Adjustment Difficulties Research Articles

An Empirical Analysis on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among Recently Diagnosed Cancer Patients: A Study in Visakhapatnam

Nowadays cancer is the most threatening illness to human wellbeing. Cancer is a complex illness which is highly stressful and can be traumatic. Emotional responses to this experience can range from acute fear, sadness, and anger to enduring adjustment difficulties, anxiety, and depression. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence, predictors, and correlates of cancer-related PTSD symptoms and diagnoses. The research approach of the study is an integrated research approach. The study adopted a descriptive research design and applied a convenience sampling method. The study selected 50 respondents who diagnosed cancer recently and collected the data through a pre-tested, unstructured interview schedule. The study found that majority of the respondents (n=16) are affected by breast cancer, chemotherapy and radiotherapy (n=19) are the most common and preferred methods of treatment and the respondents had relative knowledge about PTSD. Highest scoring items were "I am having strong physical reactions when something reminds me of the stressful experience" (M=3.92, SD=0.24) and "Feeling distant from people" (M=3.92, SD=0.24). The lowest scoring item was "I suddenly feel or act as if the stressful experience was happening again" (M=3.42, SD=0.22). The study found that after being diagnosed with skin cancer, most participants had changed their ways, especially around unprotected sun exposure. The study suggested that the new interventions should be designed prevent cancer and provide the care, support and treatment to cancer patients. Keywords: Post-traumatic stress disorder, Cancer, physical health

Psychological wellbeing in adult adoptees: current age and developmental tasks.

Studies about adult adoptees are normally focused on the differences in adjustment difficulties between them and non-adoptees. However, there has been less research about adoptees' positive and developmental adjustment in adulthood. The aim of this study is to test a model of the mediating role of adoptees' achievement of adulthood tasks in the relationship between current age and psychological wellbeing. The sample consisted of 117 adults who were adopted as children by Spanish families. Their current mean age is 28.3 years. Participants underwent an interview and completed Ryff's Psychological WellBeing Scales. Findings show that current age is directly and negatively related to psychological wellbeing [c' = -0.039, 95% CI (-0.078, -0.001)], and the relationship between these variables is mediated by adoptees' achievement of adulthood tasks [indirect effect = 0.035, 95% CI (.014, 0.059)]. The findings support traditional theories about transitioning to adulthood, and adds relevant information about this transition in adoptees. Moreover, this work indicates a new way of assessing adoption success, based on long-term measures and normative variables. Services providers should account for the importance of supporting young people on their life transitions and promoting their wellbeing, especially among those who started from disadvantaged contexts.

Multi-objective Optimal Motion Planning of Heavy-duty Assembly Robot for Large Spacecraft Entering Cabin

The space inside the space capsule such as the space station sky and the core module is narrow, the size of the depth is large, and the bearing points are scattered and weak, there are some difficulties in loading, large size, different shape, complicated interface, scattered position, difficult position and pose adjustment, high assembly risk, etc.. To solve these problems, a six-DOF heavy-duty assembly robot is proposed in this paper. The robot adopts the combination of linear drive and rotating joint to increase the working space and bearing capacity of the robot. The kinematics and dynamics analysis model of the robot is established, and the path planning is carried out by means of quintic non-uniform B-spline interpolation method, considering fully the space constraints of the assembled equipment, a multi-objective trajectory optimization model based on NSGA2 algorithm is established to obtain the Pareto optimal solution set with time, impact and energy consumption as optimization objectives, prove that the equipment can be efficient and smooth. Reliable installation, with less impact and less power consumption under multi-objective optimization analysis.

Race-based Bullying Victimization and Adjustment Difficulties: Racial-Ethnic Differences in the Protective Role of School Equity

Race-based Bullying Victimization and Adjustment Difficulties: Racial-Ethnic Differences in the Protective Role of School Equity

Quality of Interactions, Children’s Psychological Adjustment and Parental Stress in Foster Families: the Mediating Role of Parental Sense of Competence

Foster children’s emotional and behavioral difficulties are often a challenge for foster caregivers, who may experience reduced feelings of competence in their parental role, as well as increased levels of parental stress. In turn, these difficulties can negatively affect the quality of the interactions between them. In the present work, our first objective was to analyze the quality of the interactions between 49 Spanish foster children aged 4–9 years and their main caregivers, and its relationship with some variables, which were studied as potential predictors: the caregivers’ parental stress and sense of competence, the children’s psychological adjustment difficulties, and the children and caregivers’ socio-demographic profile. We assessed caregiver-child interactions using an observational task (Co-Construction Task). The caregivers completed standardized questionnaires regarding their parental stress (Parenting Stress Index-Short Form; PSI-SF), parental sense of competence (Parenting Sense of Competence Scale; PSOC), and foster children’s psychological adjustment difficulties (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SDQ). Also, we obtained their socio-demographic information through the families’ caseworkers. The second objective was to examine whether caregivers’ parental sense of competence mediated the relationship between children’s psychological adjustment difficulties and caregivers’ parental stress. Results concerning our first objective showed that caregivers’ parental stress and children’s age were significant predictors of the quality of caregiver-child interactions. As for the second objective, our mediation model indicated that parental sense of competence partially mediated the relationship between children’s psychological adjustment difficulties and caregivers’ parental stress. Lastly, we comment on some practical implications based on our results, which point to the need to include both self-report and observational measures when assessing and intervening with foster families.

Coping, perceived social support, stress, and age as predictors of correctional adjustment amongst South African incarcerated female offenders

ABSTRACT Incarceration is a challenging and stressful experience that requires offenders to alter their previous functioning and adjust to the correctional environment. Incarcerated female offenders who experience adjustment difficulties in the correctional environment tend to experience increased mental and physical health concerns. Therefore, investigating the possible predictor variables of correctional adjustment among incarcerated female offenders within the South African context is important. This study employed a quantitative research approach on a sample of 123 female offenders. The data were collected using questionnaires, and the findings indicated that the combination of some variables (Significant Other and Seeking Social Support) predicted Internal Adjustment, (Stress and Family) predicted External Adjustment, and (Stress and Significant Other) predicted Physical Adjustment of the female offenders. The results of this study could inform the development of correctional programmes centred on the unique treatment needs of incarcerated female offenders to assist offenders with adjusting to the correctional environment.

Understanding shyness and psychosocial difficulties during early adolescence: The role of friend shyness and self-silencing

Shyness is a known personality risk factor for psychosocial difficulties during early adolescence, but little is known about sources of heterogeneity in these outcomes and potential mediating mechanisms. This study investigated whether adolescents' own and their friends' levels of shyness are associated uniquely with psychosocial difficulties (anxiety, depressive symptoms, loneliness, friend support), and whether self-silencing (within friendships) is a mediator of the relations between shyness and these difficulties. Participants were 178 young adolescents (54 % female; Mage = 13.71 years), in 89 unique best friend dyads, who completed self-report measures. Actor-partner interdependence mediation models showed both actor and partner effects of shyness on depressive symptoms, and that actor self-silencing mediated the associations between shyness and anxiety and friendship support. Findings are novel and highlight the importance of the dyad in studies of friendship and shyness during adolescence. They also point to self-silencing as a potential mediating mechanism of influence between shyness and intra- and interpersonal adjustment difficulties.

WordMelodies: Supporting the Acquisition of Literacy Skills by Children with Visual Impairment through a Mobile App

WordMelodies is a mobile app that aims to support inclusive teaching of literacy skills for primary school students. Thus it was designed to be accessible both visually and through screen reader, and it includes over 80 different types of exercises for practicing literacy skills, each with adjustable difficulty levels, in Italian and in English. WordMelodies is freely available for iOS and Android devices. However, it has not been previously evaluated with children having visual impairments. Thus, in this article, we evaluate the app usability, its perceived ease of use, appreciation and children’s autonomy while using it, as well as the characteristics of the end users. To achieve this, we conducted a user study with 11 primary school students with visual impairments, and we analyzed app usage logs collected from 408 users in over 1 year from the app publication. We show that app usability is high, and most exercises can be completed autonomously. The exercises are also perceived to be easy to perform, and they are appreciated by the participants. Finally, we provide insights on how to address the identified app limitations and propose future research directions.

Exploring the Emotional Dysregulation Scale-Short Form in isolated, confined, and extreme environments

The Emotional Dysregulation Scale-Short Form (EDS-S) may have potential for assessing emotional dysregulation (ED) both in general clinical mental health environments and in specialised work settings. Before it can be used fairly and appropriately, evidence of its validity in the local South African (SA) context is required. This study thus explored its psychometric characteristics among local working adult samples by pursuing three specific objectives, namely, to investigate its structural validity, its construct validity, and issues around practical use (e.g. priming bias and ability to predict performance). Data were collected across four samples that comprised general workers and specialised naval personnel (total N = 1374), who also completed measures of clinical mental health and other adjustment difficulties. Statistical analysis included examination of socio-demographic effects, internal consistencies, confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance, and associations with measures of mental health and adjustment difficulties (including binomial logistic regressions and receiver operating/operator characteristics curve analyses). This study reported evidence of structural and criterion validity, with significant associations to measures of mental health and adjustment difficulties, for the 12-item EDS-S in non-clinical samples of SA workers. The study further provided preliminary support for its predictive utility in specialised work environments. Preliminary evidence of validity of the EDS-S in SA worker samples with sufficient English proficiency was demonstrated.Contribution: There is some support for the use of the EDS-S in clinical research and applied practise. However, caution must be observed for possible effects of language proficiency and further research into the role of language is required.

Exploring resilience as a mediator and moderator in the relationship between cultural intelligence and sociocultural adjustment: A study of expatriates in Switzerland

Recent studies suggest that cultural intelligence (CQ) and resilience play a key role in sociocultural adjustment in expatriate populations. The current study aimed to clarify the relationships between CQ, resilience and sociocultural adjustment in a population of expatriates in Switzerland. Participants (N = 126) completed validated, self-report measures of resilience, cultural intelligence, and sociocultural adjustment and hierarchical linear regression, mediation and moderation analyses tested relationships between the study variables. Preliminary results verified findings from previous research indicating that increased resilience and CQ predict fewer sociocultural adjustment difficulties. Additional analyses showed that the CQ Skills subscale explained a significant amount of variance in sociocultural adjustment while the other subscales, metacognition and knowledge, did not. Finally, we found that resilience partially mediates the relationship between CQ and sociocultural adjustment but does not act as a moderator in this relationship. The results have theoretical implications for understanding the process of sociocultural adjustment, as well as practical implications for implementing targeted training programmes to support expatriate adjustment.

Envisioning the future for families running away from war: Challenges and resources of Ukrainian parents in Italy.

Since February 2022, 7.8 million people have left Ukraine. In total, 80% are women and children. The present quali-quantitative study is the first in Italy to (i) describe the adaptation challenges and the resources of refugee parents and, indirectly, of their children and (ii) investigate the impact of neuropsychopedagogical training on their wellbeing. The sample includes N = 15 Ukrainian parents (80% mothers, mean age = 34 years) who arrived in Italy in March and April 2022. The parents participated in neuropsychopedagogical training within the program Envisioning the Future (EF): the 10 Keys to Resilience. Before the training, participants completed an ad hoc checklist to detect adjustment difficulties. After the training, they responded to a three-item post-training questionnaire on the course and to a semi-structured interview deepening adaptation problems, personal resources, and the neuropsychopedagogical training effects. Participants report that since they departed from Ukraine, they have experienced sleep, mood, and concentration problems, and specific fears, which they also observed in their children. They report self-efficacy, self-esteem, social support, spirituality, and common humanity as their principal resources. As effects of the training, they report an increased sense of security, quality of sleep, and more frequent positive thoughts. The interviews also reveal a 3-fold positive effect of the training (e.g., behavioral, emotional-relational, and cognitive-narrative).

Initial Clinical Experience and Biomechanical Analysis of a Novel Gravity Unit-Assisted Valve (M.blue) in Pediatric Patients With Hydrocephalus: A Retrospective Study With Two Years of Follow-up.

Overdrainage is a widely reported complication representing common indication for shunt revision. Despite recent advances in valve design, repeated shunt revisions represent burden on healthcare systems. To investigate the efficiency of a novel gravity unit-assisted programmable valve "M.blue" in pediatric hydrocephalus using clinical and biomechanical analyses. Thisretrospective single-center study included pediatric patients who received M.blue valve between April 2019 and 2021. Several clinical and biomechanical parameters were documented including complications and revision rates. Flow rate, functional assessment in vertical and horizontal positions, and extent of depositions inside valve were analyzed in explanted valves. Thirty-seven M.blue valves in 34 pediatric patients with hydrocephalus (mean age 2.82 ± 3.91 years) were included. Twelve valves (32.4%) were explanted during a follow-up period of 27.3 ± 7.9 months. One-year survival rate of 89% and overall survival rate of 67.6% with a valve survival average of 23.8 ± 9.7 months were observed. Patients with explanted valves (n = 12) were significantly younger, with 0.91 ± 0.54 years of age in average ( P = .004), and showed significantly more adjustments difficulties ( P = .009 ). 58.3% of explanted valves showed deposits in more than 75% of the valve surface despite normal cerebrospinal fluid findings and were associated with dysfunctional flow rate in vertical, horizontal, or both positions. The novel M.blue valve with integrated gravity unit is efficient in pediatric hydrocephalus with comparable survival rate. Deposits inside valves could affect its flow rate in different body positions and might lead to dysfunction or difficulties in valve adjustments.

ICD-11 adjustment disorder following diagnostic procedures of prostate cancer: A 12-month follow-up study

ObjectiveThe medical procedures in diagnosing or treating prostate cancer may impair adjustment and quality of life. The current prospective study aimed to evaluate the trajectories of symptoms of ICD-11 adjustment disorder in patients diagnosed vs. non-diagnosed with prostate cancer before (T1), after diagnostic procedures (T2), and at 12-month follow-up (3). MethodsIn total, 96 male patients were recruited before prostate cancer diagnostic procedures. The mean age of the study participants at baseline was 63.5 (SD = 8.4), ranging from 47 to 80 years; 64% were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Adjustment disorder symptoms were measured using the Brief Adjustment Disorder Measure (ADNM-8). ResultsThe prevalence of ICD-11 adjustment disorder was 15% at T1, 13% at T2, and 3% at T3. The effect of cancer diagnosis was not significant on adjustment disorder. A medium main effect for time was detected on adjustment symptom severity, F(2, 134) = 19.26, p < .001, partial η2 = 0.223, with symptoms significantly lower at 12-month follow-up, compared to T1 and T2, p < .001. ConclusionsThe study's findings reveal the increased levels of adjustment difficulties in males undergoing the diagnostic process of prostate cancer.

Callous-Unemotional Traits and Social Adjustment among Chinese Preschoolers: The Moderating Role of Teacher-Child Relationship.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with social adjustment difficulties, but few studies have examined the underlying mechanisms in Chinese preschoolers. This study examined the relationship between CU traits and social adjustment among Chinese preschoolers as well as the moderating role of the teacher-child relationship in the association. Participants were 484 preschool children aged 3-6 years old from Shanghai, China (Mage = 5.56 years, SD = 0.96 years). Parents reported children's CU traits and teachers reported their relationship with children and rated children's social adjustment as well. The results revealed that (1) children with higher CU traits positively related to aggressive and asocial behavior with peers, but negatively related to prosocial behavior; (2) the teacher-child relationship moderated the relationship between CU traits and social adjustment in children. Specifically, teacher-child conflict exacerbated the aggressive and asocial behavior of children with CU traits and reduced the prosocial behavior of children with CU traits. These findings extended the current research on CU traits and had important implications for early interventions targeted at children with CU traits.

Predictors of Trauma Symptoms Among Children Referred for Behavioral School-based Mental Health Counseling.

Child mental health researchers often focus on interventions that improve externalizing problems (i.e., disruptive, aggressive, and impulsive behaviors), due to the relationship between children's externalizing behaviors and social, emotional, and academic disparities. School-based mental health counselors work to reduce externalizing problems due to the relationship between these behaviors and school-based problems, such as bullying victimization, school adjustment difficulties, and suspension. Children with complex trauma histories often exhibit externalizing problems. Unfortunately, limited research examines school trauma screening and guidelines for schools to effectively distinguish behavioral and trauma-related symptoms. As a result, we examined whether children's trauma symptoms predicted their externalizing problems that prompted referrals for school-based mental health counseling interventions at three Title-I elementary schools.

Links between social avoidance and frontal alpha asymmetry during processing emotional facial stimuli: An exploratory study

Individuals who are socially avoidant actively remove themselves from opportunities for social interaction and have a strong desire for solitude. Although social avoidance is associated with a host of adjustment difficulties, its neural substrates remain under-explored. To address this gap, we conducted an exploratory study to compare electroencephalography (EEG) frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) scores during processing emotional facial stimuli in socially avoidant and non-withdrawn comparison individuals. From an original sample of N = 384 undergraduate students, 25 avoidant and 27 comparison individuals were identified. For this subset of participants, EEG modulations and self-reported experience ratings during a picture processing task were assessed. Among the results, the socially avoidant group’s ratings of positive stimuli were significantly lower than the non-withdrawn comparison group. The socially avoidant group also had significantly lower FAA scores in response to positive stimuli than the comparison group. Further, asymmetry scores of the comparison group in the positive conditions were higher than in the negative and neutral conditions. However, there were no significant differences between these three conditions in the socially avoidant group. Our results suggest that socially avoidant individuals may eschew interpersonal relationships because of a relatively greater right hemisphere cortical activity, which may contribute to a withdrawal motivation when confronted with negative emotional stimuli in social contexts.

Tracking and Synchronization Control Strategy of Vehicle Dual-Motor Steer-by-Wire System via Active Disturbance Rejection Control

A novel vehicle dual-motor steer-by-wire (SBW) system is proposed to improve the reliability and safety of traditional SBW system. However, the biggest challenge of dual-motor SBW is its tracking and synchronization control issues. In order to solve the problems of poor tracking and synchronization of the vehicle dual-motor SBW system caused by load disturbance, parameter perturbation, and model mismatch, a tracking and synchronization control strategy of the vehicle dual-motor SBW system via the active disturbance rejection control is proposed. First, the driving mechanism of dual-motor SBW system is analyzed, and the system dynamics model is established. Then, considering the system disturbance and parameter uncertainty, a second-order active disturbance rejection controller is designed for the position loop of the steering motor, which is composed of a third-order extended state observer and a state error feedback control law. Next, in order to simplify the adjustment difficulty of the controller, the bandwidth method is introduced to greatly reduce the number of controller parameters and the difficulty of parameter adjustment. Based on this, the disturbance rejection performance and stability of the designed active disturbance rejection controller are proved. Furthermore, the cross-coupling control structure is employed to enhance the synchronization performance of the dual-motor system. Finally, the performance of the controller to suppress the external disturbance and internal parameter perturbation is analyzed in step condition and double lane change condition, respectively, and the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is verified on the dual-motor experimental platform.

A Gender Study of Food Stress and Implications for International Students Acculturation

Acculturative stress can be a big problem for international students. Among the adaptation difficulties they may face, adjusting to new foods in a new environment is crucial to their well-being. Existing studies related to dietary acculturation point to gender differences, mostly on objective health impacts. Using the information processing approach, this study aims to examine the subjective perception of dietary acculturation difficulties, with a focus on the influence of social connectedness. Using the Bayesian inference approach with the Hamiltonian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique on a sample of 268 students from a Japanese international university, we found that female students are more likely to have perceived difficulties in the process of adjusting to new foods, but social connectedness lessens this effect. We also found no significant differences between domestic and international students regarding perceived difficulties of food adjustment in this study site, likely due to its highly multicultural environment. We suggest international universities provide better information about the food situations on campuses, especially for female students, and organize more cultural exchange events and food-related social activities to help students overcome barriers of food stress.

A Differential Confocal Sensor for Simultaneous Position and Slope Acquisitions Based on a Zero-Crossing Prediction Algorithm.

A new sensor type is proposed to accurately detect the surface profiles of three-dimensional (3D) free-form surfaces. This sensor is based on the single-exposure, zero-crossing method and is used to measure position and angle simultaneously. First, the field intensity distribution in the posterior focal plane of the confocal microscope's objective was modeled accurately. Second, because the camera needs to trigger acquisition when the surface (to be measured) reaches the focal position of the sensor, a zero-crossing prediction method based on a sliding window was proposed. Third, a fast, spatially convergent, peak-extraction algorithm was proposed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of peak extraction. This scheme reduces system installation and adjustment difficulties, and the single-exposure, zero-crossing method achieves high-speed, real-time image acquisitions. The experimental results indicate that the average error of the zero-crossing prediction system was 17.63 nm, the average error of the tilt degree measurement was 0.011° in the range of 0-8°, and the prediction error of the tilt direction measurement was 0.089° in the range of 0-360°. The sensor can measure the slope and can be potentially used for 3D surface precision detection.

Uncanny Phenomenon: Existential Experiences Among Iranian International Students

Cross-cultural transitions can evoke reflections about existential concerns. Yet, the literature on international students’ adjustment has neglected this important aspect. To explore existential concerns that may arise during acculturation, we conducted semistructured interviews with six Iranian international graduate students studying in Canada. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, we identified three overarching themes: (a) Migration as a Boundary Situation, (b) Facing Existential Concerns, and (c) Coping with Existential Concerns. Results highlighted a connection between feelings of not-being-at-home or uncanniness in an unfamiliar host culture and existential reflections. Results also revealed that existential inquiries may be masquerading as adjustment problems. Overall, the findings challenge pathologizing views of cross-cultural adjustment difficulties and highlight the lack of attention to geopolitical factors affecting international students’ experiences. We call for practitioners to consider the possible presence of existential concerns during acculturation, and the sociopolitical contexts into which international students acculturate.