A Pilot Study of a Tablet-Based Emotion Regulation Intervention for Early Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of internet-based Talking About Risk and Adolescent Choices (iTRAC), a tablet intervention designed to promote emotion regulation (ER) skills among middle schoolers as a strategy for reducing risk behaviors. METHODS: Adolescents (12-14 years) were recruited from 3 urban US schools for advisory groups (n = 15), acceptability testing (n = 11), and pilot testing (n = 85). Youth advisory boards and expert panels tailored content, resulting in an animated intervention of instructional videos, games, and activities designed to teach ER strategies to young adolescents. Eighty-five adolescents were randomized to the 4-module digital iTRAC intervention or a wait-list control group. Adolescents and 1 parent completed baseline and 3-month follow-up questionnaires examining ER attitudes and behaviors; adolescents also completed behavioral tasks related to distress tolerance. RESULTS: Among those randomized to iTRAC, 88% completed all modules. Moderate effect sizes ( d ≥ 0.36) were found from baseline to follow-up on adolescents' beliefs in the controllability of emotions, awareness of emotions, self-efficacy for managing emotions, perceived access to ER strategies, and use of ER strategies. Parent measures of adolescent regulation showed mixed results. CONCLUSION: A digital intervention to enhance ER skills for youth in early adolescence was feasible and demonstrated promising indicators of impact on emotional competence. Increasing adolescents' awareness of and access to ER strategies could reduce decisions driven by transient emotions, which in turn may reduce engagement in risk behaviors and resultant negative health outcomes. This brief tablet-based intervention has the potential to be self-administered and used to increase emotional competency.

Preliminary Impact of an Adapted Emotion Regulation Intervention for Adolescents with Overweight and Obesity Attempting to Lose Weight.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary impact of a program (HealthTRAC) combining 2 efficacious interventions (one targeting emotion regulation [TRAC] and the other a standardized behavioral weight management intervention [SBWC]) to improve weight management outcomes among a sample of adolescents with overweight and obesity. METHOD: Adolescents with overweight or obesity (N = 38), ages 13 to 17 years, were enrolled and randomized into either the SBWC or HealthTRAC. Data were collected at baseline (before intervention), at the end of the 16-week intervention (postintervention), and 4 months after completing the intervention (4 months). Assessments included adolescent self-reports of intervention acceptability and reported emotion regulation (ER) abilities and caregiver report of adolescent ER skills. Body mass index (BMI) was used to examine the impact on adolescent weight outcomes. Analyses of covariance controlling for baseline values were used to evaluate study outcomes. RESULTS: Eighty-four percent (n = 32) of participants completed the immediate postintervention and 4-month follow-up assessments. Adolescents in both conditions reported high treatment satisfaction. Adolescents randomized to HealthTRAC demonstrated greater reductions in BMI relative to SBWC and reported greater use of emotion regulation skills. Finally, caregivers of adolescents randomized to HealthTRAC also reported greater improvements in emotion regulation abilities among their adolescents at the 4-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that the HealthTRAC intervention was acceptable, feasible to deliver, and demonstrated a positive impact on BMI and emotion regulation abilities. These data suggest that ER is related to health decision-making and is relevant to most overweight/obese adolescents seeking to lose weight.

Sexual health and health-related quality of life among women with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by progressive limitations in physical activity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). HRQoL deficits may extend beyond the traditional domains of physical activity, psychological health, and emotional wellbeing to sexual health and function. Sexual HRQoL has not been studied in PAH, nor has the impact of PAH therapies themselves on sexual health and intimacy. In this initial investigation, we sought to explore HRQoL among women diagnosed with PAH and to determine if PAH treatment type (intravenous or subcutaneous prostanoids versus oral medications) was associated with levels of self-reported HRQoL assessed by validated measures for PAH-specific, general, and sexual HRQoL. We administered the emPHasis-10, Short Form (SF)-36, Female Sexual Dysfunction Scale-Revised (FSDS-R), and the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale (ASEX) to 35 women with self-reported World Health Organization Group 1 PAH at the 2016 Pulmonary Hypertension Association International Conference and Scientific Sessions. HRQoL instruments demonstrated excellent internal reliability. Women with PAH had high levels of sexual distress captured with the FSDS-R scale. The FSDS-R (but not ASEX) was significantly correlated to emPHasis-10 ( r = 0.64, p < 0.01) and most SF-36 domains ( r = - 0.36 to - 0.64, p < 0.05). Participants treated with intravenous or subcutaneous prostanoids had higher (worse) FSDS-R scores than those on oral therapies while ASEX, emPHasis-10, and SF-36 scores were similar across treatment types. Sexual HRQoL may impact overall quality of life in PAH and specific assessment of sexual health and functioning within intimate relationships may detect deficits in wellbeing not addressed by established HRQoL metrics. Further study to address all aspects of HRQoL in PAH is required.