Positive Psychology and Hope as Lifestyle Medicine Modalities in the Therapeutic Encounter: A Narrative Review

The mediating role of caregiver hope in relations among caregivers' coping and emotional socialization beliefs in pediatric oncology

The purpose of this study is to identify links between caregiver hope, caregiver coping behaviors, and caregivers' coaching versus dismissing emotion socialization (ES) beliefs in a pediatric cancer sample.

Self-report measures.

Caregivers (N = 183, 80.20% mothers; 58.5% white; 32.2% Hispanic) of youth undergoing cancer treatment (51.10% hematological malignancy, 15.30% brain or spinal [CNS] tumor, and 25.14% non-CNS solid tumor) for at least six weeks.

We used a series of mediation models to examine links between caregivers' coping behaviors, hope, and ES beliefs.

Caregivers' hope significantly mediated a positive relation between caregivers' coping and their emotion coaching beliefs, as well as an inverse relation between caregivers' maladaptive coping and their emotion dismissing beliefs.

Enhancing caregivers' hope or adaptive coping may support caregivers' beliefs during the pediatric cancer experience.

Our findings support future research to evaluate whether enhancing caregivers' hope or adaptive coping may help support evidence-based interventions that target ES beliefs and behaviors.

Hope therapy: Can it treat hopelessness and internal locus of control on diabetes mellitus patients?

Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are always required to be able to control a healthy lifestyle throughout their life to avoid various diseases that can accompany the previous illness. However, psychological factors in the form of despair due to lack of hope make people with diabetes more depressed and less able to control behavior and maintain blood sugar stability, so an excellent internal locus of control is needed to be stronger. This study aimed to determine the effect of hope therapy in reducing hopelessness and increasing internal locus of control in people with DM. The research design used a experimental study with ten randomly selected respondents divided into two groups, namely the control group and the experimental group. Data retrieval using the locus of control scale and the beck hopelessness scale. Data analysis used non-parametric analysis, namely the Mann Whitney test, Wilcoxon test, and Spearman's Rank Correlation test. The results of the Mann-Whitney U test on the internal locus of control variable show a value of 0.000 and a p score of 0.008 (p <0.05), it can be concluded that there are differences in the internal locus of control in the experimental group compared to the internal locus of control in the control group. The hopelessness variable shows a value of 0.000 and a p score of 0.008 (p <0.05), this indicates that there is a difference in hopelessness in the experimental group and the control group. There is a decrease in hopelessness and an increase in internal locus of control in people with DM given hope therapy.

Can heart rate variability be a bio-index of hope? A pilot study

Background

Hope can affect the thinking habits, emotional regulations, and behaviors of individuals. Hope is considered as a positive trait by clinicians, who often assess the level of hope in psychological evaluations. Previous measurements of hope were largely based on self-reported questionnaires leading to the problem of subjectivity. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a bio index that is an objective, quick, cost effective, and non-invasive measurement. HRV has been used in the evaluation of physical health and some psychiatric conditions. However, it has not been tested for its potential to be a bio-index of the level of hope.

Method

This pilot cross-sectional observational study aimed to examine the relationships between HRV and the level of hope among adult Chinese people in Hong Kong. Convenience sampling was used and 97 healthy participants were recruited. Their level of hope was measured by the Dispositional Hope Scale-Chinese (DHS-C), and their HRV was quantified by emWave Pro Plus, a reliable sensor of HRV. Spearman's correlation coefficient analysis was performed on the HRV measurements and DHS-C.

Results

The DHS-C's overall mean score was 45.49. The mean scores of the subscale DHS-C (Agency) was 22.46, and the mean scores of DHS-C (Pathway) was 23.03. It was also revealed that there were significant, weak, and negative correlations between the level of hope and four out of ten HRV metrics. One HRV metric was found to have a significant, weak, and positive correlation with the level of hope.

Conclusion

This study provided initial evidence to support the use of HRV as a bio-index of hope. Implications of the current study and recommendations for future research directions are discussed.

The effect of positive thinking on resilience and life satisfaction of older adults: a randomized controlled trial

The cumulative effects of adversity and unhappiness affect life satisfaction and quality of life in the growing older adult population. Most of the interventions aimed at improving the health and quality of life of older adults have adopted a problem-oriented or weakness-focused approach. However, a positive or strengths-focused approach can also have a virtuous but more effective capacity to contribute to the well-being and life satisfaction of older adults. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of positive thinking training on improving resilience and life satisfaction among older adults. A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 100 older adults with simple random sampling. The intervention group received 90-min weekly sessions for eight weeks on positive thinking training through written homework for reflection, group discussion, and media. The data were collected using Ingram and Wisnicki Positive Thinking Questionnaire, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Tobin Life Satisfaction Questionnaire at baseline and one week and two months after the training. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS software 26. P values below 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Positive thinking training led to better thinking (p < 0.001), higher resilience (p < 0.001), and greater life satisfaction (p < 0.001). The study's findings showed the effectiveness of the positive thinking training approach in improving resilience and life satisfaction in older adults. It is recommended to evaluate the long-term outcome in populations with different social, economic, and cultural statuses in future studies.

Hopamine as Personalized Medicine for Persons with Parkinson's Disease

Prescribing dopamine replacement therapy remains the most common approach used by physicians who strive to support persons with Parkinson's disease. In this viewpoint, we argue that instead of merely prescribing dopamine, healthcare professionals should particularly encourage and enable persons with Parkinson's disease to draft their own personalized prescription of "hopamine". The term hopamine is a self-invented neologism representing the uniquely personal set of hopes, desires, experiences, and skills of each individual with a dopamine deficit. As such, the concept of hopamine-as a reflection of the unique personal characteristics of each person with Parkinson's disease-really supplements that of dopamine-as a reflection of each person's unique physical characteristics. Whereas a prescription of dopamine replacement medication necessitates the diagnosed individual to lay his or her fate in the hands of medical professionals, adding a personalized dose of hopamine to the therapeutic mix empowers persons to self-manage daily life with Parkinson's disease. In this viewpoint, we argue that hopamine is a prerequisite for personalized medicine and offer several practical recommendations for how medical professionals can introduce the concept of hopamine in daily clinical practice.

Measurement invariance in gender and age of the Herth Hope Index to the general spanish population across the lifespan

The Herth Hope Index (HHI) is used to measure hope. Assessing the psychometric properties of HHI in Spanish population, exploring its structural validity, the different functionalities of the items and the invariability of this measure according to the gender and age of the population. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to explore the scale's dimensionality and test for strong measurement invariance across sex and age in a cross-sectional, multicenter, prospective study. A new scale was obtained with the structure of one factor with 9 items. Goodness-of-fit indices were excellent. The internal consistency of the one dimension proved high values. The configural invariance on gender shows that both men and women understand the new HHI items, also, this research also shows that there is no scalar invariance across age groups, revealing good levels of adjustment of the item. The Spanish version of the HHI proved to be a valid, reliable instrument to assess the hope in Spanish population.

Siddha Self-Inquiry for Flow, Bliss, and Uvagai: Mindfulness for Intuitive Lifestyle in Complex Cardiac Disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mental health disorders contribute to significant healthcare expenses. Lifestyle approaches that empower and enable patients to participate in their recovery are needed with the increasing complexity of cardiac patients. Traditional Tamil medical practice of Siddha self-inquiry meditation targets holistic health through intuitive lifestyle transformation. We describe 4 complex cardiac patients who explored Siddha based Hunger Gratitude Experience (HUGE) mindful eating and reported elevated levels of optimism and deeper experience of life as outlined by the 5000-year-old secular Siddha medical tradition. We cannot exclude the role of suggestion and placebo effect in descriptive series. However, the simultaneous improvement in physical health and emotional wellbeing along with demonstrated resilience against unforeseen adversities suggests this is Uvagai, the true essence of Siddha higher consciousness. Uvagai is extreme happiness and may be accessible universally with little formal training and targets positive psychology to improve wellbeing. While flow and bliss states are transient transcendental experiences, Uvagai may be more profound and therapeutic in CVD despite age and comorbidities. Seeking Uvagai can potentially overcome health disparities, including rural, minority, and underprivileged populations for better health. HUGE allows CVD patients to safely engage in Uvagai, experience higher consciousness and intuitively sustain lifestyle transformation.

CE: Trauma-Informed Care in Nursing Practice

ABSTRACT

Over the past 30 years, researchers have found that childhood trauma and its subsequent stress have a strong and cumulative effect on health in adulthood. Trauma in childhood often leads to mental health problems, skeletal fractures, and early death from conditions such as heart disease, cancer, lung disease, and liver disease. Compounding the effects of traumatic stress, health care systems often create a population of "never-served" persons who avoid health care settings because they've been subject to judgment and marginalization. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a skill underutilized by health care providers and organizations, yet nurse ethics and respect for human rights require us to care for all patients equally without judgment, including those living with the stress of complex trauma. The TIC approach respects human rights and supports nursing ethics, promoting a welcoming, inclusive environment in health care systems and patient-provider relationships that eschews implicit and explicit bias toward patients, regardless of presentation or personal circumstances. TIC foundational principles guide the application of the nursing process using patient-centered care to create safety, the first principle in TIC. Here, the authors discuss the application of these core principles in nursing through a deidentified case study.

An Epigenetic Perspective on Lifestyle Medicine for Depression: Implications for Primary Care Practice

Depression is the most common presenting mental health disorder in primary care. It is also a major contributor to somatic complaints, worsening of chronic medical conditions, poor quality of life, and suicide. Current pharmacologic and psychotherapeutic approaches avert less than half of depression's cumulative burden on society. However, there is a growing body of research describing both how maladaptive lifestyle choices contribute to the development and worsening of depression and how lifestyle-oriented medical interventions can reduce the incidence and severity of depression. This research, largely derived from an emerging field called epigenetics, elucidates the interactions between our lifestyle choices and those epigenetic factors which mediate our tendencies toward either health, or the onset, if not worsening of disease. The present review highlights how lifestyle choices involving diet, physical activity, sleep, social relationships, and stress influence epigenetic processes positively or negatively, and thereby play a significant role in determining whether one does or does not suffer from depression. The authors propose that medical training programs consider and adopt lifestyle medicine oriented instructional initiatives that will enable tomorrow's primary care providers to more effectively identify and therapeutically intervene in the maladaptive choices contributing to their patients' depression.

An Emerging Preventive Mental Health Care Strategy: The Neurobiological and Functional Basis of Positive Psychological Traits

Even with the expanding burden of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, our approach to mental health care remains largely reactive rather than preventive. This trend is problematic because the majority of outpatient visits to primary care providers across the country is related to unmet mental health needs. Positive psychology has the potential to address these issues within mental health care and provide primary care providers with strategies to serve their patients more effectively. Positive psychology has many frameworks like hope, which can be measured using simple questionnaires in the waiting room. Moreover, there is a growing body of neurobiological evidence that lends credence to positive psychology concepts in the context of differential neuronal activation patterns. Many positive psychological instruments not only have high construct validity but also have connections to observable neurobiological differences tied to differences in psychosocial functioning. Despite the current evidence, we still need robust research that explores if such psychometric measurements and related interventions lead to clinically significant and favorable health outcomes in patients outside of controlled environments.

Effects of parent-child painting and creative crafting therapy on preschool children with autism spectrum disorder and their mothers: a prospective randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVES

To study the effects of parent-child painting and creative crafting therapy on the core symptoms of preschool children with mild-to-moderate autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the parenting stress and hope level of their mothers.

METHODS

A total of 56 preschool children with mild-to-moderate ASD and their mothers were divided into an experimental group and a control group using the block randomization method, with 28 pairs in each group. The subjects in the control group received an applied behavior analytic intervention and those in the experimental group received parent-child painting and creative crafting therapy in addition to the intervention in the control group. The intervention time was 20 weeks for both groups. Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF), and Herth Hope Index (HHI) were used to evaluate the core symptoms of children and the parenting stress and hope level of their mothers before and after 20 weeks of intervention.

RESULTS

Forty-nine child-mother pairs completed the study (25 pairs in the intervention group and 24 pairs in the control group). The children in the experimental group had significantly lower scores of social interaction, language, social communication, and social motivation and total scores of ABC and SRS compared with those in the control group (P<0.05). The mothers in the experimental group had significantly lower scores of parental distress and parent-child dysfunctional interaction and total score of PSI-SF (P<0.05) and significantly higher total score of HHI and scores of each dimension compared with those in the control group (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of applied behavior analytic intervention with parent-child painting and creative crafting therapy can more effectively improve the core symptoms and social interaction of preschool children with mild-to-moderate ASD, reduce the parenting stress of mothers and improve their hope level.