Reducing barriers to psychotherapy via an online self-affirmation intervention

This research developed and tested online self-affirmation interventions to reduce psychological barriers associated with seeking help for mental health issues in two studies. There is evidence that reflecting on personal values (values-affirmation) and reflecting on close social relationships (social-affirmation) may both be effective approaches to eliciting self-affirmation—a psychological process that temporarily bolsters self-worth in order to forestall maladaptive, self-protective threat-responses. Study 1 (N = 384) experimentally examined the strategies of values-affirmation, social-affirmation, and type of help-seeking information presented to potential help-seekers. This study utilized a 2ÃÂ2ÃÂ2 factorial design with two self-affirmation manipulations (i.e., values-affirmation vs. no-affirmation and social-affirmation vs. no-affirmation), as well as an information manipulation (reassuring help-seeking information vs. standard help-seeking information). It was predicted that values-affirmation, social-affirmation and reassuring help-seeking information would (1) reduce threat-responses associated with reading the help-seeking information, and (2) increase positive help-seeking beliefs. Results indicated that values-affirmation and reassuring information both reduced negative affect and perceived help-seeking information threat, but did not affect time spent reading help-seeking information. Social-affirmation had no statistically significant effects on any dependent variable. No experimental manipulation directly increased positive help-seeking beliefs, but values-affirmation and reassuring information both had beneficial indirect effects on positive help-seeking beliefs, via reductions in threat and self-stigma. No main effects were found two weeks posttest, but a social-affirmationÃÂinformation interaction effect indicated that the combination of social-affirmation and standard information or no-affirmation and reassuring information was associated with decreased self-stigma two weeks after the manipulation. Study 2 tested the values-affirmation developed in Study 1 with an online sample of clinically distressed adults. Study 2 utilized a two-group between-subjects design with a sample from Amazon’s MTurk (N = 186). In contrast to Study 1, for more distressed adults, values-affirmation did not reduce threat-responses associated with reading the help-seeking information, but it did increase positive help-seeking beliefs. Overall, the combination of results in the present research suggests that values-affirmation and reassuring information about help-seeking might be effective approaches for eliciting self-affirmation online. Additionally, the salience of psychological distress and demographic characteristics may influence the outcome of self-affirmation interventions conducted to promote help-seeking. For those for whom distress is less salient, encouraging self-affirmation may reduce threat associated with relevant help-seeking information, but doing so may also decrease the urgency to seek help. In contrast, for those whose distress is more salient, encouraging self-affirmation may not directly reduce threat, but may enable more objective assessments of messages that encourage the benefits of seeking professional help for mental health concerns

The effect of self-affirmation on stigma associated with seeking psychological help

Even though there is evidence that psychotherapy is an effective means of helping people with mental health concerns, it is underutilized, largely because of the stigma surrounding mental disorders and psychological help. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-affirmation--the process of affirming important personal characteristics--on stigma and other proximal indicators of psychological help-seeking. It was hypothesized that when compared to a control group, a self-affirming group would demonstrate decreased self-stigma associated with seeking help. It was also posited that the self-affirming group would experience an increase in intentions to seek counseling, willingness to seek psychological help, and counseling-related information-seeking. Participants were 84 undergraduates from Iowa State University who had scored above a clinical cut-off, thereby approximating a clinically distressed population. Differences in outcome measures associated with psychological help-seeking were examined in the context of an experimental manipulation wherein participants completed one of two timed writing tasks; participants were randomly assigned to either a self-affirming writing task (self-affirmation), or a personally irrelevant writing task (control). Results partially supported the hypotheses. Compared to the control group, the self-affirmation condition had decreased self-stigma, but there were no other significant differences

Freewriting for fluency and flow in eighth and ninth grade reading classes

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on February 15, 2008)Vita.Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2007.This study examined the experiences of students in regular freewriting sessions.Freewriting is defined as nonstop writing during which the writer may freely move through topics but may not stop writing. This sustained writing, as this study explored, builds fluency in student writing, generates motivation to write, and promotes flow experiences for student writers. This qualitative case study included some quantitative data as well, thus a form of mixed method research was conducted, including interviews, student writing, observations, surveys, fluency measures, and writing apprehension scales.Data was collected over 18 weeks involving 17 eighth and ninth graders in two reading classrooms and their teacher. Students completed five-minute freewrites most every day for 18 weeks as part of their classroom warm-up.Includes bibliographical reference

Honeymoon : When Will You Shine For Me?

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/3886/thumbnail.jp

Parent experience of implementing home programs: Semi-structured interviews

Abstract presented at the 5th Biennial Conference of the Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy & Developmental Medicine, 3-6 March 2010, Christchurch, New Zealan

Using audit and feedback to increase clinician adherence to clinical practice guidelines in brain injury rehabilitation: v

ObjectiveThis study evaluated whether frequent (fortnightly) audit and feedback cycles over a sustained period of time (>12 months) increased clinician adherence to recommended guidelines in acquired brain injury rehabilitation.DesignA before and after study design.SettingA metropolitan inpatient brain injury rehabilitation unit.ParticipantsClinicians; medical, nursing and allied health staff.InterventionsFortnightly cycles of audit and feedback for 14 months. Each fortnight, medical file and observational audits were completed against 114 clinical indicators.Main outcome measureAdherence to guideline indicators before and after intervention, calculated by proportions, Mann-Whitney U and Chi square analysis.ResultsClinical and statistical significant improvements in median clinical indicator adherence were found immediately following the audit and feedback program from 38.8% (95% CI 34.3 to 44.4) to 83.6% (95% CI 81.8 to 88.5). Three months after cessation of the intervention, median adherence had decreased from 82.3% to 76.6% (95% CI 72.7 to 83.3, pConclusionA fortnightly audit and feedback program increased clinicians’ adherence to guideline recommendations in an inpatient acquired brain injury rehabilitation setting. We propose future studies build on the evidence-based method used in the present study to determine effectiveness and develop an implementation toolkit for scale-up.</div