Relationship Between Square Dancing and Meaning in Life Among Older Adults: Examining an Age-Based Moderation Model.

PURPOSE: Square dancing may help older adults experience meaning in life (MIL). However, it remains unclear how square dancing facilitates MIL. To address this question, we examined whether participation frequency, transcendent experiences, and social support correlated positively with MIL, and whether age moderated the correlation between transcendent experiences and MIL. METHOD: We studied 268 older adults using in-person surveys to collect data on age, participation frequency, transcendent experiences, social support, and MIL. We analyzed data using hierarchical regression. RESULTS: High frequency of participation and high levels of transcendent experiences and social support simultaneously predicted high levels of MIL, and age decreased the positive relationship between transcendent experiences and MIL. CONCLUSION: Based on the hierarchical regression results, we recommend strategies to increase older adults' MIL by providing square dancing opportunities; working with them to improve square dancing skills that facilitate transcendent experiences; and guiding them in seeking sources of social support. [Research in Gerontological Nursing, 17(3), 141-147.].

Gratitude Strengthens the Relationship Between Leisure Social Support and Self-Rated Health Among Nursing Home Residents.

A central outcome indicator of person-oriented services in primary health care is self-rated health (SRH). Therefore, promoting SRH among nursing home residents is valuable. We examined whether demographic variables, gratitude, and leisure social support (LSS) related to SRH, and whether gratitude moderated the relationship between LSS and SRH. To collect demographic information and measure gratitude, LSS, and SRH, we conducted face-to-face interviews with 237 participants from four nursing homes in Taiwan. We used hierarchical regression analysis to examine data. Results demonstrated that duration of residence, gratitude, and LSS predicted SRH, and that gratitude interacted with LSS. We discuss implications of these results in terms of facilitating gratitude to promote SRH among nursing home residents and guiding them to seek sources of LSS. In particular, we further discuss how gratitude strengthens the relationship between LSS and SRH. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 48(2), 23-30.].

Relationships of leisure social support and flow with loneliness among nursing home residents during the COVID-19 pandemic: An age-based moderating model.

Identifying predictors of loneliness is important to develop interventions that help older adults residing in nursing homes reduce their loneliness, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we examined whether leisure social support and flow (also identified as optimal experience) were predictive of loneliness, and whether age moderated the relationship between flow and loneliness. In total, 235 nursing home residents, aged 65 years or older, participated in our study. We conducted in-person surveys to measure their age, leisure social support, flow, and loneliness as well as used multiple linear regression analysis to analyze data. Results indicated that high levels of leisure social support and flow predicted low levels of loneliness. However, age decreased the negative relationship between flow and loneliness. We discuss implications of these results in terms of reducing loneliness, without depending highly on the presence of others, during times of social isolation associated with responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Influence of Power on Leisure: Implications for Inclusive Leisure Services.

Many people experience domination as they encounter oppression and marginalization because of power differentials limiting their leisure. We rely on Foucault for guidance to examine connections between power and opportunities for people to be included in leisure and recognize that, like Foucault, we experience privilege. Considering such privilege, we explore power and people connections, scrutinize ways power influences leisure, and examine methods to promote or resist power to increase leisure. Drawing on the analysis of power and leisure, we examine how discourse influences leisure and identify ways to facilitate inclusive leisure. We consider these aspects via Allen's (1998) modalities of power-over, power-to, and power-with. Analyzing these modalities, we address barriers to leisure associated with power, strategies people use to engage in resistance through leisure, and ways inclusive leisure might occur. We conclude that each person can make positive contributions and offer inclusive leisure.

Emotional dysregulation and uncertainty intolerance as transdiagnostic mediators of anxiety in adults with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability.

BACKGROUND: There is extensive documentation supporting the comorbidity of anxiety and autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Transdiagnostic factors such as executive functions, emotion regulation, and uncertainty intolerance are associated with anxiety in ASD. AIM: The primary aim of this paper is to study anxiety symptoms in adults with ASD and ID and their relationship with transdiagnostic variables. METHOD: 121 adults (M = 35.46 years, SD = 9.46) with ASD and intellectual disabilities (ID) were evaluated to determine the predictive and mediating role of executive functioning, emotional regulation and intolerance to uncertainty. RESULTS: Hierarchical linear regression showed uncertainty intolerance was a predictor of anxiety. A multiple mediation analysis supported the mediating role of uncertainty intolerance and emotional regulation between ASD and anxiety. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: These findings suggest that interventions designed to reduce anxiety symptoms in people with ASD and ID should include among their goals emotional regulation and especially intolerance of uncertainty.

Effects of B-Active2 on Balance, Gait, Stress, and Well-Being of Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Intellectual Disability: A Controlled Trial.

Effects of B-Active2 (Enjoy Being Physically Active by Walking Safely: A Leisure Education Program) on the risk of falls, stress, and well-being of a sample of 44 adults with ASD (ages M = 36.88; SD =7.31) were examined using a controlled experimental trial. Given the relationship between physical activity and stress reduction to individual well-being, B-Active2 was developed as a multidimensional program involving leisure education and walking designed to create an enjoyable context in which adults with ASD learn about and engage in physical activity. All participants were evaluated on balance, gait, well-being, and stress at baseline and at 1 month postintervention by a team of therapists blind to study objectives. There was a significant difference postintervention on balance, F(1, 40) = 55.63, p < .001, η2 = .58; gait, F(1, 40) = 23.58, p < .001, η 2 =.37; and well-being, F(1, 40) = 34.16, p < .001, η 2 = .47). No statistically significant effect was found for level of stress reduction, F(1, 40) = 0.27, n.s. Results of this study support the conclusion that B-Active2 is a viable leisure education program that promotes physical activity of adults with ASD and has positive effects on their well-being and risk of falls.

Executive functioning in people with personality disorders.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review summarizes recent executive functions research to better delineate the nosology of personality disorders. RECENT FINDINGS: This review indicates that there are consistent impairments in executive functioning in people with personality disorders as compared with matched controls. Only five disorders were considered: borderline, obsessive-compulsive, antisocial, narcissistic, and schizotypal. Significant deficits are observed in decision-making, working memory, inhibition, and flexibility. Relevant data for the remaining personality disorders have not yet been published in relation to the executive functions. SUMMARY: People with personality disorders could present a pattern of neurocognitive alterations that suggest a specific impairment of the prefrontal areas. The executive dysfunctions could partially explain the behavioral alterations in people with personality disorders.Further research should adopt broader considerations of effects of comorbidity and clinical heterogeneity, include community samples and, possibly, longitudinal designs with samples of youth.

Executive functioning in people with obsessive-compulsive personality traits: evidence of modest impairment.

Investigations of executive dysfunctions among people with obsessive-compulsive personality disorders (OCPD) have yielded inconsistent results. The authors speculate that obsessive-compulsive personality traits (OCPT) from a nonclinical population may be associated with specific executive dysfunctions relative to working memory, attentional set-shifting, and planning. A sample consisting of 79 adults (39 females, 40 males) was divided into high and low scorers on the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4; Hyler, 1994). In addition, these participants were interviewed using the SCID-II (First, Spitzer, Gibbon & Williams, 1997) to confirm the presence of symptoms of obsessive-compulsive personality. Participants completed a battery of executive tasks associated with the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), including Spatial Working Memory, Intradimensional/Extradimensional (ID/ED), Attentional Set-Shifting, and Stockings of Cambridge. Also, self-report measures of executive functions as well as of anxiety and depressive symptoms were administered. The analysis of covariance revealed significant differences between participants with OCPT and controls on the Spatial Working Memory tasks, ID/ED tasks, Stockings of Cambridge, and the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX). Nevertheless, there were no significant differences in the number of problems solved in minimum movements. These results suggest that executive dysfunctions are present in people with prominent OCPT and that there is a high convergence between clinical and ecological measures of executive functions in people with obsessive personality traits.

Use of recreation activities as positive coping with chronic stress and mental health outcomes associated with unemployment of people with disabilities.

OBJECTIVE: This paper provides an outline of the complex relationship among stress, unemployment, mental health, and participation in recreation activities as a possible adaptive coping strategy for people with disabilities. METHODS: This paper is a result of a two-phase review of the literature. Phase one included review of articles that examined the relationship among unemployment, stress, and mental health outcomes for people with disabilities. Phase two included articles that examined the efficacy of recreation activities as a means of buffering stress. RESULTS: Research indicates a cyclical process that occurs when people with disabilities experience unemployment; this unemployment often leads to chronic stress which in turn leads to negative mental health, symptoms that create further barriers to unemployment. Recreation activities that are physically active, culturally relevant, and conducive to relaxation were found to be effective at reducing the types of stressors experienced with unemployment. CONCLUSIONS: A complex relationship among unemployment, stress, mental health, and participation in recreation activities as a possible adaptive coping strategy exists for people with disabilities. An understanding of the types of recreation activities that are likely to reduce specific stressors associated with unemployment may be beneficial to consider as part of a comprehensive treatment plan when working with individuals with disabilities as they engage in the job seeking process.

Employment and self-management: a meta-evaluation of seven literature reviews.

Efforts focused on teaching individuals with intellectual disabilities to manage their own affairs have evolved over the past 30 years. Self-management strategies, in particular, hold much promise when the goal is to promote self-determination. In this article, the authors describe trends in the evolution of self-management strategies by analyzing seven literature reviews. The authors conclude with thoughts related to jump-starting an intervention that has appeared to lose momentum, namely, self-management.

Depressive mood, eating disorder symptoms, and perfectionism in female college students: a mediation analysis.

Although perfectionism has long been established as an important risk factor for depressive mood and eating disorders, the mechanisms through which this temperamental predisposition mediates the relationship between depressive mood and eating disorder symptoms are still relatively unclear. In this study we hypothesized that both perfectionism dimensions, self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism, would mediate the relationship between current symptoms of depression and eating disorders in a non-clinical sample of Spanish undergraduate females. Two hundred sixteen female undergraduate students of the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain) completed the Spanish versions of the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-40), the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), OBQ-44, and BDI-II and BAI. Results demonstrated the importance of socially prescribed perfectionism in mediation of the relationship between depressive mood and symptoms of eating disorders. Socially prescribed perfectionism mediates the relationship between depressive mood and eating disorder symptoms for female college students.

"I have chosen to live life abundantly": perceptions of leisure by adults who use augmentative and alternative communication.

An online focus group was used to investigate perceptions of eight adults with cerebral palsy who used AAC systems about their recreation activities and leisure experiences. Six themes emerged from discussions on benefits of leisure and community recreation: improved physical health, enjoyment, improved mental health, increased independence, enhanced social connections, and education of society. Nine barriers to leisure participation were identified including: personal, social, communication, technology, financial, accessibility, safety, transportation, and personal care attendants. Despite numerous barriers to leisure, participants described six supports that helped them overcome these barriers: personal, social, family, personal care attendants, AAC devices, and other assistive technologies. Participants provided recommendations for other individuals who use AAC, their families, and service providers.

Effects of visual arts instruction on the mental health of adults with mental retardation and mental illness.

Single-subject multiple probe designs were employed in two studies with 5 young adults who had a dual diagnosis of mental retardation and mental illness. Our aim was to determine effects of instruction designed to teach visual arts activity skills and promote personal expressiveness on acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of these skills and behaviors associated with these persons' mental health. In Study 1, a 5-second constant time delay procedure was used to teach three chosen art activities. In Study 2, an instructional package was used to promote personally expressive behaviors. After learning the skills in Study 1, participants in Study 2 displayed improvement in occurrence of behaviors associated with mental illness and increases in personally expressive behaviors.