Reminiscence Therapy and Music With Older Adults: A Descriptive Study Investigating the Current Views and Practices of Australian Aged Care Providers and Volunteers.

Reminiscence therapy and music are often used to improve the wellbeing of older people; however, we do not know how these interventions are used in practice. This study explored how those working with older people view and use verbal Reminiscence Therapy (VRT) and Music-assisted Reminiscence Therapy (MRT). A total of 110 participants who worked or volunteered with older people in Australia were surveyed in this descriptive, mixed-method study. VRT and MRT were frequently and spontaneously used to respond to the varied needs of older adults. VRT and MRT lead to reported positive outcomes including better care practices, positive affect and mood, and improved social connections. MRT was used as a compensatory strategy when traditional VRT was not possible. This study describes the current practices of VRT and MRT, and an overview of how reminiscence-based approaches are used in Australia to address the health and wellbeing of older people.

Self-compassion and emotional regulation as predictors of social anxiety.

OBJECTIVES: Self-compassion and emotional regulation have been identified as constructive attitudes towards the self which can reduce emotional distress. This study is the first to examine the role of a self-compassionate attitude towards the self in reducing symptoms of social anxiety. The study also explored the role of emotional regulation strategies of cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) as mechanisms that mediate the impact of self-compassion on social anxiety. DESIGN: Structural equation modelling (SEM) was conducted on cross-sectional correlational data with MPlus version 6. METHODS: A sample of 750 undergraduate students (378 men and 372 women) completed an online survey comprised of well validated self-report measures of social anxiety, emotional regulation and self-compassion. RESULTS: Structural equation modelling showed that self-compassion predicted lower social anxiety directly and indirectly through lower ES. Higher self-compassion also predicted higher CR. Contrary to expectation, CR did not predict lower social anxiety. Exploratory analyses of self-compassion divided into Compassionate Self-responding (CSR) and Refraining from Non-compassionate Responding (RUSR) identified RUSR as a predictor of lower social anxiety directly and indirectly via ES and CR. CSR had no direct effect on social anxiety but did so indirectly via CR. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide preliminary evidence that self-compassion can play an important role in alleviating social anxiety and that emotion regulation through ES and CR are important mechanisms of that influence. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Adopting a more compassionate attitude towards the self can reduce the symptoms of social anxiety Emotional regulation through reducing emotional suppression may be a mechanism whereby higher levels of self-compassion reduce symptoms of social anxiety. Although higher levels of self-compassion predict greater use of emotional regulation through cognitive appraisal, cognitive appraisal does not predict levels of symptoms of social anxiety The capacity to refrain from non-compassionate self-responding may reduce symptoms of social anxiety directly and indirectly through lower levels of emotional suppression and greater cognitive reappraisal (CR). However, compassionate self-responding only influences symptoms of social anxiety through CR.

Coping associated with compulsive buying tendency.

Research on general coping is limited within compulsive buying (CB) literature. Nevertheless, other behavioural addictions and hoarding might provide insights into coping in CB. One-hundred and ninety-nine participants (M age = 52.72, SD = 16.06; 50.3% female, 1% unknown sex) completed online questionnaires. Mental and behavioural disengagements were hypothesized to predict greater self-reported CB tendency. Whilst these relationships were found in the correlations, a regression analysis indicated that only mental disengagement significantly predicted CB tendency. Additionally, the exploration of denial and substance use identified that denial was an important predictor of CB tendency coping. The relationship between CB tendency and substance use could not be explored given the large degree of participants reporting minimal scores. CB tendency is associated with maladaptive mental disengagement, denial and lack of acceptance coping strategies, which could be useful to consider in therapy.