Psychology Doctoral Students’ Perspectives on Addressing Spirituality and Religion with Clients: Associations with Personal Preferences and Training

Students (n = 543) in doctoral clinical and counseling psychology programs were surveyed about training experiences with regard to addressing the spiritual and religious beliefs and practices (SRBP) of their patients. About one fourth of the respondents indicated they had received no training related to patients’ SRBP. Another half had only read material on their own or discussed such issues with a supervisor. Nonetheless, respondents almost universally endorsed the idea that patients should be asked about spirituality and religiousness. Participants also rated the appropriateness of spiritual and religious queries that might be asked of patients. As expected, queries about the relevance of SRBP were rated as the most appropriate, whereas queries that implied a disrespectful or challenging tone were rated as the least appropriate. Participants’ personal SRBP and training that was specific to patients’ SRBP were weakly but significantly associated with appropriateness ratings. The results suggest that students are formulating ideas about how to ask patients about their spiritual and religious issues despite potentially inadequate formal instruction

Injustice perceptions about pain: parent–child discordance is associated with worse functional outcomes

Pain is experienced within and influenced by social environments. For children with chronic pain, the child–parent relationship and parental beliefs about pain are particularly important and may influence pain outcomes. Pain-related injustice perceptions have recently been identified as an important cognitive–emotional factor for children with pain. The current study aimed to better understand the pain-related injustice perceptions of children with chronic pain and their parents. The sample consisted of 253 pediatric chronic pain patients (mean age = 14.1 years, 74% female) presenting to a tertiary pain clinic. Patients completed measures of pain intensity, pain-related injustice perceptions, stress, functional disability, and quality of life. Parents completed a measure of pain-related injustice perceptions about their child's pain. Child–parent dyads were categorized into 1 of 4 categories based on the degree of concordance or discordance between their scores on the injustice measures. One-way analysis of variances examined differences in pain intensity, stress, functional disability, and quality of life across the 4 dyad categories. Our findings indicated that both the degree (concordant vs discordant) and direction (discordant low child–high parent vs discordant high child–low parent) of similarity between child and parent injustice perceptions were associated with child-reported pain intensity, stress, functional disability, and quality of life. The poorest outcomes were reported when children considered their pain as highly unjust, but their parents did not. These findings highlight the important role of parents in the context of pain-related injustice perceptions in pediatric chronic pain

Evaluating and re-developing a more comprehensive and useful needs based assessment tool for parents and teachers of newly-diagnosed deaf and hard of hearing children

The purpose of this study was to redevelop a needs assessment inventory for use by caregivers and professionals engaging in educational services for children who are newly-diagnosed as deaf or hard of hearing

Benefits of Intervention in Managing Chronic Pain

poster abstractAs studies of individuals with chronic pain continue more is being understood about cognitive and behavioral components that drive pain. While the goal of treatment is to reduce or eliminate the locus of pain, another model known as intervention, focuses more on self-management and cognitive change. The presented research is the 12-month results of trails of intervention for chronic pain management. Three hundred participants were recruited from the VA of Indianapolis. All participants were being seen in a primary care setting for severe pain that persisted for more than 3 months. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: the control group, which would continue receiving the usual care for their pain; and the variable group, which would receive intervention. Intervention methods included automated home-based monitoring, selective care manager calls, weekly case review with MD specialist and escalation of therapy using an evidence-based stepped care analgesic algorithm. Participants pain was measured using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), which is a self-report assessing the severity of pain and impact of pain on daily functioning. The trial results showed that a 1-point difference in BPI scores between the intervention and control group. Participants in the intervention group showed a good adherence and satisfaction with automate and nurse components of intervention. These results show pain management through intervention has a positive effect on pain, which in turn has an effect on depression, anxiety, and outlook. Intervention aims to empower patients to become active participants in the management of their illness and feel more in control of their pain in hopes of giving them a better outlook of their situation

Preservice teachers’ pictorial strategies for a multistep multiplicative fraction problem

Previous research has documented that preservice teachers (PSTs) struggle with under- standing fraction concepts and operations, and misconceptions often stem from their understanding of the referent whole. This study expands research on PSTs’ understanding of wholes by investigating pictorial strategies that 85 PSTs constructed for a multistep fraction task in a multiplicative context. The results show that many PSTs were able to construct valid pictorial strategies, and the strategies were widely diverse with respect to how they made sense of an unknown referent whole of a fraction in multiple steps, how they represented the wholes in their drawings, in which order they did multiple steps, and which type of model they used (area or set). Based on their wide range of pictorial strategies, we discuss potential benefits of PSTs’ construction of their own representations for a word problem in developing problem solving skills

Perceived Injustice Is Associated With Pain and Functional Outcomes in Children and Adolescents With Chronic Pain: A Preliminary Examination

Chronic pain is prevalent in children/adolescents and contributes to high rates of healthcare utilization. Research suggests injustice perceptions about pain are important in adult patients and a possible treatment focus. We conducted a preliminary evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Injustice Experiences Questionnaire (IEQ) and the relationship between injustice perceptions, pain, and functioning in chronic pain patients (N = 139, mean age = 15 years, 72% female) presenting to a pediatric pain clinic. Patients completed measures assessing pain intensity, injustice perceptions about pain, catastrophizing, overall functional disability, emotional functioning, social functioning, and school functioning. The IEQ showed good reliability and validity. Higher levels of perceived injustice were associated with higher levels of pain intensity, catastrophizing, and functional disability, and with poorer emotional, social, and school functioning. Additionally, perceived injustice remained significantly associated with pain intensity, functional disability, emotional functioning, social functioning, and school functioning after accounting for relevant demographic and clinical factors. This is the first study to suggest that injustice perceptions are important in the experience of pediatric chronic pain patients. Future studies should more thoroughly examine the psychometric properties of the IEQ in children/adolescents and elucidate the causal nature of these relationships, which will inform treatment efforts to improve pediatric pain care. Perspective This initial investigation suggests that injustice perceptions about pain can be reliably and validly measured and are tied to important clinical outcomes in children/adolescents. Future studies that replicate and extend these preliminary results are necessary to determine the extent to which injustice perceptions are an important target for intervention

Tandem repeat markers as novel diagnostic tools for high resolution fingerprinting of Wolbachia

Background: Strains of the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia pipientis are extremely diverse both genotypically and in terms of their induced phenotypes in invertebrate hosts. Despite extensive molecular characterisation of Wolbachia diversity, little is known about the actual genomic diversity within or between closely related strains that group tightly on the basis of existing gene marker systems, including Multiple Locus Sequence Typing (MLST). There is an urgent need for higher resolution fingerprinting markers of Wolbachia for studies of population genetics, horizontal transmission and experimental evolution. Results: The genome of the wMel Wolbachia strain that infects Drosophila melanogaster contains inter- and intragenic tandem repeats that may evolve through expansion or contraction. We identified hypervariable regions in wMel, including intergenic Variable Number Tandem Repeats (VNTRs), and genes encoding ankyrin (ANK) repeat domains. We amplified these markers from 14 related Wolbachia strains belonging to supergroup A and were successful in differentiating size polymorphic alleles. Because of their tandemly repeated structure and length polymorphism, the markers can be used in a PCR-diagnostic multilocus typing approach, analogous to the Multiple Locus VNTR Analysis (MLVA) established for many other bacteria and organisms. The isolated markers are highly specific for supergroup A and not informative for other supergroups. However, in silico analysis of completed genomes from other supergroups revealed the presence of tandem repeats that are variable and could therefore be useful for typing target strains. Conclusions: Wolbachia genomes contain inter- and intragenic tandem repeats that evolve through expansion or contraction. A selection of polymorphic tandem repeats is a novel and useful PCR diagnostic extension to the existing MLST typing system of Wolbachia, as it allows rapid and inexpensive high-throughput fingerprinting of closely related strains for which polymorphic markers were previously lacking

(Dis)Agreement in Parent-Child Perceptions of Injustice and Their Relationship to Pain Outcomes

poster abstractPerceiving one’s pain as unjust and thinking about pain in a catastrophic manner are linked to worse outcomes in children with chronic pain. Dyads where the child catastrophized more than the parent experienced particularly poor outcomes in previous research. We investigated the concordance between parent and child injustice perceptions and its relationship to pain outcomes. 139 patients (age=15.4±2.1; 71.9% female) attending the pain clinic at Riley Children’s Hospital completed measures of perceived injustice, pain, and QOL. Parents completed a measure of perceived injustice about their child’s pain. Parent-child dyads were categorized into one of four groups based on concordance of injustice perceptions: (1) concordant high, (2) concordant low, (3) discordant high parent (P) – low child (C), and (4) discordant low P – high C. Parent injustice perceptions were significantly higher than child perceptions (t(138)=5.80, p<.001, d=.50). ANOVAs identified significant group differences for pain intensity (F(3,138)=2.80, p<.05, η2=.06) and QOL (F(3,138)=15.11, p<.01, η2=.25). For pain intensity, discordant low P – high C dyads reported the highest pain, and significantly higher pain than discordant high P – low C dyads (mean difference [MD]=1.94, p<.05). Concordant high dyads reported the second highest pain. A similar pattern emerged for QOL. Discordant low P – high C dyads reported the worst QOL, and significantly worse QOL than concordant high dyads (MD=-10.22, p<.01), concordant low dyads (MD=-23.70, p<.01), and discordant high P – low C dyads (MD=-28.97, p<.01). Concordant high dyads reported the second worse QOL. Overall, dyads where the child endorsed high injustice perceptions, regardless of parental perceptions, experienced worse pain and QOL, with the worst outcomes observed for discordant dyads (low P – high C). Children in low P – high C dyads may feel invalidated and, thus, use maladaptive strategies in an attempt to communicate the severity of their pain. Research is needed to identify the mechanisms underlying these relationships

An Exploratory Study Using Participation Plans for Inclusive Social Studies Instruction

Limited research exists on teaching social studies content, including intervention research, in inclusive settings for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The purpose of this exploratory project was to evaluate the use of participation plans for supporting students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in inclusive high school social studies classrooms. The study addressed two questions: (1) To what extent can students with IDD learn prioritized social studies content and skills in inclusive secondary settings? and (2) How do participation plans support students in learning prioritized social studies content and skills in inclusive general education settings? A university research team supported a public high school staff to employ a single-case, multiple baseline design across prioritized skills (knowledge of content, vocabulary, and summarization) and participants. Results showed students’ correct responses increased across prioritized skills after the team began using the participation plans. This discreet intervention exhibits promise for school staff (i.e., teachers, paraprofessionals) needing mediating tools for effective inclusive education. We discuss implications for future research and practice

“You’ve got to settle down!”: Mothers’ perceptions of physical activity in their young children

Abstract Background Mothers are important mediators of children’s physical activity (PA) level and risk of obesity, however previous studies of maternal perceptions of child PA have been limited. Furthermore, it is unknown if maternal perceptions of child PA are predicted by family, mother and child characteristics. Therefore objectives of this study were to 1) evaluate maternal perceptions of PA in their children and 2) test associations of family, mother and child characteristics with these perceptions. Methods 278 low-income mothers of children (mean age 70.9 months) participated in an audio-taped semi-structured interview. Transcripts were systematically analyzed using the constant comparative method and themes were generated. A coding scheme to classify the themes appearing in each transcript was developed and reliably applied. Anthropometrics were measured. Demographics and questionnaires (the Confusion, Hubbub and Order Scale, The Parenting Scale, and the Child Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ)) were collected. Logistic regression models were used to test the associations of family, mother and child characteristics with each theme. Results In this sample of low-income United States mothers, two themes emerged: 1) Mothers perceive their children as already very active (87.8 %, n = 244), predicted by the child being younger, the child not being overweight, and higher child CBQ Activity Level; and 2) Mothers view their children’s high activity level as problematic (27.0 %, n = 75), predicted by lower Parenting Laxness, the child being male and lower child CBQ Inhibitory Control. Conclusions Low-income United States mothers have unique perceptions of PA in their children; these beliefs are associated with characteristics of the child and mother but not characteristics of the family. Further understanding of contributors to maternal perceptions of child PA may inform future childhood obesity interventions. The influence of these perceptions on physical activity outcomes in low-income children should be pursued in future research.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/114383/1/12887_2015_Article_466.pd