Psychological effects and coping strategies in direct and indirect exposure to ongoing terrorism

The objective of the study was to find out differences on psychological effects of terrorism and coping strategies adopted by men in direct and indirect exposed groups. The sample was taken from two strata: Participants directly exposed to terrorist attacks and those who were indirectly exposed [i.e. individuals exposed through social media]. Those who volunteered to participate in the study were administered: Brief Symptom Inventory [BSI Derogatis and Melisaratos, 1983] and Brief COPE [Carver, 1997], translated into indigenous language. The results indicate that directly exposed group shows significantly higher scores on somatization, phobic anxiety and paranoid ideation as compared to indirectly exposed group. The directly exposed group scored high on self-distraction and venting whereby indirectly exposed group scored high on denial, humor and acceptance. Implications for the implementation of community based psychological interventions to counter the effects of terrorism are hereby suggested

Neuropsychological functions in epilepsy patients

Neuropsychological impairment can be associated with epilepsy and its different types. The present study investigated gender differences in neuropsychological functions in epileptic patients. It was hypothesized that neuropsychological functioning will be different in male as compared to female epileptic patients. It was also hypothesized that there are significant gender differences among male and female epileptic patients in depression, somatic complaints, memory, communication, aggression and motor impairment. In addition it was hypothesized that neuropsychological functioning among patients diagnosed with different types of epilepsy; grand mal, petit mal, complex partial and generalized tonic clonic will be different. A sample of 60 patients was recruited from different hospitals situated in the city of Lahore through purposive sampling technique. To assess neuropsychological functions, Neurobehavioral Functioning Inventory [NFI] was used. NFI was translated and back translated through the process of validation and final version of the scale in Urdu was obtained for use in the study. ANOVA and Student's t-test were employed to infer the proposed hypotheses. There is significant difference in neuropsychological functioning between male and female epileptic patients on only somatic complaints. Females were found to reveal greater somatic complaints compared to their male counterparts. There are significant differences in neuropsychological functioning among patients diagnosed with different types of epilepsy. The study lays ground for future research and holds implications for the implementation of gender based neuropsychological interventions.

Psychosocial and behavioral factors of cardiovascular diseases: current status and future directions for Pakistan

Decline in cardiovascular diseases [CVD,] has been witnessed recently for developed countries. The foremost reason for this can be attributed to the extensive research efforts undertaken by these countries, to find out the risk: factors associated with etiology of CVD. According to an estimate from year 1990 to year 2020, cardiovascular premature morbidity and mortality is most likely to double from 85 Million disability adjusted life years [DAL]] to 140 to 160 million DALY worldwide; 80% of this disease burden is expected to take place in developing countries like Pakistan. In Pakistan CVD is on the increase and people get affected ten years earlier as compared with the international norms documented by the western countries. Even in the presence of these alarming statistics, limited research efforts have been undertaken in Pakistan in this regard. Researchers from Pakistan have mostly attended to the traditional and to some extend to the behavioral risk factors of CVD, by and large ignoring the role of psychosocial risk factors. Although it is recorded that in some cases psychosocial risk factors conquer greater if not equal to burden of CVD. This review summarizes researches conducted on Pakistani and South Asian populations to infer the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, along with current status of CVD research in Pakistan. Moreover the review provides directions for future research to be undertaken in Pakistan

Remembered relationship with parents, aggression and self esteem of juvenile prisoners

Juvenile delinquency is increasing in epidemic portion in Pakistan, to understand this drift the present study was designed to investigate association between remembered relationship with parents, aggression and self-esteem, and differences between male juvenile prisoners who come in contact with the justice system, and their age matched controls on the variables of remembered relationship with parents, aggression, and self-esteem as well as demographic factors like monthly family income, number of sibling and education were also studied. The study was carried out at Department of Applied Psychology, University of Punjab, Lahore-Pakistan over a period of 6 months. It was hypothesized that there exists significant association between remembered relationship with parents, aggression and self-esteem. It was further hypothesized that there exists significant difference between juvenile prisoners and their matched controls on remembered relationship with parents, aggression, self-esteem and demographic factors like monthly family income, number of siblings and education. Non probability purposive sampling technique was used to collect data over a period of 6 months. 25 male juvenile prisoners sentenced in Central Jail Lahore and 25 community age matched controls comprised of the study sample. 10 item Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale [Rosenberg, 1965], 10-item Remembered Relationship with Parents Scale [Denollet et al, 2006] and a self constructed Aggression Questionnaire in indigenous language based on Aggression Scale [Buss and Perry, 1992] was used for measuring the study variables. Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Remembered Relationship with parents scale were translated into indigenous language and psychometric properties of all the tools were predetermined for the study sample through a pilot test. Pearson product moment correlation was applied to find association between study variables; that revealed significant association between remembered relationship with parents and self esteem as well as between self-esteem and aggression, t- test was carried out to find differences between the groups that suggested that there exists significant difference in self esteem of juvenile prisoners and their age matched controls; non- significant difference was found for aggression and remembered relationship with parents. However juvenile prisoners had less monthly income, greater number of siblings and were less educated as compared to their matched controls. Implications for implementation of psychological interventions and correctional services, especially community based programs at national level, as well as implications for future research are being discussed

Stressful life events, social support and coping strategies among female patients with acute myocardial infarction and their matched controls

The present research investigated differences in stressful life events, perceived social support and coping strategies among female patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction [AMI] and their matched controls. It was hypothesized that there is significant difference in stressful life events, perceived social support and coping strategies among female patients with acute myocardial infarction [AMI] and their matched controls. It was further hypothesized that there is relationship between stressful life events and coping, and between social support and coping. A self constructed stressful life events questionnaire, Berlin Perceived Social Support Scale [Schwarzer and Schulz, 2000], and Proactive Coping Scale [Greenglass, 1999] were used for measuring study variables. The sample of the present research comprised of 50 females [25 diagnosed with AMI and 25 age matched controls]; recruited from three major hospitals of Lahore city. Age of the study sample ranged from 45-65 years. Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for analysis of the data. Independent sample t- test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were used. The findings suggested that there is significant difference in stressful life events, perceived social support and coping strategies among female patients with AMI and their matched controls. A positive correlation was found between stressful life events and coping strategies, and between social support and coping strategies employed. Implications of the study along with limitations and suggestions were discussed for future researches