What works in peer support for breast cancer survivors: A qualitative systematic review and meta-ethnography.

Breast cancer is associated with adverse physical and psychological consequences. Although research has identified the various benefits linked to psychosocial interventions, mixed results have been found in relation to peer support. The aim of the present systematic review and meta-ethnography is to explore the qualitative evidence on the experience of breast cancer survivors in peer support. A systematic search of the literature was conducted until June 2023, and a meta-ethnographic approach was used to synthesize the included papers. Eleven articles were included, collecting the experience of 345 participants. The following four core areas involved in peer support implementation were identified from the synthesis: Peer support can create understanding and a mutual therapeutic and emotional connection; peer support can facilitate an educational and supportive patient-centered journey; peer support should monitor group members for unpleasant emotional experiences; peer support should have professional supervision of recruitment and training to prioritize quality. These results can be used as patient-centered insights by healthcare professionals to provide evidence-informed peer support programs and address current limitations in the field.

Dissociation and insecure attachment as mediators of the relation between childhood emotional abuse and nonclinical paranoid traits.

Background: Research suggests dissociation and insecure attachment serve as explanatory mechanisms in the pathway from childhood trauma to paranoia. However, past work has not examined these mechanisms concurrently in nonclinical populations. Objective: The current study sought to examine dissociation and insecure attachment as parallel mediators of the association between childhood emotional abuse and paranoid traits. Furthermore, a serial mediation model with insecure attachment preceding dissociation in the explanatory pathway was explored. Methods: Eighty-nine nonclinically ascertained young adults were assessed for childhood emotional abuse, dissociation, attachment styles, and paranoid traits. Parallel and serial mediation models were tested. Results: The association of childhood emotional abuse with both interview-based and self-reported paranoid traits was significantly mediated by dissociation and preoccupied attachment. Fearful attachment was a significant mediator in the model for self-reported paranoid traits. No evidence for a serial mediation effect was found. Conclusions: The present findings extend support for dissociation and attachment insecurity as mechanisms underlying the link between childhood emotional maltreatment and paranoid traits. Longitudinal research is needed to inform whether insecure attachment contributes to dissociation along the pathways to paranoid traits.

Antecedentes: La investigación sugiere que la disociación y el apego inseguro sirven como mecanismos explicativos en el camino del trauma infantil a la paranoia. Sin embargo, trabajos anteriores no han examinado estos mecanismos concurrentemente en poblaciones no clínicas.Objetivo: El estudio actual buscó examinar la disociación y el apego inseguro como mediadores paralelos de la asociación entre el abuso emocional infantil y los rasgos paranoides. Además, se exploró un modelo de mediación en serie con apego inseguro como precedente de la disociación en la vía explicativa.Métodos: Ochenta y nueve adultos jóvenes no evaluados clínicamente fueron medidos en cuanto a abuso emocional infantil, disociación, estilos de apego y rasgos paranoides. Se probaron modelos de mediación en paralelo y en serie.Resultados: La asociación del abuso emocional infantil con rasgos paranoides tanto basados en entrevistas como auto-reporte fue mediada significativamente por la disociación y el apego preocupado. El apego temeroso fue un mediador significativo en el modelo de rasgos paranoides auto-reportados. No se encontró evidencia de mediación en serie.Conclusiones: Los presentes hallazgos apoyan a la disociación y la inseguridad del apego como mecanismos subyacentes a la asociación entre el maltrato emocional infantil y los rasgos paranoides. Una investigación longitudinal sería necesaria para explorar si el apego inseguro contribuye a la disociación en la vía del desarrollo de los rasgos paranoides.

Attachment as a mechanism between childhood maltreatment and subclinical psychotic phenomena: Results from an eight-year follow-up study.

We previously reported that fearful attachment mediated associations of childhood maltreatment with subclinical psychotic phenomena. At an eight-year follow-up, we aimed to replicate and extend this finding by examining the mediating role of disorganized attachment. Participants were 169 young adults who completed baseline and eight-year follow-up questionnaires. Physical/emotional maltreatment was prospectively associated with paranoid beliefs and positive schizotypy. For paranoid beliefs, fearful and disorganized attachment were significant mediators in separate models, whereas only disorganized was significant when examining all attachment styles concurrently. For positive schizotypy, no mediation was found. Findings support psychological models of paranoia and may inform intervention efforts.

Emerging Adulthood and Prospective Depression: A Simultaneous Test of Cumulative Risk Theories.

Past research indicates that a history of depression and exposure to abuse and neglect represent some of the most robust predictors of depression in emerging adults. However, studies rarely test the additive or interactive risk associated with these distinct risk factors. In response, the present study explored how these three risk factors (prior depression, abuse, and neglect) synergistically predicted prospective depressive symptoms in a sample of 214 emerging adults (Mage = 21.4 years; SDage = 2.4; 78% females). Subtypes of maltreatment and lifetime history of depression were assessed through semi-structured interviews, and depressive symptoms were assessed annually for three years via self-report measures. The results indicated that for both males and females, a lifetime history of depression, abuse, and neglect-exposure uniquely conferred risk for elevated depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the interaction between neglect and prior depression forecasted increasing depressive symptoms, and a history of abuse also predicted increasing depressive symptoms, but only in females. These findings are contextualized within extant developmental psychopathology theories, and translational implications for trauma-informed depression prevention efforts are discussed.

Prediction of prodromal symptoms and schizophrenia-spectrum personality disorder traits by positive and negative schizotypy: A 3-year prospective study.

The present study extends previous cross-sectional findings by examining the predictive validity of positive and negative schizotypy in a young adult sample at a three-year follow-up. Schizotypy and schizophrenia share a comparable multidimensional structure with positive and negative dimensions being the most strongly supported factors. Previous cross-sectional and longitudinal studies employing the psychometric high-risk strategy indicated that schizotypy is a useful method for identifying risk and resilience factors for the development of schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology. In the present study, 103 participants (77% of 134 candidate participants) were reassessed at a three-year follow-up. As hypothesized, positive schizotypy predicted psychotic-like symptoms, depression, low self-esteem, and general psychopathology. Negative schizotypy predicted emotional disturbances, schizoid personality traits, and mental health treatment during the past year. As expected, both schizotypy dimensions predicted schizotypal, paranoid, and avoidant personality traits, and impaired functioning. These longitudinal findings provide additional evidence supporting the multidimensional model of schizotypy as a valid framework for studying etiological mechanisms and trajectories of psychosis.

The genome-wide associated candidate gene ZNF804A and psychosis-proneness: Evidence of sex-modulated association.

BACKGROUND: The Zinc finger protein 804A (ZNF804A) is a promising candidate gene for schizophrenia and the broader psychosis phenotype that emerged from genome-wide association studies. It is related to neurodevelopment and associated to severe symptoms of schizophrenia and alterations in brain structure, as well as positive schizotypal personality traits in non-clinical samples. Moreover, a female-specific association has been observed between ZNF804A and schizophrenia. AIM: The present study examined the association of two ZNF804A polymorphisms (rs1344706 and rs7597593) with the positive dimension of schizotypy and psychotic-like experiences in a sample of 808 non-clinical subjects. Additionally, we wanted to explore whether the sexual differences reported in schizophrenia are also present in psychosis-proneness. RESULTS: Our results showed an association between rs7597593 and both schizotypy and psychotic-like experiences. These associations were driven by females, such those carrying the C allele had higher scores in the positive dimension of both variables compared to TT allele homozygotes. CONCLUSION: The findings of the present study support the inclusion of ZNF804 variability in studies of the vulnerability for the development of psychopathology in non-clinical samples and consideration of sex as a moderator of this association.