This study analyzes the potential of virtual reality (VR) to enhance attentional distraction in overweight children as they experience bodily sensations during exercise. It has been suggested that ...one reason why obese children stop exercising is the perception of bodily sensations. In a counterbalanced design, a total of 109 children (33 overweight, 10-15 years old) were asked to walk twice for 6 minutes on a treadmill under one of two conditions: (a) traditional condition (TC)-focusing their attention on their physical feelings and sensations or (b) distraction condition (DC)-focusing their attention on a virtual environment. Attentional focus during exercise, bad-good feeling states (pre- and postexperimental), perceived exertion (3 minutes and post), heart rate, and enjoyment were assessed. Results indicated that overweight children focused on internal information under the TC, but they significantly shifted their attention to regard the external environment in the DC. This attentional distraction effect of VR was more intense in overweight than in normal-weight children. No differences between groups were found when examining changes in feeling states and perceived exertion. VR increased enjoyment during exercise, and children preferred exercise using virtual environments. VR is useful to promote distraction and may help overweight and obese children to enjoy exercise.
Background
Although it has been suggested that family members of persons suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) endure high levels of burden, however, the process and the impact of this ...burden in their lives, and specifically the relation between the burden and emotional regulation has not been broadly investigated among this population. The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of burden on quality of life and depression, anxiety and stress, as mediated by difficulties in emotional regulation in family members of persons diagnosed with BPD.
Method
Participants were 167 family members of persons diagnosed with BPD. The Burden Assessment Scale, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Multicultural Quality of Life Index, and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 were filled out. Mediation analysis was conducted using the Maximum Likelihood estimator, bootstrap method and listwise deletion for missing data.
Results
Burden showed a significant, negative effect on quality of life and positive on depression, anxiety and stress. Difficulties in emotion regulation significantly mediated these relations. After accounting for the mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation, burden still had an impact on quality of life, depression, anxiety and stress. Women showed a higher level in both burden and stress than men. The caregivers with secondary and higher studies showed higher levels in burden than those with no studies. Not significant differences in burden, emotion regulation, depression, anxiety and stress were found related to marital status.
Conclusion
Difficulties in emotion regulation mediate the relations between burden and quality of life, depression, anxiety, and stress. Family members could engage in group interventions designed specifically for family members of people with BPD, oriented toward understanding the disorder or learning skills.
Life satisfaction (LS) is one of the key elements of subjective wellbeing (SWB). The Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale (TSWLS; Pavot et al.
1998
) measures LS including its temporal aspects, and ...provides scores for past, present, and future LS. The aim of this study was to replicate the three-factor structure found in previous studies in a Spanish-speaking general population, to analyze potential differences in temporal LS on different age groups and gender, and to explore the relationships between past, present, and future LS and the affective components of SWB (positive and negative mood). The sample consisted on 491 participants with an age range of 18 to 80 years old (
M
= 32.07,
SD
= 14.59). Confirmatory factor analysis, bivariate Pearson’s correlations, and multiple regression analyses were conducted. Results confirmed the three-factor structure of the scale and its good psychometric properties. All participants showed higher levels of present LS than past LS, and older respondents presented higher levels of present LS than future LS. No gender differences were found, but younger respondents scored higher on future LS than older ones. Significant correlations were found between mood and temporal LS, and happiness emerged as a predictor of present LS, whereas positive affect was a predictor of past and future LS. Negative mood played a minor role as a predictor of temporal LS. These findings shed light on the patterns of past, present, and future LS in different age groups, and contribute to the knowledge about how mood and temporal LS are related.
Stroke is the leading cause of motor impairments and generates distortion of body representation. Hence, stroke can modulate the sense of embodiment, namely the feeling of being inside the body ...(ownership), in the place where the body is located (location), and moving the body according to its own intentions (agency). A growing number of studies have adopted virtual reality (VR) to train motor abilities. However, the impact of the body illusion on the rehabilitation outcome is not fully understood. The present systematic review investigates the modulating role of the body illusion elicited by VR on motor rehabilitation in post-stroke patients after embodying a virtual avatar. The research was led in the main databases—PubMed, Scopus, PsychINFO, and Web of Science—and four studies matched the inclusion criteria (e.g., to have a sample of adult post-stroke patients, to use VR as an instrument for motor rehabilitation, to adopt the paradigm of the body illusion as a modulator for motor rehabilitation, to test the sense of body illusion outcome). Research outcomes demonstrated that two studies adopted the immersive and two the non-immersive embodied VR; three studies focused on the upper limb, and one on lower limb rehabilitation. Two studies compare VR training with traditional therapy, and two are pilot studies with only one experimental group. The studies demonstrated the feasibility of the body illusion as an accelerator for motor rehabilitation compared to the non-embodied condition, and as a positive correlator of the rehabilitation outcome. The finding should be taken with caution due to the limited studies included; however, they are encouraging to justify further research efforts in this area.
The best possible self (BPS), defined as a future-oriented Positive Psychology Intervention (PPI), has shown to be effective to increase wellbeing levels in previous studies. However, it is unknown ...if the future frame is an essential constituent for the efficacy of this exercise. This work was aimed at exploring the role of the temporal focus in the efficacy of the BPS intervention. Two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were carried out, in which participants (N = 112 and N = 107) were randomized to writing about their past, present or future best self, or about the activities carried out during the last 24 h (control condition). The main outcome measure was positive affect, and other measures related to wellbeing were also included (satisfaction with life, happiness, optimism, self-efficacy and self-satisfaction). It was hypothesized that all three experimental conditions would be equally effective to increase wellbeing and that they would produce larger benefits than the control condition. Results of both RCTs showed that all conditions significantly increased their wellbeing levels, which could imply that varying the temporality of the BPS does not affect the efficacy of the intervention. However, no statistically significant differences were found between the experimental and control conditions. Implications of these results will be discussed. This study contributes to the research on the mechanisms that influence the effectiveness of a widely used PPI.
The prevalence of mental disorders continues to increase, especially with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although we have evidence-based psychological treatments to address these conditions, ...most people encounter some barriers to receiving this help (e.g., stigma, geographical or time limitations). Digital mental health interventions (e.g., Internet-based interventions, smartphone apps, mixed realities -virtual and augmented reality) provide an opportunity to improve accessibility to these treatments. This article summarizes the main contributions of the different types of digital mental health solutions. It analyzes their limitations (e.g., drop-out rates, lack of engagement, lack of personalization, lack of cultural adaptations) and showcases the latest sophisticated and innovative technological advances under the umbrella of precision medicine (e.g., digital phenotyping, chatbots, or conversational agents). Finally, future challenges related to the need for real world implementation of these interventions, the use of predictive methodology, and hybrid models of care in clinical practice, among others, are discussed.
The Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS) was designed to measure self-criticism (SC) through Inadequate Self (IS) and Hated Self (HS) factors, as well as ...self-reassurance (RS). However, its long and short forms have yet to be validated in the Spanish Population. The present study examines the psychometric properties of the short form (FSCRS-SF) and its clinical usefulness in a sample of 576 adult individuals, 77 with psychiatric disorders and 499 without. Non-clinical participants were split according to their previous experience with meditation (active meditators,
n
= 133; non-active meditators,
n
= 41; and non-meditators,
n
= 325) and differences between these subgroups were explored. Additionally, a subsample of 20 non-clinical participants took part in a mindfulness- and compassion- based intervention (MCBI) to assess the usefulness of the scale as an outcome measure. Results confirmed the original three-factorial structure, good internal consistency, acceptable test-retest reliability, and a pattern of correlations consistent with previous literature. Regarding differences between groups, the clinical subsample showed significant higher SC and lower RS levels than non-clinical participants and active meditators had significant lower IS and higher RS levels than non-meditators. Participants who participated in the MCBI showed significant RS improvement and a decrease in IS and HS levels. Moreover, a hierarchical multiple regression showed that RS made a significant predictive contribution to distress at three months’ time. In conclusion, results show that the Spanish version of the FSCRS-SF is a reliable and valid measure of SC and RS in non-clinical populations and an adequate instrument to detect changes after MCBIs.
This study combined user-avatar similarity and Proteus effect predictions to incentivize physical activity. 305 participants ran while wearing accelerometers and a heart rate monitor. They were ...randomly assigned to onscreen motion-capturing avatars displaying either participant or stranger faces dressed in sports or formal clothes. Participants assigned to avatars displaying their own face showed increased cardiac frequency compared with those exposed to avatars with a stranger's face. Relative to the remaining conditions, participants assigned to avatars with their own face also wearing sports clothes showed increased cardiac frequency but participants assigned to avatars with a stranger's face wearing formal clothes showed decreased cardiac frequency. The results imply that user-avatar similarity and the Proteus effect can be harnessed to influence physical activity.
The term third-wave cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) encompasses new forms of CBT that both extend and innovate within CBT. Most third-wave therapies have been subject to randomized controlled ...trials (RCTs) focused on clinical effectiveness; however, the number and quality of economic evaluations in these RCTs has been unknown and may be few. Evidence about efficiency of these therapies may help support decisions on efficient allocation of resources in health policies. The main aim of this study was to systematically review the economic impact of third-wave therapies in the treatment of patients with physical or mental conditions. We conducted a systematic literature search in PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and CINALH to identify economic evaluations of third-wave therapies. Quality and Risk of Bias (RoB) assessment of economic evaluations was also made using the Drummond 35-item checklist and the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias, respectively. Eleven RCTs were included in this systematic review. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and extended Behaviour Activation (eBA) showed acceptable cost-effectiveness and cost-utility ratios. No study employed a time horizon of more than 3 years. Quality and RoB assessments highlight some limitations that temper the findings. There is some evidence that MBCT, MBSR, ACT, DBT, and eBA are efficient from a societal or a third-party payer perspective. No economic analysis was found for many third-wave therapies. Therefore, more economic evaluations with high methodological quality are needed.
•First review of economic impact of third-wave cognitive behavioral therapies.•Only 11 RCTs with economic evaluations found in this systematic review.•Five third-wave therapies show promising cost-effectiveness findings.•The quality and risk of bias assessments revealed some methodological limitations.
Self-critical rumination is a negative and repetitive self-thinking process related to different disorders and negative psychological outcomes such as emotion dysregulation. The objectives of this ...study are twofold: (a) to examine the factor structure of the Spanish version of the Self-Critical Rumination Scale (SCRS), providing further evidence on its construct validity, and (b), to explore the mediator role of self-critical rumination between emotion dysregulation and psychopathology. A sample of 431 Spanish participants were recruited and completed online questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis, mediation analysis, and Pearson's correlations were conducted. A single factor structure was confirmed, and the SCRS showed good psychometric properties (Cronbach's alpha was 0.911). Significant correlations were found between the SCRS and related constructs (self-criticism, self-compassion, difficulties in emotion regulation, and psychopathology). Mediation analysis indicated that self-critical rumination plays a mediator role between emotion dysregulation and psychopathology. These results provide further evidence of the construct validity of the SCRS and extend our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the relationship between emotion dysregulation and psychopathology. These findings have key clinical implications suggesting that ruminative self-criticism could be potentially considered a transdiagnostic factor and a relevant target in the therapeutic process.
•Self-critical rumination is related to different psychopathologies.•Self-critical rumination scale has Good psychometric properties in a Spanish population.•Self-critical rumination significally mediates the relationship between emotion dysregulation and psychopatology.•Ruminative self-criticism could be considered a transdiagnostic factor and a relevant target in therapy.
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