Browsing by Author "Bigatti, Silvia M."

Now showing 1 - 10 of 52
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    4. Getting A Grip On My Depression: A Grounded Theory Explaining How Latina Adolescents Experience, Self-Manage, And Seek Treatment For Depressive Symptoms
    (Journal of Adolescent Health, 2019) McCord Stafford, Allison; Aalsma, Matthew C.; Bigatti, Silvia M.; Oruche, Ukamaka M.; Burke Draucker, Claire
    Latina adolescents are more likely to experience depressive symptoms and less likely to receive mental health services than White peers. Although evidence-based treatments exist to treat adolescent depression, few treatments have been modified to meet the cultural needs of this population. In order to develop culturally sensitive strategies for preventing, identifying, and treating depressive symptoms in Latina adolescents, it is necessary to understand how they experience, self-manage, and seek treatment for their depressive symptoms over time from their own perspective. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical framework that explains how Latina adolescents experience, self-manage, and seek treatment for their depressive symptoms.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    (506) The complex relationship between pain intensity and physical functioning in fibromyalgia: the mediating role of depression
    (The Journal of Pain, 2016) Steiner, Jennifer L.; Bigatti, Silvia M.; Slaven, James E.; Ang, Dennis C.
    Fibromyalgia (FM) is typically associated with the experience of diffuse pain and physical impairment. Depression also commonly co-exists in patients with FM, and it has been correlated with pain intensity and physical functioning. Previous research suggests an association between pain intensity and physical functioning; however, the direct causal relationship between improvements in pain intensity and in functioning is not observed in many FM patients. This may suggest that another factor such as depression is mediating this relationship. The present work examined the possibility of a mediating role of depression in the relationship between pain intensity and functioning over the course of time. 216 patients with FM completed self-report measures of pain intensity, depression, and physical impairment as part of a larger longitudinal study which investigated interventions to increase physical activity among FM patients. Assessments were completed at baseline, 12 weeks, 24 weeks, and 36 weeks. Longitudinal mediational analyses indicated that depression is a statistically significant partial mediator of the relationship between pain intensity and self-reported physical functioning at all four assessment points. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explicitly examine this relationship in a sample of FM patients, as well as the first to do so using a longitudinal design; this may significantly add to our understanding of the complexities behind creating improvements in physical functioning in this population. Clinical implication for these findings include focusing on depression and psychological correlates of depression as first line therapeutic targets in improving physical functioning of patients with FM, and treating co-morbid depression in patients with fibromyalgia earlier in the course of treatment to prevent engagement in and the perpetuation of the cycle of disability. This work was a secondary data analysis from a study funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Acceptability and Feasibility of a Meaning-Based Intervention for Patients With Advanced Cancer and Their Spouses A Pilot Study
    (Sage, 2016) Wagner, Christina D.; Johns, Shelley; Brown, Linda F.; Hanna, Nasser; Bigatti, Silvia M.; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
    Background: Constructing meaning in cancer leads to improved psychosocial outcomes for patients and survivors. Aim: We tested the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a meaning-based intervention for couples. Design: The single-arm pilot study tested a 4-session, tailored, activities-based couple’s intervention. Setting/Participants: Twelve adults with incurable cancer and their partners participated either in a university office or at the couple’s home. Results: The study showed good feasibility. One of the two patients depressed at baseline was no longer depressed at postintervention. Patients’ threat appraisals decreased and transcendence increased. In partners, depression, anxiety, and challenge appraisal decreased; threat and secondary appraisals and peace with illness increased. Conclusions: Our findings suggest feasibility and efficacy, and further research and continued evaluation of this intervention are warranted.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Assessing the Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Reducing Schema-enmeshment in Fibromyalgia Syndrome
    (2014-09-04) Steiner, Jennifer Leah; Hirsh, Adam; Bigatti, Silvia M.; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Stewart, Jesse C.; Grahame, Nicholas J.
    The presence of a chronic pain condition can have a profound impact on one’s self-concept. Some individuals may have had to make major lifestyle changes. As a result, some people may start to define themselves in terms of their pain, such that their self-schema and pain-schemas become intertwined in a process termed schema-enmeshment. It is thought that schema-enmeshment is related to psychological distress making it a prime target for intervention. Little research has been conducted on interventions to reduce schema-enmeshment. Acceptance-based interventions may be especially appropriate in reducing schema-enmeshment or the connection between self and illness symptoms as these interventions tend to emphasize learning to live with pain and other symptoms and to work toward important life goals rather than continually fighting against the condition and allowing it to control their life. This study is a randomized trial comparing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to education about pain management in a sample of women with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS). The primary aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of ACT in reducing schema-enmeshment between self and pain, as well as enmeshment between self and other symptoms and FMS as a whole. In addition, this study also explored the role of pain acceptance, specifically activity engagement as a mediator of the relationship between treatment group membership and changes in schema-enmeshment. The data was analyzed as an intent-to-treat analysis using the “last measure carried forward” method. Results indicated that the ACT group reported statistically significant differences in self schema-enmeshment with FMS, fatigue, and cognitive symptoms, but not with pain, following the intervention, compared to the educational control group. In each of these cases, the ACT group experienced greater reductions in schema-enmeshment compared to the education group. Interestingly, no statistically significant differences were observed for schema-enmeshment with pain. Statistically significant group differences were also observed for acceptance of pain following the intervention. Finally, a mediational model in which changes in activity engagement (a form of pain acceptance) served as the mediator of the relationship between treatment group and changes in schema-enmeshment with FMS was tested. The model was tested using a bootstrapping method, and results revealed a trend toward a significant indirect effect of changes in activity engagement leading to changes in schema-enmeshment with FMS. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that ACT may be a promising intervention for targeting maladaptive beliefs about the self in relation to illness, especially schema-enmeshment of self with illness and illness symptoms. Additionally, there is evidence that ACT may target key constructs such as activity engagement, which may be related to other cognitive and behavioral changes. Future directions for research and clinical practice related to ACT as an intervention for FMS are discussed in depth.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    An Assessment of the Fidelity of Two Different Interventions to Improve Adherence to Glaucoma Treatment in Patients of African Descent
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Idowu, Eniola; Bigatti, Silvia M.; Racette, Lyne
    Glaucoma is a chronic eye disease, which is asymptomatic and can slowly lead to blindness if left untreated. Glaucoma is caused by damage to the optic nerve and can lead to irreversible loss of sight. The overall objective of this MURI study was to determine the impact of two different interventions on compliance to glaucoma medication in patients of African descent with open-angle glaucoma. Two types of intervention were used – Education and Motivational Interviewing (MI). The educational intervention involved sharing knowledge with patients about glaucoma, its causes, and its treatments, to help patients better understand glaucoma and the importance of adhering to the daily medication regimen. The MI intervention involved communicating with the patients and encouraging them to identify strategies that would help them better adhere to their medications. These sessions were video-recorded and the content of each video was transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were then scored to assess the fidelity of each session with the intervention type that was given; this was done to ensure that each patient in the MI group received intervention consistent with MI, and that each patient in the Education group received an intervention free of MI. The standard Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity 3.0 coding sheet was used to code the MI and Education sessions. Global ratings were given for empathy, direction, collaboration, evocation and autonomy/support on a scale ranging from 1 (Low) to 5 (High). The following behaviors were counted within each transcript: giving information, MI adherent (asking permission, affirm, emphasize control, support), MI Non-adherent (advise, confront, direct), questions (closed questions, open questions), and reflections (simple, complex). We expect that the MI interventions would have significantly higher scores on MI adherent behaviors and significantly lower on MI-non-adherent behaviors compared to the Education session.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Bennett Expansion to the International Trauma Questionnaire: Results of Thematic Analysis and Psychometric Testing
    (2024-08) Bennett, Lindsay Michelle; Pierce, Barbara J.; Adamek, Margaret E.; Fukui, Sadaaki; Bigatti, Silvia M.
    Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) is distinct from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder based on genesis of trauma type leading to disorder and resulting symptomatology. Currently, C-PTSD is not included as an official diagnosis in American mental healthcare systems but is recognized worldwide by the International Classification of Diseases. Lack of awareness and recognition of this disorder has resulted in few behavioral health scales available to evaluate symptoms experienced by survivors of complex trauma. This study is a mixed methods approach to scale development and builds on the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ). This ITQ is currently available to the public as a brief diagnostic tool for C-PTSD. In this study, thematic analysis was used following qualitative interviews to generate items for the Bennett-Expansion to the International Trauma Questionnaire. Themes emerged from qualitative analysis of affect regulation, physical symptoms, self-concept, interpersonal relationships, systemic influence and injustice and contextual triggers. These themes and codes provided language to capture C-PTSD symptoms more robustly. Results of exploratory factor analysis show six subscales named “Self-concept and interpersonal relationships,” “PTSD symptoms,” “Self-awareness,” “Physical symptoms,” “Affect regulation,” and “Conflict avoidance”. Internal consistency ranged from “acceptable” to “very good” in the subscales, with the total scale being “very good”. The BE-ITQ could be used in therapeutic practice to evaluate the efficacy of interventions with populations experiencing C-PTSD.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Binational/Crosscultural Health Enhancement Center
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2010-04-09) Bergman, Alicia April; Bigatti, Silvia M.; Clark Jr., Charles M.; Everetts, David R.; Kahn, Hilary E.; Lorant, Diane Estella; Maupome, Gerardo; Mays, Rose M.; Riner, Mary E.; Snodgrass, Michael David; Soto, Armando; Stelzner, Sarah M.; Whitehead, Dawn Michele; Wilson, Gregory A.; Yoder, Karen M.
    The Binational/Cross-Cultural Health Enhancement Center (BiCCHEC) fosters multidisciplinary research collaborations that address the biological, cultural, historical, legal, behavioral and demographic issues that impact the health status of communities where Latinos are born and where they live in Indiana. Since its inception, BiCCHEC projects have been multidisciplinary, 80% of the projects involve two or more IUPUI schools. BiCCHEC projects are also collaborative, 70% of the projects have one or more community partners. BiCCHEC researchers have also established a strong commitment to teaching and service, actively involving students in research (25% of current projects are student led) and servicelearning activities, developing exchange programs through our partnerships and providing direct health services in community organized events. Signature center funds have been utilized to fund internal pilot projects. The current poster will highlight four of those projects that have received pilot funding from signature center funds and have resulted in external grant applications or have already received funding, or have resulted in peer reviewed-publications. These projects are considered representative of BiCCHEC’s activities, because of their collaborative, multidisciplinary and community-based nature and include: • Study on oral health disparities using community-based participatory research • Study on the attitudes regarding children with disabilities, beliefs regarding death, coping skills and supports used during bereavement in communities in Indiana and rural Mexico • Building of a bi-national research partnership for healthful eating and diabetes prevention among Mexican and Mexican-American children • Study on emigration and return migration in 20th Century Mexico: Across the border and back again • Study on the effects of migrants' acculturation on oral health and diet in Indianapolis and Tala, Jaliscco using social network theory
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Burnout in Individuals with Type D Personality: Relations to Age and Gender
    (2019) Kelly, Carla A.; Bigatti, Silvia M.; Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health
    Objective: The purpose of this research was to examine the severity and prevalence of burnout in working adults with Type D personality (TDP) in comparison to those without TDP. TDP is defined by the presence of specific levels of both negative affectivity and social inhibition. Burnout is an extended response to chronic stressors characterized by three dimensions: exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. Methods: Online surveys were used to gather responses from 333 participants to the Type D Scale-14, the standard for measure for assessing TDP, and the Burnout Measure, Short Version. Quantitative analyses included the use of t-tests, chi square tests, and regression analysis to determine: a) if there are differences in the severity and prevalence of burnout in individuals with and without TDP, and b) whether age, gender, or both moderate the relationship between burnout and TDP. Results: There were differences in the prevalence and severity of burnout between groups. Individuals with TDP were more likely to have, and to have more severe, burnout than those without TDP. Age moderated the relationship between burnout severity but not burnout prevalence and TDP. Severity of burnout worsened with age in individuals with TDP. Gender did not moderate the relationship. Conclusion: It is important to better understand TDP and its role in burnout. The results presented here highlight the importance of considering TDP in the development of interventions and preventative measures in settings where employee burnout is high.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Cancer Screening in the United States and Europe
    (2012) Cronan, Terry A.; Santoro, Maya; Van Liew, Charles; Bigatti, Silvia M.