Psychological interventions for post stroke pain: A systematic review.

Chronic pain is prevalent after stroke and has a significant impact on quality of life. Research demonstrates the efficacy of psychological interventions for mixed chronic pain conditions. This review aimed to assess evidence on the effectiveness of psychological interventions for chronic pain in people with stroke. PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase, and CINAHL were searched from inception to 31 January 2021 at all levels of evidence. Psychological interventions assessing chronic pain in adults following stroke as a primary outcome were included. All outcomes related to pain quality were included (e.g., intensity, frequency, duration). Study quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Case Reports and Risk of Bias in N-of-1 Trials (RoBiNT) Scale. Three single n case reports were included. A narrative synthesis was performed, indicating that psychological interventions may reduce chronic post-stroke pain; however, overall quality appraisal of the included studies was poor, owing to the low internal validity found in the single-n case report designs. The limited evidence suggests that psychological interventions may have clinical utility in reducing chronic post-stroke pain. However, owing to the paucity and quality of studies found, the results must be treated with caution. More rigorous research is needed.

Relaxation and related therapies for people with multiple sclerosis (MS): A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the effectiveness of relaxation and related therapies in treating Multiple Sclerosis related symptoms and sequelae. DATA SOURCES: PsycINFO, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global databases were searched. METHODS: We included studies from database inception until 31 December 2021 involving adult participants diagnosed with multiple sclerosis or disseminated sclerosis, which featured quantitative data regarding the impact of relaxation interventions on multiple sclerosis-related symptoms and sequelae. Studies which examined multi-modal therapies - relaxation delivered in combination with non-relaxation interventions - were excluded. Risk of bias was assessed using the Revised Risk of Bias tool for randomised trials - ROB2, Risk of Bias in Non-Randomised Studies of Interventions ROBINS-I), and within and between-group effects were calculated (Hedges' g). RESULTS: Twenty-eight studies met inclusion criteria. Twenty-three of these were randomised controlled trials, with 1246 total participants. This review reports on this data, with non-randomised study data reported in supplemental material. Post -intervention relaxation was associated with medium to large effect-size improvement for depression, anxiety, stress and fatigue. The effects of relaxation were superior to wait-list or no treatment control conditions; however, comparisons with established psychological or physical therapies were mixed. Individual studies reported sustained effects (≤ 6 months) with relaxation for stress, pain and quality of life. Most studies were rated as having a high/serious risk of bias. CONCLUSION: There is emerging evidence that relaxation therapies can improve outcomes for persons with multiple sclerosis. Given the high risk of bias found for included studies, stronger conclusions cannot be drawn.

Taking the next step: A qualitative study examining processes of change in a suicide prevention program incorporating peer-workers.

Suicide is a leading preventable cause of death (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Recent research identifies the time following hospital discharge after a suicide attempt as a critical window whereby suicide risk is heightened. As a result, suicide aftercare services that emphasize timely follow-up intervention are increasingly popular. There is a lack of research exploring the role of peer-workers in the context of suicide prevention aftercare. This is surprising given that peer-work has been hypothesized to promote belongingness, engagement, and hope; all factors theorized as critical to suicide ideation and behavior. This project aimed to address this research gap by exploring the perspectives of six peer-workers and five clinicians (n = 11) employed in a suicide prevention aftercare program. Qualitative data were collected via an online survey and telephone interviews. Interviews explored what processes were perceived by peer-workers and clinicians as critical in facilitating change within the context of a suicide prevention service. Thematic analysis identified four themes encapsulating factors that promote change: (1) utilizing lived experience; (2) emotional availability of peers; (3) building lives worth living; and (4) consumer driven care. Our analysis also identified an additional, but less direct, mechanism of change: Consultation in the context of risk. Our findings show that peer-work in suicide prevention is regarded as largely positive by both peer-workers and clinicians. Peer-workers and clinicians highlighted the importance of collaboration and consultation to facilitate effective management of risk and supervision given the complex nature of suicide prevention work. Finally, workers emphasized the importance of promoting agency amongst service-users, which they viewed as particularly important within the context of suicide prevention. Implications for suicide prevention services are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Illusory gender-equality paradox, math self-concept, and frame-of-reference effects: New integrative explanations for multiple paradoxes.

Gender-equality paradoxes (GEPs) posit that gender gaps in math self-concepts (MSCs) are larger-not smaller-in countries with greater gender equality. These paradoxical results suggest that efforts to improve gender equality might be counterproductive. However, we show that this currently popular explanation of gender differences is an illusory, epi-phenomenon (485,490 students, 18,292 schools, 68 countries/regions). Between-country (absolute) measures of gender equality are confounded with achievement and socioeconomic-status; tiny GEPs disappear when controlling achievement and socioeconomic-status. Critically, even without controls GEPs are not supported when using true gender-gap measures-within-country (relative) female-male differences, that hold many confounds constant. This absolute/relative-gap distinction is more important than the composite/domain-specific distinction for understanding why even tiny GEPs are illusory. Recent developments in academic self-concept theory are relevant to GEPs and gender differences, but also explain other, related paradoxes. The big-fish little pond effect posits that attending schools with high school-average math achievements leads to lower MSCs. Extending this theoretical model to the country-level, we show that countries with high country-average math achievements also have lower MSCs. Dimensional comparison theory predicts that MSCs are positively predicted by math achievements but negatively predicted by verbal achievements. Extending this theoretical model, we show that girls' low MSCs are due more to girls' high verbal achievements that detract from their MSCs than to their low math achievements. In support of the pan-human wide generalizability of our findings, our cross-national results generalize over 68 country/regions as well as multiple math self-belief constructs (self-efficacy, anxiety, interest, utility, future plans) and multiple gender-equality measures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Does your mindfulness benefit others? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the link between mindfulness and prosocial behaviour.

Mindfulness-based meditation practices have received substantial scientific attention in recent years. Mindfulness has been shown to bring many psychological benefits to the individual, but much less is known about whether these benefits extend to others. This meta-analysis reviewed the link between mindfulness - as both a personality variable and an intervention - and prosocial behaviour. A literature search produced 31 eligible studies (N = 17,241) and 73 effect sizes. Meta-analyses were conducted using mixed-effects structural equation models to examine pooled effects and potential moderators of these effects. We found a positive pooled effect between mindfulness and prosocial behaviour for both correlational (d = .73 CI 95% [0.51 to 0.96]) and intervention studies (d = .51 CI 95% [0.37 to 0.66]). For the latter, medium-sized effects were obtained across varying meditation types and intensities, and across gender and age categories. Preliminary evidence is presented regarding potential mediators of these effects. Although we found that mindfulness is positively related to prosociality, further research is needed to examine the mediators of this link and the contexts in which it is most pronounced.

If one goes up the other must come down: Examining ipsative relationships between math and English self-concept trajectories across high school.

BACKGROUND: The Internal-External frame of reference (IE) model suggests that as self-concept in one domain goes up (e.g., English) self-concept in other domains (e.g., mathematics) should go down (ipsative self-concept hypothesis). AIMS: To our knowledge this assumption has not been tested. Testing this effect also provides a context for illustrating different approaches to the study of growth with longitudinal data. SAMPLE: We use cohort sequential data from 2,781 of Year 7 to Year 11 Australian high school students followed across a total of 10 time waves 6 months apart. METHOD: Three different approaches to testing the ipsative self-concept hypothesis were used: Autoregressive cross-lagged models, latent growth curve models, and autoregressive latent trajectory models (ALT); using achievement as a time varying covariate. RESULTS: Cross-lagged and growth curve models provided little evidence of ipsative relationships between English and math self-concept. However, ALT models suggested that a rise above trend in one self-concept domain resulted in a decline from trend in self-concept in another domain. CONCLUSION: Implications for self-concept theory, interventions, and statistical methods for the study of growth are discussed.