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Communication with children about parental bipolar disorder: a qualitative interview study.
BACKGROUND: The impacts of parental bipolar disorder (BD) on families and children highlight the need to understand how best to talk to children about their parents' diagnosis, especially as their developmental capacity for understanding grows. This qualitative study aims to explore the strategies, challenges, and support needs of parents in relation to communicating with their children (5-12 years) about BD, in order to inform the development of further interventions and resources. METHODOLOGY: Purposive and snowball sampling strategies were used to recruit parents with BD, their partners, and stakeholders who support parents with BD. Recruitment occurred via social media, emails, and community outreach between April 2022 and April 2023. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 parents with BD or non-BD partners and 12 charity workers or mental health professionals. The interview guides explored participants' lived experiences and professional insights into communicating about parental BD with children. Data were analysed using reflexive, inductive, thematic analysis. RESULT: Participants identified several benefits of sharing parental BD diagnoses with children, including fostering understanding, adaptation, compassion, and strengthening family relationships. However, they also noted challenges such as uncertainty, stigma, and potential distress for children. To make communication effective, participants emphasised the importance of age-appropriate dialogue, addressing children's concerns, providing reassurance, and preparing them for future episodes. They highlighted that transparent, interactive communication, thoughtful timing, and collaboration with family members and professionals are crucial for tailoring the process to each family's unique needs. CONCLUSION: Our findings underscore the complexities of communicating a parental BD diagnosis to children, highlighting both the potential benefits and challenges. Participants emphasised the need for developing interventions and policies specifically tailored to address the particular communication needs of families impacted by BD.
Perceiving temporal structure within and between the senses: A multisensory/crossmodal perspective.
The literature demonstrates that people perceive temporal structure in sequences of auditory, tactile, or visual stimuli. However, to date, much less attention has been devoted to studying the perception of temporal structure that results from the presentation of stimuli to the chemical senses and/or crossmodally. In this review, we examine the literature on the perception of temporal features in the unisensory, multisensory and crossmodal domains in an attempt to answer, among others, the following foundational questions: Is the ability to perceive the temporal structure of stimuli demonstrated beyond the spatial senses (i.e., in the chemical senses)? Is the intriguing idea of an amodal, or supramodal, temporal processor in the human brain empirically grounded? Is the perception of temporal structure in crossmodal patterns (even) possible? Does the ability to perceive temporal patterns convey any biological advantage to humans? Overall, the reviewed literature suggests that humans perceive rhythmic structures, such as beat and metre, across audition, vision and touch, exhibiting similar behavioural traits. In contrast, only a limited number of studies have demonstrated this ability in crossmodal contexts (e.g., audiotactile interactions). Similar evidence within the chemical senses remains scarce and unconvincing, posing challenges to the concept of an amodal temporal processor and raising questions about its potential biological advantages. These limitations highlight the need for further investigation. To address these gaps, we propose several directions for future research, which may provide valuable insights into the nature and mechanisms of temporal processing across sensory modalities.
Correlates of suicidal ideation and attempts among colleges students in India: A multi-state cross-sectional survey
Background: Youth suicide represents a significant public health problem in India. This paper reports on the results of a large survey examining the correlates of suicidal ideation and attempts among college students in India, adopting an ideation-to-action framework. Methods: Participants (n = 8,542) were recruited from 30 universities spanning nine states of India, and they completed a self-administered questionnaire assessing the 12-month prevalence of suicidal thoughts and attempts, symptoms of depression and anxiety, non-suicidal self-injury, exposure to suicidality in others, as well as a suite of other health and social indicators. Generalised linear models were used to examine the correlates of suicidal ideation, and the correlates of suicide attempts among ideators. Results: Just over one-in-ten (12.3 %) reported suicidal ideation in the preceding 12 months, 5.2 % reported a suicide attempt and 12.2 % reported non-suicidal self-injury. Just over one-third (34.8 %) of ideators reported a suicide attempt in the past 12 months. Higher odds of a suicide attempt among ideators were observed among those who: had bad/very bad quality family relationships, were consuming greater amounts of alcohol, had used cannabis, had been exposed to suicidal ideation in others, had been exposed to the suicide death of people they had personally known, and those who had been engaging in non-suicidal self-injury. Conclusions: Our study revealed a suite of important factors that correlate with suicidality among college students in India, and our analytical approach highlights those factors that are associated with the progression from suicidal ideation to suicide attempts.
Adolescent risk-taking and decision making: a qualitative investigation of a virtual reality experience of gangs and violence
Introduction: Gang involvement poses serious risks to young people, including antisocial and criminal behaviour, sexual and criminal exploitation, and mental health problems. There is a need for research-informed development of preventive interventions. To this end, we conducted a qualitative study of young people’s responses to an educational virtual reality (VR) experience of an encounter with a gang, to understand young people’s decisions, emotions and consequences. Methods: Young people (N = 24 aged 13-15, 11 female, 13 male) underwent the VR experience followed by semi-structured focus group discussions. Questions focused on virtual decision-making (motivations, thoughts, feelings, consequences) and user experiences of taking part. Data were analysed using Thematic Analysis. Results: Three themes were developed to represent how participants’ perceptions of the gang, themselves, and the context influenced virtual decisions. Social pressure from the gang competed with participants’ wish to stand by their morals and establish individual identity. The VR setting, through its escalating events and plausible characters, created an “illusion of reality” and sense of authentic decisions and emotions, yielding insights for real-life in a safe, virtual environment. Discussion: Findings shed light on processes influencing adolescent decision-making in a virtual context of risk-taking, peer pressure and contact with a gang. Particularly, they highlight the potential for using VR in interventions with young people, given its engaging and realistic nature.
Very preterm infants engage in an intervention to train their control of attention: results from the feasibility study of the Attention Control Training (ACT) randomised trial.
BACKGROUND: Very premature birth (gestational age between 28 and 31 + 6 weeks) is associated with increased risk of cognitive delay and attention deficit disorder, which have been linked to anomalies in the development of executive functions (EFs) and their precursors. In particular, very preterm (VP) infants display anomalies in controlling attention and gathering task-relevant information. Early interventions that support attention control may be pivotal in providing a secure base for VP children's later attainments. The Attention Control Training (ACT) is a cognitive training intervention that targets infants' abilities to select visual information according to varying task demands but had not been tested in VP infants. We conducted a feasibility study to test the processes we intend to use in a trial delivering the ACT to VP infants. METHODS AND DESIGN: We tested recruitment and retention of VP infants and their families in a randomised trial, as well as acceptability and completion of baseline and outcome measures. To evaluate these aims, we used descriptive quantitative statistics and qualitative methods to analyse feedback from infants' caregivers. We also investigated the quality of eye-tracking data collected and indicators of infants' engagement in the training, using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Twelve VP infants were recruited, and 10 (83%) completed the study. Participants' parents had high education attainment. The rate of completion of baseline and outcome measures was optimal. VP infants demonstrated engagement in the training, completing on average 84 min of training over three visits, and displaying improved performance during this training. Eye-tracking data quality was moderate, but this did not interfere with infants' engagement in the training. DISCUSSION: The results suggest the ACT can be delivered to VP infants. However, challenges remain in recruitment of numerous and diverse samples. We discuss strategies to overcome these challenges informed by results of this study. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registered Registration ID: NCT03896490 . Retrospectively registered at Clinical Trials Protocol Registration and Results System ( clinicaltrials.gov ).
Short-term language switching training reveals an adaptive cerebellar network for bilingual language control.
Previous studies have revealed that the cerebellum is involved in bilingual language control. In the present study, we further examined the cerebellum's role in bilingual language control and the plasticity of the cerebellar network using a training paradigm. Two groups of Chinese-English bilinguals performed the same language switching task in the pre-test and post-test sessions during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. After the pre-test, only the training group received an 8-day training in language switching. Results showed that bilingual language control was associated with a cerebellar network including multiple posterior cerebellar subregions as well as the anterior cerebellum (i.e., lobules IV-V). Furthermore, the cerebellar network exhibited adaptive changes with enhanced local neural efficiency and network connectivity after training. For the first time, our study revealed the plasticity of the cerebellar network in bilingual language control.
Nonverbal cognitive control training increases the efficiency of frontal-subcortical collaboration for bilingual language control.
Domain-general cognitive control is closely related to language control during bilingual language production. Previous neural imaging studies have revealed a highly overlapped but rewired brain network for language control and nonverbal cognitive control. In the present study, we examined this issue from a training perspective. Two groups of participants performed the language switching task at pre-and post-tests during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. After the pre-test, the experimental group received 8-day training in a non-verbal switching task, while the control group performed an unrelated color judgement task. We found that only the experimental group but not the control group showed decreased strength of connectivity from the ventral lateral frontal cortex to the left caudate nucleus and from the medial surface of the frontal lobe to the left thalamus. These results indicate an increased efficiency after nonverbal training for the frontal cortex to implement domain-general suppression and monitoring in a domain-specific conflict context during bilingual language and lexical selections. This study is the first to investigate the transfer effects of nonverbal cognitive control on the brain network of bilingual language control and shed light on the mechanisms of how domain-general cognitive control may underpin bilingual language control.
Language switching training modulates the neural network of non-linguistic cognitive control.
Bilingual language experience, such as switching between languages, has been shown to shape both cognitive and neural mechanisms of non-linguistic cognitive control. However, the neural adaptations induced by language switching remain unclear. Using fMRI, the current study examined the impact of short-term language switching training on the neural network of domain-general cognitive control for unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals. Effective connectivity maps were constructed by using the extended unified structural equation models (euSEM) within 10 common brain regions involved in both language control and domain-general cognitive control. Results showed that, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/pre-supplementary motor area (dACC/pre-SMA) lost connection from the right thalamus after training, suggesting that less neural connectivity was required to complete the same domain-general cognitive control task. These findings not only provide direct evidence for the modulation of language switching training on the neural interaction of domain-general cognitive control, but also have important implications for revealing the potential neurocognitive adaptation effects of specific bilingual language experiences.
Sleep regularity index as a novel indicator of sleep disturbance in stroke survivors: a secondary data analysis
Abstract Sleep disturbance is common but often overlooked after stroke. Regular sleep is increasingly recognised as important for overall health, yet little is known about how sleep regularity changes after stroke. This study examined differences in the Sleep Regularity Index (SRI) between stroke survivors and healthy controls using actigraphy data from an existing dataset (~ 1 week per participant). Data were analysed for 162 stroke survivors (mean age 61 ± 14 years, 5 ± 5 years post-stroke, 89 males) and 60 controls (mean age 57 ± 17 years, 32 males). Stroke survivors had significantly lower SRI scores than controls (p = 0.001), indicating less regular sleep. In the stroke group, higher SRI correlated with longer total sleep time (p = 0.003) and better self-reported sleep quality (p = 0.001) but not with other sleep metrics. Lower SRI was associated with worse depressive symptoms (p = 0.006) and lower quality of life (p = 0.001) but not with disability (p = 0.886) or time since stroke (p = 0.646). These findings suggest that sleep regularity is disrupted post-stroke and may influence well-being. Future research should explore interventions to improve sleep regularity and related health outcomes in stroke survivors.