One-Year Randomized Controlled Trial and Follow-Up of Integrated Neurocognitive Therapy for Schizophrenia Outpatients

Objective: Cognitive remediation (CR) approaches have demonstrated to be effective in improving cognitive functions in schizophrenia. However, there is a lack of integrated CR approaches that target multiple neuro- and social-cognitive domains with a special focus on the generalization of therapy effects to functional outcome. Method: This 8-site randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of a novel CR group therapy approach called integrated neurocognitive therapy (INT). INT includes well-defined exercises to improve all neuro- and social-cognitive domains as defined by the Measurement And Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) initiative by compensation and restitution. One hundred and fifty-six outpatients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder according to DSM-IV-TR or ICD-10 were randomly assigned to receive 15 weeks of INT or treatment as usual (TAU). INT patients received 30 bi-weekly therapy sessions. Each session lasted 90min. Mixed models were applied to assess changes in neurocognition, social cognition, symptoms, and functional outcome at post-treatment and at 9-month follow-up. Results: In comparison to TAU, INT patients showed significant improvements in several neuro- and social-cognitive domains, negative symptoms, and functional outcome after therapy and at 9-month follow-up. Number-needed-to-treat analyses indicate that only 5 INT patients are necessary to produce durable and meaningful improvements in functional outcome. Conclusions: Integrated interventions on neurocognition and social cognition have the potential to improve not only cognitive performance but also functional outcome. These findings are important as treatment guidelines for schizophrenia have criticized CR for its poor generalization effect

Integrated psychological therapy: effectiveness in schizophrenia inpatient settings related to patients' age

Elderly people with schizophrenia often suffer from cognitive impairments, which affect their social functioning. Today, only a few therapy approaches for middle-aged and older patients are available. The Integrated Psychological Therapy (IPT) combines neurocognitive and social cognitive interventions with social skills approaches. The aim of this study was to evaluate (1) whether IPT is effective in younger patients (age < 40 years) and middle-aged patients (age ≥ 40 years) and (2) whether control conditions (treatment as usual or unspecific group activities) reveal some change in outcome depending on age

Investigating emotion regulation and social information processing as mechanisms linking adverse childhood experiences with psychosocial functioning in young swiss adults: the FACE epidemiological accelerated cohort study.

BACKGROUND Adverse childhood experiences increase the risk for psychological disorders and lower psychosocial functioning across the lifespan. However, less is known about the processes through which ACE are linked to multiple negative outcomes. The aim of the FACE epidemiological study is to investigate emotion regulation (emotional reactivity, perseverative thinking and self-efficacy for managing emotions) and social information processing (rejection sensitivity, interpretation biases and social understanding) as potential mechanisms linking adverse childhood experiences and psychosocial functioning in a large population sample of young adults. It is embedded in a larger project that also includes an ecological momentary assessment of emotion regulation and social information processing and informs the development and evaluation of an online self-help intervention for young adults with a history of ACE. METHODS The study plans to recruit 5000 young adults aged 18 to 21 from the German-speaking Swiss population. Addresses are provided by Swiss Federal Statistical Office and participants are invited by mail to complete a self-report online survey. If the targeted sample size will not be reached, a second additional sample will be recruited via educational facilities such as universities or teacher training colleges or military training schools. Three follow-ups are planned after 1 year, 2 years and 3 years, resulting in ages 18-24 being covered. The main exposure variable is self-reported adverse childhood experiences before the age of 18, measured at the baseline. Primary outcomes are psychosocial functioning across the study period. Secondary outcomes are social information processing, emotion regulation and health care service use. Statistical analyses include a range of latent variable models to identify patterns of adverse childhood experiences and patterns and trajectories of psychosocial adaptation. DISCUSSION The results will contribute to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms that link ACE with psychosocial functioning which is crucial for an improved insight into risk and resilience processes and for tailoring interventions. Furthermore, the identification of factors that facilitate or hinder service use among young adults with ACE informs healthcare policies and the provision of appropriate healthcare services. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER NCT05122988. The study was reviewed and authorized by the ethical committee of Northwestern and Central Switzerland (BASEC number 2021-01204)

Home Is Where the Smart Is: Development and Validation of the Cybersecurity Self-Efficacy in Smart Homes (CySESH) Scale

The ubiquity of devices connected to the internet raises concerns about the security and privacy of smart homes. The effectiveness of interventions to support secure user behaviors is limited by a lack of validated instruments to measure relevant psychological constructs, such as self-efficacy - the belief that one is able to perform certain behaviors. We developed and validated the Cybersecurity Self-Efficacy in Smart Homes (CySESH) scale, a 12-item unidimensional measure of domain-specific self-efficacy beliefs, across five studies (N = 1247). Three pilot studies generated and refined an item pool. We report evidence from one initial and one major, preregistered validation study for (1) excellent reliability (α = 0.90), (2) convergent validity with self-efficacy in information security (rSEIS = 0.64, p < .001), and (3) discriminant validity with outcome expectations (rOE = 0.26, p < .001), self-esteem (rRSE = 0.17, p < .001), and optimism (rLOT-R = 0.18, p < .001). We discuss CySESH's potential to advance future HCI research on cybersecurity, practitioner user assessments, and implications for consumer protection policy

A World Full of Privacy and Security (Mis)conceptions? Findings of a Representative Survey in 12 Countries

Misconceptions about digital security and privacy topics in the general public frequently lead to insecure behavior. However, little is known about the prevalence and extent of such misconceptions in a global context. In this work, we present the results of the first large-scale survey of a global population on misconceptions: We conducted an online survey with n = 12, 351 participants in 12 countries on four continents. By investigating influencing factors of misconceptions around eight common security and privacy topics (including E2EE, Wi-Fi, VPN, and malware), we find the country of residence to be the strongest estimate for holding misconceptions. We also identify differences between non-Western and Western countries, demonstrating the need for region-specific research on user security knowledge, perceptions, and behavior. While we did not observe many outright misconceptions, we did identify a lack of understanding and uncertainty about several fundamental privacy and security topics

Evaluation of shoulder-specific patient-reported outcome measures: A systematic and standardized comparison of available evidence

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Background: The aim of this study was to perform a standardized and systematic evaluation of the available evidence on multi-item shoulder-specific patient-reported outcome measures that are applicable to a wide spectrum of disorders. Materials and methods: A systematic review was conducted in PubMed to identify articles with information regarding the development process, metric properties, and administration issues of shoulder-specific patient-reported outcome measures. Two experts independently reviewed all the articles identified for one instrument and applied the EMPRO (Evaluating Measures of Patient Reported Outcomes) tool, which was designed to assess the quality of attributes in a standardized way. An overall EMPRO score and 6 attribute-specific scores were calculated (range, 0-100) to describe the quality of instrument performance. Results: We identified 11 instruments and 112 articles (2-30 articles per instrument). The American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) shoulder assessment, Simple Shoulder Test (SST), and Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) were the best rated, with overall scores of 77.4 points, 72.6 points, and 69.7 points, respectively. They have been shown to be valid, reliable, and responsive, with a low administration burden. Acceptable results were also found for the Flexilevel Scale of Shoulder Function, Shoulder Pain and Disability Index, and Dutch Shoulder Disability Questionnaire, but some of their attributes need further evaluation. Conclusions: Current evidence supports the use of the ASES, SST, or OSS. We recommend the SST for longitudinal studies or clinical trials, the Dutch Shoulder Disability Questionnaire for clinical practice to minimize administration burden, and the ASES or OSS to discriminate among patients' or groups' evaluations at one point of time. © 2014 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees.Department of HealthGovernment of the Basque Country, Spai

Subjective well-being among psychotherapists during the coronavirus disease pandemic : A cross-cultural survey from 12 european countries

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the amount of the total variance of the subjective well-being (SWB) of psychotherapists from 12 European countries explained by between-country vs. between-person differences regarding its cognitive (life satisfaction) and affective components (positive affect [PA] and negative affect [NA]). Second, we explored a link between the SWB and their personal (self-efficacy) and social resources (social support) after controlling for sociodemographics, work characteristics, and COVID-19-related distress.Methods: In total, 2915 psychotherapists from 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Great Britain, Serbia, Spain, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland) participated in this study. The participants completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF), the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.Results: Cognitive well-being (CWB; satisfaction with life) was a more country-dependent component of SWB than affective well-being (AWB). Consequently, at the individual level, significant correlates were found only for AWB but not for CWB. Higher AWB was linked to being female, older age, higher weekly workload, and lower COVID-19-related distress. Self-efficacy and social support explained AWB only, including their main effects and the moderating effect of self-efficacy.Conclusions: The results highlight more individual characteristics of AWB compared to CWB, with a more critical role of low self-efficacy for the link between social support and PA rather than NA. This finding suggests the need for greater self-care among psychotherapists regarding their AWB and the more complex conditions underlying their CWB.Peer reviewe

The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high metallicity stars.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Supplements, in press (minor updates from submitted version

Threat captures attention, but not automatically: Top-down goals modulate attentional orienting to threat distractors

The rapid orienting of attention to potential threats has been proposed to proceed outside of top-down control. However, paradigms that have been used to investigate this have struggled to separate the rapid orienting of attention (i.e. capture) from the later disengagement of focal attention that may be subject to top-down control. Consequently, it remains unclear whether and to what extent orienting to threat is contingent on top-down goals. The current study manipulated the goal-relevance of threat distractors (spiders), whilst a strict top-down attentional set was encouraged by presenting the saliently colored target and the threat distracter simultaneously for a limited time. The goal-relevance of threatening distractors was manipulated by including a spider amongst the possible target stimuli (Experiment 1: spider/cat targets) or excluding it (Experiment 2: bird/fish targets). Orienting and disengagement were disentangled by cueing attention away from or towards the threat prior to its onset. The results indicated that the threatening spider distractors elicited rapid orienting of attention when spiders were potentially goal-relevant (Experiment 1) but did so much less when they were irrelevant to the task goal (Experiment 2). Delayed disengagement from the threat distractors was even more strongly contingent on the task goal and occurred only when a spider was a possible target. These results highlight the role of top-down goals in attentional orienting to and disengagement from threat. © 2016 The Psychonomic Society, Inc