Group-based behaviour therapy improves self-care, glycaemic control and distress in adults with type 1 diabetes.

AIMS: Psychological interventions have had modest effects on HbA1c in adults with Type 1 diabetes (T1D). We evaluated a novel behaviour therapy (BT) group program aiming to improve diabetes self-care and reduce HbA1c and distress. Core features were the application of a functional-analytic model, behavioural self-management training, and personally selected T1D self-care behaviours as treatment targets. METHODS: Participants with T1D, 2-consecutive HbA1c ≥ 8.5 %(69 mmol/mol) and/or diabetes-related emotional/behavioural difficulties who had received specialist multidisciplinary input for ≥2 years completed 6-sessions of BT over 9-weeks. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, on completing 5-consecutive weekly sessions (post-) and at session 6, 1-month after (follow-up). RESULTS: Of 66 participants mean age 37.9 years, mean age at T1D diagnosis 22.0 years, and median T1D duration 14 years, 54 completed BT. HbA1c improved from baseline to follow-up (9.7 ± 1.9 %-8.8 ± 1.3 %, p < 0.001), as did diabetes distress (DD: total score 49.2 ± 7.8 baseline, 38.9 ± 14.7 post- and 32.8 ± 11.7 follow-up, p < 0.001). All DD subscales of emotional burden, and physician, regimen, and interpersonal distress, improved (p < 0.001). Consistent results were observed for patients on multiple daily injections and continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion therapy. CONCLUSIONS: BT based on a functional-analytic and behavioural self-management model holds promise as an effective means of improving HbA1c and reducing DD in adults with T1D.

An Investigation of Cognitive and Affective Changes During Group Imagery Rescripting for Social Anxiety Disorder.

Recurrent, negative self-imagery is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Imagery rescripting (ImRs) is an effective therapeutic technique that aims to target past aversive memories to modify their associated meanings, and update the encapsulated negative schematic beliefs. The current study aimed to extend previous research by investigating the cognitive and affective shifts during each phase of ImRs delivered within a group cognitive behavioral therapy protocol. Participants (N = 32) retrieved an aversive memory associated with social anxiety and were guided through brief cognitive restructuring, prior to completing ImRs. Core beliefs associated with the memory (strength and valence) and fear of negative evaluation were assessed before and after ImRs and affect was assessed following each phase. Strength and affective valence of encapsulated core beliefs about the self, others, the world, and the image itself significantly reduced following ImRs, and core beliefs were updated to become more positive. Participants reported large affective shifts early in the process, with smaller shifts in the later stages. Fear of negative evaluation did not significantly reduce following ImRs. Outcomes provide some support for cognitive and affective changes during group ImRs for SAD and suggest future research directions to investigate longer-term impacts and to better understand the underlying mechanisms of the technique.

A longitudinal assessment of the bivalent fear of evaluation model with social interaction anxiety in social anxiety disorder.

BACKGROUND: The Bivalent Fear of Evaluation Model proposes that the fears of positive and negative evaluation each uniquely contribute to social anxiety severity. However, the debate continues as to whether these are distinct constructs, and, if so, the degree of influence each has on social anxiety severity. This study used a longitudinal evaluation of these relationships in a clinical sample to identify whether the two fears differentially change over time and differentially relate to social anxiety severity. METHODS: Individuals with a social anxiety disorder (N = 105) completed measures of fears of negative and positive evaluation weekly, and social interaction anxiety monthly, for 12 weeks. Temporal relationships were assessed using residual dynamic structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Fears of positive and negative evaluation both predicted the future status of the other (ϕ = 0.18, 95% credibility interval [0.10-0.28] and ϕ = 0.22 [0.12-0.35], respectively). Fear of negative evaluation (ϕ = 0.16 [0.05-0.28]) but not positive evaluation (ϕ < 0.01 [-0.09 to 0.10]) directly predicted future social anxiety severity. Fear of positive evaluation only indirectly predicted anxiety severity via fear of negative evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: Previous fears of negative evaluation could not fully explain future fears of positive evaluation (or vice-versa), which is consistent with the two constructs being likely distinct in social anxiety disorder. Given its more direct relationship with social anxiety severity, fear of negative evaluation should be targeted in treatment, as this could both directly reduce social anxiety severity and minimize the indirect impact of fear of positive evaluation.

The impact of canister geometry on chemical biological radiological and nuclear filter performance: A computational fluid dynamics analysis.

Steady-state axisymmetric simulations using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations have been carried out in order to optimize the performance of a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) canister filter for its use in a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR). Alterations have been made to the shape of the canister, the spacing of the rear wall of the canister with regard to the carbon filter, and the bracketing between (i) the particulate filter and the carbon bed and (ii) the carbon bed and the canister wall. The pressure drops across the canister and the residence time distribution at the rear of the carbon bed have been analyzed in detail based on an extensive parametric analysis involving the aforementioned variations. It has been demonstrated that the non-uniform porosity profile of the carbon bed resulted in alternating regions of high and low velocity close to the canister wall, providing a possible route for breakthrough. Designs, which included a bracket at the rear of the carbon bed, blocked this route and consequently had a longer minimum mean residence time than those, which did not. It has also been shown that the spacing between the carbon bed and the canister rear wall had a large impact on both residence time and pressure drop. In cases where the carbon backed directly onto the canister rear wall flow in the axial direction from the outside wall toward the canister axis resulted in far greater pressure drop and a reduction in minimum mean residence time within the carbon bed.

Group metacognitive therapy for repetitive negative thinking in primary and non-primary generalized anxiety disorder: an effectiveness trial.

BACKGROUND: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common and highly comorbid anxiety disorder characterized by repetitive negative thinking (RNT). Treatment trials tend to exclude individuals with non-primary GAD, despite this being a common presentation in real world clinics. RNT is also associated with multiple emotional disorders, suggesting that it should be targeted regardless of the primary disorder. This study evaluated the acceptability and effectiveness of brief group metacognitive therapy (MCT) for primary or non-primary GAD within a community clinic. METHODS: Patients referred to a specialist community clinic attended six, two-hour weekly sessions plus a one-month follow-up (N=52). Measures of metacognitive beliefs, RNT, symptoms, positive and negative affect, and quality of life were completed at the first, last, and follow-up sessions. RESULTS: Attrition was low and large intent-to-treat effects were observed on most outcomes, particularly for negative metacognitive beliefs and RNT. Treatment gains increased further to follow-up. Benchmarking comparisons demonstrated that outcomes compared favorably to longer disorder-specific protocols for primary GAD. LIMITATIONS: No control group or independent assessment of protocol adherence. CONCLUSIONS: Brief metacognitive therapy is an acceptable and powerful treatment for patients with primary or non-primary GAD.

Rhetorically self-sufficient arguments in Western Australian parliamentary debates on Lesbian and Gay Law Reform.

Western Australia's Acts Amendment (Lesbian and Gay Law Reform) Bill 2001 delivered a measure of legal equality in such areas as property transfer, superannuation, inheritance and discrimination, and more controversially, adoption, lesbian access to IVF, lowering the age of consent for sex between men from 21 to 16, and incorporating information on homosexuality into high school sex education classes. This paper examines the use of various moral principles within parliamentary speeches supporting or opposing the legislation, and the extent to which they were treated by members as beyond question, or 'rhetorically self-sufficient'. The resources of 'equality', 'human rights', 'democracy', 'the interests of the majority' and 'the interests of children' were given a kind of beyond-question, self-sufficient status, but their use was able to be undermined in a number of ways, relating to members' management of what the Bill was 'about', and the flexibility of these social constructs. It is argued that rather than pitting one set of resources against another, members on both sides of the debate faced a rhetorical pressure to adopt and mobilize all of the same self-sufficient moral resources, due to the flexible, constructed and non-hierarchical, yet often rhetorically self-sufficient nature of common-sense moral principles.