Psychometric properties of the REMAP resilience scale in a Norwegian sample of ME/CFS patients and healthy controls.

Being able to increase and know how to strengthen resilience may be relevant for patients living with long-term symptoms such as chronic fatigue syndromes. The current study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of a Norwegian-translated version of the REMAP resilience measure in a sample of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and healthy controls. Factor analyses indicated poor fit for both the one- and five-factor solutions of the translated REMAP measure with best fit for a correlated five-factor model. Validity proved to be good, while reliability was poor for two of the subscales. Differences were revealed between gender, age groups, and between patients and healthy controls. The construct validity indicates that REMAP assesses adequate aspects of resilience. REMAP might be valuable to use to show that resilience resources could be developed in various life domains and aid in coping with chronic illness. However, REMAP should be further tested in other samples and cultures.publishedVersio

Meditation Awareness Training (MAT) for Work-related Wellbeing and Job Performance: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Due to its potential to concurrently improve work-related wellbeing (WRW) and job performance, occupational stakeholders are becoming increasingly interested in the applications of meditation. The present study conducted the first randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of meditation on outcomes relating to both WRW and job performance. Office-based middle-hierarchy managers (n = 152) received an eight-week meditation intervention (Meditation Awareness Training; MAT) or an active control intervention. MAT participants demonstrated significant and sustainable improvements (with strong effect sizes) over control-group participants in levels of work-related stress, job satisfaction, psychological distress, and employer-rated job performance. There are a number of novel implications: (i) meditation can effectuate a perceptual shift in how employees experience their work and psychological environment and may thus constitute a cost-effective WRW intervention, (ii) meditation-based (i.e., present-moment-focussed) working styles may be more effective than goal-based (i.e., future-orientated) working styles, and (iii) meditation may reduce the separation made by employees between their own interests and those of the organizations they work for

Work-Related Mental Health and Job Performance: Can Mindfulness Help?

Work-related mental health issues such as work-related stress and addiction to work impose a significant health and economic burden to the employee, the employing organization, and the country of work more generally. Interventions that can be empirically shown to improve levels of work-related mental health – especially those with the potential to concurrently improve employee levels of work performance – are of particular interest to occupational stakeholders. One such broad-application interventional approach currently of interest to occupational stakeholders in this respect is mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). Following a brief explication of the mindfulness construct, this paper critically discusses current research directions in the utilization of mindfulness in workplace settings and assesses its suitability for operationalization as an organization-level work-related mental health intervention. By effecting a perceptual-shift in the mode of responding and relating to sensory and cognitive-affective stimuli, employees that undergo mindfulness training may be able to transfer the locus of control for stress from external work conditions to internal metacognitive and attentional resources. Therefore, MBIs may constitute cost-effective organization-level interventions due to not actually requiring any modifications to human resource management systems and practises. Based on preliminary empirical findings and on the outcomes of MBI studies with clinical populations, it is concluded that MBIs appear to be viable interventional options for organizations wishing to improve the mental health of their employees

The influence of anger expression on wound healing

Abstract Certain patterns of anger expression have been associated with maladaptive alterations in cortisol secretion, immune functioning, and surgical recovery. We hypothesized that outward and inward anger expression and lack of anger control would be associated with delayed wound healing. A sample of 98 community-dwelling participants received standardized blister wounds on their nondominant forearm. After blistering, the wounds were monitored daily for eight days to assess speed of repair. Logistic regression was used to distinguish fast and slow healers based on their anger expression pattern. Individuals exhibiting lower levels of anger control were more likely to be categorized as slow healers. The anger control variable predicted wound repair over and above differences in hostility, negative affectivity, social support, and health behaviors. Furthermore, participants with lower levels of anger control exhibited higher cortisol reactivity during the blistering procedure. This enhanced cortisol secretion was in turn related to longer time to heal. These findings suggest that the ability to regulate the expression of one's anger has a clinically relevant impact on wound healing

Attachment Anxiety Is Linked to Alterations in Cortisol Production and Cellular Immunity

Although evidence suggests that attachment anxiety may increase risk for health problems, the mechanisms are not well understood. Married couples (N = 85, M(age) = 38.67) provided saliva samples over three days and blood samples on two occasions. Participants with higher attachment anxiety produced more cortisol and had fewer numbers of CD3(+) T-cells, CD45(+) T-cells, CD3(+)CD4(+) helper T-cells, and CD3(+)CD8(+) cytotoxic T-cells than those with lower attachment anxiety. Higher cortisol was also related to fewer numbers of CD3(+), CD45(+), CD3(+)CD4(+), and CD3(+)CD8(+), which is mechanistically consistent with research showing that cortisol alters the cellular immune response. These data suggest that attachment anxiety may have physiological costs and provide a glimpse into the pathways through which social relationships impact health. The current study also extends attachment theory in an important new direction by utilizing a psychoneuroimmunological approach to the study of attachment anxiety, stress, and health