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Background: Several studies have confirmed that higher levels of psychological flexibility predict better functioning for those suffering with chronic pain. However, few studies have investigated the role of the individual components of psychological flexibility within a chronic pain population in relation to aging specifically and the related indi...
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... During that time, the attempt to cope with the pain often becomes their main life focus, meaning that values and goals in other aspects of life can recede into the background [2]. Deficient values-based goals and actions are related to a decline in quality of life [3]. The compromising of personally meaningful values and goals of chronic pain patients [4] is attributable to an unending cycle of weighing pain avoidance against the costs associated with the loss of these activities [5]. ...
Background: Chronic pain usually lasts several years. During this time, value-oriented aspects of life often fade into the background in favour of coping with the pain, which is associated with a lower quality of life. Psychotherapeutic methods such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can alleviate this. However, for those who suffer from chronic pain, access to such therapies is limited. Electronic health interventions provide access to evidence-based methods. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of a brief electronic values-based intervention on patients with chronic back pain.
Methods: A study with a replicated AB single-case experimental design was conducted with 28 participants suffering from chronic back pain. Participants answered daily questions concerning their pain intensity and quality of life (well-being, pain catastrophising, acceptance of chronic pain, engaged living) for 10 to 17 days. The subsequent mobile intervention on value-oriented activities lasted an additional 10 days. During this time, daily assessments continued. Our analysis was performed using a hierarchical two-level modelling approach as well as visual and descriptive analysis.
Results: The majority of participants did not measurably benefit from the intervention. Neither model-based inference nor visual analysis indicated plausible intervention effects. The results of one responder and one non-responder are presented. In their qualitative feedback, most participants described being satisfied with the intervention. The perceived usefulness of psychotherapy as a treatment for chronic back pain increased from pre-to post-intervention (p < .001, d z = 1.17). Conclusions: This study shows that microinterventions for chronic back pain patients are feasible, but should be planned over a longer period of time to enable measurable changes. The electronic mobile format did not cause participants any difficulties.
... See here for full details: https://physionet.org/content/autonomicaging-cardiovascular/ . . /. questionnaire without first completing the questions on each page (i.e., a reminder appeared if they missed a question), as in previous studies (Edwards, 2019;Edwards and Lowe, 2021). ...
Background
There is much overlap among the symptomology of autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), obsessive compulsive disorders (OCDs), and alexithymia, which all typically involve impaired social interactions, repetitive impulsive behaviors, problems with communication, and mental health.
Aim
This study aimed to identify direct and indirect associations among alexithymia, OCD, cardiac interoception, psychological inflexibility, and self-as-context, with the DV ASD and depression, while controlling for vagal related aging.
Methodology
The data involved electrocardiogram (ECG) heart rate variability (HRV) and questionnaire data. In total, 1,089 participant's data of ECG recordings of healthy resting state HRV were recorded and grouped into age categories. In addition to this, another 224 participants completed an online survey that included the following questionnaires: Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS); Toronto Alexithymia Scale 20 (TAS-20); Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQII); Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale 21 (DAS21); Multi-dimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness Scale (MAIA); and the Self-as-Context Scale (SAC).
Results
Heart rate variability was shown to decrease with age when controlling for BMI and gender. In the two SEMs produced, it was found that OCD and alexithymia were causally associated with autism and depression indirectly through psychological inflexibility, SAC, and ISen interoception.
Conclusion
The results are discussed in relation to the limitations of the DSM with its categorical focus of protocols for syndromes and provide support for more flexible ideographic approaches in diagnosing and treating mental health and autism within the Extended Evolutionary Meta-Model (EEMM). Graph theory approaches are discussed in their capacity to depict the processes of change potentially even at the level of the relational frame.
... This study reflected individual psychological flexibility by measuring two dimensions, empirical avoidance and cognitive integration, and the higher the empirical avoidance and cognitive integration scores, the lower the individual's psychological flexibility (Bond et al., 2013;Edwards, 2019). Bond et al. (2011) developed the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II (AAQ-II) to reflect individuals' psychological flexibility by measuring their level of experiential avoidance. ...
Explore the influence mechanism of discrimination perception on higher vocational Students’ career exploration, it provides empirical evidence for promoting vocational college Students’ career exploration and career development. Using the questionnaire survey method, 893 higher vocational students from four higher vocational colleges in Jiangsu Province were investigated by using the Discrimination Perception Scale, the Core Self-Evaluation Scale (CSES), the Chinese version of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, the Chinese version of the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ) and the Career Exploration Scale (CES). The data were analyzed using SPSS26.0 and Amos23.0, and the results showed that discrimination perception was significantly negatively correlated with core self-evaluation, psychological flexibility and career exploration (r = −0.487, −0.497, −0.326, p < 0.01), core self-evaluation was significantly positively correlated with psychological flexibility and career exploration (r = 0.518, 0.352, p < 0.01), and psychological flexibility was significantly positively correlated with career exploration (r = 0.386, p < 0.01); Core self-evaluation and psychological flexibility mediated the effect between discrimination perception and career exploration with effect sizes of −0.054 and −0.061, respectively; Core self-evaluation and psychological flexibility mediated the chain effect between discrimination perception and career exploration of higher vocational students with effect sizes of −0.030. Therefore, discrimination perception not only directly influences career exploration of higher vocational students, but also indirectly influences career exploration of higher vocational students through the separate mediating effects of core self-evaluation and psychological flexibility and the chain mediating effects of core self-evaluation and psychological flexibility. Accordingly, the following suggestions are put forward, which should pay attention to the cultivation of core self-evaluation and psychological flexibility of higher vocational students, strengthen the teaching quality and improve the image of vocational colleges.
... Regarding the relationship between age and CFQ's scores, data were not reported in previous research on CFQ's psychometric properties among different cultural contexts. However, some recent research explored the relationship between these two variables (Edwards 2019) where results indicate that cognitive fusion mediates the relationship between mental health and age. Also, some previous studies had looked into the relationship between age and different components of psychological flexibility (McCracken and Yang 2006;McCracken et al. 2007;McCracken and Velleman 2010). ...
The Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ) consists in an instrument used to measure cognitive fusion. Cognitive fusion can be described as a core process in the psychopathology model of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The purpose of this study was to adapt the CFQ for the Argentinian population, to validate it through a confirmatory factor analysis together with the analysis of its psychometric properties in a local community sample, and to look into the role cognitive fusion plays as a predictor of pathological worry. Three hundred and thirty-three adult participants filled out not only the Argentinian adaptation of the questionnaire (CFQ-VA) but also measures that assessed psychological inflexibility, worry, rumination, mindfulness and psychological well-being. The results indicate that the CFQ’s one-factor structure was confirmed. The instrument showed adequate internal consistency, good temporal stability, and significant associations in the expected directions with relevant selected constructs indicating adequate criterion validity. Also, cognitive fusion emerged as a good predictor of worry. In conclusion, the findings confirm that the Argentinian adaptation of the CFQ presents solid psychometric properties.
... The present study aims to explore, not only differences in wellbeing across age, but also the moderating role of age in the relationship between wellbeing and an important psychological factor that is known to affect outcomes in persons with chronic pain in general and fibromyalgia in particular, namely cognitive fusion (Angarita-Osorio et al., 2020;Edwards, 2019). Specifically, cognitive fusion can be defined as the 'tendency for behaviour to be overly regulated and influenced by cognition' . ...
Objetive
Our study examined the ‘paradox of wellbeing’ among women with fibromyalgia and the role of cognitive fusion on wellbeing in relation to age.
Methods
A total of 228 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia according to the American College of Rheumatology criteria were included. In order to explore the conditional effects of age in the moderation analyzes, as recommended in the PROCESS Macro, the 16th, 50th, and 84th percentiles were calculated. These percentiles define three age groups that we will call younger (from 30 to 53 years), middle-aged (from 54 to 60 years) and older women (from 61 to 78 years).
Results
We found a ‘paradox of wellbeing’ among fibromyalgia patients which has not yet been reported: the older the patients, the higher scores on hedonic (positive affect) and eudaimonic (activities engagement) wellbeing. A moderation effect of age was found in the relationship between cognitive fusion and wellbeing (cognitive fusion showed negative associations with positive affect and activities engagement but not among older patients).
Conclusion
Our study underscores the need of personalized interventions for fibromyalgia patients to improve their wellbeing. Especially in younger and middle-aged patients, it would be of interest interventions in cognitive defusion through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
... Furthermore, individuals with high cognitive flexibility are more likely to meet the requirements of the environment, efficiently cope with difficult situations, adapt their thoughts and behaviors, and be good at problem solving. This leads to a higher likelihood of success in settling individual internal conflicts and clashes with the outside world, and in establishing a good balance with the outside world (Tchanturia et al., 2004;Hasselbalch et al., 2012;Murphy et al., 2012;Brewster et al., 2013;Mehri and Bakhtiarpoor, 2016;Perpiñá et al., 2016;Jahja et al., 2017;Edwards, 2019). Therefore, this study further hypothesized that INL may have an indirect effect on mental health through cognitive flexibility during COVID-19. ...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Internet language (INL) has influenced daily life extensively. However, the process by which INL influences people’s psychology and behavior is unclear. This study explored the effects of INL on mental health (anxiety and depression). A pilot study was conducted to develop a qualified scale for INL related to COVID-19 (CINL) in college students using an online questionnaire. The CINL scale was found to have two dimensions: frequency and comprehension, as well as good reliability and validity. A formal study explored the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility on the relationship between CINL and mental health. The results showed that CINL positively predicted mental health when it was mediated by cognitive flexibility. These results not only provide a new perspective on understanding the effects of cyber behavior on human mental health from a positive perspective, but also provide practitioners with new insights for interventions on college students’ mental health.
... A rule was set in Qualtrics which required participants to complete all questions, by preventing participants from progressing through the questionnaires until each section was complete, as in previous studies (Edwards, 2019). As a result, 100% of all questionnaires were completed. ...
Background: Alexithymia is a personality trait which is characterized by an inability to identify and describe conscious emotions of oneself and others.
Aim: The present study aimed to determine whether various measures of mental health, interoception, psychological flexibility, and self-as-context, predicted through linear associations alexithymia as an outcome. This also included relevant mediators and non-linear predictors identified for particular sub-groups of participants through cluster analyses of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) output.
Methodology: Two hundred and thirty participants completed an online survey which included the following questionnaires: Toronto alexithymia scale; Acceptance and Action Questionnaire 2 (AQQII); Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS-SF), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale 21 (DAS21); Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA); and the Self-as-Context (SAC) scale. A stepwise backwards linear regression and mediation analysis were performed, as well as a cluster analysis of the non-linear ANN upper hidden layer output.
Results: Higher levels of alexithymia were associated with increased psychological inflexibility, lower positive affect scores, and lower interoception for the subscales of “not distracting” and “attention regulation.” SAC mediated the relation between emotional regulation and total alexithymia. The ANNs accounted for more of the variance than the linear regressions, and were able to identify complex and varied patterns within the participant subgroupings.
Conclusion: The findings were discussed within the context of developing a SAC processed-based therapeutic model for alexithymia, where it is suggested that alexithymia is a complex and multi-faceted condition, which requires a similarly complex, and process-based approach to accurately diagnose and treat this condition.
... Some research explored how age or sex were related to yoga practice effect (Savita, 2006;Cahn et al., 2017;Rojiani et al., 2017) and some controlled demographic variables in empirical studies (Fishbein et al., 2016;Cahn et al., 2017;Tong et al., 2020). Moreover, age and/or sex were found to be significantly related to outcomes of work motivation (Boumans et al., 2012), mindfulness (Edwards, 2019), and stress (Folkman et al., 1987). Thus, age and gender were included as covariates 1 in this model. ...
Objectives
The present study aimed to compare the psychological effects of meditation- and breathing-focused yoga practice in undergraduate students.
Methods
A 12-weeks yoga intervention was conducted among a group of undergraduate students enrolled in four yoga classes at an academically prestigious university in Beijing, China. Four classes were randomized to meditation-focused yoga or breathing-focused yoga. A total of 86 participants finished surveys before and after the 12-weeks intervention, measuring work intention, mindfulness, and perceived stress. The repeated-measure multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) followed by univariate analyses were conducted to examine the differences in work intention, mindfulness, and stress between the two yoga intervention groups over the semester, after controlling for age and gender.
Results
The repeated-measure MANCOVA revealed significant group differences with a median effect size [Wilks’ lambda, Λ = 0.90, F(3, 80) = 3.10, p = 0.031, η² = 0.104]. Subsequent univariate analyses showed that students in the breathing-focused yoga group had significant higher work intentions [F(1, 82) = 5.22; p = 0.025; η²p = 0.060] and mindfulness [F(1, 82) = 6.33; p = 0.014; η²p = 0.072] but marginally lower stress [F(1, 82) = 4.20; p = 0.044; η²p = 0.049] than students in the meditation-focused yoga group.
Conclusion
Yoga practice with a focus on breathing is more effective than that with a focus on meditation for undergraduates to retain energy for work, keep attention and awareness, and reduce stress.
... Hierarchical regression analysis can continue only if the relationships between the independent variables and the dependent variable are significant (Edwards, 2019). On this condition, the inspected mediating effect can only be a partial mediating effect (Iacobucci, 2008). ...
This study aims to investigate the links between entrepreneurial bricolage, ambidexterity structure, and new venture growth in the Chinese hospitality and tourism industry. Survey data were collected from 345 entrepreneurs involved with new hospitality and tourism ventures in China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses of this study. The results indicate that both the combined and balanced dimensions of ambidexterity play mediating roles between entrepreneurial bricolage and new venture growth performance. By exploring the underlying mechanism of the relationship between entrepreneurial bricolage and new venture growth in the hospitality and tourism sector using a comprehensive theoretical model viewed through the lens of ambidexterity, the theoretical and practical implications for management are addressed, and possible directions for future research are discussed.
Is it true that if I-positions change, the motor behavior of the individual noticeably changes as well, as the dialogical self theory predicts? Two experimental studies have been conducted to evaluate the effects of shifting from one I-position to another on motor behavior. The first experiment showed that people with different I-positions activated (I-as-a-child, I-as-an-elderly-person and I-as-an-adult) present different levels of motor activity while sitting on a swivel chair and having their bodies’ motor activity recorded. In the second experiment, participants were consecutively primed with two different or two same I-positions. Results showed that the activation of two different I-positions caused motor activity to change to a higher extent in comparison to a control condition where two same I-positions were activated one after another. In both experiments the differences were observed for both accelerometry measures and video recording measures. The findings are congruent with the dialogical self theory: people’s motor activity is dependent on the currently active I-position.
