Search

Despite theory suggesting that self‐forgiveness facilitates recovery from moral injury, no measure of self‐forgiveness has been validated with individuals exposed to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs). Military veterans, healthcare workers, and first responders who reported PMIE exposure (n = 924) completed the Self‐Forgiveness Dual‐Process Scale, which assesses two dimensions of the self‐forgiveness process. The first dimension, value affirmation, refers to appraising personal responsibility and being willing to make amends for one's involvement in a PMIE. The second dimension, esteem restoration, refers to accepting oneself as valuable and capable of growth despite one's failures and imperfections. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses replicated the original scale's two‐factor structure in 10 items modified to apply to the diverse contexts in which PMIEs occur. Next, we found that the factor structure, item loadings, and item intercepts were fully or partially invariant across professions, genders, races, ages, and religious affiliations in a series of Multi‐Group Confirmatory Factor Analyses. Finally, diverging patterns of associations between value affirmation and esteem restoration with moral distress, posttraumatic stress, depression, insomnia, functional impairment, and posttraumatic growth provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity between the subscales. The modified self‐forgiveness dual process scale is the first measure of self‐forgiveness to be validated with individuals exposed to a PMIE. Researchers and clinicians can use the scale to examine how self‐forgiveness (or difficulties with forgiving oneself) relates to moral injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals often underestimate disaster risk and overestimate their own preparedness, even for disasters they have experienced. Considering the varied effects of prior disaster exposure on preparedness, the psychological trauma literature can inform models of preparedness among hazard survivors. Posttraumatic growth (PTG), or positive changes after a stressor, could explain how some, but not all, disaster survivors come to value and engage in preparedness. University students and employees (N=1,113) in a tornado-prone region of the United States were surveyed from 2015 to 2016 about preparedness for tornadoes, structural fires, and large-scale disease outbreaks. For each hazard type, they reported perceived likelihood, self-efficacy responding to the hazard, how much they valued preparedness, and their prior exposure to the hazard. Tornado survivors (N=661) were further asked how many tornadoes they had experienced, the severity of the impact (e.g., injured, lost electricity), and their perceived PTG from tornadoes. Comparing each variable by hazard type, perceived likelihood, and prior exposure were greater for tornadoes compared with disease and fire. For tornado survivors, PTG mediated the effect of tornado severity on both preparedness and valuing preparedness. In conclusion, PTG is a process by which disaster experiences result in increased disaster preparedness. Simply experiencing a disaster, even a severe one, does not necessarily instill disaster preparedness as a value; however, positive change in recovery from a severe disaster involves caring more about preparedness and becoming increasingly prepared. Enhanced disaster preparedness is not an inevitable outcome of disaster exposure, but it is a potential outcome of psychological recovery from disaster trauma. Integrating the present findings, the preparedness literature, and the psychological trauma literature, we propose an integrated individual-level disaster resilience cycle model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting treatment response can inform treatment decisions, expectations, and optimize use of mental health treatment resources. This study examined heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and a modified Stroop task (mStroop) to predict post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment response. We report on an observational, longitudinal study with 45 U.S. veterans in outpatient PTSD care, who had deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. HR and HRV were collected before, during, and after virtual reality (VR) combat and civilian scenes. HRV recovery was defined as HRV after a 3-minute VR simulation minus HRV during a VR scene. mStroop threat variables included index scores for combat and general threat. Self-report data were collected at baseline and 6 months later. The outcome variable was the 17-item Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). Controlling for baseline CAPS and number of combat experiences, the following baseline HRV recovery variables were significant predictors of 6-month CAPS: standard deviation of normal beat to beat interval (SDNN) after combat scene minus SDNN during combat scene and low-frequency (LF HRV) after civilian scene minus LF during civilian scene. HRV at rest, HR reactivity, HR recovery, and mStroop scores did not predict treatment response. In conclusion, HRV recovery variables in the context of a standardized VR stressor were significant predictors of PTSD treatment response after controlling for baseline CAPS and number of combat experiences. The direction of this relationship indicates that greater baseline HRV recovery predicts lower 6-month PTSD symptom severity. This was an exploratory study in need of replication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Psocial is the property of Revista de Investigacion en Psicologia Social and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this study was to explore university student perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors with respect to disaster preparedness, with specific regard for natural hazards (e.g., tornadoes and floods) as well as incidents of violence (e.g., an active shooter on campus) and pandemic (e.g., influenza). A qualitative design was employed using moderated focus groups to collect data. The constant comparative method was the method of analysis. Fifty-four university students participated in ten focus groups focusing on three different themes (natural hazards preparedness, n = 20; preparedness for incidents of mass violence and pandemic, n = 16; and quantitative pilot survey results, n = 18). Generally, students reported a lack of concern about the occurrence of disasters, as well as a lack of motivation toward disaster preparedness. Despite a reported lack of preparedness for multiple disaster types, participants generated suggestions for increasing the preparedness of students on campus. Strategies will be discussed with the goal of engaging students and creating a climate that encourages preparedness as a university value. Based on our findings, practical recommendations for universities will be provided, such as the importance of each university conducting its own research to inform educational efforts, shape policies, and guide the distribution of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite theory suggesting that self-forgiveness facilitates recovery from moral injury, no measure of self-forgiveness has been validated with individuals exposed to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs). Military veterans, healthcare workers, and first responders who reported PMIE exposure (n = 924) completed the Self-Forgiveness Dual-Process Scale, which assesses two dimensions of the self-forgiveness process. The first dimension, value affirmation, refers to appraising personal responsibility and being willing to make amends for one's involvement in a PMIE. The second dimension, esteem restoration, refers to accepting oneself as valuable and capable of growth despite one's failures and imperfections. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses replicated the original scale's two-factor structure in 10 items modified to apply to the diverse contexts in which PMIEs occur. Next, we found that the factor structure, item loadings, and item intercepts were fully or partially invariant across professions, genders, races, ages, and religious affiliations in a series of Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analyses. Finally, diverging patterns of associations between value affirmation and esteem restoration with moral distress, posttraumatic stress, depression, insomnia, functional impairment, and posttraumatic growth provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity between the subscales. The modified self-forgiveness dual process scale is the first measure of self-forgiveness to be validated with individuals exposed to a PMIE. Researchers and clinicians can use the scale to examine how self-forgiveness (or difficulties with forgiving oneself) relates to moral injury., (Published 2024. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.)

Background: Up to 50% of veterans drop out of trauma-focused evidence-based psychotherapies (TF-EBP) without completing treatment or recovering; evidence suggests this is in part because their posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) care is insufficiently patient-centered. There is also evidence that measurement-based care (MBC) for mental health should be personalized to the patient, yet this is not common practice in VA PTSD care., Objectives: To explore veterans' experiences and preferences for aligning measurement-based PTSD care with their own treatment goals., Method: Qualitative interviews were conducted with veterans (n=15) with PTSD who had received at least 2 sessions of a TF-EBP., Measures: Survey on the administration of outcomes questionnaires and demographics and an interview about their most recent TF-EBP episode., Results: Half of veterans had symptom-focused goals and half did not; all had at least one treatment goal that was not symptom-focused. They typically met their goals about functioning and coping skills but not their symptom reduction goals. We found veterans overall were receptive to MBC but preferred patient-reported outcomes measures about functioning, wellbeing, coping skills, and understanding their trauma more than the commonly used PTSD symptom scale (the PCL-5)., Conclusions: Many veterans in this sample disliked the PCL-5 because it reinforced their maladaptive cognitions. Such veterans might be more receptive to MBC if offered patient-report outcomes measures that better align with their functional and wellbeing goals. For many goal/outcome areas, psychometrically sound measures exist and require better implementation in PTSD care. For some areas, scale development is needed., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Objective: We examined the impact of health care workers' (HCWs) adjustment to the COVID-19 pandemic on their work-related attitudes and behaviors., Methods: HCWs ( n = 1468) participated in an observational longitudinal study in which they completed surveys of anxiety and occupational health between 2020 and 2021., Results: Most HCWs reported anxiety that was consistently below the diagnostic threshold (68%) or fell below the threshold within a year (16%). Others reported consistently high (14%) or increasing (2%) anxiety, especially women, younger HCWs, those with a weakened immune system, and allied health professionals. Consistently high or increasing anxiety was associated with poorer job satisfaction, work engagement, perceived supervisor support, burnout, and turnover intentions., Conclusions: Resources to support HCWs may be focused on those who report consistently high or increasing anxiety to minimize the effects of crises and disasters on the workforce., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: None declared., (Copyright © 2024 American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.)

Objective: International students face unique COVID-19-related stressors, such as financial aid loss, limited social support, and discrimination (e.g., verbal harassment, physical assault). Additionally, pandemic and chronic stress research is largely cross-sectional, and trajectories over time remain unclear for psychological and environmental factors predicting distress and peri-pandemic growth. Accordingly, the current study examined trajectories of psychological distress and growth, as well as weekly psychological and environmental predictors of psychological distress and growth, in international students during the early stages of the pandemic., Method: International students ( N = 42) at a U.S. university were surveyed weekly for 14 weeks., Results: Latent growth mixture modeling resulted in three trajectories over time of distress ( Minimal Impact, Emergent Resilience, and Increasing Distress ) and peri-pandemic growth ( Limited PrTG, Decreasing PrTG, and Increasing PrTG ). For multilevel models, within-person increases in meaning and self-efficacy as well as between-person changes in discrimination and emotional social support predicted distress. Within-person changes in meaning and self-efficacy and between-person changes in self-efficacy and discrimination predicted peri-pandemic growth., Conclusions: Despite the stressors they face, many international students demonstrated a trajectory of resilience. Positive coping factors and environmental factors predicted distress or peri-pandemic growth, which can inform interventions and studies examining trajectories of distress during prolonged adversity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).