Clinical validation of characteristics of the alcoholic family

Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment for opioid and other substance use during infertility treatment

Opioid use and misuse have reached epidemic proportions in the United States, especially in women of childbearing age, some of whom seek infertility treatments. Substance use is much more common than many of the conditions routinely screened for during the preconception period, and it can have devastating consequences for the woman and her family. Substance use can worsen infertility, complicate pregnancy, increase medical problems, and lead to psychosocial difficulties for the woman and her family. The reproductive endocrinologist thus has an ethical and medical duty to screen for substance use, provide initial counseling, and refer to specialized treatment as needed. This article provides an overview of screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT), a public health approach shown to be effective in ameliorating the harms of substance use.

Addiction and empathy: a preliminary analysis

Addicted patients show impaired social functioning. Chronic drug consumption may lead to impairments in decoding empathic cues. The aim of the study is to explore empathy abilities in addicted patients and the hypothesis of a differential impairment between affective and cognitive empathy. 62 addicted patients and 40 healthy volunteers were evaluated using the empathy quotient (EQ) and its subscales cognitive empathy (factor 1), emotional empathy (factor 2), social skills (factor 3). Patients scored statistically significantly lower than controls in EQ total score, in particular in factor 2. No difference was found in factor 1 and in factor 3. Consistent with previous findings, our study suggests specific impairment in emotional empathy combined with preserved cognitive empathy. These findings show important clinical implication in the development of specific rehabilitative programmes for the empowerment of empathy abilities and interpersonal skills that constitute important components in the prevention of relapse.

Experimental and clinical usefulness of crossmodal paradigms in psychiatry: an illustration from emotional processing in alcohol-dependence

Crossmodal processing (i.e., the construction of a unified representation stemming from distinct sensorial modalities inputs) constitutes a crucial ability in humans' everyday life. It has been extensively explored at cognitive and cerebral levels during the last decade among healthy controls. Paradoxically however, and while difficulties to perform this integrative process have been suggested in a large range of psychopathological states (e.g., schizophrenia and autism), these crossmodal paradigms have been very rarely used in the exploration of psychiatric populations. The main aim of the present paper is thus to underline the experimental and clinical usefulness of exploring crossmodal processes in psychiatry. We will illustrate this proposal by means of the recent data obtained in the crossmodal exploration of emotional alterations in alcohol-dependence. Indeed, emotional decoding impairments might have a role in the development and maintenance of alcohol-dependence, and have been extensively investigated by means of experiments using separated visual or auditory stimulations. Besides these unimodal explorations, we have recently conducted several studies using audio-visual crossmodal paradigms, which has allowed us to improve the ecological validity of the unimodal experimental designs and to offer new insights on the emotional alterations among alcohol-dependent individuals. We will show how these preliminary results can be extended to develop a coherent and ambitious research program using crossmodal designs in various psychiatric populations and sensory modalities. We will finally end the paper by underlining the various potential clinical applications and the fundamental implications that can be raised by this emerging project.

Effects of parental alcoholism, sense of belonging, and resilience on depressive symptoms: a path model

This paper explored the relationships between parental alcoholism, sense of belonging, resilience, and depressive symptoms among Koreans in the U.S. Data from 206 Koreans (Mean age = 28.4 years; 59.8% females) living in a Midwestern state were collected in 2009, using a web-based survey, which included Children of Alcoholic Screening Test, Sense of Belonging Instrument, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Beck Depression Inventory-II. Path analysis results revealed sense of belonging as the most powerful, and resilience as the second important factor, resisting depressive symptoms associated with parental alcoholism. Implications for practice and research and study limitations are discussed. The study's limitations are noted.

The effect of an anger management program for family members of patients with alcohol use disorders

This study was aimed to test the structured anger management nursing program for the family members of patients with alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Families with the AUDs suffer from the dysfunctional family dynamic caused by the patients' deteriorative disease processes of alcohol dependence. Family members of AUDs feel bitter and angry about the uncontrolled behaviors and relapses of the patients in spite of great effort for a long time. This chronic anger threatens the optimal function of the family as well as obstructs the family to help the patients who are suffering from AUDs. Sixty three subjects were participated who were referred from community mental health centers, alcohol consultation centers, and an alcohol hospital in Korea. Pre-post scores of the Korean Anger Expression Inventory were used to test the program. An anger management program was developed and implemented to promote anger expression and anger management for the family members of the patients with AUDs. The total anger expression score of the experimental group was significantly more reduced as compared with that of the control group. Subjects in the experimental group reported after the program that they felt more comfortable and their life was changed in a better way. The anger management program was effective to promote anger expression and anger management for family members of AUDs. Nurses need to include family members in their nursing process as well as to care of patients with AUDs to maximize nursing outcome and patient satisfaction.

Addictive personality and problematic mobile phone use

Mobile phone use is banned or regulated in some circumstances. Despite recognized safety concerns and legal regulations, some people do not refrain from using mobile phones. Such problematic mobile phone use can be considered to be an addiction-like behavior. To find the potential predictors, we examined the correlation between problematic mobile phone use and personality traits reported in addiction literature, which indicated that problematic mobile phone use was a function of gender, self-monitoring, and approval motivation but not of loneliness. These findings suggest that the measurements of these addictive personality traits would be helpful in the screening and intervention of potential problematic users of mobile phones.

Does resilience moderate the associations between parental problem drinking and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing behaviors? A study of Korean adolescents

BACKGROUND

This study examined the main and interactive effects of parental problem drinking and resilience on problem (externalizing and internalizing) behaviors among Korean adolescents.

METHODS

Data were collected from 482 adolescents (mean age=14.4 years, 57% girls) from four middle schools in two urban areas in Korea. A revised version of Kim's measure (2003) and Hyun's Problems Behaviors Profiles (2000) were employed to measure resilience and internalizing and externalizing behaviors, respectively.

RESULTS

Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that parental problem drinking was directly associated with externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Further, the effects of parental problem drinking on both outcomes were moderated by resilience, such that the negative effects of parental problem drinking decreased in magnitude as resilience increased. Simple slope analyses showed that (1) the effects of parental problem drinking on externalizing behaviors were significant only at low levels of resilience and (2) the effects of parental problem drinking on internalizing behaviors were significant at low and average levels of resilience.

CONCLUSIONS

Resilience may confer some protection against the adverse effects of parental problem drinking among Korean adolescents, but these protective effects are small in magnitude. Results highlight the importance of further research on culture-specific dimensions of resilience among Korean Children of Alcoholics (COAs).

Electrophysiological correlates of the disrupted processing of anger in alcoholism

OBJECTIVE

Recent studies have shown that alcoholism is characterized by a deficit in the processing of emotional facial expressions (EFE), and that this deficit could be "emotion specific". The present study explored the hypothesis that there is a specific deficit for the EFE of anger compared to another negative emotion (disgust). Moreover, on the basis of event-related potentials (ERPs), this study aimed at determining the locus of this deficit in the information-processing stream.

METHODS

Fifteen patients suffering from alcoholism and fifteen matched healthy controls took part in the study, which used a "modified emotional" oddball paradigm. ERPs were recorded in response to repetitions of a particular facial expression (i.e. anger) and in response to two deviant (rare) stimuli obtained by a morphing procedure, one depicting the same emotion as the frequent stimulus, the other depicting a different emotion (i.e. disgust). The participants' task was to press a key as soon as they spotted the deviant stimulus.

RESULTS

Behavioural data showed an absence of categorical perception effect for anger (but not for disgust) stimuli among alcoholic patients. Moreover, electrophysiological data revealed that alcoholism is associated with an impaired processing of anger at the attentional level (N2b/P3a complex), extending to the decisional level (P3b).

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated disturbed processing of anger in alcoholism, at behavioural and electrophysiological levels. These preliminary results strengthen the proposition of a specific deficit for anger, and localize its possible origin to the attentional level (N2b/P3a complex) of the information processing stream. The clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Diagnósticos de enfermagem presentes em familiares de pacientes vítimas de queimaduras

O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar os diagnósticos de enfermagem de familiares de pacientes vítimas de queimaduras. Dezessete membros da família de pacientes vítimas de queimaduras foram avaliados por meio de observação e entrevista. Os diagnósticos de enfermagem foram estabelecidos com base na Taxionomia II da NANDA. Foram identificados 18 diferentes diagnósticos de enfermagem. Os diagnósticos: ansiedade, medo e sentimentos de pesar antecipado se caracterizaram pela manifestação de desespero ante a possibilidade da perda de um ente querido. Alguns diagnósticos, possivelmente, já estavam presentes antes do acidente ocorrer, como, por exemplo: desempenho de papéis ineficazes, manutenção do lar prejudicada, paternidade e maternidade prejudicadas.

Assessment and management of pathological and problem gambling among older adults

The incidence of gambling among older adults has risen significantly over the last decade. Pathological and problem gambling disorders among older adults have devastating consequences including stress, alcohol abuse, loss of income and assets, treatment nonadherence, malnutrition, safety risks related to associated alcohol usage and financial losses, and increased psychiatric problems such as depression. This article reviews the theoretical frameworks and literature concerning gambling incidence, prevalence, behavior, diagnostic tools and interventional strategies for older adults, as well as nursing assessment, care planning, and management of gambling disorders.

Health care implications and space allocation of research published in nursing journals

PURPOSE

To examine how research is disseminated through nursing journals and to examine characteristics of published research.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted with manuscripts from 78 nursing journals that publish research.

METHOD

The final issue for 1999 was examined. Pairs of independent raters content-analyzed all research manuscripts.

DISCUSSION

Research studies comprised 241 (42.9%) of the manuscripts and 51.4% of the journal space. Many empirical studies omitted validity and reliability. Few manuscripts reported the date for completion of data collection, and fewer than one third contained the length of time from acceptance to publication.

CONCLUSIONS

Enhanced instrumentation reporting, shorter time from data collection to publication, and an increase in journal space devoted to research might enable nurses to make more cutting-edge clinical decisions.