General Emotional Functioning Research Articles

2172-PUB: Factors Influencing Parent Emotional Functioning after Young Child’s Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis

Introduction: Young child type 1 diabetes (YC-T1D) diagnosis can cause significant stress. While rates of increased depression have been documented, less is known about parent general emotional functioning (EF). This study aims to evaluate four hypothesized domains that may be related to parents’ EF: family characteristics, diabetes health characteristics, family protective factors (PF), and diabetes-specific functioning. Method: 157 newly diagnosed YC-T1D (M age=4.43±1.67; M days post diagnosis =28.78±15.10) and their primary caregivers (72% Caucasian, 90% female) were assessed for an RCT evaluating a behavioral intervention. Medical data were extracted from the EHR. Parents completed a psychosocial battery at baseline; selected measures were identified to explore hypothesized domains associated with parents’ EF: family characteristics (Race), PF (Protective Factors Survey, Social Support), diabetes-specific functioning (Self-Efficacy for Diabetes-Parent) and parent EF (Perceived Stress Scale). Results: Table 1 presents findings from regression analyses. Conclusion: Preliminary findings demonstrate associations among family characteristics, PF, and diabetes-specific functioning with parent EF. Results provide initial support for a broader model, which may incorporate additional variables; future research may examine a broader model over the first year after diagnosis. Disclosure C. Tully: None. M.E. Hilliard: None. M. Monaghan: Research Support; Self; American Diabetes Association. J. Wang: None. R. Streisand: None. Funding National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK102561)

Emotion and dissociative seizures: A phenomenological analysis of patients' perspectives.

Quantitative research has indicated that patients with dissociative seizures (DS) show altered responses to emotional stimuli, in addition to considerable emotional distress and dysregulation. The present study sought to further explore emotional processes in this population, to extend previous findings, and to provide a phenomenological insight into patients' perspectives on these issues. Semistructured interviews were carried out with 15 patients with DS, and the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) were adopted in data analysis. Key themes elicited included: i) general emotional functioning; ii) adverse (stressful/traumatic) life experiences; iii) the role of emotions in DS; iv) relating to others; and v) resilience, protective factors, and coping mechanisms. The clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.

Psychological functioning of people living with chronic pain: a meta-analytic review.

Chronic pain (CP; >3 months) is a common condition that is associated with significant psychological problems. Many people with CP do not fit into discrete diagnostic categories, limiting the applicability of research that is specific to a particular pain diagnosis. This meta-analysis synthesized the large extant literature from a general CP, rather than diagnosis-specific, perspective to systematically identify and compare the psychological problems most commonly associated with CP. Four databases were searched from inception to December 2013 (PsychINFO, The Cochrane Library, Scopus, and PubMed) for studies comparing the psychological functioning of adults with CP to healthy controls. Data from 110 studies were meta-analysed and Cohen's d effect sizes calculated. The CP group reported experiencing significant problems in a range of psychological domains (depression, anxiety, somatization, anger/hostility, self-efficacy, self-esteem and general emotional functioning), with the largest effects observed for pain anxiety/concern and somatization; followed by anxiety and self-efficacy; and then depression, anger/hostility, self-esteem and general emotional functioning. This study demonstrates, for the first time, that individuals with CP are more likely to experience physically focussed psychological problems than other psychological problems and that, unlike self-efficacy, fear of pain is intrinsically tied to the CP experience. This challenges the prevailing view that, for individuals with CP, problems with depression are either equal to, or greater than, problems with anxiety, thereby providing important information to guide therapeutic targets. Positive clinical implications: This is the first time that the CP literature has been synthesized from a general perspective to examine psychological functioning in the presence of CP and provide practical recommendations for assessment and therapy. Individuals with CP were most likely to experience psychological problems in physically focussed areas - namely pain anxiety/concern and somatization. Although fear of pain was intrinsically tied to the CP experience, self-efficacy was not. CP was more strongly associated with anxiety than with depression. Limitations The study focuses on the general CP literature, adults and research-utilizing self-report measures. Meta-analyses are limited by the empirical literature on which they are based.

Factors associated with the participation of children with complex communication needs

The aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary analysis of relations between child and environmental variables, including factors related to communication aid provision, and participation in informal everyday activities in a sample of children with complex communication needs.Ninety-seven caregivers of children provided with communication aids responded to a questionnaire survey. Child variables assessed were level of ability, trait emotional self-efficacy, and competence in communication aid use. Environmental variables assessed were the impact of childhood disability on the family, family socio-economic category, perceived reliability of electronic communication aids provided to children, and ease of use of the aid. The outcome measure was the intensity of child participation in informal activities.Significant correlations were observed between participation scores and the following variables: child age, level of ability, trait emotional self-efficacy, and family impact of childhood disability. Regression analyses highlighted trait emotional self-efficacy and, to a lesser degree, family impact of childhood disability as the strongest potential predictors of participation.While aspects of child personality may be difficult to disentangle from behaviours related to disability type or developmental age, this research highlights a clinical requirement to assess systematically child behaviours relating to their general emotional functioning.