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Globally, the COVID‐19 pandemic has impaired every aspect of life, especially causing much psychological damage—for instance, increasing the risk of suicide. Intense fear and anxiety are considered to play a central role in mental health problems. This study examined the psychological properties of the Japanese version of the Fear of COVID‐19 Scale (FCV‐19S) using classical test theory (CTT) and item response theory (IRT). Five hundred fifty participants aged 18–69 years and from across Japan completed questionnaires, including the Japanese FCV‐19S, the Japanese Depression Anxiety Stress Scales‐15 (DASS‐15), and the Japanese version of the Kessler 6 (K6). CTT showed that each item of the Japanese FCV‐19S had no ceiling and floor effect and was close to the normal distribution, and IRT revealed that each item had an appropriate parameter of discrimination and difficulty. Finally, the Japanese FCV‐19S was shown to have an acceptable reliability and moderate good concurrent validity. Consequently, the Japanese FCV‐19S has robust psychometric properties and can be useful for early detection of adults impacted by the COVID‐19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the COVID‐19 pandemic has impaired every aspect of life, especially causing much psychological damage—for instance, increasing the risk of suicide. Intense fear and anxiety are considered to play a central role in mental health problems. This study examined the psychological properties of the Japanese version of the Fear of COVID‐19 Scale (FCV‐19S) using classical test theory (CTT) and item response theory (IRT). Five hundred fifty participants aged 18–69 years and from across Japan completed questionnaires, including the Japanese FCV‐19S, the Japanese Depression Anxiety Stress Scales‐15 (DASS‐15), and the Japanese version of the Kessler 6 (K6). CTT showed that each item of the Japanese FCV‐19S had no ceiling and floor effect and was close to the normal distribution, and IRT revealed that each item had an appropriate parameter of discrimination and difficulty. Finally, the Japanese FCV‐19S was shown to have an acceptable reliability and moderate good concurrent validity. Consequently, the Japanese FCV‐19S has robust psychometric properties and can be useful for early detection of adults impacted by the COVID‐19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, the importance of Advanced Care Planning has been recognized in Japan. However, it is still difficult for healthcare providers and patients to verbalize how they want to spend the last days of their lives and what unfinished business they have left to accomplish. This study aimed to clarify how nurses intervened to assist patients with cancer at the end of life to express their thoughts and concerns. Twenty‐four nurses were interviewed regarding how they intervened for patients' thoughts and concerns, and data were analyzed qualitatively using a modified grounded theory approach. A 25‐item scale was selected, and the questionnaires, which included the scale, were distributed to nurses in general wards, palliative care units, and home visiting nurse services. A total of 1864 responses were analyzed. Factor analysis and structural equation model analysis were used, and three factors were identified: "assessment and intervention," "basic care," and "knowledge and communication," which led to the formulation of an intervention structure model for uncovering thoughts and concerns. These results indicate the importance of basic care and communication during interventions for patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationship between segmental relaxation and normal-mode relaxation has been studied for molten poly(butylene oxide)s having various molecular weights by broadband dielectric spectroscopy over a wide temperature (T) range. We found that T dependence of the segmental relaxation time, τs, was weaker than the normal mode time, τn, at high T(>250 K ~ Tg + 50 K), and the τn/τs ratio systematically decreased with increasing temperature. This high temperature complexity, whose mechanism has not been discussed in detail so far, was quantitatively explained by assuming the two step processes: local conformation change of polymers (elementary process) occurs first, and then the motion of a segment unit (second process) occurs. It was also found that the elementary process was strongly correlated with the experimentally observed β-relaxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the factors associated with the degree of distress experienced by patients with cancer before disclosing their cancer diagnosis to a friend and their perceptions of social support upon disclosure. Methods: Adult patients with cancer participated in a cross‐sectional Internet‐based survey on their behaviour when disclosing their diagnosis to a selected friend, degree of distress before this disclosure and perceived social support upon disclosure. Results: Of 473 eligible respondents, around half were middle‐aged (40–59 years) and around half were men. Having a younger age (20–39 years), being a woman and delaying disclosure were factors associated with greater pre‐disclosure distress. Most participants perceived receiving emotional support upon disclosure. Telling a close friend or a female friend and early disclosure timing were associated with perceived social support, although this varied by social support type. Conclusion: Younger patients and women may need more support in deciding to disclose their cancer diagnosis to friends. Selection of to whom to disclose this information and disclosure timing should be considered to achieve more desirable outcomes. In addition to selective disclosure—including planning and scheduling—communication skills may be required for effectively disclosing a cancer diagnosis and achieving favourable results following this disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of volunteers working with those experiencing homelessness in Japan. Topics include the core purpose of volunteering is to help others, whilst providing social and economic benefits, and concept of homelessness in Japan with its reasons, qualitative study to explore the motivational factors for volunteering at one homeless not-for-profit organization (NPO) in Hyōgo Prefecture.

Dielectric relaxations in undiluted cis-polyisoprene (cis-PI) with narrow molecular-weight distribution were investigated. The normal mode process due to fluctuation of the end-to-end distance and the segmental mode process due to the local segmental motions were observed. The average relaxation time τn for the normal mode process was insensitive to the polydispersity Mw/Mn, but the width of the loss curve reflecting the distribution of the relaxation times increased with Mw/Mn. The slope of the double logarithmic plot of τn against Mw changed at the characteristic molecular weight Mc from 2.0 in the range MwMc. It was found that although the half-width is nearly independent of Mw, the tail of the loss curve in the high frequency side broadens with increasing Mw. This indicates that by entanglement effects the distribution of the relaxation time for the normal mode process changes slightly. The segmental mode is found to be almost independent of the molecular weight and the polydispersity factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dielectric relaxation spectra for the bulk and concentrated solutions of cis-polyisoprene with narrow distribution of molecular weight were calculated based on a novel method. It was found that the relaxation spectra for the normal mode process exhibit a sharp peak in the range of the longest relaxation time. A weak secondary peak was observed in the time domain about one decade shorter than the main peak. The intensity of the secondary peak increased with increasing molecular weight and concentration. The molecular mechanisms for the secondary process are discussed. The reliability of this new method for calculating the relaxation spectrum was tested by using the loss curves calculated from model spectra. It was found that the reproducibility is better than Tschoegl’s second approximation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]