Browsing by Subject "distress"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Associations between acoustic features of maternal speech and infants’ emotion regulation following a social stressor
    (Wiley, 2022-01) Kolacz, Jacek; daSilva, Elizabeth B.; Lewis, Gregory F.; Bertenthal, Bennett I.; Porges, Stephen W.; IUPUC Division of Science
    Caregiver voices may provide cues to mobilize or calm infants. This study examined whether maternal prosody predicted changes in infants’ biobehavioral state after the still face, a stressor in which the mother withdraws and reinstates social engagement. Ninety-four dyads participated in the study (infant age 4–8 months). Infants’ heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (measuring cardiac vagal tone) were derived from an electrocardiogram (ECG). Infants’ behavioral distress was measured by negative vocalizations, facial expressions, and gaze aversion. Mothers’ vocalizations were measured via a composite of spectral analysis and spectro-temporal modulation using a two-dimensional fast Fourier transformation of the audio spectrogram. High values on the maternal prosody composite were associated with decreases in infants’ heart rate (β = −.26, 95% CI: [−0.46, −0.05]) and behavioral distress (β = −.23, 95% CI: [−0.42, −0.03]), and increases in cardiac vagal tone in infants whose vagal tone was low during the stressor (1 SD below mean β = .39, 95% CI: [0.06, 0.73]). High infant heart rate predicted increases in the maternal prosody composite (β = .18, 95% CI: [0.03, 0.33]). These results suggest specific vocal acoustic features of speech that are relevant for regulating infants’ biobehavioral state and demonstrate mother–infant bi-directional dynamics.
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    Psychological processes and symptom outcomes in cancer survivors following a mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention
    (2017-07) Chinh, Kelly; Mosher, Catherine E.; McGrew, John; Rand, Kevin L.
    Mindfulness-based interventions targeting psychological and physical symptoms in cancer survivors have been shown to be efficacious. However, little is known about theory-based psychological processes through which mindfulness-based interventions may decrease symptoms. The present study is a secondary analysis of data from a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) pilot trial targeting cancer-related fatigue (CRF) in cancer survivors. Thirty-five persistently fatigued cancer survivors were recruited from a university hospital and various community clinics in Indianapolis, Indiana. Participants were randomized to either a 7-week MBSR intervention for CRF or a waitlist control (WC) condition. Measures were administered at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up and included levels of mindfulness, acceptance, and self-compassion as well as the symptom outcomes of fatigue interference, sleep disturbance, and distress. I hypothesized that MBSR would lead to increased levels of five facets of mindfulness (i.e., observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging of inner experience, nonreactivity to inner experience), self-compassion, and acceptance as compared to the WC condition. Using a linear mixed modeling approach, significant group by time interactions were only found for observing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and self-compassion, such that the MBSR group showed steady increases in these processes over time, whereas the WC group’s scores remained relatively stable. In addition, I examined whether positive changes in the five facets of mindfulness were associated with reductions in the three symptoms using multiple linear regression. This hypothesis was partially supported; acting with awareness was the only facet of mindfulness to show a modest association with a decrease in fatigue, but this result fell short of statistical significance. In addition, decreased sleep disturbance was predicted by increases in acting with awareness and nonjudging, while decreased distress was predicted by increases in observing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity. Results point to specific psychological processes that may be targeted to maximize the efficacy of future MBSR interventions for cancer survivors.
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    Randomized Pilot Trial of a Telephone Symptom Management Intervention for Symptomatic Lung Cancer Patients and Their Family Caregivers
    (Elsevier, 2016-10) Mosher, Catherine E.; Winger, Joseph G.; Hanna, Nasser; Jalal, Shadia I.; Einhorn, Lawrence H.; Birdas, Thomas J.; Ceppa, DuyKhanh P.; Kesler, Kenneth A.; Schmitt, Jordan; Kashy, Deborah A.; Champion, Victoria L.; Psychology, School of Science
    Context Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting both men and women and is associated with high symptom burden and psychological distress. Lung cancer patients’ family caregivers also show high rates of distress. However, few interventions have been tested to alleviate significant problems of this population. Objectives This study examined the preliminary efficacy of telephone-based symptom management (TSM) for symptomatic lung cancer patients and their family caregivers. Methods Symptomatic lung cancer patients and caregivers (N=106 dyads) were randomly assigned to 4 sessions of TSM consisting of cognitive-behavioral and emotion-focused therapy or an education/support condition. Patients completed measures of physical and psychological symptoms, self-efficacy for managing symptoms, and perceived social constraints from the caregiver; caregivers completed measures of psychological symptoms, self-efficacy for helping the patient manage symptoms and managing their own emotions, perceived social constraints from the patient, and caregiving burden. Results No significant group differences were found for all patient outcomes and caregiver self-efficacy for helping the patient manage symptoms and caregiving burden at 2 and 6-weeks post-intervention. Small effects in favor of TSM were found regarding caregiver self-efficacy for managing their own emotions and perceived social constraints from the patient. Study outcomes did not significantly change over time in either group. Conclusion Findings suggest that our brief telephone-based psychosocial intervention is not efficacious for symptomatic lung cancer patients and their family caregivers. Next steps include examining specific intervention components in relation to study outcomes, mechanisms of change, and differing intervention doses and modalities.
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    Relation between perceived injustice and distress in cancer: meaning making and acceptance of cancer as mediators
    (2022-08) Seçinti, Ekin; Mosher, Catherine E.; Hirsh, Adam T.; Torke, Alexia M.; Wu, Wei
    Many advanced cancer patients struggle with distress including depressive symptoms, anxiety, anger about cancer, and anger toward God. Cancer patients may perceive their illness as an injustice (i.e., appraise their illness as unfair, severe, and irreparable or blame others for their illness), and this may be a risk factor for distress. To date, illness-related perceptions of injustice have not been examined in cancer patients. Based on prior research and theory (i.e., Just World Theory, Park’s Meaning Making Model, and Loneliness Theory), there are multiple ways to conceptualize the relationship between perceived injustice related to the cancer experience and distress. The purpose of this project was to compare two theory-based conceptualizations of the relationships between perceived injustice and distress symptoms in advanced lung and prostate cancer patients. Aims were to (1) examine the direct effects of perceived injustice on distress symptoms; (2) examine the indirect effects of perceived injustice on distress symptoms through meaning making and acceptance of cancer (my conceptual model), examine the indirect effects of perceived injustice on psychological outcomes (i.e., distress symptoms and acceptance of cancer) through meaning making (Park’s Meaning Making Model), and compare the two models; (3) examine loneliness as a potential moderator of the mediations based on my conceptual model; and (4) explore whether the associations based on my conceptual model differed between advanced lung and prostate cancer patients. Cross-sectional data from advanced lung (n = 102) and prostate (n = 99) cancer patients were examined. Seven models were tested using path analyses. Results partially supported my conceptual model; perceived injustice was directly and indirectly associated with distress symptoms through acceptance of cancer but not through meaning making. Findings did not support Park’s Meaning Making Model, as meaning making did not help account for the associations between perceived injustice and psychological outcomes. Path analyses also indicated that loneliness was not a significant moderator of the mediations based on my conceptual model. Furthermore, associations based on my conceptual model did not differ between advanced lung and prostate cancer patients. Given mixed support for my conceptual model, supplemental path analyses were conducted that included loneliness as an exploratory mediator of associations between perceived injustice and distress symptoms. Findings suggested that perceived injustice was indirectly associated with distress symptoms through loneliness and acceptance of cancer. Findings support testing acceptance-based interventions to address distress related to perceived injustice in advanced cancer patients.