Measures Of Beliefs Research Articles

A Four Element-Themed Self-Selecting Mobile Application for ESP Testing

A new computerized test for ‘extrasensory perception’ (ESP) is designed for use in everyday environments and draws on principles in occultism to promote better results. Results suggest that induction techniques and focus contribute to ESP trial success, but are in need of larger sample replication.
 Abstract
 The current study engaged in a pilot data analysis for the purpose of examining a newly developed E (Element)-PSI application which was completed in varying real life environments while reporting information about their location, mood, and focus on the ESP task. In addition, participants completed an ESP induction task, and trait measures of Transliminality, Paranormal Belief, and paranormal experience as measured by the Survey of Strange Events. A total of 44 participants from the United States completed the study as part of an initial registration process for an ongoing experiment. Results indicate small, but non-significant effects due to sample size in terms of the induction process and focus on the ESP task towards positive increases in ESP hit rates. Implications from this research in terms of cultural, trait, and contextual variables contributing to ESP success rates are discussed in terms of using these findings towards formal large sample replication.

Psychometric Properties of the Italian Version of the Emiq-Hp (Exercise in Mental Illness Questionnaire-Health Professionals Version) to Investigate the Views of Health Professionals Regarding Exercise for Treatment of Mental Illness.

People with mental illness experience a significantly increased mortality rate, partly attributable to high rates of premature metabolic disease. Exercise is increasingly recognized as an evidence-based component of treatment for improving both physical and mental illness. Ensuring health care staff have the necessary competence to support and promote exercise is critical to successful implementation. The Exercise in Mental Illness Questionnaire-Health Professionals Version (EMIQ-HP) was developed to determine the knowledge, attitudes, barriers, and behaviors of health practitioners regarding the role of exercise in the treatment for mental illness. This study aimed to translate and validate the questionnaire into Italian language (EMIQ-HP-IT) and to determine its test-retest reliability. The questionnaire was translated from English to Italian then back translated using an established protocol. To determine the test-retest reliability of the EMIQ-HP-IT, mental health professionals from an Italian psychiatric hospital completed the questionnaire on two separate occasions, seven days apart. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated for each item. Twenty-five mental health professionals (4 psychiatrists, 9 psychologists, 10 nurses and 2 exercise specialists) completed the EMIQ-HP-IT. Except for two items, ICCs ranged from 0.48 to 0.92. The test-retest reliability of the EMIQ-HP-IT demonstrated comparable results to the English version. The EMIQ-HP-IT is a reliable measure of practitioners' knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors regarding exercise interventions for people with mental illness.

Evaluation of court-initiated randomized controlled trial of online parent programs for divorcing and separating parents.

We conducted an evaluation of a court-initiated randomized controlled trial comparing outcomes for parents assigned to either a no-program control group or one of two online parenting programs-Two Families Now (TFN) or Children in Between (CIB)-among 221 parents in initial divorce or separation court cases. We gathered parent report measures of family functioning at study entry, completion of program, and 1-year following study entry. We also gathered and coded court records to capture the content of the document resolving issues and occurrence of relitigation in the following year. All findings became statistically nonsignificant when a Bonferroni correction was employed. Before correction, however, a few statistically significant differences between groups emerged. Immediately following program completion, there were no study condition differences on measures of parental beliefs and intentions regarding parenting. One year following study entry, three statistically significant differences between program and no-program conditions emerged. Those assigned to a program reported significantly less intimate partner abuse and had less relitigation in court than those in the no-program condition, both with small effect sizes. Contrary to hypotheses, parents assigned to a program reported less social support than parents in the no-program condition. Overall, the findings do not provide strong support for the two investigated brief online parenting programs, demonstrating the need for continued rigorous evaluation of online parenting programs for divorcing and separating parents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Political views, health literacy, and COVID-19 beliefs and behaviors: A moderated mediation model

RationaleMitigating the spread of COVID-19 requires that people understand the need for and engage in protective behaviors. Given the complexity and rapid progression of media information about the pandemic, health literacy could be essential to acquiring the accurate beliefs, concern for societal risks, and appreciation of restrictive policies needed to motivate these behaviors. Yet with the increasingly politicized nature of COVID-related issues in the United States, health literacy could be an asset for those with more liberal views but less so for those with more conservative views. ObjectiveThis study tested a hypothesized model proposing that political views moderate the associations of health literacy with COVID-19 protective behaviors as well as the mediational roles of accurate and inaccurate COVID-19 beliefs, concern for society, and governmental control attitudes. MethodsWe surveyed residents in three diverse regions of California in June 2020 (N = 669) and February 2021 (N = 611). Participants completed measures of health literacy, political views, and COVID-19 beliefs and behaviors. ResultsModerated mediational analyses largely supported the proposed model with both samples. Health literacy was associated with more accurate COVID-19 beliefs, less inaccurate COVID-19 beliefs, greater concern for societal risks, more positive attitudes regarding restrictive government control, more protective behavior, less risky behavior, and stronger vaccine intentions; beliefs, concern for society, and governmental control attitudes mediated the health literacy-behavior relationships. As predicted, however, these associations of health literacy with adaptive beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors varied according to political views. The direct and mediated relationships were held for participants with more liberal views and, to a lesser extent, for those with moderate views, but they were weaker or absent for participants with more conservative views. ConclusionsThese findings contribute new evidence of processes linking health literacy with adaptive beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors and how social and political contexts can shape those processes.

Facebook Intervention for Young-Onset Melanoma Survivors and Families: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Individuals diagnosed with melanoma before the age of 40 years (young-onset melanoma survivors) and their first-degree relatives (FDRs) are a growing population at risk for developing recurrent melanoma or new melanomas. Regular surveillance using clinical skin examination (CSE) and skin self-examination (SSE) and engagement in preventive behaviors including sun protection are recommended. Given the growing population of survivors and their families who are at increased risk, it is surprising that no behavioral interventions have been developed and evaluated to improve risk-reduction behaviors. We describe the rationale and methodology for a randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of a Facebook intervention providing information, goal setting, and peer support to increase CSE, SSE, and sun protection for young-onset melanoma survivors and their FDRs. Overall, 577 survivors and 577 FDRs will be randomly assigned to either the Young Melanoma Family Facebook Group or the Melanoma Family Healthy Lifestyle Facebook Group condition. Participants will complete measures of CSE, SSE, and sun protection, and mediator measures of attitudes and beliefs before and after the intervention. The primary aim is to evaluate the impact of the Young Melanoma Family Facebook intervention versus the Melanoma Family Healthy Lifestyle Facebook intervention on CSE, SSE frequency and comprehensiveness, and sun protection among FDRs. The secondary aims examine the efficacy of the Young Melanoma Family Facebook intervention on survivors' SSE frequency and comprehensiveness and sun protection behaviors and mechanisms of intervention efficacy for intervention impact on FDR and survivor outcomes. The exploratory aim is to evaluate the efficacy of the 2 interventions on perceived stress, physical activity, and healthy eating. This project was funded by the National Institutes of Health (R01CA221854). The project began in May 2018, and recruitment started in January 2019. We anticipate completing enrollment by November 2023. Power calculations recommended a sample size of 577 survivors and 577 FDRs. Multilevel modeling treating family as the upper-level sampling unit and individual as the lower-level sampling unit will be the primary data analytic approach. Fixed effect predictors in these models will include condition, role, sex, all 2- and 3-way interactions, and covariates. The Young Melanoma Family Facebook intervention aims to improve primary and secondary skin cancer prevention for young-onset melanoma survivors and their family members. The intervention's delivery via a popular, freely available social media platform increases its impact because of the potential for dissemination in many contexts. If efficacious, this program could be disseminated by dermatologist practices, public health or nonprofit organizations focused on melanoma, and existing melanoma and skin cancer Facebook groups, thereby expanding its reach. This project will produce a content library of posts and a moderation guide for others. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03677739; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03677739. DERR1-10.2196/39640.

An evaluation of a mental health literacy program for community sport leaders

Community sports coaches and leaders can have an important role to play as informal resources for sporting adolescents and adults at risk of mental ill-health. Supporting coach mental health literacy using programs has potential to enhance opportunities for coach-player support. This study aimed to evaluate a community sport mental health literacy program and its capacity to improve club leader confidence to support and refer (primary outcome), awareness of resources, beliefs about mental health and stigmatizing attitudes (social distance). A cluster-randomized controlled evaluation was conducted with measures taken at baseline (around 2 weeks prior to intervention), immediately post-program and at a nine-month follow up. Twenty-five community Australian Rules Football clubs from metropolitan and regional centres were sampled and matched by size and location. Coaches or sport leaders (n = 265) were randomized by club to either the intervention group or a waitlist control group. A multivariate analysis of variance (pre-test scores as covariates) revealed participants in the ‘Tackle Your Feelings’ (TYF) program reported improved outcomes compared to controls on measures tied to leader confidence to support and refer, knowledge of resources to support mental health, general help-seeking and stigmatizing attitudes tied to social distance. A fifth measure of beliefs about mental illness was not impacted by the program. A nine-month comparison group follow-up indicated some decay in scores over time. The results suggest that TYF programs can be effective at improving coach mental health literacy in community sporting club contexts.

The role of psychological surveillance in reducing harm and building resilience in police forensic investigators

Police staff working in digital forensics, scenes of crime and accident investigators as forensic investigators are exposed to scenes and materials which are highly distressing. Two thousand twenty-eight forensic investigators completed a psychological surveillance survey measuring the proportion of investigators above the cut-off level of anxiety, depression, PTSD, burnout, and secondary trauma. The results showed that forensic investigators had higher symptoms than those found in police officers. Measures of workability and health beliefs were used to identify the most significant hazards and resilience factors for this group. The paper provides recommendations for interventions to reduce the levels of psychological distress.

Belief and plausibility measures on pythagorean fuzzy sets and its applications with BPI-VIKOR

Fuzzy sets (FSs) with belief and plausibility measures in Dempster-Shafer theory (DST) are recognized as different methodology to model imperfect, uncertain, and vague information more accurately than probability. Various generalizations of DST to FSs are suggested in the numerous literatures but the generalization of DST to Pythagorean fuzzy sets (PFSs) has not yet been considered so far. In this paper, we first suggest an intuitive and simple way to develop a generalization of DST to PFSs with the characterization of belief function in terms of membership function and plausibility function in terms of 1-nonmemberhip function respectively. We give the interpretation of belief and plausibility on PFSs and then construct belief-plausibility intervals (BPIs) of PFSs. On the basis of suggested BPIs, we use Hausdorff distance to describe the distance between two BPIs and then construct several similarity measures in the generalized context of DST to PFSs. By utilizing the method of VIekriterijumsko KOmpromisno Rangiranje (VIKOR), the suggested belief and plausibility measures on PFSs in the framework of DST enable us to develop a belief-plausibility VIKOR (BP-VIKOR) to manage multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problems related to daily life settings. Numerical analysis with examples are given to show the suggested method is reasonable, and suitable in the environment of PFSs in the context of generalization of DST.

The moderating and mediating role of telepresence and cognitive change in cognitive behaviour therapy delivered via videoconference.

In this study, we combined the results of two controlled trials and examined the relationships between working alliance, telepresence, cognitive change and treatment outcome. Sixty-five participants with a primary diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA) received cognitive behaviour therapy delivered via videoconference. Participants completed measures of working alliance and telepresence after three psychotherapy sessions. They also completed measures of treatment outcome and dysfunctional beliefs (cognitive change) specific to PDA and GAD at pretreatment and posttreatment. Results revealed that telepresence at the fifth session moderated the relationship between the working alliance at the first and fifth sessions. As telepresence increased, its impact on the working alliance diminished. Cognitive change mediated the relationship between the working alliance at the fifth session and treatment outcome.

Supplemental Material for Construction and Validation of the Racially Biased Reasoning Scale: A Measure of Beliefs About Police Interactions With People of Color

Supplemental Material for Construction and Validation of the Racially Biased Reasoning Scale: A Measure of Beliefs About Police Interactions With People of Color

Predictors of Adopting an Atheistic Worldview: An Analysis of Survey Data Containing a Retrospective Measure of Belief in God

Many studies have used retrospective survey measures to examine changes in individuals’ religious affiliation, but studies examining changes to individuals’ core religious beliefs are comparatively rare. This is likely because surveys rarely contain measures of both current and past beliefs. Using data from a probability sample of U.S. adults that includes a measure of individuals’ current and age 16 belief in God, the authors examine the predictors of an individual’s adopting an atheistic worldview. Overall, 6 percent of the sample report moving from a nonatheistic worldview to an atheistic worldview. This rate is higher among those who said they had weaker belief in God at age 16, men, those with higher incomes, and some sexually minoritized groups. This rate is lower among older individuals, political conservatives, and some racially or ethnically minoritized groups. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for the study of nonbelief and the measurement of religious change.

Меры доверия и правдоподобия при оценке рисков информационной безопасности

Purpose of the research: to develop methods for assessing information security risks under uncertainty, to describe the mechanism of propagating belief and plausibility in the attack graph.Research method: application of soft computing techniques, including the combination of Dempster-Shafer evidence theory, integration with respect to non-additive measures of belief and plausibility.Research result: risk assessment methods and methods for assessing expected losses have been developed in the case when risk factors are characterized by high uncertainty and do not allow sufficiently justified applying objective (probabilistic) assessment methods. The initial information is the upper and lower estimates of the probability of risk realization. Using the methods of the Dempster-Shafer evidence theory, belief and plausibility measures are built on the attack graph. An approach is described that allows building belief and plausibility measures in the space of attack scenarios based on probabilistic estimates of typical information security events. It is shown how the expected damage (severity) can be estimated by the expectation of damage with respect to to these measures using the Choquet integral. Scientific novelty: a method of propagation belief along the attack graph has been developed. The method is based on an original approach to evaluating logical combinations of evidence given on binary frames and represented by disjunctive normal forms.

Abstract B026: Barriers and facilitators to Helicobacter pylori screening and treatment to prevent stomach cancer among Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American communities

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese (CKV) community members’ knowledge, practices, barriers, and facilitators regarding Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) testing and treatment. CKV persons in the United States (US), especially those who are foreign-born, have higher prevalence of H. pylori infection, which contributes to relatively high rates of stomach cancer. This pilot study aimed to inform a future intervention that would test for and treat H. pylori among at-risk CKV communities as a means of early stomach cancer prevention. Methods: Researchers conducted a survey and 15 focus groups for a total of n=90 voluntary participants (n=29 for Chinese, n=30 for Korean, and n=31 for Vietnamese) living in the southern California region. The survey and focus groups were conducted both online and in-person in Mandarin, Korean, and Vietnamese languages. The survey included demographic and socioeconomic questions, as well as measures of participant knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about H. pylori infection, prevention, and treatment. The focus group guide was informed by the Health Belief Model to evaluate participants’ perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy, and cues to action for H. pylori testing and treatment. Results: CKV participants varied in their level of knowledge about H. pylori, but most expressed little awareness of H. pylori and the associated risks. Focus groups revealed that community members were mostly unaware of high susceptibility to H. pylori among CKV people. Nevertheless, CKV community members believed that H. pylori and stomach cancer to be serious health issues. Most CKV community members cited lack of awareness as a major barrier to getting tested for H. pylori. However, groups differed in their opinions on barriers to treatment. While Chinese and Korean groups mostly agreed that a physicians’ diagnosis and recommendation would facilitate completing the H. pylori treatment regimen for their communities, Vietnamese groups noted greater levels of medical. Vietnamese groups expressed some uncertainty about antibiotics and medications that would cause potentially harmful side-effects. To various extents, CKV groups noted that increasing awareness about H. pylori through community-based initiatives utilizing sources of trusted information, respected community leaders, and online and in-person social networks would be effective strategies for increasing testing and treatment. Conclusion: Community-based initiatives to increase H. pylori testing and treatment may be useful for stomach cancer prevention among at-risk CKV populations. This study provides needed insights into what types of content these initiatives might include and how to provide information in a way that is culturally relevant to the needs of CKV communities. There are different barriers and facilitators to testing and treatment for H. pylori among CKV community members. Interventionists must keep these nuances in mind and tailor their approaches appropriately. Citation Format: Brittany N. Morey, Grace E. Lee, Tin Q. Tran, Derek Chang, Julienne Lee, Nancy Mai, Sanga Min, Tami C. Nguyen, Hye Won Park, Qin Wang, Sunmin Lee. Barriers and facilitators to Helicobacter pylori screening and treatment to prevent stomach cancer among Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American communities [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B026.

Do sleep disruptions promote social fragmentation?

Sleep changes predate shifts in mood/affect, thought processing, mental and physical health, civic engagement, and contextual circumstances, among other things. Theory predicts that these changes may lead to shifts in political and social beliefs. Do sleep disruptions shape how individuals see the world, the people around them, and themselves in relation to others? In this article, we use daily survey data from the 77 waves (N ≈ 460,000) of the University of California, Los Angeles's 2019-2021 Nationscape Survey-a nationally representative political survey-to examine the effect of an exogenous short-term sleep disruption on measures of political views, polarization, and discriminatory beliefs. Using this data set, we leverage the modest sleep disruption that occurs at the start (and end) of Daylight Saving Time (DST) and employ a regression discontinuity in time design around the precise DST cutoff (which we supplement with event study models). Despite strong theoretical expectations and correlational connection between measures of sleep and many outcomes related to social fragmentation, we find that the DST change has little to no causal effect on citizens' levels of polarization or their discriminatory attitudes. These effects are precise enough to rule out small effects, robust to a host of specification checks, and consistent across potential subgroups of interest. Our work adds to a small but growing body of research on the social and political effects of sleep disruptions.

Reducing single-use plastic on college campuses: Theory of planned behavior-based brief interventions

Single-use plastic has devastating impacts on the natural environment and scalable theory-based interventions are urgently needed to curb plastic consumption. The purpose of this study is to test the impact of two brief plastic reduction interventions on consumption on college campuses and whether these effects will be mediated by changes in the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model consisting of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, moral norms, descriptive norms, and self-identity. 375 undergraduate students (77% female) from two colleges in the southeastern US completed baseline measures of plastic consumption beliefs and behavior in line with the extended TPB model. Participants were then randomized into one of three groups - control group (n = 152), app intervention group (who tracked plastic behavior on a mobile phone app for a week and received TPB-based daily messages via push notifications; n = 89), or pledge intervention group (who made a pledge to reduce plastic for a week and received TPB-based daily messages via email; n = 134). All participants completed the survey again after the intervention week. Results showed that the extended TPB model along with the intervention condition significantly predicted changes in plastic behavior over the week, (R2 = 0.24, p < .001). Additionally, mediation analysis revealed that the pledge group (compared to the control group) reported a significant decrease in plastic consumption over the week-long intervention, with indirect effects via changes in attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and descriptive norms. The app group (compared to the control group) decreased plastic consumption less and showed no change to the extended TPB constructs. Results suggest that plastic reduction interventions that influence the extended TPB constructs can be expected to have corresponding changes in plastic consumption behavior.

Comparing the ideological correlates of anti-government and anti-Roma conspiracy beliefs in Romania

Conspiracy theories are often viewed as the manifestation of a “conspiracy mentality” grounded in power-challenging attitudes. Contrary to this approach, it has been proposed that conspiracy theories targeting relatively powerful groups (i.e., upward conspiracy theories) may be ideologically distinct from conspiracy theories targeting relatively powerless groups (i.e., downward conspiracy theories). We tested this contention in the Romanian context ( n = 723, preregistered) and compared the ideological and socioeconomic correlates of anti-government (i.e., a relatively powerful group) and anti-Roma (i.e., a relatively powerless group) conspiracy beliefs. Using Principal Components Analysis, we showed that both categories of conspiracy beliefs are statistically distinct. Right-wing authoritarianism was significantly more related to anti-Roma conspiracy beliefs than to anti-government conspiracy beliefs. However, against our expectations, both types of conspiracy beliefs did not relate differently to subjective socioeconomic status. Overall, the ideological discrepancies between upward and downward conspiracy beliefs were less marked in the Romanian context. Finally, conspiracy mentality was more related to anti-government conspiracy beliefs than anti-Roma conspiracy beliefs. This corroborates the notion that generic measurements of conspiracist ideation may be mostly a measurement of upward conspiracy beliefs, and emphasizes the relevance of distinguishing conspiracy theories based on the types of groups they target.

Understanding Personal Stances on Religion: The Relevance of Organizational Behavior Variables

This paper develops a framework for analyzing two personal stances on religion—Adherence to Religion and Autonomy from Religion. We propose that the two stances are independent constructs rather than opposite poles of the same continuum. Each stance is conceptualized as a higher-order construct, with different first-order measures of motivations, beliefs and perceptions. With these conceptualizations, we explore the relevance of Organizational Behavior research for informing Religious Studies. We test a nomological network of personal stances on religion with structural equations modelling and a sample of 3072 Catholic participants. The results provide support for the use of higher-order constructs. The first-order measures that possess the highest influence are Relatedness Motivation for Adherence, and Perception of Church Politics for Autonomy. The model explains 23% of Religious Commitment, and thus identifies relevant predictors for participation in rituals, a crucial issue for the maintenance and development of the relationship with the Catholic Church.

Shooter biases and stereotypes among police and civilians

The present research assesses potential correlates of discriminatory police behavior, comparing police and civilian participants in a first person shooter task (FPST) as well as on various self-report measures of intergroup contact, intergroup attitudes, and ideological beliefs in three preregistered studies. Study 1 (N = 330), using a FPST with a short response window (630 ms), did not observe shooter biases in reaction times, error rates and signal detection parameters in neither police nor civilian participants. Study 2a (N = 290), using a longer response window (850 ms), observed a shooter bias in reaction times, error rates, and response criterion in both civilian and police participants. These shooter biases were largely driven by faster reactions, fewer errors, and more liberal shoot decisions for armed Arab (vs. White) targets. Study 2b (N = 191; 850 ms response window) closely replicated shooter biases in reaction times, error rates, and response criterion in a sample of civilian online participants. Across studies, we observed similar results in the shooter task for police and civilian samples. Furthermore, both police and civilian participants expressed anti-Muslim and anti-Arab attitudes across a variety of self-report measures. However, compared to civilians, police participants reported higher levels of anti-Muslim attitudes on some measures as well as higher levels of social dominance orientation, which might pose additional risk factors for discriminatory behavior. Lastly, while we observed reliable individual differences in self-reported intergroup attitudes, ideologies, and intergroup contact, none of these characteristics correlated with shooter biases.

Atención de los profesionales de la salud a personas trans en América Latina y el Caribe

Health care is important for the transitions of people with trans life experiences and to strengthen the processes of health and disease. Health professionals are educating and accompanying agents; however, the literature frequently reports that there are barriers perceived by professionals regarding their competencies to accompany such processes, in addition to others related to social representations regarding trans identities, the limited scientific evidence regarding the processes of gender reaffirmation and representing the communities themselves according to their historical and sociocultural characteristics. The aim of this study was to analyze the characteristics of scientific articles published during 15 years regarding health care for trans persons in Latin America and the Caribbean. A systematized review of articles published in four databases between 2005 and 2020 was carried out. 20 studies were analyzed in the research. Most of them report the perceptions of trans communities and, less frequently, the experiences of health professionals on health care. The results allow the identification of barriers that influence the processes of care and the challenges to improve it. The deficient and insufficient training of professionals on trans identities and differential and affirmative gender approaches stand out, as well as the need to strengthen comprehensive approaches among the academic and health communities and the generation of trans affirmative public policies. On the other hand, the results evidence a construction of science with respect to gender that is cisnormative and invisibilizes gender diversities. In addition, many of the studies establish vertical relationships between participants, including researchers, which generates research dynamics in which trans communities are considered more as informants and less as expert peers, community researchers or participants in a collaborative and co-creative research process. These findings support the need and renew the urgency to generate processes of knowledge construction with and for trans communities that allow nurturing educational, social, public policy and health spaces that represent their needs for gender transitions, in case the person considers so, and that welcome in an integral and humanized way the processes of health and disease. Research on health and health care in trans communities both in Colombia and in the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean does not show the implementation of health policies focused on the community and that respond to their health needs. Health professionals, around the world, should accompany from care actions focused on the processes of self-identification and self-determination of gender. Being recognized and made visible based on gender identities and expressions has a positive impact on the mental health of trans people and their well-being. In professional practice, it is important and essential to overcome the barriers of social inequality, promoting a critical social vision and understanding of the reality of this population. It is necessary to expand research from gender diversities and separate from the LGBTIQ+ umbrella given the complex social, cultural, biological, and psychological diversities faced by each community. As for health professionals, it is necessary to deepen the measurement and understanding of attitudes, knowledge, beliefs, skills and gaps identified by all staff, from doctors and nurses to institution managers. This in order to articulate and triangulate information and develop intervention programs aimed at comprehensive and accessible care, especially for their reports about the little information on sexual and gender diversity received during their professional training process and organizational culture. Finally, each country should develop clinical guidelines based on local, national, and international evidence that responds to the psychological and sociocultural needs and experiences of trans communities that include the process of gender transitions from hormone therapy, affirmative surgeries and other non-binary processes of gender expressions, family, psychosocial support, and community accompaniment. https://doi.org/10.16888/interd.2023.40.1.4

Assessing irrational beliefs reliably and quickly: Refining and shortening the Spanish version of the Attitudes and Beliefs Scale

The Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (ABS) is a widely used measure of irrational beliefs (IBs) but has important psychometric problems. Our objective is to improve the psychometric quality of a Spanish version of the scale. Classical test theory, item response theory, and confirmatory factor analyses were combined to obtain a shorter version of the scale using 2 samples: one from the general population (n= 565) and another with chronic pain (n= 514). Pearson correlations were performed with IBs, personality and health measures to investigate sources of construct validity. After eliminating half of the items (12), the factorial fit of the scale became very good (RMSEA&lt; .08; CFI and TLI&gt; .95). IBs were associated with more neuroticism (.21≤ r≤ .61, p≤ .001) and poorer mental health (-.17≤ r≤ -.56, p≤ .001), as well as a less extraversion and conscientiousness (-.14≤ r≤ -.41, p≤ .01). These results were replicated in both samples, but IBs were only associated with poorer physical health in the general population sample. The shortened Spanish version of the ABS is a valid and reliable instrument that can be rapidly administered in clinical settings.