Relaxation Skill Research Articles

What Psychological Structures Can Support the Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs? Attachment Styles, Childhood Maltreatment Experiences, and the Role of Interpersonal Communication Competence

This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the relationships between basic psychological needs, attachment styles, childhood maltreatment experiences, and interpersonal communication competence. The study group consisted of 283 university students. The Need Satisfaction Scale, Three-Dimensional Attachment Styles Scale, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and Interpersonal Communication Competence Inventory were used as measurement tools. According to the correlation analysis findings, need satisfaction was associated with anxious-ambivalent attachment style, avoidant attachment style, physical abuse, emotional abuse, listening skills, social relaxation skills, and expressive skills. The hierarchical regression model included attachment styles in the first step, childhood maltreatment experiences in the second step, and interpersonal communication competence in the third step. Regression analysis results revealed that anxious-ambivalent attachment style, emotional abuse, listening skill, social relaxation skill, and expressive skill accounted for 40.3% of the total variance of need satisfaction. In line with the hierarchical regression analysis findings, it can be stated that the variable with the most robust predictive role is emotional abuse among childhood maltreatment experiences. The present study provides findings that early experiences and communication competence, which can be affected by these experiences, are essential factors in meeting basic psychological needs. Therefore, the results of the study may be effective in psychological interventions that focus on meeting basic psychological needs.

Impact of Life Event Stress among Military Personnel Fighting Boko-Haram Insurgency in North Eastern Nigeria: Any Relationship with Psychological Skills?

Psychological Skills Techniques (PST) can minimize the impact of traumatic life event stress but the underlying mechanism of this occurrence has not been fully explored. This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between psychological skills techniques (Social supports, avoidance of destructive-thought, positive self-talk, emotional strength, relaxation skill) and the impact of traumatic life events experienced by Nigerian soldiers deployed to combat Boko-Haram insurgency in North Eastern Nigeria. We used Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and Psychological Skills questionnaire (ß=89) to collect data from 146 purposively drawn soldiers from operation “Lafiya Doye”. Our findings show that of the 146 respondents 72.0% experienced recurrent recollections of dreams; 65.0% had physiological reactivity trauma cues, 82.0% had avoidance of trauma related actions, while 62.0% of participants experienced diminished interest in important activities. In addition, the major source of stress for the soldiers was physical violence (78%). In the regression model, it was observed that an increase in the psychological skills will statistically decrease the impact of life event stress experienced by the respondents.  Further, result from ANOVA shows that the composite effect of the predictor variables on the criterion variable was statistically significant (F (5,140) =248.369, p<0.05). In terms of magnitude, social support (ß=0.099, t=2.460, p<0.05) was most potent in predicting the impact of life event stress among the solders. We concluded that Psychological Skills Training (PST) can be effectively utilized to reduce the impact of exposure to traumatic life event stress on soldiers deployed to fight Boko-Haram insurgency in North Eastern Nigeria.

Targeted Intervention for Elementary Students With Internalizing Behaviors: A Pilot Evaluation

The Calm Cat Program was developed in response to the need for intervention approaches that target internalizing symptoms, are developmentally appropriate for early elementary students, and are feasible for school-based implementation by staff without specialized training. The Calm Cat Program is a brief Tier 2 intervention combining behavioral skills training and mentor-based coaching. In this initial study, the Calm Cat Program was evaluated in a cluster-randomized controlled trial of 72 student participants in nine elementary schools. Over a 5-week period, school counselors implemented small-group skills training sessions, and classroom teachers provided daily coaching on targeted relaxation skills. Overall, program participation was associated with small- to medium-sized gains in relaxation skill knowledge and reductions in self-reported anxiety symptoms. In addition, both staff implementers and student participants reported generally positive perceptions of the program’s usability. Additional research is needed to ensure the program’s efficiency and effectiveness as an early intervention approach within multitiered frameworks. Impact Statement School-based interventions are needed to support young students at risk for developing emotional disorders. The Calm Cat Program is an intervention that combines behavioral skills training and mentor-based coaching. In this pilot study, the Calm Cat Program demonstrated small- to medium-sized effects in increasing students’ knowledge of relaxation skills and decreasing their self-reported anxiety symptoms.

Cognitive behavioral stress management affects different dimensions of benefit finding in breast cancer survivors: a multilevel mediation model

Objective. This study aimed to confirm the multidimensionality of benefit finding (BF), or silver linings within the cancer experience, assess the effects of Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management (CBSM) on those dimensions, and test the mediating role of perceived stress management skills targeted by CBSM. Methods. This secondary analysis used data from 240 women with stage 0-III breast cancer who completed measures of BF (Benefit Finding Scale) and perceived stress management skills (PSMS) at baseline, 6-months, and 12-months post-randomization into CBSM or a psycho-education condition. We tested a six-factor BF model using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and assessed CBSM-related changes in BF and PSMS using Hierarchical Linear Models. We included significantly affected BF dimensions in mediation models. Results. A six-factor model of BF had good fit [χ2(212) = 391.5, p < .001; CFI = 0.94; RMSEA = 0.06; SRMR = 0.04]. CBSM positively affected changes in personal growth (β = 0.06, p = .01), social relations (β = 0.05, p = .05), and worldview (β = 0.05, p = .02) BF. Perceived relaxation skill increases significantly mediated changes in personal growth (β = 0.03, p = .04) and social relations (β = 0.03, p = .04). Conclusion. Some aspects of perceived stress management skills appear to account for specific BF dimensions and should be considered in future efforts to develop interventions to modulate BF.

Prediction of the Ability to Develop the Relaxation Skill in Drivers of Locomotive Crews

The effectiveness of biofeedback training for the development of relaxation skills using the NeuroDog hardware-software complex is investigated. The relaxation skill is one of the conditions for maintaining the functional state of drivers and assistant drivers of locomotive crews at an optimal level during a working trip, and it is also one of the factors for a successful inter-trip rest. A multiple regression analysis has been carried out, which allows to predict the indicators characterizing the success of developing the relaxation skill, depending on the severity of psychophysiological and personal indicators of drivers and assistant drivers of locomotive crews. Two regression models have been constructed to explain the dependence of the indicators of developing the skill of achieving relaxation on the psychophysiological and personal characteristics of drivers and assistant drivers of locomotive crews. Models are characterized by sufficient quality. Quality indicators: of the first regression model – coefficient of determination R2 = 0.71 (with F(40, 65) = 4.06, p = 0.00000027), Durbin-Watson statistics d = 1.81, of the second regression model – R2 = 0.75 (with F(49, 56) = 3.51, p = 0.0000043), d = 2.09. To predict the indicators of developing the skill of achieving relaxation, regression equations were obtained depending on the severity of psychophysiological and personal indicators of locomotive crew drivers.

" Inference by Electrical Activity to Determine the Active Side of the Brain While Performing Mental Relaxation Skill for Diving Players"

" Inference by Electrical Activity to Determine the Active Side of the Brain While Performing Mental Relaxation Skill for Diving Players"

Differential Diagnosis of the Ability to Develop the Skill of Relaxation in the Drivers of Locomotive Crews

The effectiveness of biofeedback trainings to develop relaxation skills was investigated using the NeuroDog hardware and software complex. Discriminant analysis (a method of multivariate statistical analysis) was carried out, which made it possible to assess the quality and accuracy of the grouping of drivers and assistant drivers of locomotive crews into groups with varying degrees of successful development of the relaxation skill. Highlighted the most informative signs of dividing drivers into groups. The accuracy of the presented groups was checked using linear qualification functions, the informativeness of the features was assessed by Fisher's F-criterion. The critical level of significance when testing statistical hypotheses is p &lt; 0.05. In the course of discriminant analysis, a number of characteristics necessary for the interpretation of groups and their differences were calculated, such as: linear classification functions, canonical discriminant functions, and factor load of canonical discriminant functions. Informative differential diagnostic signs for diagnostics of locomotive crew drivers for the development of relaxation skills were shown. Formulas of linear qualifying functions are given. The diagnostic accuracy was 84.91 % on average.

Analysis of Differences Between Groups of Locomotive Crew Drivers With Different Degrees of Ability to Arbitrarily Regulate Their Functional State

The effectiveness of biofeedback based on the electrodermal activity of the skin for the development of the relaxation skill of drivers and assistants of drivers of locomotive crews of the Belarusian Railways was investigated. The experiment was carried out on the basis of the office of the psychological service of the Motor Car Depot in Minsk. A personal computer and a NeuroDog hardware and software complex were used as equipment for the biofeedback training. Based on the results of the biofeedback training, three groups of drivers were identified with varying degrees of successful development of the relaxation skill. We analyzed the differences in psychophysiological and personal characteristics between three groups of test drivers and locomotive crew assistants with varying degrees of ability to voluntarily regulate their functional state. For the analysis, we used the data of psychophysiological examination using the UPDK-MK complex for professional psychophysiological examination and selection of railway workers (Neurokom, Russia) and data obtained by the method of functional biocontrol with biofeedback (NeuroDog, Neurokom, Russia). To identify differences between the groups of subjects, the nonparametric Kruskal – Wallis H-test was used. The calculations were performed in the electronic package Statistica 10.0. Statistically significant differences are shown between groups with different degrees of success in developing the relaxation skill by indicators: concentration of attention, the sixth octant of intrapersonal relationships “dependent – obedientˮ, the time to complete the task of assessing emotional stability, and factor G of the methodology of RB Cattell “low – high normative behaviorˮ.

"Practice Makes Perfect"? Associations Between Home Practice and Physical and Emotional Function Outcomes Among Patients with Chronic Pain Enrolled in a Mind-Body Program.

Objectives: To summarize the characteristics of home practice adherence in patients with chronic pain randomized to a 10-week group mind-body activity program with (GetActive-Fitbit) and without (GetActive) a digital monitoring device, and test the association between home practice adherence and improvement in physical and emotional treatment outcomes. Methods: Data were collected in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the GetActive (n = 41) and GetActive-Fitbit (n = 41) programs. Participants submitted weekly home practice logs depicting their daily physical activity and practice of relaxation and gratitude skills. Participants completed assessments of physical (patient-reported, performance-based, and accelerometer-measured) and emotional function outcomes both before and after the programs. Participants in both programs were combined due to the identical session and home practice content. Results: Participants reported engaging in physical activity on average 30.62 days (SD = 20.28, 48.6% of intervention days), relaxation skill practice on average 29.87 days (SD = 21.16, 47.4% of intervention days), and gratitude practice on average 32.10 days (SD = 22.12, 51.0% of intervention days). The average duration of physical activity and relaxation skill practice were 44.40 min a day (SD = 59.44) and 11.15 min a day (SD = 12.00), respectively. The duration of physical activity was significantly associated with decrease depression symptoms (p = 0.049, η2 = 0.056). No other association was found between home practice and change in outcomes. Conclusions: Patients with chronic pain are generally able and willing to engage in home practice during a mind-body activity intervention. Emphasizing longer duration of physical activity practice may contribute to an improvement in depression. Future fully powered RCTs with rigorous assessment of home practice adherence and dose-response designs may further elucidate the role of home practice in improvements in treatment outcomes. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03412916.

Outcomes of a co-produced and co-delivered relaxation course for service users and staff at a secure mental health service

PurposeThis study aims to gauge the usefulness of a Recovery College relaxation course for both staff and service users within a secure mental health setting.Design/methodology/approachThe course compromised of seven stand alone sessions, each teaching a different relaxation skill. Pre- and Post questionnaires were administered comprising of two closed and one open ended questions.FindingsParticipants (n = 49) reported an average decrease of 32% in pre- and post-session tension. Ninety-two percent of evaluative responses endorsed sessions as “worthwhile” and 92% endorsed the relaxation skills as “useful in the future”. Participants described the workshops as “enjoyable” and “relaxing”.Practical implicationsIn the spirit of Recovery Colleges, the course offers the opportunity for individuals with lived experience to participate in the production and delivery of interventions. Improving both staff and service user well-being is cost-effective and may help to normalise and de-stigmatise difficulties with stress and anxiety.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this appears to be the first evaluation of a co-produced and co-delivered relaxation course for both staff and service users within inpatient mental health settings. This paper presents a preliminary evaluation of a novel intervention to improve staff and service user well-being.

INABILITY TO CONTROL RECURRING AGGRESSIVE IMPULSES: PSYCHOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT. A CASE REPORT

Background: Intermittent explosive disorder is recurrent behavioral outburst with failure to control aggressive impulses. A case of intermittent explosive disorder with differential diagnosis of Adjustment disorder and Borderline Personality traits. Mental Status Examination reflected guilt, regret and distress due to inability to control anger followed by aggressive action. Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III (MCMI-III) and Rorschach Ink Blot Test were used for psychological evaluation. Assessments results indicates traits of lower stress tolerance, feels uncomfortable about her ability to deal adequately with negative feelings and often have problems modulating her own affective displays and impulsive. Methodology: A re-educative approach of treatment was planned with short term goals to increase awareness of anger, avoidance and escape, managing physical arousal, relaxation skill development. The long term goals were focused on cognitive restructuring, assertive training, self-instructional and self-regulation training. Treatment Outcome: After psychological management, patient reported more satisfied and better aware of physiological arousal when angry, use distraction technique when required and regulate anger. There was improvement in daily functioning, coping and problem solving and in relationship with his parents and peer. Future plan is focused on providing Neurofeedback training to enhance her self-regulation. Implication and Recommendation: In cases like Intermitted explosive disorder and other conditions of Impulse control disorder, along with psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy, effect of neurofeedback training could be explored.

Interventions to reduce post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in health care professionals from 2011 to 2021: a scoping review

ObjectivesThis scoping review aimed to describe available interventions for decreasing (post-traumatic stress disorder) PTSD symptoms among healthcare professionals in hospital care.MethodA scoping review was conducted following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework....

Regulation of the functional state of locomotive crew drivers using biofeedback training: factor analysis of experimental data

Biofeedback based on electrodermal activity of the skin is used as a method for optimizing the functional state of drivers and assistant drivers of locomotive crews. High-quality inter-trip rest of locomotive crew drivers ensures the preservation of health, labor protection and higher indicators of professionally important psychophysiological qualities necessary for the successful performance of locomotive management activities. The purpose of this work is to determine the nature of the relationship between the relaxation abilities of locomotive crew drivers and their professionally important psychophysiological and personal qualities. The experiment was conducted on the basis of the office of the psychological service of the Motor Car depot in Minsk. A personal computer and the NeuroDog hardware and software complex were used as the equipment for the biofeedback training. A factor analysis of the primary empirical data of subjects who successfully developed the relaxation skill was performed. Factor analysis was carried out using the principal component method and the Varimax method available in the Statistica 10.0 package. The results of the analysis allowed us to determine the structure of psychophysiological and personal qualities of locomotive crew drivers, as well as the degree of their influence on the successful development of relaxation skills. The results obtained will later be used to develop a methodology for training drivers in relaxation skills in accordance with their individual characteristics and algorithms for its implementation in the context of the UPDK-MK hardware and software complex, used by the psychological service of the Belarusian railway to monitor the current state of functional systems of locomotive crew drivers.

Visual Biofeedback and Game Adaptation in Relaxation Skill Transfer

This paper compares the effectiveness of two biofeedback mechanisms to promote acquisition and transfer of deep-breathing skills using a casual videogame. The first biofeedback mechanism, game adaptation, delivers respiratory information by altering an internal parameter of the game; the second, visual biofeedback, displays respiratory information explicitly without altering the game. We conduct a user study that examines visual biofeedback and game adaptation as independent variables with electrodermal activity, heart rate variability, and respiration as dependent variables. In particular, we evaluate these forms of biofeedback by their ability to facilitate acquisition of relaxation skills and promote skill transfer to subsequent stressful tasks. Our results indicate that game adaptation promotes skill acquisition and transfer more effectively than visual biofeedback, but that a combination of the two outperforms either in isolation. Combining visual and game biofeedback also results in faster learning of deep-breathing skills than either channel alone. Our study suggests that the two forms of biofeedback play different roles, with game adaptation being more effective in encouraging deep breathing, and visual channels helping players maintain the target breathing rate.

Physiological Modalities for Relaxation Skill Transfer in Biofeedback Games.

We present an adaptive biofeedback game for teaching self-regulation of stress. Our approach consists of monitoring the user's physiology during gameplay and adapting the game using a positive feedback loop that rewards relaxing behaviors and penalizes states of high arousal. We evaluate the approach using a casual game under three biofeedback modalities: electrodermal activity, heart rate variability, and breathing rate. The three biosignals can be measured noninvasively with wearable sensors, and represent different degrees of voluntary control and selectivity toward arousal. We conducted an experiment trial with 25 participants to compare the three modalities against a standard treatment (deep breathing) and a control condition (the game without biofeedback). Our results indicate that breathing-based game biofeedback is more effective in inducing relaxation during treatment than the other four groups. Participants in this group also showed greater retention of the relaxation skills (without biofeedback) during a subsequent stressor.

Slow diaphragmatic breathing as a relaxation skill for elementary school children: A psychophysiological assessment

Slow diaphragmatic breathing as a relaxation skill for elementary school children: A psychophysiological assessment

Relaxed augmented Lagrangian-based proximal point algorithms for convex optimization with linear constraints

The classical augmented Lagrangian method (ALM) is an efficient method for solving convex optimization with linear constraints.However, the efficiency of ALM, to some extent, is hinged by the computational efforts on solving the resulting subproblems.For the convex optimization with some favorable structures, e.g., either the objective function is separable or the matrices in linear constraints are well-posed, a relaxation to the subproblems of ALM can substantially result in solutions with closed-form. Unfortunately, the relaxation skill can not be extended directly to the generic convex optimization without special structures,particularly for the case of objective function with coupled variables. In this paper, by further relaxing the resulting subproblems of ALM, we propose several novel augmented Lagrangian-based proximal point algorithms. Algorithmically, the next iterate is produced by integrating the predictor, which is obtained in either primal-dual or dual-primal order, with the current iterate. Numerical results demonstrate the promising performances of the proposed algorithms.

Applied relaxation training in the treatment of genital herpes

Four individuals with frequent recurrences of genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) were trained in Applied Relaxation (AR). Participants included in the research had been diagnosed with herpes at least 1 year prior to the study, experienced six or more outbreaks annually, and were not taking antiviral medications. The experiment employed a multiple baseline across subjects design. Participants maintained daily diaries of the frequency, duration and severity of herpes activity from baseline until a minimum of 3 months posttreatment. Treatment consisted of 10 individual AR sessions. Pretraining and posttraining frontalis electromyographic activity measures of subjects' ability to relax during rest and to apply the relaxation skill during stressful role plays were obtained. All subjects reported pretreatment to posttreatment reductions in herpes frequency. These changes were statistically significant across all subjects as a group and individually for three of the four subjects. These results suggest that AR is an effective technique for reducing recurrent HSV infection.

THE EFFECTS OF PRENATAL PROGRAMS ON POSTPARTUM EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING

Several statistical studies of married couples have observed a decline in the marital relationship following the birth of the first child. The present study compared the effects of an experimental prenatal education program (based on communication skills and relaxation skill training) with effects of the traditional prenatal program on scores on the Affect Balance Scale. The couples in the experimental group (n=63) fared better (ANOVA, p = .03) than couples in the traditional program (n=53).

Teaching Clients to Cope with Stress

This study evaluated a structured group coping skills intervention designed to reduce stress. The treatment focused specifically on modifying cognitive mediation of events and on improving coping with ongoing routine stressors, and contained relaxation, cognitive restructuring, and social skill training components. The experimental treatment was compared to a relaxation-only treatment and to a waiting list control condition. Treated subjects significantly improved on three of four dependent measures of stress. Although no statistically significant differences were found between the conditions, the study provided support for further examination of the intervention.