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BackgroundPeople with a psychotic disorder commonly experience problems in social cognition and functioning. Social cognition training (SCT) improves social cognition, but may inadequately simulate real-life social interactions. Virtual reality (VR) provides a realistic, interactive, customizable, and controllable training environment, which could facilitate the application of skills in daily life. ObjectiveWe developed a 16-session immersive VR SCT (Dynamic Interactive Social Cognition Training in Virtual Reality [DiSCoVR]) and conducted a single-group feasibility pilot study. MethodsA total of 22 people with a psychotic disorder and reported problems in social cognition participated. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed using a survey for participants and therapists, and by examining relevant parameters (eg, dropouts). We analyzed preliminary treatment effects on social cognition, neurocognition, and psychiatric symptoms. ResultsA total of 17 participants completed the study. Participants enjoyed DiSCoVR (mean 7.25, SD 2.05; range 3-10), thought it was useful for daily social activities (mean 7.00, SD 2.05; range 3-10), and enjoyed the combination of VR and a therapist (mean 7.85, SD 2.11; range 3-10). The most frequently mentioned strength of DiSCoVR was the opportunity to practice with personalized social situations (14/20, 70%). A significant improvement of emotion perception was observed (Ekman 60 Faces; t16=–4.79, P

The article focuses on the use of real-time, repeated sampling methods to study behavior in natural contexts, highlighting a recent dyadic daily diary study of bereaved parents. Topics include the effects of daily diary completion on grief and anxiety in bereaved individuals, the potential benefits of self-monitoring and response shifts, and the impact of assessing daily symptoms on understanding and improving mental health through behavioral activation.

Prospective research participants do not always retain information provided during consent procedures. This may be relatively common in online research and is considered particularly problematic when the research carries risks. Clinical psychology studies using the trauma film paradigm, which aims to elicit an emotional response, provide an example. In the two studies presented here, 112–126 participants were informed they would be taking part in an online study using a variant of this paradigm. The information was provided across five digital pages using either a standard or an interactive format. In both studies, compared to the control condition, participants in the interactive condition showed more retention of information. However, this was only found for information about which they had been previously asked via the interactive format. Therefore, the impact of adding interactivity to digital study information was limited. True informed consent for an online study may require additional measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After bereavement, a significant minority experiences severe, persistent, and disabling grief, termed prolonged grief or complicated grief. Prolonged grief treatments may be enhanced by improving understanding of malleable risk factors in post‐loss psychological adaptation. Repetitive negative thought (e.g., rumination, worry) constitutes such a risk factor. Rumination and worry are both theorized to be maladaptive through interrelations with affect, yet this assumption has not been systematically investigated in the bereaved. We aimed to fill this gap in knowledge with a baseline survey and 10‐day daily diary investigation among a bereaved sample. Survey between‐subject analyses (N = 113) demonstrated that trait rumination and worry, trait negative affect and prolonged grief symptoms are positively related to each other and negatively related with trait positive affect. Within‐subject multilevel analyses of diaries (N = 62) demonstrated that trait rumination and trait worry relate positively to daily negative affect and negatively to daily positive affect. Daily rumination and worry showed similar relationships with daily negative and positive affect. A stronger relationship emerged between daily rumination and daily negative affect in people with higher prolonged grief symptom levels. Findings consistently support interrelations between repetitive negative thought, affect, and prolonged grief symptoms. Rumination appears particularly detrimental in people with severe grief reactions. Results align with research demonstrating the effectiveness of targeting repetitive negative thought in prolonged grief treatments. Additionally, our study demonstrates the potential feasibility and usefulness of using daily diaries to study behaviours of relevance to post‐loss adaptation in everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]