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This article provides a review and discussion of recent developments in psychological research related to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A description of the medical aspects of the disease is followed by an overview of the literature relating psychological variables to pain and disability in RA; a summary evaluating affective reactions, disease-related beliefs, and coping strategies in RA patients; and a discussion of psychological interventions with this patient population. Methodological weaknesses in the literature are noted and directions for future collaborative research between rheumatologists and psychologists are suggested.

Use of Process Evaluation to Guide Health Education in Forsyth County's Project to Prevent Cervical Cancer THE FORSYTH COUNTY Cervical Cancer Prevention Project (FCP) is a community-based public health education […]

A method for curriculum evaluation that utilizes content and student performance analyses of both an external certifying exam and curriculum components is reported. Findings demonstrate that a multidisciplinary grouping of courses can satisfactorily cover content deemed important by external judges and by internal course directors and instructors. (Author/LMO)

Development of a Community Cancer Education Program: the Forsyth County, NC, Cervical Cancer Prevention Project Synopsis The authors outline the development and implementation of a public health education program for […]

Assesses the duration of the effects of a common learned helplessness (LH) induction procedure in humans. Information on the data supporting the persistence of LH effects in nonhuman subjects; Number of hours that performance decrements produced by a single exposure to an insoluble cognitive task are maintained; Significance of exposing human subjects to multiple LH induction procedures.

The relationship between various stressful stimulus conditions, measures of anxiety, and altered esophageal motility was investigated in two experiments employing normal adult volunteers. In Experiment 1. subjects were administered separately 100dB continuous white noise and a cold presser task. In Experiment 2, subjects were administered in a counterbalanced order intermittent and unpredictable bursts of 100dB white noise and a cognitive task consisting of solvable and unsolvable discrimination problems. Results of both experiments showed that the amplitudes of peristaltic esophageal contractions and levels of state anxiety self-reports were significantly higher during periods of stress than during preceding baseline periods. Furthermore, in Experiment 2, esophageal contraction velocities and anxiety-related behaviors were significantly greater during stress periods than during baselines. Contrary to previous studies, few abnormal tertiary esophageal contractions were elicited by stress. The present results identify increased amplitude of the peristaltic contractions as the primary esophageal response to stress. Technological and methodological differences between this study and previous investigations of affective disturbance among patients with chronic esophageal chest pain also are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fleishman's (1966) model of complex motor skill learning is applied to visceral self-regulation. Five different underlying abilities are illustrated: strength, endurance, steadiness, control precision, and reaction time. In the experiment. 16 subjects were pre and post tested with instructions alone for degree of cardiac Strength and Endurance control (SE) (maximally increase or decrease heart rate and sustain it for a minute) and degree of cardiac Reaction Time control (RT) (produce a small, 3 sec burst of increased or decreased heart rate as quickly as possible to the onset of a trial). All subjects received heart rate biofeedback during training, but half practiced SE while the other practiced RT. It was predicted that cardiac learning would be specific to the skill practiced during biofeedback, with little transfer to the other task. The data indicated that SE training led to improved SE control (30%) accompanied by a slight decrement in RT control (-5%). Conversely, RT training led to markedly improved RT control (120%) accompanied by a small decrement in SE control (- 18%). The value conceptualizing complex visceral skills as reflecting learned patterns of underlying neurophysioIogicaI abilities is illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At an initial session groups of Ss either were (1) correctly informed of the response to be controlled, HR, and given visual feedback of it, or were (2) correctly informed of the response but given no feedback, or were (3) incorrectly informed of the response and given feedback of HR, or were (4) not informed of the response and given feedback of HR. At a second session half of the misinformed and uninformed Ss were correctly informed. Trials on which Ss were to raise and to lower HR were both given.Between group comparisons generally supported the proposition that correct knowledge of response facilitates learning to lower HR when given external feedback. Results on raising HR, although generally indicating the facilitative role of correct knowledge of response, were not as consistent as those for lowering.Within group comparisons showed trends for correct knowledge of response to improve HR control. Further within group comparisons of raise HR and lower HR trials consistendy showed that Ss who knew the correct response and received feedback of it, achieved control of HR, whereas those who were misinformed or who received no feedback did not achieve control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ss, high and low in awareness of heart functioning as determined by scores on the heart functioning items of the Autonomic Perception Questionnaire (APQ), were given 10 trials each on which they were to raise or lower theft heart rate (HR) using continuous proportional visual feedback. Low aware Ss successfully raised and lowered their HRs on command whereas high aware Ss were not able to make significant alterations in their hits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]