported lower trait self-compassion than those without such a history, and participants in the values-affirming condition reported significantly higher state self-compassion than those in the control condition. Moreover, participants with a history of self-injury demonstrated significantly less insensitivity to pain in the values-affirming condition than the control condition. Future research should investigate the possibility that interventions involving self-compassion and/or affirmation of values may help correct high-risk responses to pain among those who self-injure

Liar! Liar! Identifying eligibility fraud by applicants in digital health research

Online studies enable researchers to recruit large, diverse samples, but the nature of these studies provides an opportunity for applicants to misrepresent themselves to increase the likelihood of meeting eligibility criteria for a trial, particularly those that provide financial incentives. This study describes rates of fraudulent applications to an online intervention trial of an Internet intervention for insomnia among older adults (ages ≥55). Applicants were recruited using traditional (e.g., flyers, health providers), online (e.g., Craigslist, Internet searches), and social media (e.g., Facebook) recruitment methods. Applicants first submitted an interest form that included identifying information (name, date of birth, address). This data was then queried against a national database (TransUnion's TLOxp) to determine the application's verification status. Applications were determined to be verified (i.e., information from interest form matched TLOxp report), potentially fraudulent (i.e., potential discrepancy in provided information on interest form versus TLOxp report), or fraudulent (i.e., confirmed discrepancy). Of 1766 total interest forms received, 125 (7.08%) were determined to be fraudulent. Enrollment attempts that were fraudulent were detected among 12.22% of applicants who reported learning of the study through online, 7.04% through social media, 4.58% through traditional, and 4.27% through other methods. Researchers conducting online trials should take precautions, as applicants may provide fraudulent information to gain access to their studies. Reviewing all applications and verifying the identities and eligibility of participants is critical to the integrity of online research trials

Caregivers’ Internet-Delivered Insomnia Intervention Engagement and Benefit: SHUTi-CARE Trial Primary Quantitative Analysis

Background: Delivering insomnia treatment by the Internet holds promise for increasing care access to family caregivers, but their ability to adhere to and benefit from such fully-automated programs has not been rigorously tested. Purpose: This fully-powered, single-group trial tested whether characteristics of the caregiving context influence high-intensity caregivers’ engagement with and benefit from an empirically-validated Internet intervention for insomnia. Methods: At baseline, caregivers providing unpaid time- and responsibility-intensive care who reported insomnia (N=100; age M=52.82 [SD=13.10], 75% non-Hispanic white, 66% ≥college degree) completed questionnaires about caregiving context and sleep, then 10 prospectively-collected online daily sleep diaries. Caregivers then received access to SHUTi (Sleep Healthy Using the Internet), which has no caregiver-specific content, for nine weeks, followed by post-assessment (questionnaires, diaries). Engagement was tracked by the SHUTi delivery system. Results: Sixty caregivers completed SHUTi, 22 initiated but did not complete SHUTi, and 18 did not initiate SHUTi. Caregivers were more likely to use SHUTi (than not use SHUTi) when their care recipient (CR) had worse functioning, and were more likely to complete SHUTi when supporting more CR activities of daily living (ADL; ps<.03). Higher caregiver guilt, more CR problem behaviors, and being bedpartners with the CR related to more improved sleep outcomes, whereas supporting more CR instrumental ADL related to less improvement (ps<.05). Conclusions: Factors associated with greater caregiving burden, including greater CR impairment and caregiving guilt, were generally associated with better engagement and outcomes. Caregivers with substantial burden can adhere to and benefit from a fully-automated insomnia program without caregiver-specific tailoring