Types of Prayer and Depressive Symptoms among Cancer Patients: The Mediating Role of Rumination and Social Support

We examined the association between different types of prayer and depressive symptoms—with rumination and social support as potential mediators—in a sample of predominantly White, Christian, and female ambulatory cancer patients. In a cross-sectional design, 179 adult cancer outpatients completed measures of prayer, rumination, social support, depressive symptoms, and demographic variables. Type and stage of cancer were collected from electronic medical charts. Depressive symptoms were negatively correlated with adoration prayer (r = −.15), reception prayer (r = −.17), thanksgiving prayer (r = −.29), and prayer for the well-being of others (r = −.26). In the path analysis, rumination fully mediated the link between thanksgiving prayer and depressive symptoms (β for indirect effect = −.05), whereas social support partially mediated the link between prayer for others and depressive symptoms (β for indirect effect = −.05). These findings suggest that unique mechanisms may link different prayer types to lower depressive symptoms among cancer patients

The Relationship between Mental Health and Young Children\u27s Academic Development: What We Can Learn From a National Sample of At-Risk Chilean Children

The relationship between psychological problems in children and poorer academic outcomes has been well documented. Although researchers have recommended mental health promotion as a preventive health care intervention that could lead to improved psychosocial and academic outcomes for children, the understanding of the complex processes by which children\u27s academic performance is impacted by psychosocial risk are not well understood. Promoting students\u27 social and emotional skills could play a critical role in improving their academic performance. The Chilean preventive intervention program called Skills for Life (SFL) provides these skills to children from some of the most vulnerable communities in the country of Chile, who are identified as being at risk for psychosocial problems. Over forty-two thousand students, a subset of whom participated in a psychosocial intervention due to psychosocial risk, were enrolled in the Skills for Life program and were evaluated through first (2009) and third grade (2011). Data included parent ratings of psychosocial risk and class grades. Utilizing the data collected through this program, the objective of this study was to evaluate how mental health problems, as identified through parent screens administered in first and third grades, relate to academic achievement in the first and third grades among a nationwide sample of school aged Chilean children. The present study utilized structural equation modeling to conduct an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist - Chilean version, and to test the associations between psychosocial risk in the first and third grades and academic achievement at first and third grades. Four latent factors emerged from the (EFA) including three risk factors (internalizing, externalizing, and attention) as well as a fourth protective factor that could be conceptualized as emotional maturity. Overall, results indicate that early attention problems have a stronger association with poorer academic achievement at first and third grades than internalizing and externalizing problems. However, by third grade internalizing and externalizing problems start to have a negative association with academic achievement. Findings suggest that in the early years of education, interventions should focus on teaching children attention skills. In later years, interventions should continue to focus on developing attention skills as well as emotion and behavior regulation skills

Appearance concerns, psychosocial outcomes, and the feasibility of implementing an online intervention for adolescents receiving outpatient burn care

The current study assessed the prevalence of appearance concerns, psychosocial difficulty, and use of an appearance-focused social and psychological support resource (Young Person’s Face IT; YPF) within a population of teens (12-17 year-olds) receiving outpatient burn care with the goal to assess the feasibility of routine use of the resource in outpatient burn care. The study sample included 78 patients ages 12-17 receiving outpatient care for burns at 1 hospital. Appearance concerns were measured via the Burn Outcomes Questionnaire Appearance Subscale, the Appearance Subscale of the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents, and a 2-part question which asked participants directly about appearance concerns related to the burn injury. A large majority (70.0%) of study participants reported appearance concerns on at least 1 appearance measure and girls reported more burn-related appearance concerns compared to boys. Psychosocial difficulty was measured via the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17 (PSC-17) and measures of social functioning were collected and compared within the sample by burn size, burn location, sex, and appearance concerns. Internalizing symptoms were prevalent on the PSC-17 (18.6% risk) and decreased self-worth and increased social anxiety symptoms were significantly associated with having appearance concerns. Although interest in YPF was high (78.3%), actual use of the resource among those who signed up to pilot it (n=46 participants) was low (19.4% use). Results indicate that there is a need for and interest in appearance-focused social anxiety resources for adolescents with burn injuries such as YPF, but more research is needed to understand its feasibility in clinical practice. Key words: Pediatric Burns, Appearance, Psychosocial Functioning, Young Person’s Face IT, Burn Outcomes Questionnaire, Body Esteem Scal

Earthquake exposure, adverse childhood experiences, and psychosocial functioning in Chilean children: A longitudinal study

The impact of an 8.8 magnitude Chilean earthquake on elementary school students' psychosocial functioning was assessed along with exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Skills for Life, a national school-based mental health program in Chile, routinely assesses first- and third-grade students' psychosocial functioning and classroom adaptation. Students (N = 19,627) were screened before (2009) and after (2011) the 2010 earthquake with parent- and teacher-report measures and with a parent-report of four ACEs (family psychopathology, child chronic illness, family social isolation, father absence). Earthquake exposure was categorized as mild, moderate, or severe for Chile's 15 regions. Multilevel models analyzed the unadjusted and adjusted impacts of earthquake exposure and ACEs on functioning while clustering for school- and district-level effects. In covariate-adjusted models, earthquake exposure and three ACEs were significantly associated with worsened psychosocial functioning; earthquake exposure and all four ACEs were significantly associated with worsened classroom adaptation. New family psychopathology, B = 1.90, p < .001; chronic illness, B = 2.25, p < .001; and severe earthquake impact, B = 1.29, p < .001, held the strongest negative effects on psychosocial well-being. Moderate, B = 3.04, p = .011, and severe earthquake exposure, B = 2.53, p = .047, and new family psychopathology, B = 1.99, p < .001, were associated with the worst classroom functioning 1-year postdisaster. Findings suggest that both exogenous and home-based stressors can have significant consequences for children's psychosocial functioning and classroom adaptation, and routine screening helps quantify how individual students are affected by chronic versus acute stressors