Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptom Improvement Following Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in a General Hospital Setting

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Hazlett-Stevens
Keyword(s):  
General Hospital ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Symptom Improvement ◽  
Effective Treatment Option ◽  
Large Hospital ◽  
Medical Settings ◽  
Cohen’S D ◽  
Heterogeneous Groups ◽  
Cohen's D

Background: GAD symptom complaints are common in general medical settings, yet psychosocial intervention options provided within such settings are limited. Randomized controlled trials have found that MBSR is effective for symptom reduction, but such research typically delivered MBSR to small diagnostically homogeneous patient groups rather than to larger heterogeneous groups as provided in medical settings. Objective: The current research examined what proportion of patients already enrolled in a general hospital MBSR program presented with symptoms of GAD and whether such symptoms reduced after delivering MBSR in large diagnostically heterogeneous groups. Methods: Twenty-six (40%) of 65 participants enrolled in a large hospital MBSR program indicated moderate to severe GAD symptom severity at the first MBSR session. Of these, 19 voluntarily completed brief self-report measures at the beginning and end of their MBSR course. Results: Statistically significant reductions pre to post-MBSR were found on the GAD-7 (Cohen’s d = 1.95), Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Cohen’s d = 0.76) and the DASS21 Anxiety (Cohen’s d = 0.71) and Stress (Cohen’s d = 1.31) scales. Fifteen (79%) GAD participants scored below the GAD-7 screening measure cutoff at the final MBSR session. Forty-seven percent showed clinically significant improvement on PSWQ scores. Conclusions: MBSR, as typically delivered in general hospital settings, may provide an acceptable and effective treatment option for GAD patients seeking care in medical settings.

scholarly journals Highly Predictive Transdiagnostic Features Shared across Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and ADHD Identified Using a Machine Learning Based Approach

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuelu Liu ◽  
Monika S. Mellem ◽  
Humberto Gonzalez ◽  
Matthew Kollada ◽  
Atul R. Mahableshwarkar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Patient Group ◽  
Attention Deficit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Cohen’S D ◽  
Cohen's D

AbstractThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the standard for diagnosing psychiatric disorders in the United States. However, evidence has suggested that symptoms in psychiatric disorders are not restricted to the boundaries between DSM categories, implying an underlying latent transdiagnostic structure of psychopathology. Here, we applied an importance-guided machine learning technique for model selection to item-level data from self-reported instruments contained within the Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics dataset. From 578 questionnaire items, we identified a set of features which consisted of 85 items that were shared across diagnoses of schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A classifier trained on the transdiagnostic features reliably distinguished the patient group as a whole from healthy controls (classification AUC = 0.95) and only 10 items were needed to attain the performance level of AUC being 0.90. A sum score created from the items produced high separability between patients and healthy controls (Cohen’s d = 2.85), and it outperformed predefined sum scores and sub-scores within the instruments (Cohen’s d ranging between 0.13 and 1.21). The transdiagnostic features comprised both symptom domains (e.g. dysregulated mood, attention deficit, and anhedonia) and personality traits (e.g. neuroticism, impulsivity, and extraversion). Moreover, by comparing the features that were common across the three patient groups with those that were most predictive of a single patient category, we can describe the unique features for each patient group superimposed on the transdiagnostic feature structure. Overall, our results reveal a latent transdiagnostic symptom/behavioral phenotypic structure shared across SCZ, BD, and ADHD and present a new perspective to understand insights offered by self-report psychiatric instruments.

scholarly journals Responsiveness to Change of Self-Report and Device-Based Physical Activity Measures in the Living Well With Diabetes Trial

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1082-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winnie Y.H. Lee ◽  
Bronwyn K. Clark ◽  
Elisabeth Winkler ◽  
Elizabeth G. Eakin ◽  
Marina M. Reeves
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Usual Care ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
The United States ◽  
Telephone Counseling ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Responsiveness Index ◽  
Cohen’S D ◽  
Cohen's D ◽  
Responsiveness To Change

Background:This study evaluated the responsiveness to change in physical activity of 2 self-report measures and an accelerometer in the context of a weight loss intervention trial.Methods:302 participants (aged 20 to 75 years) with type 2 diabetes were randomized into telephone counseling (n = 151) or usual care (n = 151) groups. Physical activity (minutes/week) was assessed at baseline and 6-months using the Active Australia Survey (AAS), the United States National Health Interview Survey (USNHIS) walking for exercise items, and accelerometer (Actigraph GT1M; ≥1952 counts/minute). Responsiveness to change was calculated as responsiveness index (RI), Cohen’s d (postscores) and Cohen’s d (change-scores).Results:All instruments showed significant improvement in the intervention group (P < .001) and no significant change for usual care (P > .05). Accelerometer consistently ranked as the most responsive instrument while the least responsive was the USHNIS (responsiveness index) or AAS (Cohen’s d). RIs for AAS, USNHIS and accelerometer did not differ significantly and were, respectively: 0.45 (95% CI: 0.26–0.65); 0.38 (95% CI: 0.20–0.56); and, 0.49 (95% CI: 0.23–0.74).Conclusions:Accelerometer tended to have the highest responsiveness but differences were small and not statistically significant. Consideration of factors, such as validity, feasibility and cost, in addition to responsiveness, is important for instrument selection in future trials

Phonologische Verarbeitung bei Grundschulkindern mit schwacher Lesefähigkeit

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 199-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Klatte ◽  
Claudia Steinbrink ◽  
Kirstin Bergström ◽  
Thomas Lachmann
Keyword(s):  
Cohen’S D ◽  
Phonologische Verarbeitung ◽  
Cohen's D

Defizite in der phonologischen Informationsverarbeitung werden heute als Kernsymptom der Lese-Rechtschreibstörung betrachtet. In Trainingsstudien mit betroffenen Kindern erwiesen sich Phonemwahrnehmungsfähigkeiten als trainierbar, und Programme, in denen Aufgaben zur phonologischen Bewusstheit mit der systematischen Vermittlung von Phonem-Graphem-Zuordnungen kombiniert wurden, zeigten Transfereffekte auf Lese- und Rechtschreibleistungen. Ausgehend von diesen Erkenntnissen wurde ein computerbasiertes Trainingsprogramm zur Förderung der Phonemwahrnehmung, der phonologischen Bewusstheit und der Graphem-Phonem-Zuordnungen für deutschsprachige Grundschulkinder mit Lese-Rechtschreibstörung entwickelt. Aufgrund der besonderen Relevanz der Vokallänge für die deutsche Orthographie enthält das Programm neben Aufgaben, die auf Konsonanten fokussieren, auch Vokallängenaufgaben. Bei der Konzipierung des Programms wurden etablierte, ursprünglich für andere Sprachen entwickelte Aufgaben an die deutsche Phonologie angepasst und in ein computerbasiertes Format übersetzt. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Studie sollte überprüft werden, ob die konstruierten Trainingsaufgaben die spezifischen Defizite von Kindern mit Lese-Rechtschreibstörung wie intendiert abbilden. Hierzu wurden leseschwache Dritt- und Viertklässler (n = 35) mit mindestens durchschnittlichen Lesern derselben Klassenstufen (n = 75; Kontrollgruppe) hinsichtlich ihrer Leistungen in den Aufgaben verglichen. Die leseschwachen Kinder zeigten in allen Aufgaben schlechtere Leistungen als die Kontrollgruppe. Die Effektstärken der Gruppenunterschiede (Cohen's d) lagen im mittleren bis hohen Bereich (0.50 – 2.19). Die Ergebnisse bestätigen, dass die Aufgaben des Trainingsprogramms die spezifischen Defizite leseschwacher Kinder abbilden. Ein Training mit diesen Aufgaben erscheint daher grundsätzlich sinnvoll. Die Wirkungen eines solchen Trainings auf die schriftsprachlichen Leistungen von Kindern mit Lese-Rechtschreibstörung werden in zukünftigen Studien überprüft.

Political Inclusion Reduces Political Prejudice

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan G. Voelkel ◽  
Dongning Ren ◽  
Mark John Brandt
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Total N ◽  
Cohen’S D ◽  
Promising Strategy ◽  
Political Inclusion ◽  
Cohen's D ◽  
Political Divide ◽  
Scenario Study ◽  
Fair Chance

The political divide is characterized by liberals and conservatives who hold strong prejudice against each other. Here we introduce one possible strategy for reducing political prejudice: political inclusion. We define political inclusion as receiving a fair chance to voice one’s opinions in a discussion of political topics with political outgroup members. This strategy may reduce political prejudice by inducing perceptions of the political outgroup as fair and respectful; however, such a strategy may also highlight conflicting attitudes and worldviews, thereby further exacerbating prejudice. In three preregistered studies (total N = 799), we test if political inclusion reduces or increases prejudice toward the political outgroup. Specifically, political inclusion was manipulated with either an imagined scenario (Study 1) or a concurrent experience in an ostensible online political discussion (Studies 2 &amp; 3). Across all studies, participants who were politically included by political outgroup members reported reduced prejudice toward their outgroup compared to participants in a neutral control condition (Cohen’s d [-0.27, -0.50]). This effect was mediated by perceptions of the political outgroup as fairer and less dissimilar in their worldviews. Our results indicate that political discussions that are politically inclusive do not cause additional prejudice via worldview conflict, but instead give others a feeling of being heard. It is a promising strategy to reduce political prejudice.

scholarly journals Lower Extremity Rehabilitation in Patients with Post-Stroke Sequelae through Virtual Reality Associated with Mirror Therapy

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2654
Author(s):  
Roxana Steliana Miclaus ◽  
Nadinne Roman ◽  
Ramona Henter ◽  
Silviu Caloian
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Muscle Strength ◽  
Lower Extremity ◽  
Range Of Motion ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Mirror Therapy ◽  
Cohen’S D ◽  
Cohen's D ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Post Therapy

More innovative technologies are used worldwide in patient’s rehabilitation after stroke, as it represents a significant cause of disability. The majority of the studies use a single type of therapy in therapeutic protocols. We aimed to identify if the association of virtual reality (VR) therapy and mirror therapy (MT) exercises have better outcomes in lower extremity rehabilitation in post-stroke patients compared to standard physiotherapy. Fifty-nine inpatients from 76 initially identified were included in the research. One experimental group (n = 31) received VR therapy and MT, while the control group (n = 28) received standard physiotherapy. Each group performed seventy minutes of therapy per day for ten days. Statistical analysis was performed with nonparametric tests. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test showed that both groups registered significant differences between pre-and post-therapy clinical status for the range of motion and muscle strength (p < 0.001 and Cohen’s d between 0.324 and 0.645). Motor Fugl Meyer Lower Extremity Assessment also suggested significant differences pre-and post-therapy for both groups (p < 0.05 and Cohen’s d 0.254 for the control group and 0.685 for the experimental group). Mann-Whitney results suggested that VR and MT as a therapeutic intervention have better outcomes than standard physiotherapy in range of motion (p < 0.05, Cohen’s d 0.693), muscle strength (p < 0.05, Cohen’s d 0.924), lower extremity functionality (p < 0.05, Cohen’s d 0.984) and postural balance (p < 0.05, Cohen’s d 0.936). Our research suggests that VR therapy associated with MT may successfully substitute classic physiotherapy in lower extremity rehabilitation after stroke.

Development of a multimedia intervention to improve pneumoconiosis prevention in construction workers using RE-AIM framework

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jieling Chen ◽  
Cho Lee Wong ◽  
Bernard Man Hin Law ◽  
Winnie Kwok Wei So ◽  
Doris Yin Ping Leung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Educational Intervention ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Intervention Mapping ◽  
Intervention Development ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Cohen’S D ◽  
Cohen's D

Summary Pneumoconiosis is a common occupational lung disease among construction workers. Educational interventions targeting specific ethnic groups of construction workers are of benefit for pneumoconiosis prevention. The aim of this study was to develop a multimedia educational intervention for pneumoconiosis prevention for South Asian construction workers, and to evaluate its feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness in increasing knowledge of pneumoconiosis, modifying beliefs about pneumoconiosis, and enhancing intention to implement measures for its prevention among the workers. This evaluation was performed using the Reach-Effectiveness-Adoption-Implementation-Maintenance framework. A one-group design was adopted and intervention mapping was used to guide the process of intervention development, while the Health Belief Model guided the development of intervention content. The intervention was delivered at construction sites, ethnic minority associations and South Asian community centres. Data were collected via surveys completed at pre-intervention, post-intervention and 3 months after the intervention. A total of 1002 South Asian construction workers participated in the intervention. The participants reported a moderate-to-large increase in knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, cues to action and self-efficacy (Cohen’s d: 0.37–0.89), a small reduction in perceived barriers (Cohen’s d = 0.12) and a moderate improvement in attitudes and intention to practice (Cohen’s d: 0.45, 0.51) at post-intervention. A follow-up survey of 121 participants found that the implementation of preventive measures appeared to increase. Overall, the findings demonstrate that the implementation of a culturally adapted multimedia educational intervention could be an effective approach to improving knowledge, self-efficacy and intention regarding pneumoconiosis prevention among South Asian construction workers.

scholarly journals Explainable AI enables clinical trial patient selection to retrospectively improve treatment effects in schizophrenia

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika S. Mellem ◽  
Matt Kollada ◽  
Jane Tiller ◽  
Thomas Lauritzen
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Patient Selection ◽  
Treatment Effect ◽  
Controlled Clinical Trial ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Full Sample ◽  
Cohen’S D ◽  
Explainable Ai ◽  
Cohen's D ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Abstract Background Heterogeneity among patients’ responses to treatment is prevalent in psychiatric disorders. Personalized medicine approaches—which involve parsing patients into subgroups better indicated for a particular treatment—could therefore improve patient outcomes and serve as a powerful tool in patient selection within clinical trials. Machine learning approaches can identify patient subgroups but are often not “explainable” due to the use of complex algorithms that do not mirror clinicians’ natural decision-making processes. Methods Here we combine two analytical approaches—Personalized Advantage Index and Bayesian Rule Lists—to identify paliperidone-indicated schizophrenia patients in a way that emphasizes model explainability. We apply these approaches retrospectively to randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial data to identify a paliperidone-indicated subgroup of schizophrenia patients who demonstrate a larger treatment effect (outcome on treatment superior than on placebo) than that of the full randomized sample as assessed with Cohen’s d. For this study, the outcome corresponded to a reduction in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score which measures positive (e.g., hallucinations, delusions), negative (e.g., blunted affect, emotional withdrawal), and general psychopathological (e.g., disturbance of volition, uncooperativeness) symptoms in schizophrenia. Results Using our combined explainable AI approach to identify a subgroup more responsive to paliperidone than placebo, the treatment effect increased significantly over that of the full sample (p < 0.0001 for a one-sample t-test comparing the full sample Cohen’s d = 0.82 and a generated distribution of subgroup Cohen’s d’s with mean d = 1.22, std d = 0.09). In addition, our modeling approach produces simple logical statements (if–then-else), termed a “rule list”, to ease interpretability for clinicians. A majority of the rule lists generated from cross-validation found two general psychopathology symptoms, disturbance of volition and uncooperativeness, to predict membership in the paliperidone-indicated subgroup. Conclusions These results help to technically validate our explainable AI approach to patient selection for a clinical trial by identifying a subgroup with an improved treatment effect. With these data, the explainable rule lists also suggest that paliperidone may provide an improved therapeutic benefit for the treatment of schizophrenia patients with either of the symptoms of high disturbance of volition or high uncooperativeness. Trial Registration: clincialtrials.gov identifier: NCT 00,083,668; prospectively registered May 28, 2004

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