A methodological framework allows the identification of personomic markers to consider when designing personalized interventions

OBJECTIVES

To develop a methodological framework to identify and prioritize personomic markers (e.g., psychosocial situation, beliefs…) to consider for personalizing interventions and to test in smoking cessation interventions.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

(1) We identified potential personomic markers considered in protocols of personalized interventions, in reviews of predictors of smoking cessation, and in interviews with general practitioners. (2) Physicians, and patient smokers or former smokers selected the markers they considered most relevant during online paired comparison experiments. Data were analyzed with Bradley Terry Luce models.

RESULTS

Thirty-six personomic markers were identified from research evidence. They were evaluated by 795 physicians (median age: 34, IQR [30-38]; 95% general practitioners) and 793 patients (median age: 54, IQR [42-64], 71.4% former smokers) during 11,963 paired comparisons. Physicians identified patients' motivation for quitting (e.g., Prochaska stages), patients' preferences, and patients' fears and beliefs (e.g., concerns about weight gain) as the most relevant elements to personalize smoking cessation. Patients considered their motivation for quitting, smoking behavior (e.g., smoking at home/at work), and tobacco dependence (e.g., Fagerström Test) as the most relevant elements to consider.

CONCLUSION

We provide a methodological framework to prioritize which personomic markers should be considered when developing smoking cessation interventions.

Personality Characteristics and Acute Symptom Response Predict Chronic Symptoms After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

OBJECTIVE

Despite consensus that personality influences mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) recovery, it has been underexamined. We evaluated the extent to which diverse personality and psychiatric symptom dimensions predict mTBI recovery.

METHODS

This prospective cohort study involved psychological assessments of hospital patients with mTBI (n = 75; median = 2 days post-injury, range = 0-12 days) and orthopedic trauma controls (OTC; n = 79) who were used for comparison in mediation modeling. Chronic symptoms were evaluated at 3 months after mTBI (n = 50) using the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) symptom checklist. Linear regression analyses were used to identify the predominant predictors of chronic symptoms in mTBI. Modern mediation analyses tested the hypothesis that personality traits predict chronic symptoms through acute psychological response to injury.

RESULTS

In mTBI, trait psychoticism directly predicted chronic mTBI symptoms and was the strongest personality predictor overall. Furthermore, an internalizing personality dimension emphasizing negative affect/emotionality and detachment predicted chronic mTBI symptoms indirectly through enhancement of acute somatic complaints. In OTC, internalizing personality acted through the same mediator as in mTBI, whereas the effect of psychoticism was also mediated through acute somatic complaints. There was varying support for a moderated direct effect of personality traits at low levels of positive emotionality across models.

CONCLUSION

These causal models provide novel insights about the role of personality in mTBI symptom recovery, highlighting the complexity of how psychological processes may interact to affect recovery and revealing that some of these processes may be non-specific to brain injury.

Influences of motorcycle rider and driver characteristics and road environment on red light running behavior at signalized intersections

In Thailand, red light running is considered as one of the most dangerous behaviors at intersection. Red light running (RLR) behavior is the failure to obey the traffic control signal. However, motorcycle riders and car drivers who are running through red lights could be influenced by human factors or road environment at intersection. RLR could be advertent or inadvertent behavior influenced by many factors. Little research study has been done to evaluate the contributing factors influencing the red-light violation behavior. This study aims to determine the factors influencing the red light running behavior including human characteristics, physical condition of intersection, traffic signal operation, and traffic condition. A total of 92 intersections were observed in Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Chonburi, the major provinces in each region of Thailand. In addition, the socio-economic characteristics of red light runners were obtained from self-reported questionnaire survey. The Binary Logistic Regression and the Multiple Linear Regression models were used to determine the characteristics of red light runners and the factors influencing rates of red light running respectively. The results from this study can help to understand the characteristics of red light runners and factors affecting them to run red lights. For motorcycle riders and car drivers, age, gender, occupation, driving license, helmet/seatbelt use, and the probability to be penalized when running the red light significantly affect RLR behavior. In addition, the results indicated that vehicle travelling direction, time of day, existence of turning lane, number of lanes, lane width, intersection sight distance, type of traffic signal pole, type of traffic signal operation, length of yellow time interval, approaching speed, distance from intersection warning sign to stop line, and pavement roughness significantly affect RLR rates.

The Relationship between Empathy and Medical Education System, Grades, and Personality in Medical College Students and Medical School Students

PURPOSE

This study investigated the relationship between empathy and medical education system, grades, and personality in medical college (MC) students and medical school (MS) students.

METHODS

One hundred fifty-five MC students and 137 MS students participated in this study, completing questionnaires on sociodemographic data, Jefferson Scale of Empathy, S-version, Korean edition (JSE-S-K), and Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI).

RESULTS

Reward Dependence (RD), Cooperativeness (C), and Self-directedness+ Cooperativeness (SC), which are subscales of the TCI, correlated significantly with JSE-S-K score. Third-year students had significantly higher scores on the JSE-S-K than first-year students. MS students had significantly higher scores on the JSE-S-K and the SC subscale of the TCI than MC students. However, there were no significant differences in empathy with regard to age, sex, motivation toward medical science, club activity, and applied specialty.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that empathy is associated with personality traits, such as RD, C, and SC, and medical education curriculum contributes incrementally to empathy for students. The difference in test scores for empathy between MC students and MS students might be due to differences in personality traits, such as SC.