British journal of health psychology
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Br J Health Psychol · Nov 2013
Through doctors' eyes: a qualitative study of hospital doctor perspectives on their working conditions.
Hospital doctors face significant challenges in the current health care environment, working with staff shortages and cutbacks to health care expenditure, alongside increased demand for health care and increased public expectations. ⋯ Respondents ascribed little importance to the impact of current working conditions on their own health. They felt their roles were underappreciated and undervalued by policy makers and hospital management. Respondents were concerned with the lack of time and opportunity for training. This study highlighted several 'red flags', which need to be addressed in order to increase retention and sustain a motivated junior medical workforce.
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Br J Health Psychol · Nov 2013
Cognitive biases in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and depression--a pilot study.
Comorbid depression is highly prevalent in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and associated with a worse course of disease; however, the exact mechanisms linking both remain unclear. In currently depressed individuals without lung disease, depression-specific biases in information processing have been suggested as risk factors for the development and maintenance of depression. We examined whether comparable biases in cognitive information processing might underlie depression in COPD. ⋯ The results of this pilot study suggest that patients with COPD may potentially show depression-like biases in some aspects of cognitive information processing. Future studies are required to examine whether these biases represent a vulnerability factor for the development of depression in patients with COPD.
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Br J Health Psychol · Sep 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyDispositional emotion coping styles and physiological responses to expressive writing.
The purpose of these two studies was to assess how repressors and defensive, high-anxious individuals exhibit their psychological and health characteristics subjectively through self-reports and objectively through physiological markers and ratings of emotional expression. ⋯ Whereas self-reports of health outcomes and psychological traits clearly distinguish repressors and defensive, high-anxious individuals, more objective indices of emotional expressiveness and physiology do not appear to do so. The results also indicate that expressive writing may be helpful to reduce physiological arousal towards emotionally charged memories.
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Br J Health Psychol · Sep 2013
The Portuguese formal social support for autonomy and dependence in pain inventory (FSSADI_PAIN): a preliminary validation study.
Development and preliminary validation of a Portuguese measure of perceived Formal Social Support for Autonomy and Dependence in Pain (FSSADI_PAIN). ⋯ These preliminary findings suggest that the FSSADI_PAIN is an innovative and promising measure of perceived formal social support adapted to pain-related contexts.
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Br J Health Psychol · May 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialUsing stop signals to reduce impulsive choices for palatable unhealthy foods.
Exposure to palatable foods in the environment can trigger impulsive reactions to obtain them, which may lead to unhealthy food choices and eating behaviour. Two studies tested the fundamental question whether impulsive unhealthy food choices can be altered by means of linking unhealthy palatable foods to behavioural stop signals. ⋯ What is already known on this subject? Exposure to unhealthy palatable foods in the environment can lead to impulsive food choices. People's habits towards unhealthy palatable foods and their current state of appetite are important determinants of such impulsive food choices. This impulsive behaviour is hard to change. What this study add? Linking unhealthy palatable foods to behavioural stop signals reduces choices for these foods, and increases healthy food choices. This effect is particularly strong when people's food choices are driven by their current state of appetite or habits. Behavioural stop signals foster healthy eating behaviour by modifying an impulsive determinant of behaviour.