The effect of thought importance on stress responses: a test of the metacognitive model

Effects of metacognitions, self-compassion, and difficulties in emotion regulation on psychological resilience in oncology nurses

PURPOSE

Providing care to individuals with cancer requires oncology nurses to have superior skills related to physical care and adaptation to the changing healthcare system, as well as witnessing and supporting the psychosocial difficulties experienced by patients and families in this process. It requires oncology nurses to be psychologically resilient. Therefore, it is crucial to determine the factors affecting the psychological resilience of oncology nurses. This study aimed to determine the effect of self-compassion, metacognitions, and difficulties in emotion regulation on psychological resilience in oncology nurses.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional correlational study. The study was conducted with 121 oncology nurses providing active oncologic care and who volunteered to participate. The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form, the Self-Compassion Scale, and the Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

The regression model established to determine the effect of self-compassion, metacognitions, and difficulties in emotion regulation on psychological resilience was statistically significant (F(3,117) = 24.086 p < 0.001) and explained 36.6% of the change in resilience. Among the independent variables, only self-compassion had a significant contribution to the model (p = 0.001). According to the model, 1-unit change in self-compassion caused 0.571-unit change in psychological resilience.

CONCLUSION

Self-compassion, metacognitions, and difficulties in emotion regulation were significantly related to psychological resilience, but only self-compassion significantly affected psychological resilience.

Prospective Relations Between Dysfunctional Metacognitive Beliefs, Metacognitive Strategies, and Anxiety: Results From a Four-Wave Longitudinal Mediation Model

The metacognitive model of psychological disorders suggests that emotional disorders are related to maladaptive metacognitive strategies corresponding to underlying dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs. There is substantial empirical evidence supporting a role of metacognition in psychopathology, but fewer studies have evaluated the metacognitive model using longitudinal data and taken into consideration its differentiation between components and how they are hypothesized to be related to each other. Thus, more specific model evaluation is important as it relates to identifying mechanisms of disorder with a potential to provide clinical advances. In the present study, 868 participants took part in a 4-wave survey and reported on metacognitive beliefs and strategies and anxiety symptoms. Two longitudinal mediation models (forward and reversed causation) were run to test temporal precedence and bidirectional relations. The results indicated that metacognitive beliefs significantly predicted metacognitive strategies, which further predicted anxiety symptoms and mediated the indirect effect in the relationship between metacognitive beliefs and anxiety over time. The relationship between metacognitive beliefs and anxiety symptoms over time were bidirectional, but this relationship was not accounted for by metacognitive strategies. These findings largely support central predictions set forward by the metacognitive model and indicate that metacognitions play a preceding and maintaining role in anxiety.

A consideration of the increased risk of schizophrenia due to prenatal maternal stress, and the possible role of microglia

Schizophrenia is caused by interaction of a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Of the latter, prenatal exposure to maternal stress is reportedly associated with elevated disease risk. The main orchestrators of inflammatory processes within the brain are microglia, and aberrant microglial activation/function has been proposed to contribute to the aetiology of schizophrenia. Here, we evaluate the epidemiological and preclinical evidence connecting prenatal stress to schizophrenia risk, and consider the possible mediating role of microglia in the prenatal stress-schizophrenia relationship. Epidemiological findings are rather consistent in supporting the association, albeit they are mitigated by effects of sex and gestational timing, while the evidence for microglial activation is more variable. Rodent models of prenatal stress generally report lasting effects on offspring neurobiology. However, many uncertainties remain as to the mechanisms underlying the influence of maternal stress on the developing foetal brain. Future studies should aim to characterise the exact processes mediating this aspect of schizophrenia risk, as well as focussing on how prenatal stress may interact with other risk factors.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence and Metacognition in Teachers' Stress during Pandemic Remote Working: A Moderated Mediation Model

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in adapting to social and work changes and new technological methods for remote teaching, teachers were subjected to increased work pressure, which affected their well-being and led to increased negative stress and burnout. This study was designed to test whether dysfunctional outcomes resulting from adapting to new ways of teaching via technological tools can be mitigated by the protective factors of emotional intelligence and metacognition. The study involved 604 teachers in Sicily filling out a questionnaire consisting of four different scales: (1) the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SREIT); (2) the Metacognitive Functions Screening Scale (MFSS-30); (3) the Link Burnout Questionnaire (LBQ); and (4) the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale STSS-I. The results show that emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between certain remote work risk factors, as well as stress and burnout. In addition, metacognition was found to be a significant moderating factor in the relationship between risk factors and emotional intelligence. With regard to the United Nations' Agenda 2030 Goals, our results emphasize the importance of teachers' emotional and metacognitive skills in promoting quality of life and psychological well-being.

Core self-evaluations as resilience and risk factors of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic

In view of the grave consequences of distress reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigated CSE (Core Self-evaluations) - internal/external health locus of control, generalized self-efficacy and trait optimism - and intolerance of uncertainty as potential correlates of distress reactions. We conducted an online questionnaire-based cross-sectional study with 422 Israeli respondents. Pandemic-related distress was defined by perceived stress, negative and positive affect, and worries. Predictors were: health locus of control, generalized self-efficacy, trait optimism, and intolerance of uncertainty. The findings show that CSEs and intolerance of uncertainty added between 11% (to perceived stress) and 22% (to negative affect) of explained variance beyond the background variables. Specifically, higher trait optimism and generalized self-efficacy were associated with less distress, and greater intolerance of uncertainty was correlated with higher distress. In conclusion, the CSE framework is useful for explaining psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond their theoretical contribution, the findings may have practical implications for increasing resilience and ameliorating distress during a pandemic.

Validation of the metacognitions about online gaming scale (MOGS) among Chinese gamers

With the largest online gamer population worldwide and a heightened rate of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), China has a long-lasting need to identify salient correlates of IGD and provide corresponding assessment tools to support cost-effective IGD screening and interventions. To respond to such a need, the present study aimed to validate the Metacognitions about Online Gaming Scale (MOGS) among Chinese gamers to provide an additional tool for promoting studies investigating metacognition, a promising and newly emerged correlate of IGD, in China. To evaluate the psychometric properties of MOGS, we collected data from 1340 Chinese university students with gaming experiences (59.3% female, M_age = 19.84 years), in which 262 of them also participated in the one-month retest. Our results indicated that the Chinese version of MOGS has a two-factor structure and satisfactory reliabilities (α = 0.90 and 0.92, ICC = 0.60 and 0.64, AVE = 0.56 and 0.70, ρ_c = 0.88 and 0.92). Moreover, MOGS's convergent validity was evidenced by the expected, positive associations with generic metacognitions, stress, and IGD tendency (r (1338) = 0.29-0.55, p < 0.001) as well as significant MOGS differences between probable IGD and non-IGD gamers (p < 0.001). A 6-item, short-form MOGS, which displayed equivalent psychometric soundness as its full-scale counterpart, was also developed. As the first study to validate MOGS among Chinese gamers, the present study attested to the readiness of this measure in facilitating further studies of gaming-specific metacognitions for early identification of and tailored interventions for high-risk gamers in China.

Breaking the Cybernetic Code: Understanding and Treating the Human Metacognitive Control System to Enhance Mental Health

The self-regulatory executive function (S-REF) model explains the role of strategic processes and metacognition in psychological disorder and was a major influence on the development of metacognitive therapy. The model identifies a universal style of perseverative negative processing termed the cognitive attentional syndrome (CAS), comprised of worry, rumination, and threat monitoring in the development of disorder. The CAS is linked to dysfunctional metacognitions that include beliefs and plans for regulating cognition. In this paper, I extend the theoretical foundations necessary to support further research on mechanisms linking metacognition to cognitive regulation and effective treatment. I propose a metacognitive control system (MCS) of the S-REF that can be usefully distinguished from cognition and is comprised of multiple structures, information, and processes. The MCS monitors and controls activity of the cognitive system and regulates the behavior of neural networks whose activities bias the way cognition is experienced. Metacognitive information involved in the regulation of on-line processing includes metacognitive beliefs, metacognitive procedural commands, and more transient cybernetic code. Separation of the cognitive and metacognitive systems and modeling their relationship presents major implications concerning what should be done in therapy and how it should be done. The paper concludes with an in-depth consideration of methods that strengthen the psychological basis of psychotherapy and aid in understanding and applying metacognitive therapy in particular. Finally, limitations of the model and implications for future research on self-awareness, self-regulation, and metacognition are discussed.

What Comes First Metacognition or Negative Emotion? A Test of Temporal Precedence

The Self-Regulatory Executive Function model predicts that emotional symptoms and metacognition can causally affect each other. Crucially, for the model metacognition must cause emotion disorder symptoms. Therefore, in time-series data involving repeated measurements, metacognitions should predict subsequent changes in emotion. 265 participants completed a questionnaire battery three times over a 2 month period. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using cross-lagged panel analysis tested the inter-relationships between metacognitive beliefs, anxiety and depression symptoms over time. The cross-lagged structural model was a significantly better fit than the autoregressive model. Metacognitive beliefs were found to predict subsequent symptoms of anxiety while symptoms of anxiety predicted later metacognition over different time courses. The metacognition factor representing uncontrollability and danger of thoughts appeared to be prominent in the effects observed. Metacognitions and depression were also positively related over time to a lesser degree, but in the cross-lagged model these temporal relationships were non-significant. This is likely due to low levels of depression within the sample and low variability over time. The findings for anxiety are consistent with the S-REF model and with experimental and prospective studies supporting metacognitive beliefs as a causal mechanism in psychological distress symptoms.

Metacognition, Hardiness, and Grit as Resilience Factors in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Operations: A Simulation Study

Operators of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) face a variety of stress factors resulting from both the cognitive demands of the work and its broader social context. Dysfunctional metacognitions including those concerning worry may increase stress vulnerability, whereas personality traits including hardiness and grit may confer resilience. The present study utilized a simulation of UAS operation requiring control of multiple vehicles. Two stressors were manipulated independently in a within-subjects design: cognitive demands and negative evaluative feedback. Stress response was assessed using both subjective measures and a suite of psychophysiological sensors, including the electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG), and hemodynamic sensors. Both stress manipulations elevated subjective distress and elicited greater high-frequency activity in the EEG. However, predictors of stress response varied across the two stressors. The Anxious Thoughts Inventory (AnTI: Wells, 1994) was generally associated with higher state worry in both control and stressor conditions. It also predicted stress reactivity indexed by EEG and worry responses in the negative feedback condition. Measures of hardiness and grit were associated with somewhat different patterns of stress response. In addition, within the negative feedback condition, the AnTI meta-worry scale moderated relationships between state worry and objective performance and psychophysiological outcome measures. Under high state worry, AnTI meta-worry was associated with lower frontal oxygen saturation, but higher spectral power in high-frequency EEG bands. High meta-worry may block adaptive compensatory effort otherwise associated with worry. Findings support both the metacognitive theory of anxiety and negative emotions (Wells and Matthews, 2015), and the Trait-Stressor-Outcome (TSO: Matthews et al., 2017a) framework for resilience.