Emotional State Research Articles

An emotional perspective on the Multiple Streams Framework

AbstractEmotions are central to human behavior and, consequently, play a significant role in policymaking. While the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) incorporates the notion of “public mood” into the political stream, this concept primarily focuses on a fleeting, less intense, and diffuse emotional state that is not necessarily linked to a specific triggering event or policy‐related object. To address this limitation, the current article draws on robust findings from political psychology, viewing and interpreting the MSF through an emotional lens. It investigates the intersections between emotions, on the one hand, and the assumptions and structural elements of the MSF, on the other, by sharpening existing concepts—such as the emotional agenda (policy) window, emotional decision window, and emotional policy entrepreneurs—to examine emotionality in policy dynamics. It concludes by discussing how an emotional perspective on the MSF can help scholars generate nuanced hypotheses, overcome the MSF's metaphorical language, and gauge when policy may be in search of a rationale.

Design and Development of an Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Game With Biofeedback for Physiological Regulation: Alice, Beyond Reality

The adolescence period is characterized by significant changes in individuals' lives, which can lead to various emotional and behavioural problems. Therefore, it is important for young adults to have tools for self-regulation, understanding, and controlling their physiological symptoms. Integrating these tools as gamified elements into new technologies is a way to engage a younger audience. In recent years, the effectiveness of immersive Virtual Reality has been repeatedly demonstrated in fields such as Psychology and Education. The combination of this technology with biosensors enables individuals to be aware of their real-time physiological states. This physiological monitoring can lead to adaptations in applications based on the individual's emotional state, for example. This work describes the design and development of an immersive Virtual Reality game whose main interaction is through biofeedback. The game is called "Alice, Beyond Reality", and its objective is to help young adults learn to self-regulate their physiological responses. The game draws inspiration from the well-known story of "Alice in Wonderland". In this story, the Queen of Hearts has transformed all the characters into cards, and the players must help them escape before it's too late. To achieve this, the players are guided by the White Rabbit through different levels where interaction through physiology is key. For instance, the players must learn to increase and decrease their heart rate to solve puzzles that allow them to progress to the next level. Throughout the game, gamification elements such as points, progressive difficulty, and various challenges are included to motivate the players to continue advancing in the game. Through the biofeedback system, the players become aware of their physiological changes to control them voluntarily. In the final screen, the players are shown their progression throughout the game so they can recognize their evolution. In the near future, an initial validation with users will be conducted to assess the usability and functionality of the game.

Kappa-opioid receptor blockade in the inferior colliculus of prey threatened by pit vipers decreases anxiety and panic-like behaviour.

The dorsal midbrain comprises dorsal columns of the periaqueductal grey matter and corpora quadrigemina. These structures are rich in beta-endorphinergic and leu-enkephalinergic neurons and receive GABAergic inputs from substantia nigra pars reticulata. Although the inferior colliculus (IC) is mainly involved in the acoustic pathways, the electrical and chemical stimulation of central and pericentral nuclei of the IC elicits a vigorous defensive behaviour. The defensive immobility and escape elicited by IC activation is commonly related to panic-like emotional states. To investigate the role of κ-opioid receptor of the IC in the antiaversive effects of endogenous opioid receptor blockade in a dangerous situation, male Wistar rats were pretreated in the IC with the κ-opioid receptor-selective antagonist nor-binaltorphimine at different concentrations and submitted to the non-enriched polygonal arena for a snake panic test in the presence of a rattlesnake and, after 24 h, prey were resubmitted to the experimental context. The snakes elicited in prey a set of antipredatory behaviours, such as the anxiety-like responses of defensive attention and risk assessment, and the panic-like reactions of defensive immobility and either escape or active avoidance during the elaboration of unconditioned and conditioned fear-related responses. Pretreatment of the IC with microinjections of nor-binaltorphimine at higher concentrations significantly decreased the frequency and duration of both anxiety- and panic-attack-like behaviours. These findings suggest that κ-opioid receptor blockade in the IC causes anxiolytic- and panicolytic-like responses in threatening conditions, and that kappa-opioid receptor-selective antagonists can be a putative coadjutant treatment for panic syndrome treatment.

Disentangling three valence-related dimensions of emotion valuation: The good, the pleasant, and the desirable.

People place value on emotion categories that inform which emotions to cultivate and which to regulate in life. Here, we examined how people's beliefs about emotion categories varied along three valence-related dimensions: evaluation (good, bad), hedonic feeling (pleasure, displeasure), and desirability (want to feel, do not want to feel). In Studies 1A and 1B, we found that evaluative (good/bad) and hedonic (pleasant/unpleasant) ratings were distinct for certain emotions including lust, anger, shame, fear, and guilt. In Study 2, we found that emotion valuation depended on cultural background in a sample of Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans. Overall, Asian American participants evaluated certain emotions (including, but not limited to, anger, sadness, guilt, and shame) more positively than Caucasian American participants, and this difference was more pronounced on the evaluative rating dimension. Finally, in Study 3, we examined how evaluative and hedonic dimensions further relate with the desire to experience certain emotions and the emotions that people believe they feel in everyday life. Our findings support a model in which evaluative and hedonic dimensions of emotion valuation predict desired emotional states, which in turn predicts beliefs about the reported frequency of emotions experienced in everyday life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

CORRELATION BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL PARAMETERS SUCH AS DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, AND STRESS AND AFFECT SCORE AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS

Objectives: In the modern era, internet use has turned out to be a significant arena for day-to-day life activities. Proper use of the internet is harmless, but misuse of this tool might lead to disruptions in psychological health and social relationships, yet available reports about the association between internet use and affect are inconsistent. Hence, the objective is to assess and correlate the psychological parameters with the affect score among medical college students using the depression anxiety stress scale (DASS)-21 questionnaire and positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS) scale. Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted on medical students in the age group of 17–22 years. 150 participants were recruited by random sampling. DASS-21 scale was used to assess depression, anxiety, and stress, consisting of 21 items designed to measure emotional states of depression, anxiety, and stress. PANAS is designed to assess individuals’ positive and negative moods. Results: Pearson’s correlation of these psychological parameters with affect scores had a significant negative correlation with the positive affect score (depression [p=0.003], anxiety [p=0.01], and stress [p<0.04]) and a significant positive correlation with negative affect score (depression [p<0.02], anxiety [p=0.0009], and stress [p=0.01]). Students should be closely monitored with regard to their use of the internet, and also, internet addiction and psychological behaviors can be reduced by providing early counseling and interventional therapy. Conclusion: Awareness about the harmful effects of excessive internet use should be provided so as to enhance the academic performance of students.

Effects of traditional Chinese medicine on symptoms of patients with spleen and stomach deficiency-related tinnitus.

Tinnitus affects 10%-30% of the population. Recent evidence suggests that tinnitus is associated with spleen deficiency. However, compared with kidney deficiency-related tinnitus, less research has been conducted on the impact of spleen deficiency-related tinnitus. To investigate the clinical efficacy of using Guipi Wan and dietary and lifestyle modification based on traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of patients with spleen and stomach deficiency-related tinnitus. We enrolled 110 patients with spleen and stomach deficiency-related tinnitus who were distributed into treatment (58 cases) and control (52 cases) groups. Tinnitus severity, sleep quality and emotional state were assessed by questionnaires [Tinnitus Evaluation Questionnaire (TEQ); Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21)] that were used for analysis in the two groups during the initial and intervention and after. In the treatment group, patients were treated with oral administration of Guipi Wan and consulted for healthy dietary and lifestyle modification. In the control group, patients were only assessed and not treated. At the end of the 6-months, TEQ scores decreased significantly in the treatment group (P = 0.021) but not in the Control group. Significant effects in the treatment group were noted for PSQI total score (P = 0.043) and several PSQI component scores in the treatment group (P < 0.05). After treatment, the DASS-21 scores were significantly reduced in the treatment group (P < 0.05). Guipi Wan combined with dietary and lifestyle modification based on regulating the spleen and stomach can be considered core to the treatment of tinnitus related to spleen and stomach deficiency.

Impacts of linseed oil diet on anxiety and memory extinction after early life stress: A sex-specific analysis of mitochondrial dysfunction, astrocytic markers, and inflammation in the amygdala

Early exposure to stressors affects how the organism reacts to stimuli, its emotional state throughout life, and how it deals with emotional memories. Consequently, it may affect susceptibility to psychopathology later in life. We used an animal model of early stress by maternal separation to study its potential impact on the extinction of aversive memories and anxiety-like behavior in adulthood, as well as its effects on mitochondrial functionality, inflammatory and astrocytic markers in the amygdala. We also assessed whether a diet enriched with linseed oil, known for its high content in omega-3 fats, could be used to attenuate the behavioral and neurochemical effects of early stress. Litters of Wistar rats were divided into controls (intact) or subjected to maternal separation (MS). They were subdivided into two groups receiving isocaloric diets enriched in soy or linseed oils at weaning. In adulthood, the animals were exposed to the open field and the elevated plus maze, to evaluate exploratory activity and anxiety-like behavior. They were also trained in a context of fear conditioning, and afterward subjected to an extinction session, followed by a test session to evaluate the extinction memory. Amygdalae were evaluated for inflammatory cytokines (interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, and tumor-necrose factor (TNF)-alpha), mitochondrial functionality, and astrocyte markers (glial fibrillary acidic protein − GFAP, S100B, and glutamine synthetase activity). MS induced anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus-maze, which was reversed by a diet enriched in linseed oil offered from weaning. When testing the memory of an extinction session of fear conditioning, MS animals showed more freezing behavior. MS males receiving a linseed oil-enriched diet had lower functional mitochondria in the amygdala. In addition, MS led to increased inflammatory cytokines, particularly IL-1beta, and the diet enriched in linseed oil further increased these levels in MS animals. MS also increased S100B levels. These results point to a higher emotionality presented by MS animals, with higher levels of inflammatory cytokines and S100B. While a diet enriched in linseed oil attenuated anxiety-like behavior, it further altered amygdala IL-1beta and reduced mitochondria functionality, particularly in males. MS also increased glutamine synthetase activity in the amygdala, and this effect was higher when the animals received a diet enriched in linseed oil, particularly in females. In conclusion, these results point to MS effects on emotional behavior, and neurochemical alterations in the amygdala, with sex-specific effects. Although a diet enriched in linseed oil appears to be able to reverse some of MS behavioral effects, these results must be considered with caution, since biochemical parameters could be worsened in MS animals receiving a linseed oil-enriched diet. This knowledge is important for the understanding of mechanisms of action of strategies aiming to reverse early stress effects, and future studies are warranted to determine possible interventions to promote resilience.

Decoding pain: prediction under different emotional contexts through physiological signals

AbstractPain recognition is a challenging yet crucial problem. Common methods used to measure pain are based on self-reported tools; however, not every person can communicate it. Therefore, automatic pain detection methods have emerged. Since pain is related to the emotional state of an individual, this variable must be considered. Thus, this work proposes pain prediction under different emotional contexts. For this purpose, data were collected during a protocol designed for pain induction with previous emotional elicitation. Emotions were elicited through videos composed of excerpts of documentaries, horror and comedy films, while the pain was induced through a Cold Pressor Test. Physiological signals, such as electrocardiogram, electrodermal activity and surface electromyogram, were collected during the protocol. Furthermore, several questionnaires were answered and pain reports were also registered. Two problems were addressed: pain classification and estimation of the Pain Tolerance score. The algorithm with the best performance for each problem was found using only data from the neutral session and nested cross-validation strategy. Using only physiological data from the neutral session, a F1-score of 99.32% was obtained for pain recognition and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.29 was obtained for Pain Tolerance estimation. When considering all the emotional sessions, the physiological data were merged with scores of the Visual Analogue Scale questionnaire, achieving a F1-score of 98.60% and a MAE of 0.41, for the first and second problems, respectively. These results are promising and stress out the key role that the emotional context of the individuals plays in pain prediction.

Establishing the Foundations of Emotional Intelligence in Care Companion Robots to Mitigate Agitation Among High-Risk Patients With Dementia: Protocol for an Empathetic Patient-Robot Interaction Study.

An estimated 6.7 million persons are living with dementia in the United States, a number expected to double by 2060. Persons experiencing moderate to severe dementia are 4 to 5 times more likely to fall than those without dementia, due to agitation and unsteady gait. Socially assistive robots fail to address the changing emotional states associated with agitation, and it is unclear how emotional states change, how they impact agitation and gait over time, and how social robots can best respond by showing empathy. This study aims to design and validate a foundational model of emotional intelligence for empathetic patient-robot interaction that mitigates agitation among those at the highest risk: persons experiencing moderate to severe dementia. A design science approach will be adopted to (1) collect and store granular, personal, and chronological data using Personicle (an open-source software platform developed to automatically collect data from phones and other devices), incorporating real-time visual, audio, and physiological sensing technologies in a simulation laboratory and at board and care facilities; (2) develop statistical models to understand and forecast the emotional state, agitation level, and gait pattern of persons experiencing moderate to severe dementia in real time using machine learning and artificial intelligence and Personicle; (3) design and test an empathy-focused conversation model, focused on storytelling; and (4) test and evaluate this model for a care companion robot (CCR) in the community. The study was funded in October 2023. For aim 1, architecture development for Personicle data collection began with a search for existing open-source data in January 2024. A community advisory board was formed and met in December 2023 to provide feedback on the use of CCRs and provide personal stories. Full institutional review board approval was received in March 2024 to place cameras and CCRs at the sites. In March 2024, atomic marker development was begun. For aim 2, after a review of open-source data on patients with dementia, the development of an emotional classifier was begun. Data labeling was started in April 2024 and completed in June 2024 with ongoing validation. Moreover, the team established a baseline multimodal model trained and validated on healthy-person data sets, using transformer architecture in a semisupervised manner, and later retrained on the labeled data set of patients experiencing moderate to severe dementia. In April 2024, empathy alignment of large language models was initiated using prompt engineering and reinforcement learning. This innovative caregiving approach is designed to recognize the signs of agitation and, upon recognition, intervene with empathetic verbal communication. This proposal has the potential to have a significant impact on an emerging field of computational dementia science by reducing unnecessary agitation and falls of persons experiencing moderate to severe dementia, while reducing caregiver burden. PRR1-10.2196/55761.

Evaluating the Impact of BoNT-A Injections on Facial Expressions: A Deep Learning Analysis.

Botulinum Toxin Type A (BoNT-A) injections are widely used for facial rejuvenation, but their effects on facial expressions remain unclear. This study aims to objectively measure the impact of BoNT-A injections on facial expressions using deep learning techniques. 180 patients aged 25-60 years who underwent BoNT-A application to the upper face were included. Patients were photographed with neutral, happy, surprised, and angry expressions before and 14 days after the procedure. A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based Facial Emotion Recognition (FER) system analyzed 1440 photographs using a hybrid dataset of clinical images and the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) dataset. The CNN model accurately predicted 90.15% of the test images. Significant decreases in the recognition of angry and surprised expressions were observed post-injection (p<0.05), with no significant changes in happy and neutral expressions (p>0.05). Angry expressions were often misclassified as neutral or happy (p<0.05), and surprised expressions were more likely to be perceived as neutral (p<0.05). Deep learning can effectively assess the impact of BoNT-A injections on facial expressions, providing more standardized data than traditional surveys. BoNT-A may reduce the expression of anger and surprise, potentially leading to a more positive facial appearance and emotional state. Further studies are needed to understand the broader implications of these changes.

Empathic pain: Underlying neural mechanism.

Empathy is usually regarded as the ability to perceive the emotional state of others, which is an altruistic motivation to promote prosocial behavior and thus plays a key role in human life and social development. Empathic pain-the capacity to feel and understand the pain of others-constitutes a significant aspect in the study of empathy behaviors. For an extended duration, investigations into empathic pain have predominantly centered on human neuroimaging studies. Fortunately, recent advancements have witnessed the utilization of animal models in the exploration of the fundamental neural underpinnings of empathic pain. There is substantial evidence implicating multiple brain regions and neural networks in the generation and maintenance of empathic pain. Nevertheless, further elucidation of the neural mechanisms underlying empathic pain is warranted. This review provides a concise overview of prior studies on the neural mechanisms of empathic pain, outlining the pertinent brain regions, neural pathways, synaptic mechanisms, and associated molecules while also delving into future prospects.

Unpleasant emotions and task-unrelated thoughts and their associations with amygdala activity during emotional distraction: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Previous emotion regulation studies revealed that emotional distraction decreases unpleasant emotions. This study examined whether distraction tasks decrease unpleasant task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) and unpleasant emotions when recalling stressful daily interpersonal events. Amygdala activity was examined to assess implicit emotional changes using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The behavioral data of 20 university students (mean age: 20.35 ± 1.42 years; range: 18–24 years) and fMRI data of 18 students were examined. As an emotion induction procedure, participants initially freely recalled memories of daily stressful interpersonal events and then responded to a series of questions about their recalled memories presented on a monitor. In the distraction experiment, the questions were re-represented as an emotional stimulation; a distraction task (nonconstant or constant finger tapping) or rest condition was then performed, and ratings were given for attentional state, thought types conceived during the tasks, and emotional state. Decreases in unpleasant emotions and TUTs were defined as distraction effects. We found that unpleasant TUTs decreased in the nonconstant relative to rest condition (p < .05). Furthermore, increased right amygdala activation positively correlated with unpleasant emotions, and bilateral amygdala activation correlated with unpleasant TUTs only in the rest condition, indicating the existence of amygdala activation associated with unpleasant emotions and thoughts. However, such associations were not under nonconstant or constant conditions, indicating distraction effects. Notably, this study showed that emotional distraction can decrease the degree of unpleasant emotions and the occurrence of unpleasant thoughts regarding common daily emotions.

Критериальное поле и диагностические инструменты определения эмоционального благополучия детей дошкольного возраста в семье и образовательной организации

&lt;p&gt;The article is devoted to the important problem of identification of the emotional well-being of preschool children in the family and educational organization. Basing on the analysis of existing approaches to this problem in Russian psychological and pedagogical science, the authors have identified the criteria field of the concept of "emotional well-being", which is a complex level structure of interrelated criteria and indicators: emotional background (manifestation of emotions), the ability to control emotions (emotional stability) and emotional perception of situations (emotional attitude to situations and events). Such manifestations in the behavior and activities of a child, depending on the conditions of his life in a family or educational organization, are negative or positive. The complexity of the concept of "emotional well-being" and the criteria field of its identification in childhood requires an integrated approach to the development of diagnostic tools. The authors announced a developed set of diagnostic tools, which includes methods that allow to record external indicators of the emotional state of a child, to identify the child's internal emotional attitude to current or predicted events, as well as to obtain an external indirect assessment of the child's subjective state and the child's subjective attitude to situations in the family and educational organization. It is noted that the announced methods can be used in the practice of preschool education in order to support psychological and pedagogical development of preschool children including various target groups, as well as in the targeted psychological assistance of families with preschool children.&lt;/p&gt;

Clinical efficacy of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound in Parkinson's disease with cognitive impairment.

Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS), is a new technique for invasive brain stimulation and modulation that has emerged recently, but the effects in Parkinson's disease with cognitive impairment (PD-CI) have been less observed. In this study, we collected 56 patients with PD-CI who were continuously treated with LIPUS for 8 weeks, and observed the clinical efficacy of LIPUS on PD-CI patients by comparing with the Sham stimulation continuous treatment. Fifty-six PD-CI patients were divided into the Sham group (given Sham stimulation on top of conventional medication, n = 28) and the LIPUS group (given LIPUS stimulation on top of conventional medication, n = 28), and both groups continued treatment for 8 weeks. Post-treatment efficacy and pre- and post-treatment cognitive function [Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)], emotional state [Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)], quality of life [Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39)], and serologic indices [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE), and dopamine (DA)] were compared. The total effective rate of the LIPUS group was higher versus that of the Sham group. In both groups, MMSE and MoCA scores increased; BDI and BAI scores decreased; UPDRS and PDQ-39 scores were reduced; the levels of 5-HT, NE, and DA were elevated. The above changes were more pronounced in the LIPUS group (all P < 0.05). The application of LIPUS on PD-CI could ameliorate patients' cognitive function, emotional state and quality of life, and regulate and optimize neurotransmitter expression levels.

Role of Emotional Intelligence on Employee Performance in Selected Public Sector Banks in Madhya Pradesh State (Jabalpur Region)

In the wake of a seemingly rigorous recruitment process in the banking industry, where candidates' intelligence level appears to be more important than their emotional state, this study investigated how employees' emotional intelligence is related with job performance in selected banks in Madhya Pradesh state. Emotional intelligence was categorized by empathy, while employee performance was categorized by employee turnover. This study used a correlational research design. Three banks from the state of Madhya Pradesh have been selected for coverage. Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used for data analysis. The results revealed that empathy has a strong negative relationship with employee turnover. It is recommended that management implement policies that both ensure the employment of emotionally intelligent employees and create opportunities within the organization that improve employee relations and employee performance to reduce employee turnover.

Prenatal Telepsychological Intervention for Preventing Anxiety: A Study Protocol.

Background: Anxiety is one of the most frequent disorders during the perinatal stage that is associated with adverse health effects in women and their babies. In spite of this, preventive interventions during this stage are scarce. A long-distance intervention carried out during pregnancy can be an effective and accessible resource to help improve women's emotional state. The objective of this study is to present and assess the effectiveness of a telepsychology cognitive-behavioral preventive intervention during pregnancy to manage anxiety. Methods: A random clinical trial will be carried out among pregnant women in Spain. The psychological intervention will take place via videoconference in seven weekly sessions, lasting one hour each, with groups of 6-8 pregnant women. Study outcomes will be collected via online questionnaires at five points in time: pre-intervention (baseline: t0), post-intervention (baseline: t1), follow-up at 1 month (t2), follow-up at 3 months (t3) and follow-up at 6 months (t4). The control group will receive usual pregnancy care (attendance at pregnancy follow-up consultations and information and answers to frequently asked questions provided by the midwife). Our primary hypothesis is that the intervention will decrease the frequency of women who present anxious symptomatology during pregnancy. The second objective is to analyze the effectiveness of this intervention to prevent depressive symptomatology during pregnancy, as well as postpartum anxiety and depressive symptomatology. The primary outcome measure is the difference in the mean anxiety score between the intervention and control groups assessed by the Edinburgh Depression Scale-Anxiety Subscale (EDS-3A), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7) at the end of the intervention and at 1, 3 and 6 months postpartum. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) will be evaluated with the SCID clinical interview at the same time points. The secondary outcome will be determined by using the EPDS at the same time points. Conclusions: The results will determine whether a cognitive behavioral therapy applied via videoconference is well accepted by pregnant women, and if it is effective in preventing anxiety and emotional symptoms during the perinatal stage. If this intervention is an effective and useful resource among pregnant women, it can be implemented as a tool in Spanish healthcare.

Young children's perceptions and experiences of school readiness during the transition from preschool to primary school in China

AbstractSchool readiness has a profound educational value for children's positive adjustment to primary school and holistic development. However, little research sufficiently addresses how young children view multifaceted components of learning, such as cognitive, affective and behavioural experiences on school readiness. A timely understanding of children's perceptions and experiences is crucial to shed light on how to promote transition and improve children's school readiness. This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of 41 children in China (5–6 years of age, 23 girls) regarding their school readiness based on Mosaic approach methods. The results indicated that young children have their own unique perceptions, emotional and behavioural experiences of school readiness. The perceptions of school readiness include four aspects of material supplies, subjects knowledge, interests and specialties and behavioural habits, which has similarities to that of adults in aspects of academic knowledge and social rules. Nevertheless, findings revealed young children view interests and strengths as important part of school readiness, reflecting their personal preferences and abilities. The emotional experiences could be considered positive or negative, with positive emotional experiences expressing children's curiosity and expectation, fulfilment and pleasure, and negative emotional experiences expressing academic burden, rules pressure and social worries, which need to be addressed. Young children's behavioural experiences with school readiness present two patterns of passive acceptance and active participation, they are eager to participate in activities and have a strong desire to explore and learn. Our findings extend beyond existing conception of school readiness, and give greater weight to children's interests and strengths, positive experiences and active participation. It is important to focus on children's intrinsic interests and strengths, accept children's ideas and choices, care for their emotional state and provide positive support.

Explaining maternal antenatal attachment by psychological, clinical and sociodemographic factors: a path analysis study

BackgroundAntenatal attachment is a fundamental concept relative to human transition to parenthood and may be influenced by several factors. The aim of this study is to find the best model to explain maternal antenatal attachment based on the interaction among sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological variables.MethodsPregnant women (N = 407) were interviewed during the second trimester of pregnancy while waiting for medical consultations. A sociodemographic, obstetric, and psychometric protocol was used. Statistical analyses: path analysis. Independent variables: psychopathological symptomatology, depression, anxiety, stress, occupational stress, attitudes about pregnancy and motherhood, coping styles, marital satisfaction, sociodemographic, and clinical variables. Dependent variables: maternal antenatal attachment in its several dimensions; quality of attachment (QA), intensity of preoccupation (IP), and global attachment (GA).ResultsDepression, anxiety, attitudes, and marital satisfaction explained 37% of maternal antenatal QA. Age, depression, anxiety, attitudes, and marital satisfaction explained 26% of maternal antenatal IP. Age, depression, anxiety, attitudes, and marital satisfaction explained 34% of the statistical variance of maternal antenatal GA.ConclusionsFactors like emotional states (depression and anxiety), attitudes towards pregnancy and motherhood, marital satisfaction, and a sociodemographic variable (age) contribute significantly for the explanation of maternal antenatal attachment.

Temporal Changes in Depressive Symptoms Among Goodville Farm Game Players: A 6-Week Observational Study.

Aim of the Study: The primary objective was to evaluate the potential impact of the Goodville farm game on depressive symptoms. Methods: The Goodville game, characterized by its unique farming features, incorporates elements of emotional well-being and various mental health assessment tools, enabling players to monitor and improve their emotional state. Using self-reported Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) data from 1717 US and UK players, changes were monitored weekly over a 6-week period. The study focused on the game's ability to integrate emotional well-being elements and various mental health assessments to facilitate self-monitoring and improvement of players' emotional states. Results: There was a significant overall time effect (F = 154.498, df = 1711, P < 0.001), indicating a moderate-to-large effect size, with progressive decreases in PHQ-8 scores throughout the period. About 60% of players reported reduced depressive symptom severity, with around 35% experiencing complete symptom relief. More significant improvements were observed in players with higher initial severity. No correlations were found between symptom changes and demographic data or the number of active playing days. Conclusion: Goodville demonstrates potential as a digital mental health intervention in reducing depressive symptoms through its specific characteristics designed to improve emotional well-being. The study emphasizes the need to consider baseline severity and highlights the therapeutic promise of authentic farming game features. Despite the absence of a control group, the findings contribute meaningful insights into digital interventions for mental health care and set a direction for future studies to validate and expand upon these results.

Mental, emotional and social dimensions of quality of life and their relationship with physical and functional status in adults with haemophilia

IntroductionA comprehensive treatment for patients with haemophilia (PwH) should focus on how the disease interferes with their mental, emotional and social environment to analyse if all the therapeutic efforts invested in their physical status have positive impact on a life worth living. AimTo analyse the correlation between the physical status of a cohort of adults with haemophilia and their mental, emotional and social states regarding their treatment modality; Also, to investigate which variables are most related to quality of life (QoL), joint health and emotional, mental and social states. MethodsIn this cross-sectional, 102 adults with haemophilia divided into a prophylactic group (G1, n = 77) and on-demand group (G2, n = 25) were included. Demographic and clinical characteristics, health joint (HJHS), presence of synovitis with ultrasound, self-perceived functionality (HAL) and QoL (A36-HaemoQoL), were analysed. ResultsIn G1 all the variables that defined the physical status correlated (rho: 0.33 to 0.72) to the mental and social spheres. The emotional state correlated with the self-perceived ones. In G2 physical status did not correlate with the three states. According to the regression models, HAL was the variable that most influenced the QoL (together with the bleedings in the last year, R2 = 0.61), emotional (R2 = 0.16), mental (together with HJHS, R2 = 0.41) and social states (R2 = 0.39). In addition, the HJHS was influenced by synovitis, HAL, mental health, age and the bleeding history (R2 = 0.83). ConclusionEmotional, mental and social states of PwH in prophylaxis are correlated to their physical status, being the self-perceived functionality the variable that most influenced in their QoL.