Health Risk Behaviors in Insured and Uninsured Community Health Center Patients in the Rural US South

Introduction: The impact of health behaviors on the leading causes of death across the USA has been well demonstrated. However, limited focus has been placed on the leading health risk behaviors of rural Federally-Qualified Health Center (FQHC) patients, a particularly underserved group. The current study was undertaken to examine the most common risk-taking behaviors of rural FQHC patients and to examine if risk-taking behaviors vary between insured and uninsured patients. Methods: A convenience sample of 199 patients was recruited at an FQHC in the rural US South. Participants completed a battery of demographic and health risk behavior assessments. Results: The most common risk behaviors were eating fried foods, not eating five servings of vegetables per day, not eating three servings of fruit per day, drinking caloric beverages, not exercising regularly, not wearing a seatbelt, having sex without a condom and smoking. Uninsured patients were more likely to talk on their cell phones while driving (p Conclusions: Rural FQHC patients demonstrated high levels of behavioral and health risk-taking, including dietary-, exercise- and traffic-related risks, in a context where traditional prevention methods have failed to penetrate. Differences exist between insured and uninsured patients, indicating that the reasons behind behavioral risk-taking may be context-specific and need to be explored further to help identify intervention targets that are culturally and situationally appropriate for diverse rural groups

The Holistic Life-Crafting Model:A Systematic Literature Review of Meaning-Making Behaviors

Pursuing meaningful life experiences is vital for wellbeing and health. Crafting strategies, such as job crafting and work-life balance crafting, have been developed to create meaning in specific life domains. However, these strategies share common underlying behaviors that transcend specific contexts. Building on this understanding, we propose a comprehensive “holistic life-crafting” approach that integrates overlapping behaviors from various crafting strategies. This study aims to clarify the theoretical conceptualization of life-crafting by identifying common strategies and behaviors underlying different meaning-making crafting approaches. Through a systematic literature search of six databases between January and April 2022, we identified 16,479 published records. Using predefined inclusion–exclusion criteria, 51 records (reflecting five crafting approaches, resulting in 223 different crafting behaviors) remained. Through content analysis, we grouped these behaviors into seven broader crafting strategies, forming the “holistic life-crafting” approach. Findings suggest that life-crafting is a holistic, continuous process of proactive meaning-making by intentionally balancing life demands with available resources and altering life’s cognitive, environmental, interest, relational, skill, and task-related aspects to promote personal growth and wellbeing. The holistic approach encompasses cognitive, environmental, interest, relational, resources-demands, skill, and task crafting strategies. This framework provides a comprehensive understanding of how individuals can actively shape their lives to promote more meaningful life experiences across different domains. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO, identifier CRD42022333930.</p

Increasing Character Strength Knowledge, Interest, and Skill: Preliminary Evidence for a Collaborative and Multimethod Assessment Procedure

Introduction: The study’s objective was to evaluate whether a qualitative, collaborative, and multimethod assessment protocol increased reports of character strength interest, knowledge, and perceived skills. Methods: Thirty-two participants completed three phases of data collection. Participants were first screened for well-being, which was used as an auxiliary covariate to order participants into experimental conditions. Selected participants were randomly assigned to a control or collaborative and multimethod assessment (card sort × qualitative interview) condition. Participants completed pre- and post-measures of strength interest, knowledge, and perceived skill. In the final phase, second phase participants were invited to report on strength-related outcomes 24 h post-administration using an online survey. Results: A series of 2 (Assessment Condition) × 3 (Time) mixed ANOVAs were analyzed. Results revealed a significant assessment condition by time interaction for strength knowledge and perceived skill. Participants in the collaborative and multimethod assessment condition reported higher strength knowledge and perceived skills compared to control participants. These effects were maintained for 24 h. Conclusion: The findings offer preliminary yet sizable support for using collaborative and multimethod assessment procedures to increase strength knowledge and perceived skill. Because of the qualitative, collaborative, and individualized nature of our assessment protocol, the findings offer a low-cost and contextually bound pathway to increase strength-based outcomes

Positive Organisational Psychology 2.0: Embracing The Technological Revolution

Positive Organisational Psychology (POP) has experienced significant growth in the past two decades, contributing to our understanding of work-related well-being and performance. However, the discipline is now on the cusp of a new wave of research and innovation that may reshape its discourse. This paper introduces the concept of ‘Positive Organisational Psychology 2.0’ (POP 2.0) as an evidence-based, data-driven field that utilizes technological advancements and human-centred design to understand and enhance positive characteristics of individuals, organisations, and society for optimal psychological functioning, wellbeing, and performance. The paper begins with an overview of POP’s emergence, highlighting its key characteristics and exploring the factors behind its rapid growth and declining relevance. We then conceptualize POP 2.0, outline its defining features, and advocate for a broader scope, expanded focal audience, enhanced methodologies, and transformative role shifts for practitioners. We conclude by outlining opportunities, challenges and perspectives for the next wave of innovative research

The Holistic Life-Crafting Model: a systematic literature review of meaning-making behaviors

Pursuing meaningful life experiences is vital for wellbeing and health. Crafting strategies, such as job crafting and work-life balance crafting, have been developed to create meaning in specific life domains. However, these strategies share common underlying behaviors that transcend specific contexts. Building on this understanding, we propose a comprehensive “holistic life-crafting” approach that integrates overlapping behaviors from various crafting strategies. This study aims to clarify the theoretical conceptualization of life-crafting by identifying common strategies and behaviors underlying different meaning-making crafting approaches. Through a systematic literature search of six databases between January and April 2022, we identified 16,479 published records. Using predefined inclusion–exclusion criteria, 51 records (reflecting five crafting approaches, resulting in 223 different crafting behaviors) remained. Through content analysis, we grouped these behaviors into seven broader crafting strategies, forming the “holistic life-crafting” approach. Findings suggest that life-crafting is a holistic, continuous process of proactive meaning-making by intentionally balancing life demands with available resources and altering life’s cognitive, environmental, interest, relational, skill, and task-related aspects to promote personal growth and wellbeing. The holistic approach encompasses cognitive, environmental, interest, relational, resources-demands, skill, and task crafting strategies. This framework provides a comprehensive understanding of how individuals can actively shape their lives to promote more meaningful life experiences across different domains.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO, identifier CRD42022333930

Examining the Role of Adverse Life Events And Daily Hassles in Suicide

Exceeding previously available studies in both scope and depth, the two-volume Suicide: A Global Issue explores and explains both why suicides-and suicide attempts-occur and what can be done to prevent them. The first volume, Understanding, considers factors that may play into the choice to take one\u27s life, discussing forces as varied as culture, psychology, religion, and biology. The second volume, Prevention, covers steps that can be taken to prevent suicide, whether individually or by society as a whole. Articles by widely respected experts consider questions such as why people kill themselves, why some countries have extremely high suicide rates, and whether the treatment of suicidal individuals actually prevents them from taking their lives. Each chapter presents incidents, research, and actions from nations around the globe, as well as from the United States

The Poverty-Related Stress Scale: Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Measure Assessing Poverty-Related Stressors

Background: Poverty-related stress plays a pivotal role in mediating the impact of poverty on behavioral health outcomes. However, existing research on adult poverty-related stress suffers from limited scope and inadequate measurement approaches. To address these shortcomings, our study undertakes a comprehensive investigation to develop and validate a multidimensional Poverty-Related Stress Scale (PRSS).Methods: A multi-study research design was employed to develop and validate the PRSS. Study 1 (N = 206) established a multidimensional framework for poverty-related stress by exploring the factor structure and internal consistency of our measure. Study 2 (N = 400) evaluated nuanced psychometric properties, including factorial validity, internal consistency, and temporal invariance, using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and modern exploratory structural equation models (ESEM). Lastly, Study 3 (N = 470/219) examined the criterion validity of our scale by investigating its concurrent and predictive relationships with depression, anxiety, and flourishing.Results: The findings consistently supported a hierarchal ESEM model for overall poverty-related stress, reflecting the dynamic interaction among three stressors: noise disturbance, housing dysfunction, and financial distress. This model exhibited temporal invariance, with different studies reliably measuring distinct components of poverty-related stress. Concurrent validity was demonstrated by significant associations between overall poverty-related stress and theoretically relevant constructs, such as depression, anxiety, and flourishing, at different time points. Additionally, predictive validity was established, showing poverty-related stress measured at Time 1 accounted for variations in depression, anxiety, and flourishing at Time 2. The results provide robust evidence for the validity and reliability of the PRSS as a tool for measuring poverty-related stress and its underlying factors.Conclusions: Our findings offer compelling preliminary support for the utility of our measure. Further research and potential clinical applications are discussed to deepen the understanding of poverty-related stress and its implications for behavioral health outcomes.<br/

Attitudes toward Suicide and Emotional Expressivity: Gender and Culture Specific Associations with Suicide Proneness for Japanese and American College Students

This study considered whether suicide acceptability and emotional expressivity were associated with suicide proneness in American and Japanese women and men. Participants included 417 (283 women, 134 men) American and 396 (243 women, 150 men) Japanese college students. Regression models indicated that suicide acceptability predicted unique variance in suicide proneness for both American and Japanese women and men. However, emotional expressivity contributed to understanding the suicide proneness of American college students only. Culturally appropriate prevention and intervention implications associated with reducing suicide acceptance and cultivating well-being and resiliency are offered

Access to Emerging Technologies and Telehealth Intervention Modality Preferences in Rural Patients

The importance of telehealth strategies in addressing the health needs of rural residents has been well documented. A core problem in enacting telehealth strategies for patient education in rural settings, however, is a lasting perception that rural residents do not have access to, comfort with, or willingness to use varying emerging technologies. The current study was undertaken to simultaneously investigate access to technologies, comfort with technologies, and willingness to participate in technology-based interventions among high-need rural clinical populations. A sample of 199 patients was recruited at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in the rural South using convenience sampling. Participants completed a battery of assessments addressing technology access, use, and comfort as well as likelihood of participating in intervention modalities. Access to technologies among this underserved group was remarkably high; rural patients reported having high levels of access (near or above 50%) for all technologies assessed except for mp3 players. Comfort with using technologies was even higher, and participants reported being most likely to participate in programs taking place at a doctor’s office or in a church. The most likely technology to be embraced for interventions was interactive DVDs. The current study indicates that access to and comfort with emerging technologies is strong among highly underserved patients. Because of their ability to address transportation, access, and privacy concerns in rural settings, technology-based interventions (particularly those using DVDs or texting or delivered at a doctor’s office or church) should be developed and tested specifically for rural populations

The Effects of Adoption Openness and Type on the Mental Health, Delinquency, and Family Relationships of Adopted Youth

Analyzing the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents, this study examines the impact of open adoption, demographics, and other factors on adopted children’s mental health, delinquent behavior, and family relationships. Specifically, we compare findings for youth in private and public (i.e., foster care) adoptions and identify key similarities and differences between predictors of children’s well-being across these two types of adoption. We find that youth in open foster care adoptions are more likely to receive an attachment disorder diagnosis than those in closed foster care adoptions but are also more likely to have family relationships characterized by trust and adoptive parents’ willingness to recommend adoption to others. Further, we find children in both public and private adoptions who are older at placement are more likely to have posttraumatic stress disorder diagnoses. For children in private adoptions, no statistically significant predictors affected youths’ delinquency outcomes or family relationships, with the exception of parents of private adoptees in households characterized by lower levels of poverty indicating they would be more likely to recommend adoption to others. The implications of the key findings are discussed with regard to service provision for multiple types of adoptive families