Changes In Interpersonal Behavior Research Articles

Effect of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Behavior Change Strategies on Physical Activity Among Older Adults

Despite guidelines that recommend physical activity (PA), little is known about which types of behavior change strategies (BCSs) effectively promote sustained increases in PA in older adults who are insufficiently active. To determine whether intrapersonal BCSs (eg, goal setting) or interpersonal BCSs (eg, peer-to-peer sharing or learning) combined with the Otago Exercise Program (17 strength and balance exercises and a walking program that are learned and individually tailored, with instruction to perform 3 times per week at home or location of choice) and a wearable PA monitor help older adults sustain increases in their PA. This 2 × 2 factorial randomized clinical trial (Community-Based Intervention Effects on Older Adults' Physical Activity) of community-dwelling older adults 70 years or older with PA levels below minimum national PA guidelines was conducted in urban community centers. Dates of enrollment were from November 17, 2017, to June 15, 2021, with final follow-up assessments completed on September 2, 2022. Participants were randomized to intrapersonal (eg, goal setting) BCSs, interpersonal (eg, problem-solving with peer-to-peer sharing and learning) BCSs, intrapersonal and interpersonal BCSs, or an attention control group. All interventions included a PA monitor and 8 weekly small-group meetings with discussion, practice, and instructions to implement the exercise program and relevant BCSs independently between meetings and after the intervention. The primary outcome was daily minutes of objectively measured total PA (light, moderate, or vigorous intensities) averaged over 7 to 10 days, measured at baseline and after the intervention at 1 week, 6 months, and 12 months. Among 309 participants (mean [SD] age, 77.4 [5.0] years; 240 women [77.7%]), 305 (98.7%) completed the intervention, and 302 (97.7%) had complete data. Participants receiving PA interventions with interpersonal BCS components exhibited greater increases in total PA than did those who did not at 1 week (204 vs 177 PA minutes per day; adjusted difference, 27.1 [95% CI, 17.2-37.0]; P < .001), 6 months (195 vs 175 PA minutes per day; adjusted difference, 20.8 [95% CI, 10.0-31.6]; P < .001), and 12 months (195 vs 168 PA minutes per day; adjusted difference, 27.5 [95% CI, 16.2-38.8]; P < .001) after the intervention. Compared with participants who did not receive interventions with intrapersonal BCS components, participants who received intrapersonal BCSs exhibited no significant changes in total PA at 1 week (192 vs 190 PA minutes per day; adjusted difference, 1.8 [95% CI, -8.6 to 12.2]; P = .73), 6 months (183 vs 187 PA minutes per day; adjusted difference, -3.9 [95% CI, -15.0 to 7.1]; P = .49), or 12 months (177 vs 186 PA minutes per day; adjusted difference, -8.8 [95% CI, -20.5 to 2.9]; P = .14) after the intervention. Interactions between intrapersonal and interpersonal BCSs were not significant. In this randomized clinical trial, older adults with low levels of PA who received interpersonal BCSs, the exercise program, and a PA monitor exhibited significant increases in their PA for up to 12 months after the intervention. Intrapersonal BCSs elicited no significant PA changes and did not interact with interpersonal BCSs. Our findings suggest that because effects of a PA intervention on sustained increases in older adults' PA were augmented with interpersonal but not intrapersonal BCSs, approaches to disseminating and implementing the intervention should be considered. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03326141.

Perceived effects of drama therapy in people diagnosed with personality disorders: A qualitative study

Arts and psychomotor therapies are often part of the multidisciplinary treatment for people diagnosed with Personality Disorders (PDs). Drama therapy is aimed at promoting emotion regulation and strengthening of interpersonal skills. The added value of drama therapy has not been sufficiently examined and available studies only provide indirect client reports. Hence, we focus on what people with PDs perceive as effects of drama therapy. This qualitative study followed the Grounded Theory Approach utilising indepth, semi-structured interviews in a natural drama therapy context. Interviews were held with 19 people diagnosed with PDs, who were purposefully sampled. They were recruited from five treatment centres, with five drama therapists involved. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a three-step approach: open, axial, and selective coding. Open coding resulted in 93 codes. In the coding process, four overarching themes came to the fore: allowing playfulness and its inherent benefits, connecting the inner and outer emotional world, understanding of maladaptive coping styles, and intrapersonal and interpersonal behavior change. The perceived effects as reported by people diagnosed with PDs provide information about what drama therapy means to them, in their daily lives and which aspects of the treatment were most valuable to them. This study contributes to the necessary underpinning of drama therapy.

Integrating Preconception Health into Routine Reproductive Health Services of Ghana: A Qualitative Study Among University Students.

Objective: The preconception health (PCH) strategy provides a unique opportunity to reduce risk factors for adverse reproductive outcomes before pregnancy. However, many reproductive-aged individuals continue to miss opportunities to improve their health before pregnancy occurs. This study, qualitatively explored strategies required for integrating PCH promotion interventions into routine reproductive health services from university students’ perspectives. Materials and methods: We conducted eight mixed-gender focus group discussions (FGDs) with students in eight schools and faculties in the University from March 2019 to June 2019. Audio-taped data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed manually using inductive content analysis. Results: Three major themes emerged from the analysis of transcripts: interpersonal behavior change strategies, institutional policy directives, public policy interventions, and three main categories with eight sub-categories. The study showed that PCH promotion awareness campaigns, context-relevant service delivery initiatives, institutional and public policy directives are critical approaches for the delivery and uptake of PCH interventions. Participants also recommended prepayment schemes, walk-in services, mobile PCH clinics, and PCH incorporation into university curricula as context-specific strategies for PCH promotion among university students. Conclusion: PCH promotion could be feasible as an integral component of routine reproductive health services for university students. However, multi-level interventions at the student, health service, and institutional levels are necessary to increase awareness and facilitate the request and delivery of PCH services.

Taekwondo Fighting in Training Does Not Simulate the Affective and Cognitive Demands of Competition: Implications for Behavior and Transfer.

Enhancing practice design is critical to facilitate transfer of learning. Considerable research has focused on the role of perceptual information in practice simulation, yet has neglected how affect and cognition are shaped by practice environments and whether this influences the fidelity of behavior (Headrick et al., 2015). This study filled this gap by examining the fidelity of individual (cognition, affect, and actions) and interpersonal behavior of 10 highly skilled Australian Taekwondo athletes fighting in training compared to competition. Interpersonal behavior was assessed by tracking location coordinates to analyze distance-time coordination tendencies of the fighter–fighter system. Individual actions were assessed through notational analysis and approximate entropy calculations of coordinate data to quantify the (un)predictability of movement displacement. Affect and cognition were assessed with mixed-methods that included perceptual scales measuring anxiety, arousal, and mental effort, and post-fight video-facilitated confrontational interviews to explore how affect and cognitions might differ. Quantitative differences were assessed with mixed models and dependent t-tests. Results reveal that individual and interpersonal behavior differed between training and competition. In training, individuals attacked less (d = 0.81, p < 0.05), initiated attacks from further away (d = -0.20, p < 0.05) and displayed more predictable movement trajectories (d = 0.84, p < 0.05). In training, fighters had lower anxiety (d = -1.26, p < 0.05), arousal (d = -1.07, p < 0.05), and mental effort (d = -0.77, p < 0.05). These results were accompanied by changes in interpersonal behavior, with larger interpersonal distances generated by the fighter–fighter system in training (d = 0.80, p < 0.05). Qualitative data revealed the emergence of cognitions and affect specific to the training environment, such as reductions in pressure, arousal, and mental challenge. Findings highlight the specificity of performer–environment interactions. Fighting in training affords reduced affective and cognitive demands and a decrease in action fidelity compared to competition. In addition to sampling information, representative practice needs to consider modeling the cognitions and affect of competition to enhance transfer.

Functional Analytic Psychotherapy for Nursing Home Residents: A Single-Subject Investigation of Session-by-Session Changes

Nursing home settings contain unique environmental factors that may promote the acquisition and maintenance of problematic interpersonal behaviors. Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) is a contextually-based behavior therapy that can be used to modify problematic interpersonal behaviors via carefully provided and contingent in-session responses of the therapist to client behaviors. Thus, FAP would appear to be a particularly well-suited intervention approach for nursing home residents. To date, the effects of FAP have not been reported for nursing home residents. The current single case study assessed the effects of FAP on three nursing home residents using a single-subject AB design. The AB design consisted of a 2-weeks baseline phase followed by a 4-week FAP treatment phase. The nursing home residents completed pre-treatment and post-treatment measures of interpersonal relating. Client interpersonal behaviors were also recorded during each session and coded into two categories: Maladaptive in-session behaviors and adaptive in-session behaviors. Using the reliable change index and Swanson’s dsw to evaluate questionnaire outcomes, results indicated that all three participants reported a significant change in interpersonal functioning. Analysis of in-session behavior indicated that there were significant decreases in maladaptive behaviors and an increase in adaptive behaviors for two clients. Finally, observed in-session behavior changes were congruent with self-reported changes in interpersonal behavior. These results indicate that FAP was an effective intervention for these nursing home residents.

From symptom relief to interpersonal change: Treatment outcome and effectiveness in inpatient psychotherapy

This study evaluated the impact of psychodynamic inpatient psychotherapy on patients’ psychological distress and interpersonal problems during the course of treatment and 1 year later. A total of 156 patients were assessed with the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems at intake, 4 weeks later, and at the end of therapy. The follow-up assessment was conducted 1 year later. Results support psychodynamic approaches as well as the phase model, which stresses that the goals to be achieved by psychotherapeutic interventions are not only improvement of well-being and symptoms but also changes in interpersonal behavior. Consequently, on a long-term basis, the first 4 weeks of therapy seem to be insufficient, especially for adequate changes on the interpersonal level.

Empowerment in a Religious Setting

Abstract This study examines the correlates and contexts of empowerment among members of a Christian, nondenominational religious setting. The research approach combines participant-observation and measurement development methodology to capture the empowering aspects of religious experience in a form which lends itself to quantitative analysis, without excessive loss of the phenomenological meaning ofthat experience. The criterion of empowerment is progress toward a salient goal of members-interpersonal behavior change in the direction of group ideals (i.e., in the direction of becoming more like Jesus). Present and retrospective past measurement of perceived interpersonal behavior yielded eight predictor variables from member peer, self-report, and interviewer sources. These variables include religious orientation, locus of control. spiritual experience, group involvement, and religious history. The relationship of the predictors to interpersonal behavior change was assessed in canonical correlation anal...

A Mother‐Instruction Program: Analysis of Intervention Procedures

A variety of techniques have been used to train parents as therapists, and while many research efforts have produced carefully controlled studies documenting behavior change, few have analyzed in detail the procedures used to produce the change. As part of a larger research program aimed at teaching mothers to alter their interaction with their children, detailed analysis of the intervention procedures was carried out. These procedures consisted of instructions given to the mothers via a “bug‐in‐the‐ear” device while they were actively engaged in interaction with their children. Instructions were categorized according to two principles: (a) the type of statements made to mothers; and (b) the kinds of behaviors we were encouraging mothers to exhibit. Results show that the amount of interpersonal behavior change was not related to intervention statements. Intervention statements were related to specific problem behaviors indicated by mothers at inital contact, and to the age of the child. Behavior change tended to be related to the number of problem behaviors indicated by mothers but not to any one specific behavior problem. Several issues raised by this study are discussed.

Group therapy in a methadone treatment program: an evaluation of changes in interpersonal behavior.

(1973). Group Therapy in a Methadone Treatment Program: An Evaluation of Changes in Interpersonal Behavior. International Journal of the Addictions: Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 33-39.

Research on Human Relations Training: Design and Interpretation

The measurement of processes of learning and the evaluation of the outcomes of the teaching-learning process have always posed major problems in research design. This is especially true where the desired outcomes are broadly defined as changes in interpersonal behavior: a complex of knowledge, values, perceptions, and behavioral skills. One purpose of this paper is to provide investigators with a review of the methodological problems involved in planning and conducting such studies. Unlike much research in the behavioral sciences which is primarily intelligible and of interest only to other researchers, research on human relations training is frequently written for and read by administrators and practitioners who may base action decisions on the findings. Their need is for guidelines which will aid them in evaluating the soundness of research reports and their applicability to practical decisions on the planning and conduct of training. This paper is equally addressed, then, to the creators and consumers of research on human relations training. The examples and references in this paper will be drawn from the literature on "sensitivity training," or human relations training, by laboratory methods. These problems, however, are general to research on human relations training, not specific to sensitivity training as a special method. The discussion should be of utility to those who conduct or interpret research on any of the various techniques of human relations education.