Assessing the scholarly impact of health psychology: A citation analysis of articles published from 1993 to 2003.

ObjectiveWe conducted a citation analysis to explore the impact of articles published in Health Psychology and determine whether the journal is fulfilling its stated mission.DesignSix years of articles (N = 408) representing three editorial tenures from 1993-2003 were selected for analysis.Main outcome measuresArticles were coded for several dimensions enabling examination of the relationship of article features to subsequent citations rates. Journals citing articles published in Health Psychology were classified into four categories: (1) psychology, (2) medicine, (3) public health and health policy, and (4) other journals.ResultsThe majority of citations of Health Psychology articles were in psychology journals, followed closely by medical journals. Studies reporting data collected from college students, and discussing the theoretical implications of findings, were more likely to be cited in psychology journals, whereas studies reporting data from clinical populations, and discussing the practice implications of findings, were more likely to be cited in medical journals. Time since publication and page length were both associated with increased citation counts, and review articles were cited more frequently than observational studies.ConclusionArticles published in Health Psychology have a wide reach, informing psychology, medicine, public health and health policy. Certain characteristics of articles affect their subsequent pattern of citation

New directions for patient-centred care in scleroderma : the Scleroderma Patient-centred Intervention Network (SPIN)

Systemic sclerosis (SSc), or scleroderma, is a chronic multisystem autoimmune disorder characterised by thickening and fibrosis of the skin and by the involvement of internal organs such as the lungs, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, and heart. Because there is no cure, feasibly-implemented and easily accessible evidence-based interventions to improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are needed. Due to a lack of evidence, however, specific recommendations have not been made regarding non-pharmacological interventions (e.g. behavioural/psychological, educational, physical/occupational therapy) to improve HRQoL in SSc. The Scleroderma Patient-centred Intervention Network (SPIN) was recently organised to address this gap. SPIN is comprised of patient representatives, clinicians, and researchers from Canada, the USA, and Europe. The goal of SPIN, as described in this article, is to develop, test, and disseminate a set of accessible interventions designed to complement standard care in order to improve HRQoL outcomes in SSc.The initial organisational meeting for SPIN was funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Meetings, Planning, and Dissemination grant to B.D. Thombs (KPE-109130), Sclerodermie Quebec, and the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research of the Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec. SPIN receives finding support from the Sclemderma Society of Ontario, the Scleroderma Society of Canada, and Sclerodermie Quebec. B.D. Thombs and M. Hudson are supported by New Investigator awards from the CIHR, and Etablissement de Jeunes Chercheurs awards from the Fonds de la Recherche en Sante Quebec (FRSQ). M. Baron is the director of the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group, which receives grant folding from the CIHR, the Scleroderma Society of Canada and its provincial chapters, Scleroderma Society of Ontario, Sclerodermie Quebec, and the Ontario Arthritis Society, and educational grants from Actelion Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer. M.D. Mayes and S. Assassi are supported by the NIH/NIAMS Scleroderma Center of Research Translation grant no. P50-AR054144. S.J. Motivala is supported by an NIH career development grant (K23 AG027860) and the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology. D. Khanna is supported by a NIH/NIAMS K23 AR053858-04) and NIH/NIAMS U01 AR057936A, the National Institutes of Health through the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research Grant (AR052177), and has served as a consultant or on speakers bureau for Actelion, BMS, Gilead, Pfizer, and United Therapeutics

Psychological distress impacts memory of T-cells and B-cells depending upon level of HIV viral load in pre-AIDS men and women

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine if distress was associated with immunity in HIV spectrum disease, when disease severity (viral load) was used as a moderator. Distress was conceptualized as a combination of depressive and anxious symptoms; immunity was measured via a number of immune variables (three CD4+ subsets, CD8+ and two CD8+ subsets, CD19+, NK cells, PHA and NKCC). The dataset was comprised of 148 HIV seropositive men and women, who were either white, black or Hispanic recruited from the Miami-Dade community. Of these participants, 89 were asymptomatic and 59 were symptomatic, based upon Centers for Disease Control criteria (CDC, 1993). A composite distress factor score was generated using the Profile of Mood States (POMS), the Impact of Events Scale (IES), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). A structural equation modeling approach was used in which immune variables were used to construct three latent immune variables. These in turn were used as outcome measures and distress factor score, viral load and the interaction of the two were used as predictors. Results indicated that distress was not related to any of the latent variables. Follow-up regression analyses were done to determine if distress related to individual immune parameters. Results showed that high distress was associated with decreased T helper (memory) cells and B-cells, but only at low levels of viral load. In addition, high distress was associated with decreased PHA, but only at high levels of viral load indicating that high viral load is associated with poorer blastogenesis in HIV. Thus, distress did not impact immune parameters in general, but impacted specific populations

Relationships between obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and functioning before and after exposure and response prevention therapy

ObjectiveObsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with impaired functioning and depression. Our aim was to examine relationships between OCD symptoms, depression and functioning before and after exposure and response prevention (ERP), a type of cognitive-behavioural therapy for OCD, specifically examining whether functioning, depression and other cognitive factors like rumination and worry acted as mediators.MethodsForty-four individuals with OCD were randomised to 4 weeks of intensive ERP treatment first (n = 23) or waitlist then treatment (n = 21). We used a bootstrapping method to examine mediation models.ResultsOCD symptoms, depression and functioning significantly improved from pre- to post-intervention. Functioning mediated the relationship between OCD symptoms and depression and the relationship between functioning and depression was stronger at post-treatment. Depression mediated the relationship between OCD symptoms and functioning, but only at post-intervention. Similarly, rumination mediated the relationship between OCD symptoms and depression at post-intervention.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that after ERP, relationships between depression and functioning become stronger. Following ERP, treatment that focuses on depression and functioning, including medication management for depression, cognitive approaches targeting rumination, and behavioural activation to boost functionality may be important clinical interventions for OCD patients

Assessing the scholarly impact of health psychology: a citation analysis of articles published from 1993 to 2003.

ObjectiveWe conducted a citation analysis to explore the impact of articles published in Health Psychology and determine whether the journal is fulfilling its stated mission.DesignSix years of articles (N = 408) representing three editorial tenures from 1993-2003 were selected for analysis.Main outcome measuresArticles were coded for several dimensions enabling examination of the relationship of article features to subsequent citations rates. Journals citing articles published in Health Psychology were classified into four categories: (1) psychology, (2) medicine, (3) public health and health policy, and (4) other journals.ResultsThe majority of citations of Health Psychology articles were in psychology journals, followed closely by medical journals. Studies reporting data collected from college students, and discussing the theoretical implications of findings, were more likely to be cited in psychology journals, whereas studies reporting data from clinical populations, and discussing the practice implications of findings, were more likely to be cited in medical journals. Time since publication and page length were both associated with increased citation counts, and review articles were cited more frequently than observational studies.ConclusionArticles published in Health Psychology have a wide reach, informing psychology, medicine, public health and health policy. Certain characteristics of articles affect their subsequent pattern of citation

Effects of mindfulness training on emotional and physiologic recovery from induced negative affect

ObjectiveMindfulness training has been shown to improve psychological well-being and physical health. One proposed pathway for the positive effects of mindfulness training is through the development of new emotion regulation strategies, such as the ability to experience emotions by observing and accepting them without judgment. Theoretically, this should facilitate recovery from negative emotional states; however, this has rarely been examined empirically. The goal of the current study was to determine whether mindfulness training is associated with more efficient emotional and cardiovascular recovery from induced negative affect.MethodsThe current study tested emotional and cardiovascular recovery from induced negative affect during a personal recall task in women randomly assigned to 6-weeks of mindfulness training (n=39) compared to women assigned to a wait-list control condition (n=32). During baseline, task, and post-task rest, blood pressure and heart rate were monitored at fixed intervals and heart rate variability (HRV) and pre-ejection period (PEP) were monitored continuously. This study was embedded within a randomized trial that evaluated the effects of mindfulness training in a sample of younger breast cancer survivors, a group in need of access to effective psychosocial intervention as they can experience high stress, anxiety, and physical symptoms for many years in to survivorship.ResultsIn response to the personal recall task, women in both the intervention and control groups showed significant increases in sadness, anxiety, and anger, with the intervention group reaching higher levels of sadness and anger than controls. Further, the intervention group showed a significantly steeper decline in sadness and anger, as well as steeper initial decline in diastolic blood pressure compared to women in the wait list control condition. Groups did not differ in their self-reported feelings of anxiety, or in blood pressure, heart rate, or pre-ejection period (PEP) responses to the task. The control group demonstrated an increase in heart rate variability (HRV) during the task (indexed by the root mean square of successive differences in heart rate; RMSSD) while the intervention group remained flat throughout the task.ConclusionCompared to the control group, women in the intervention group experienced greater negative emotions when recalling a difficult experience related to their breast cancer, and demonstrated an efficient emotional and blood pressure recovery from the experience. This suggests that mindfulness training may lead to an enhanced emotional experience coupled with the ability to recovery quickly from negative emotional states

Assessing the scholarly impact of health psychology: a citation analysis of articles published from 1993 to 2003.

ObjectiveWe conducted a citation analysis to explore the impact of articles published in Health Psychology and determine whether the journal is fulfilling its stated mission.DesignSix years of articles (N = 408) representing three editorial tenures from 1993-2003 were selected for analysis.Main outcome measuresArticles were coded for several dimensions enabling examination of the relationship of article features to subsequent citations rates. Journals citing articles published in Health Psychology were classified into four categories: (1) psychology, (2) medicine, (3) public health and health policy, and (4) other journals.ResultsThe majority of citations of Health Psychology articles were in psychology journals, followed closely by medical journals. Studies reporting data collected from college students, and discussing the theoretical implications of findings, were more likely to be cited in psychology journals, whereas studies reporting data from clinical populations, and discussing the practice implications of findings, were more likely to be cited in medical journals. Time since publication and page length were both associated with increased citation counts, and review articles were cited more frequently than observational studies.ConclusionArticles published in Health Psychology have a wide reach, informing psychology, medicine, public health and health policy. Certain characteristics of articles affect their subsequent pattern of citation