DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A MEASURE OF SELF-CRITICAL RUMINATION

Shame and self-criticism are closely related constructs that have strong associations with many forms of psychopathology as well as general psychological distress. Rumination is a maladaptive form of repetitive thinking that is associated with a number of psychological disorders. Although measures of many different types of rumination (e.g. depressive rumination, angry rumination) have been developed, none assess self-critical rumination. The purpose of the present study, therefore, was to develop a measure of self-critical rumination. An initial pool of items for the Self-Critical Rumination Scale (SCRS) was developed by adapting existing rumination measures and through a writing task administered to both student and clinical samples. Following an evaluation of content validity, a total of 24 items remained in the item pool. These items were then administered to a large sample of undergraduates along with measures of related constructs. Psychometric properties of the Self-Critical Rumination Scale (SCRS) were examined including internal consistency, factor structure, and convergent and discriminant relationships with related constructs. Regression analyses were then performed in which scores on the SCRS were used to predict several different indicators of psychological distress. The SCRS significantly predicted symptoms of borderline personality disorder and overall general distress

Object categorisation, object naming, and viewpoint-independence in visual remembering: Evidence from young children's drawings of a novel object

A simple object-drawing task confirms a three-way association between object categorisation, viewpoint independence, and longer-term visual remembering. Young children (5- to 7-year-olds) drew a familiar object or a novel object, immediately after it had been hidden from view or on the following day. Both objects were shown from a full range of viewpoints or from just two viewpoints, from neither of which would either object normally be drawn after unrestricted viewing. When drawing from short-term memory after restricted viewing, both objects were most likely to be depicted from a seen viewpoint. When drawing from longer-term memory after restricted viewing, the novel object continued to be drawn from a seen viewpoint, but the mug was now most likely to be drawn from a preferred viewpoint from which it had not been seen. Naming the novel object with a novel count noun ("Look at this. This is a dax"), to signal that it belonged to an object category, resulted in it being drawn in the same way as the familiar object. The results concur with other evidence indicating that short-term and longer-term visual remembering are differentially associated with viewpoint-dependent representations of individual objects and viewpoint independent representations of object categories, respectively

Piloting Linked Open Data for Artists' Books

The University of California, Irvine Libraries seeks planning support for an incubator project to connect scholars to artists’ books through the use of linked open data (LOD). The pilot project will incorporate expertise from special collections, visual arts, metadata, and information technology into development of a scalable resource for facilitating discovery of artists’ books and increase scholarly attention on these highly visual, sculptural, and interactive works of art

Implementing Electronic Health Records in Nursing Education

Registered Nurses (RNs) make up the largest group of healthcare workers that use electronic health records in the United States, yet many nursing schools do not have electronic health record training in their curricula.  An academic electronic health record (AEHR) used within the nursing curriculum will prepare new nurses to use electronic documentation in a way that will provide safe, quality care, and enable necessary financial reimbursement. To determine the benefits and barriers to implementing an AEHR in prelicensure nursing curricula, a review of the current literature was undertaken in widely recognized databases. The findings were organized using Sittig and Singh’s 8-Dimensional Model of Sociotechnical Change as a framework. Recommendations guided by the literature review include how to use an AEHR in prelicensure nursing courses found in one university’s curriculum.  By systematically addressing and mitigating barriers to implementing an AEHR, faculty in Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs will be empowered to make this change to curricula. Innovative use of the AEHR throughout the curriculum can be facilitated by understanding where best to insert this content.&nbsp

Dispositional mindfulness and rejection sensitivity: The critical role of nonjudgment

The pain of rejection is a crucial component of normal social functioning; however, heightened sensitivity to rejection can be impairing in numerous ways. Mindfulness-based interventions have been effective with several populations characterized by elevated sensitivity to rejection; however, the relationship between mindfulness and rejection sensitivity has been largely unstudied. The present study examines associations between rejection sensitivity and multiple dimensions of dispositional mindfulness, with the hypothesis that a nonjudgmental orientation to inner experiences would be both associated with decreased rejection sensitivity and attenuate the impact of sensitivity to rejection on general negative affect. A cross-sectional sample of undergraduates (n = 451) completed self-report measures of rejection sensitivity, dispositional mindfulness, and trait-level negative affect. Significant zero-order correlations and independent effects were observed between most facets of dispositional mindfulness and rejection sensitivity, with nonjudging demonstrating the largest effects. As predicted, rejection sensitivity was associated with negative affectivity for people low in nonjudging (β = .27, t = 5.12, p < .001) but not for people high in nonjudging (β = .06, t = .99, p = .324). These findings provide preliminary support for mindfulness, specifically the nonjudging dimension, as a protective factor against rejection sensitivity and its effects on affect

Distance-dependent Electron Hopping Conductivity and Nanoscale Lithography of Chemically-linked Gold Monolayer Protected Cluster Films

Films of monolayer protected Au clusters (MPCs) with mixed alkanethiolate and ω-carboxylate alkanethiolate monolayers, linked together by carboxylate–Cu2+–carboxylate bridges, exhibit average edge-to-edge cluster spacings that vary with the numbers of methylene segments in the alkanethiolate ligand as determined by a combined atomic force microscopy (AFM)/UV-Vis spectroscopy method. The electronic conductivity (σEL) of dry films is exponentially dependent on the cluster spacing, consistent with electron tunneling through the alkanethiolate chains and non-bonded contacts between those chains on individual, adjacent MPCs. The calculated electronic coupling factor (β) for tunneling between MPCs is 1.2 Å−1, which is similar to other values obtained for tunneling through hydrocarbon chains. Electron transfer rate constants measured on the films reflect the increased cluster–cluster tunneling distance with increasing chainlength. The MPC films are patterned by scanning the surface with an AFM or scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) tip under appropriate conditions. The patterning mechanism is physical in nature, where the tip scrapes away the film in the scanned region. Large forces are required to pattern films with AFM while normal imaging conditions are sufficient to produce patterns with STM. Patterns with dimensions as small as 100 nm are shown. Subsequent heating (300 °C) of the patterned surfaces leads to a metallic Au film that decreases in thickness and is smoother compared to the MPC film, but retains the initial shape and dimensions of the original pattern

Two Days in Carberry: A Step Towards a Community of Practice

Abstract How does one build community? How can a community of practitioners come together in a way that builds on the strength of commonality? These were the types of questions which led us all to an old estate: one hundred of us, from diverse locations and services coming together, searching to find a connecting link which would help us in our quest to become a &apos;community of practice&apos;

An online daily diary study of alcohol use using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk

In recent years, unprecedented levels of internet access and the widespread growth of emergent communication technologies have resulted in significantly greater population access for substance use researchers. Despite the research potential of such technologies, the use of the internet to recruit individuals for participation in event-level research has been limited. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief account of the methods and results from an online daily diary study of alcohol use

Our Path: Empower Maine Women Network and Leadership

On March 24, 2018, the women of the Empower Network sat down to discuss the concept of leadership and their definition of what makes a leader. They were asked to reflect on the idea of empowerment and specifi­cally tie empowerment to kindness, suffrage, and toler­ance. This article excerpts their discussion and demonstrates how the Empower Network relates to their definition of leadership

A population level study into health vulnerabilities of mothers and fathers involved in public law care proceedings in Wales, UK between 2011 and 2019

IntroductionUnder section 31 of the Children Act 1989, public law care proceedings can be issued if there is concern a child is subject to, or at risk of significant harm, which can lead to removal of a child from parents. Appropriate and effective health and social support are required to potentially prevent some of the need for these proceedings. More comprehensive evidence of the health needs and vulnerabilities of parents will enable enhanced response from family courts and integrated other services.ObjectiveTo examine health vulnerabilities of parents involved in care proceedings in the two-year period prior to involvement.MethodsFamily court data provided by Cafcass Cymru were linked to population-based health records held within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank. Linked data were available for 8,821 parents of children involved in care proceedings between 2011 and 2019. Findings were benchmarked with reference to a comparison group of parents matched on sex, age, and deprivation (n = 32,006), not subject to care proceedings. Demographic characteristics, overall health service use, and health profiles of parents were examined. Descriptive and statistical tests of independence were used.ResultsNearly half of cohort parents (47.6%) resided in the most deprived quintile. They had higher levels of healthcare use compared to the comparison group across multiple healthcare settings, with the most pronounced differences for emergency department attendances (59.3% vs 37.0%). Health conditions with the largest variation between groups were related to mental health (43.6% vs 16.0%), substance use (19.4% vs 1.6%) and injuries (41.5% vs 23.6%).ConclusionThis study highlights the heightened socioeconomic and health vulnerabilities of parents who experience care proceedings concerning a child. Better understanding of the needs and vulnerabilities of this population may provide opportunities to improve a range of support and preventative interventions that respond to crises in the community