Preliminary assessment of the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Questionnaire to Assess Affective and Cognitive Empathy (QAACE) in Children.

BACKGROUND: This article reports the Polish adaptation of the Questionnaire to Assess Affective and Cognitive Empathy (QAACE) by Zoll and Enz - a multidimensional self-report questionnaire used to measure empathy in children aged 8-14. The QAACE is based on a two-factor cognitive-emotional model of empathy. It has a number of international adaptations and offers a convenient Polish-language tool for use with young children and adolescents. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: The sample consisted of 677 children aged 8-13. The survey was conducted on school premises, during classes, by an appropriately prepared researcher. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a good fitting measurement model representing the original underlying factor structure of the QAACE among Polish children. The reliability of the questionnaire as measured by Cronbach's α and McDonald's ω was good. The reliability of the scale as assessed by the test-retest method (after four weeks) was .80. We assessed the validity of the tool by analyzing the correlation of empathy with love and sadism. General empathy, as well as cognitive and affective empathy, is positively related to love. The hypothesis that sadism is significantly related to empathy was also partially confirmed. General empathy and affective empathy are negatively correlated with sadism, while there was no relationship between sadism and cognitive empathy. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire is the first widely available tool of this type to examine empathy and its components appropriate for children and adolescents in Poland. The questionnaire can be a useful screening test for detecting children's level of empathy.

Beyond HIV shame: the role of self-forgiveness and acceptance in living with HIV.

Research is developing regarding the beneficial association of spirituality with numerous health outcomes in people living with HIV (PLWH); however, little attention has been paid to the association of these variables with forgiveness and acceptance of HIV status. This cross-sectional study used a sample of 648 PLWH from the United States aged 18-61 to test the mediating effects of forgiveness and acceptance of HIV status on the relationship of spirituality and life satisfaction. As expected, self-forgiveness and acceptance straightforwardly and serially explained the links between spirituality and life satisfaction, while forgiveness of others was not a significant mediator for this relationship. The data obtained suggest that spirituality and self-forgiveness are two important targets for future experimental research, and therapeutic interventions on these variables may have a synergistic effect of increasing acceptance and improving well-being in PLWH.

The mediating effects of anxiety on the relationships between persistent thinking and life satisfaction: A two-wave longitudinal study in patients with anxiety disorders.

OBJECTIVE: According to cognitive theories, anxiety disorders may result from distorted beliefs, sensations, feelings, and decisions, leading to an overestimation of the danger presented by various stimuli. METHODS: In this two-wave longitudinal study of 435 German patients with anxiety disorders, we assessed the association of negative persistent thinking, anxiety, and life satisfaction. RESULTS & CONCLUSION: Structural equation modeling results suggest that persistent thinking may initiate the occurrence of anxiety, which in turn influences a decrease in life satisfaction. The convergence of the evidence from this longitudinal study with earlier results of evidence-based trials fortifies the case supporting the need to identify and reduce cognitive distortions in therapeutic interventions to improve health in people with anxiety disorders.

The Relationship Between Forgiveness and Health Outcomes Among People Living with HIV: A Cross-Sectional Study in France.

Research to date has shown that HIV infection is a highly stressful experience for individuals, and one of the key adaptive resources after such painful experiences may be forgiveness. The aim of the present study was to examine the associations between dispositional forgiveness (assessed using Mullet's Forgivingness Questionnaire and Toussaint's Forgiveness Scale), perceived stress (single-item measure of stress symptoms), health perception (EuroQol visual analogue version of the scale) and life satisfaction (Satisfaction With Life Scale) in people living with HIV (PLWH) in France. Paper surveys were completed by 222 PLWH aged 18-78 (57% male). Multiple regression analysis revealed that sensitivity to circumstances, unconditional forgiveness, self-forgiveness, and forgiveness of others were significant predictors of health and happiness. Mediation analysis showed that these relationships are completely mediated by perceived stress. The present findings suggest that forgiveness and perceived stress may be important variables for healing in PLWH. Interventions designed to improve forgiveness and self-forgiveness may result in improved health and life satisfaction in PLWH.

Exploring the mediating effects of negative and positive religious coping between resilience and mental well-being.

Background: The purpose of the study was to examine more thoroughly the relationship between trait resilience and mental well-being. Although research demonstrates that this relationship is partially mediated by stress-related variables, no study has taken into account the mediating role of religious coping. We examined the mediating role of both variants of religious coping, positive and negative, along with specific strategies within the scope of religious coping strategies in a group of practicing Catholics. Method: Participants were 317 people aged 19-60 years (M = 24.34; SD = 6.30). The respondents indicated their gender and age, and then completed the RS-14 (trait resilience), RCOPE (religious coping), and WEMWBS (mental well-being) scales. Results: The results displayed a significant relationship between resilience and mental well-being (r = 0.67; p < 0.001). The relationship between resilience and positive religious coping was negligible (r = 0.09; p = 0.74), contrary to the relationship between resilience and negative coping that was significant but weak (r = -0.29; p < 0.001). Although the relationships between overall negative and positive religious coping with mental well-being were irrelevant, we found significant relationships between some strategies and mental well-being. The mediation analysis has demonstrated that the general negative religious coping and the strategies of demonic reappraisal, passive religious deferral, and spiritual discontent have enhanced the positive relationship between resilience and mental well-being. Contrary to expectation, positive strategies did not mediate the relationship between resilience and mental well-being, except religious practices (c ' path totaled ß = 0.66; t = 15.74, p < 0.001). The insignificant mediation effect can stem from the fact that the relationship between positive religious coping and stress is noticeable only in the long term. We controlled age and sex as statistically significant covariates so that the mediation effects obtained were devoid of the influence of those critical variables on the models. Conclusion: This is the first study to investigate the role of religious coping as a mediator in the relationship between resilience and mental well-being.

Positive religious coping acts through perception of nature and silence in its association with well-being and life satisfaction among Polish Catholics.

Previous studies indicate that perceptions of nature and thought-provoking silence can have positive consequences for individual functioning. The purpose of the present study was to assess the relationships between religious coping (assessed with the Brief RCOPE), perceptions of nature and silence (a subscale of the Perception of Change Questionnaire), well-being (the World Health Organization's five-item Well-Being Index) and life satisfaction (the Brief Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale). An online questionnaire was completed between 2021-2022 by 1,010 Polish Catholics ages 18 to 73, 61% of whom were women. Structural equation modeling showed that positive religious coping was positively related to well-being (ß = 0.08, p = 0.011) and life satisfaction (ß = 0.22, p < 0.001). In contrast, negative religious coping was related to reduced well-being (ß = -0.07, p = 0.040) and life satisfaction (ß = -0.25). In addition, more frequent perceptions of nature and reflective times of silence partially mediated the associations of positive religious coping with well-being (ß = 0.04, p = 0.011) and life satisfaction (ß = 0.04, p = 0.008). The data might suggest that interventions that help people develop an ability or awareness for nature as an exceptional encounter and may help to strengthen the ways they can utilize their religiosity as a resource and thus contribute to well-being and life satisfaction among Catholics.

Polish Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Long- and Short-Form Interfaith Spirituality Scale.

Spirituality is widely believed to play an important role in securing health, and modern health care is increasingly being combined with spiritual care. This state of affairs is generating widespread interest in the construct from practitioners and researchers, resulting in the need to develop accurate and comprehensive measures of spirituality. The purpose of this study was to adapt the Polish version of the Interfaith Spirituality Scale (IFS), which consists of twenty-two statements, as well as its short version, including four statements. The IFS is not limited to any one religious denomination, making it possible to conduct research across diverse communities. The analyses were conducted on a sample of 642 Poles aged 18-68, 48% of whom were women. The Polish version of the scale showed high internal consistency (α = 0.96 for the IFS and α = 0.81 for the short version). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the structure of the IFS consists of a unitary second-order factor with four first-order factors (direct connection with the creator, asceticism, meditation, and divine love). On the other hand, the structure of the short version is unifactorial. There were positive correlations of the IFS with another measure of spirituality, post-traumatic growth severity, mental well-being, and ecological behaviour, as well as negative correlations with post-traumatic stress disorder symptom severity and depressiveness; these confirmed the high validity of the tool. The results suggest that the IFS may be useful in the study of spirituality on Polish soil.

Resilience and Regulation of Emotions in Adolescents: Serial Mediation Analysis through Self-Esteem and the Perceived Social Support.

The aim of this study was to test a model that takes into account self-esteem and perceived social support as potential mediators of the relationship between resilience and emotional regulation. The study involved 251 adolescents aged between 14 and 19 years (M = 16.85). The study procedure consisted of completing paper-and-pencil questionnaires to measure resilience, self-esteem, and answer questions about perceived social support and emotional regulation. Bootstrap sampling analysis showed statistically significant serial mediation (B = 0.030; p < 0.001). As a result of the analysis, a positive direct relationship between resilience and emotional regulation was observed (B = 0.061; p < 0.001). Our results suggest that self-esteem and perception of social support may mediate the relationship between resilience and emotional regulation. The findings have an applicable value. They can be used to develop preventive and educational programs, as well as therapeutic interventions. The obtained results show that interventions aimed at resilience can improve self-assessment and perceived social support and thus favor the high level of emotional regulation skills in the adolescent group.

Development and Psychometric Properties of the Health Belief Scales toward COVID-19 Vaccine: A Cross-Sectional Study in North-Eastern Poland.

In the study, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the Health Belief Scales Toward COVID-19 Vaccine, including the structure, reliability and validity of the scale. Psychometric properties were assessed on a general sample of 472 Polish participants aged between 19 and 69 years (M = 25.43). The procedure consisted of completing the Health Belief Scales Toward COVID-19 Vaccine, the World Health Organization's 5-item Well-being Index (WHO-5) and demographic questions. The presented research results obtained using the measure indicate that it can be considered to be a reliable and valid research tool. A four-factor solution demonstrated a good fit to the data: χ2/df = 3.90, RMSEA = 0.079, AGFI = 0.913, GFI = 0.951, CFI = 0.960, TLI = 0.941. The reliability measures for the overall index of the Health Belief Scales Toward COVID-19 Vaccine were: Cronbach's α = 0.88 and McDonald's ω = 0.87. The Health Belief Scales Toward COVID-19 Vaccine total score correlated negatively and weakly with the WHO-5 score. The Health Belief Scales Toward COVID-19 Vaccine proved to be a valid and a reliable tool to assess attitudes towards vaccination in four dimensions consistent with the HBM.

Spiritual Needs, Religious Coping and Mental Wellbeing: A Cross-Sectional Study among Migrants and Refugees in Germany.

It has been widely proven that resettlement is associated with negative psychological effects (e.g., increased depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder) among refugees. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the psychosocial functioning of migrants. This study assessed associations between negative dysfunctional appraisal (perceiving experiences as stressful), spiritual needs, religious coping and wellbeing. Data from paper-and-pencil questionnaires were collected from 744 refugees (69.8% male) aged 18-67 years (M = 27.99) with diverse backgrounds (including from Mashreq countries) who were resettled in Germany. Bootstrapping mediation analysis revealed that the relationship of dysfunctional appraisal and wellbeing among refugees is mediated by spiritual needs (i.e., existential and religious needs). Additionally, negative religious coping mediates the relationship between spiritual needs and wellbeing. The data obtained suggest the need for practitioners to focus on psychological interventions that strengthen spiritual needs in order to improve mental health among refugees.

Narcissism, activity on Facebook, and conspicuous consumption among young adults.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the study was to explore relationships between narcissistic strategies, self-oriented activity on Facebook, and conspicuous consumption. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: The sample consisted of 323 young Polish adults. Participants completed the Conspicuous Consumption Scale (CCS), the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ), and questions regarding Facebook use. RESULTS: Empirical support was found for the assumption that conspicuous consumption was predicted by narcissistic rivalry. Although the direct impact of narcissistic admiration on conspicuous consumption was non-significant, this strategy influenced status consumption through self-verified behaviours on social media, the strongest predictor of conspicuous consumption. CONCLUSIONS: This shows that narcissistic rivalry directly affects the propensity to conspicuous consumption and narcissistic admiration is related to self-verified activity on Facebook. The involvement of Facebook usage in this manner increases the acquisition and display of expensive, glamorous products as external signals of status.

Pandemic grief in Poland: adaptation of a measure and its relationship with social support and resilience.

Millions of people are mourning the death of a loved to COVID-19. According to previous studies, the circumstances of coronavirus disease-related deaths may lead to dysfunctional grief. The purpose of this study was to introduce the Polish adaptation of the Pandemic Grief Scale (PGS) as well as to assess the relationship between dysfunctional grief due to a COVID-19 death, resilience and perceived social support. The adaptation was carried out on a general population sample of 286 individuals aged 18-54 years, with the evaluation being performed on a group comprising 214 people aged 18-78 years, who lost a loved one during the pandemic. The Polish version of PGS revealed a single-factor structure with strong internal consistency (α = 0.89). The PGS scores were associated with measures of complicated grief (Inventory of Complicated Grief), depression (Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale) and lower resilience (Resilience Scale 14), which confirmed the scale's convergent validity. No relation between PGS scores and health behaviors (Inventory of Health Behaviors) was observed, which confirmed the scale's discriminant validity. The results of the bootstrapping technique revealed that resilience mediates the relationship between perceived social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support) and dysfunctional grief (total mediation). The results of this study suggest the need for practitioners to focus on resilience-enhancing interventions and perceived social support in order to improve mental health in people who lost their loved ones during the new coronavirus pandemic.

Sense of Coherence and Ego-Resiliency as Predictors of Maladaptive Coping Among Juveniles With Different Levels of Delinquency.

The purpose of the study is to determine the role of the sense of coherence and ego-resiliency as buffers for maladaptive coping among juveniles with different levels of delinquency. The study included 561 juveniles referred by a family court to youth education or probation centers throughout Poland. We used SEM to search for relations between variables and the critical ratio test for differences between groups. The results demonstrate that in both groups, the relationships between the components of the sense of coherence and the emotional style were negative. In both groups, the sense of comprehensibility was significantly associated with the search for social contacts. The impact of ego-resiliency on social-diversion coping was significantly stronger for the group with high compared with low demoralization. The study demonstrate that juveniles with a high degree of delinquency are more prone to emotion-oriented coping. Both groups of juveniles use two types of avoidance style to a similar extent. The results show that the stronger the sense of coherence, the less often juveniles cope with stress by reducing emotional tension and by escaping into substitute activities. Furthermore, our findings reveal the dark side of ego-resiliency.

Religious Coping and Life Satisfaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Polish Catholics. The Mediating Effect of Coronavirus Anxiety.

Recent data have indicated that people may have experienced fear during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to deepen our understanding of the relationship between religious coping and life satisfaction by analysing the indirect effects of fear of COVID-19. METHODS: This study included 365 people (75% women) aged 18-78 years. The procedure consisted of completing questionnaires to measure religious coping, COVID-19 anxiety, satisfaction with life, and satisfaction with social support. RESULTS: Structural equation modelling showed that positive religious coping was related to greater life satisfaction and greater satisfaction with social support during the pandemic. Moreover, fear of COVID-19 mediated the relationship between negative religious coping and life satisfaction and social support satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest a need for practitioners to focus on interventions that enhance positive religious coping to improve life satisfaction during the spread of infectious diseases.

Resilience and Mental Health in the Polish Population during the COVID-19 Lockdown: A Mediation Analysis.

The aim of this paper was to assess the state of resilience and well-being in the Polish population during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also assessed the relationship between resilience and mental health. Finally, we tested the mediating role of COVID-19 anxiety, persistent thinking, and the stress burden in the relationship between mental health and resilience. This research perspective can provide important insights into how individuals can become mentally stronger during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This study included 1758 people (73% women) aged 18-80 years. The procedure consisted of completing a questionnaire measuring well-being, COVID-19 anxiety, obsession with COVID-19, stress over COVID-19, and resilience. RESULTS: Bootstrap sampling analysis showed significant partial mediators for the relationship between resilience and well-being. Important mediators were coronavirus anxiety, persistent thinking, and perceived stress. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study clearly indicate that resilience as a protective factor is associated with reduced anxiety about COVID-19, perceived stress burden, obsessive thoughts about the pandemic, and increased well-being of individuals. Resilience plays an important role in minimizing negative and enhancing positive health indicators in the face of challenging life events.

Effects of hemoencephalographic biofeedback with virtual reality on selected aspects of attention in children with ADHD.

For children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a reduction of inattention by biofeedback has been shown in several studies. As evidenced by previous reports, biofeedback (BFB) with virtual reality (VR) allows for controlling distractors, providing an environment that captures participants' attention. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of hemoencephalographic (HEG) BFB with VR in treating deficits in vigilance (assessed using the short form of the Mackworth Clock Task), visual search (the Visual Search Task), and divided attention (Multitasking Test) among children with ADHD. Data subjected to analysis were collected from 87 participants aged 9-15 years. Children were assigned to one of three groups (standard 2D BFB in the lab, VR BFB with a limited visual scene, VR BFB with a complex visual scene) and were subjected to ten HEG BFB sessions. Children in the VR BFB groups exhibited a bigger regional cerebral blood oxygenation slope during BFB and better performance in cognitive tests following the experiment compared to children in the 2D BFB group. The data obtained suggest that HEG BFB with VR may have a more beneficial effect in treating attention deficits compared to standard 2D HEG BFB. We believe that the strong effects of HEG BFB with VR stem from the increased commitment and motivation in individuals, rather than from manipulation with regard to visual scene complexity.

The Polish Version of the Resilience Scale 25: Adaptation and Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation.

Background: The aim of the presented series of studies was to test the factor structure and assess the psychometric properties of the Resilience Scale 25 in the Polish population. It was developed and tested during the course of four independent studies analysing various aspects of the validation of the RS 25 questionnaire's Polish version. Method: Study 1 concerned the procedure for developing the Polish language version. Study 2 (N = 2716) consisted of reliability tests and a confirmatory factor analysis. In Studies 3 (N = 733) and 4 (N = 431), the validity was assessed by examining the relationship between resilience and the assessment of ego-resiliency, the risk of depression, styles of coping with stress, perceived stress, and satisfaction with life. Results: The presented research results obtained using the measure indicate that it can be considered to be a reliable and valid research tool. A five-factor solution showed a good fit to the data: χ2/df = 12.85; RMSEA = 0.066 (low = 0.064; high = 0.068; 90% CI); GFI = 0.90; AGFI = 0.90. An assessment of the internal consistency was carried out on the basis of Cronbach's alpha. The values achieved were satisfactory and indicate acceptable internal reliability of the questionnaire (0.89) and of the five dimensions: (1) purpose (0.65); (2) equanimity (0.65); (3) self-reliance (0.75); (4) perseverance (0.72); and (5) existential aloneness (0.66). In accordance with the predictions and earlier studies, resilience was correlated positively with ego-resiliency, a task-oriented style of coping with stress, and life satisfaction and negatively with perceived stress, the risk of depression, and an emotion-oriented coping style. Conclusion: The Polish version of the RS 25 allows the assessment of the intensity of resilience as a general indicator and its five constituting dimensions. Such a measurement seems to be important from the perspective of assessing the role of an individual's resources in clinical psychology, health psychology, and psychotherapy.

Factor structure and psychometric properties of a Polish adaptation of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale.

BACKGROUND: The study of mental wellbeing requires reliable, valid, and practical measurement tools. One of the most widely used measures of mental wellbeing is the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS). We conducted four studies to validate the Polish version of the WEMWBS. Their objectives are the following: (1) to present the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the WEMWBS (study 1: n = 1197); (2) to evaluate the test-retest reliability of the Polish version of the WEMWBS (study 2: n = 24); (3) to determine the validity of the WEMWBS (study 3: n = 610); (4) to examine sensitivity of the WEMWBS scale to detect population with different levels of pro-health behaviours (study 4: n = 430). METHODS: To explore the dimensional structure of the scale we tested a one-factor model. The evaluation employed explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses and tested reliability and stability. To determine the convergent validity of the WEMWBS we analysed correlations among wellbeing and life satisfaction and risk depression. To examine sensitivity of the WEMWBS scale to detect a population with different levels of health-related behaviours we used Student's t test. RESULTS: The results presented confirm that the psychometric properties of the Polish adaptation of WEMWBS are very good. Using EFA and CFA it was shown that a one-factor solution is optimal. Reliability, measured using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and McDonald's omega proved to be very high. The estimation of the stability of the Polish version of the WEMWBS proved to be high. Our validation studies also provided data demonstrating sensitivity of the WEMWBS to detect a population with different levels of health-related behaviours, indicating that group with high level of pro-health behaviours achieved higher WEMWBS wellbeing results than group with low level of pro-health behaviours. CONCLUSIONS: WEMWBS was confirmed as a short, reliable and valid measure with good psychometric properties. Due to the high indicators for its psychometric properties, the scale may therefore prove to be a particularly useful tool not only in empirical research, but also in mental wellbeing monitoring, and could serve as support in educational and preventive.

Resilience and mental health among juveniles: role of strategies for coping with stress.

BACKGROUND: Mental health is an important aspect of the process of individual adaptation and development. The present study analysed the role played by resilience in mental health while taking into account both positive and negative indicators among juveniles. The aim of the first study (Study 1) is to analyse the relationship between resilience and the broadly understood mental health of juveniles admitted to youth education centres. Study 2 aimed to understand the direct and indirect role of resilience in shaping the mental health of juveniles. In the model we tested, we looked at the relationship among resilience, coping strategies, and mental well-being. METHODS: The first study involved 201 juveniles, and the second involved 253 juveniles. Resilience was measured by the Resilience Scale-14. Coping strategies were measured with the Brief-COPE Questionnaire, and information on mental health was obtained using the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. RESULTS: The results of both studies have shown that resilience is an important predictor of the mental health of juveniles, primarily with respect to its positive indicator. The stronger the severity of resilience, the greater the satisfaction with life and mental well-being of the juveniles surveyed. In addition, two coping strategies (seeking support from others and coping through emotions) mediated the relationship between resilience and mental well-being. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained indicate that work at the level of juvenile resilience leads to the strengthening of positive mental health indicators and buffering of negative indicators.