A comparative study of cognitive behavioural therapy and shared reading for chronic pain

Mind-stimulating leisure activities: Prospective associations with health, wellbeing, and longevity

Introduction

This study examines prospective associations within a 6-year perspective between three mind-stimulating leisure activities (relaxed and solitary: reading; serious and solitary: doing number and word games; serious and social: playing cards and games) and 21 outcomes in (1) physical health, (2) wellbeing, (3) daily life functioning, (4) cognitive impairment, and (5) longevity domains.

Methods

Data were obtained from 19,821 middle-aged and older adults from 15 countries participating in the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Temporal associations were obtained using generalized estimating equations. All models were controlled for prior sociodemographic, personality, lifestyle factors, health behaviors, and pre-baseline leisure activity values and all outcome variables. The Bonferroni correction was used to correct for multiple testing. E-values were calculated to examine the sensitivity of the associations to unmeasured confounding. Secondary analyses (1) under the complete case scenario, (2) after excluding respondents with health conditions, and (3) using a limited set of covariates were conducted to provide evidence for the robustness of the results.

Results

The relaxed solitary activity of reading almost daily was prospectively associated with a lower risk of depression, experiencing pain, daily functioning limitations, cognitive impairment, lower loneliness scores, and more favorable wellbeing outcomes. Engaging in serious solitary leisure activities almost daily was prospectively associated with a lower risk of depression, feeling full of energy, and a lower risk of death by any cause. Occasionally engaging in these activities was prospectively associated with greater optimism and a lower risk of cognitive impairment. Engaging in serious social activities was prospectively associated with greater happiness, lower scores on the loneliness scale, a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease, and an increased risk of cancer. Additionally, occasionally engaging in serious social activities was associated with greater optimism and lower risk of depression, pain, and mobility limitations. These associations were independent of demographics, socioeconomic status, personality, history of diseases, and prior lifestyle. The sensitivity analyses provided substantial evidence for the robustness of these associations.

Discussion

Mind-engaging leisure activities can be considered a health and wellbeing resource. Practitioners may consider them tools that help middle-aged and older adults maintain their health and quality of life.

Regaining autonomy, competence, and relatedness: Experiences from two Shared Reading groups for people diagnosed with cancer

This study explored 12 cancer patients' experiences from participating in an online and on-site Shared Reading group for 16 weeks in Norway. Shared Reading is a practice in which prose and poetry are read aloud in small parts and discussed along the way. The study is a qualitative evaluation study with a particular focus on how the participants experienced the reading group supported their life living with cancer. The study was mainly based on the data collected from focus group discussions with the participants, which was analysed qualitatively through open coding. In total, four themes were identified: (1) open space, (2) disconnecting through connecting, (3) community, and (4) resonances and echoes. The participants expressed that the RG helped them to "balance life and cancer", and "disconnect" from their illness. The cognitive effort needed was beneficial for the participants as a form for "cognitive training." Since many of the participants had, due to their illness, completely stopped reading books, the reading group also brought literature back into the participants' lives. Furthermore, it was essential for the participants to feel they contributed to a community, to feel useful and valuable for others. The texts were also important, as some of them resonated strongly with the participants in the way of activating memories and connecting a text to own experiences. After a session, a text could still have an impact as an echo. The results are synthesised, discussed, and supported through the framework of self-determination theory and, more specifically, the basic psychological need theory. The reading group was experienced as a support for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and promoted a feeling of intrinsic motivation that brought about new dimensions in the participants' lives. The study wishes to increase our knowledge of the benefits of integrating Shared Reading groups as a low-cost, literature-based psychosocial support in cancer organisations.

Prevalence and factors associated with disturbed sleep in outpatients with ankylosing spondylitis

Sleep disturbance is prevalent among patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and is considered a multifactorial issue. The study was designed to investigate sleep disturbance and its associated factors in AS outpatients in Southwest China. Patients were recruited by convenience sampling in this cross-sectional study. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Bath AS Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), the Bath AS Functional Index (BASFI), the Bath AS Patient Global Score (BAS-G), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used to assess sleep quality, disease activity, function status, global well-being, depression, and anxiety. Spearman's correlation, t test, ANOVA, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to explore the associated factors of sleep disturbance. Of the 281 outpatients included in the study, 190 (67.6%) patients had sleep disturbance. The married patients, the patients with extra-spinal manifestation, depression and anxiety, longer duration of diagnostic delay, higher disease activity, worse functional status and global well-being, high level of pain, and fatigue, had poorer sleep quality (P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed age (β = 0.087, P = 0.102), BAS-G (β = 0.181, P = 0.003), fatigue (β = 0.170, P = 0.002), anxiety (β = 0.151, P = 0.002) and nocturnal back pain (β = 0.192, P = 0.001), extra-spinal manifestation (β = 0.120, P = 0.012), and duration of diagnostic delay (β = 0.174, P = 0.001) were the contributors to PSQI. Sleep disturbance is common in AS patients in Southwest China. It may be useful to keep regular exercise, strengthen the management of pain, relieve anxiety, and prevent and treat extra-spinal manifestation for improving sleep quality.

Start making sense: Art informing health psychology

Growing evidence suggests that the arts may be useful in health care and in the training of health care professionals. Four art genres - novels, films, paintings and music - are examined for their potential contribution to enhancing patient health and/or making better health care providers. Based on a narrative literature review, we examine the effects of passive (e.g. reading, watching, viewing and listening) and active (e.g. writing, producing, painting and performing) exposure to the four art genres, by both patients and health care providers. Overall, an emerging body of empirical evidence indicates positive effects on psychological and physiological outcome measures in patients and some benefits to medical training. Expressive writing/emotional disclosure, psychoneuroimmunology, Theory of Mind and the Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation are considered as possible theoretical frameworks to help incorporate art genres as sources of inspiration for the further development of health psychology research and clinical applications.