Psychological Research and Reviews

This narrative review of literature on romantic breakup distress and recovery includes studies on the effects of this distress, risk and protective factors for breakup distress and interventions. The effects include sadness, anger and broken heart syndrome. The risk factors for breakup distress include being the “dumpee” versus the “dumper”, internet surveillance of the “dumper”, having been in a spiritual relationship, intrusive thoughts, an orientation towards future relationships or a fear of being single, having the relationship as part of your identity or your self-worth and experiencing social constraints like criticism. Protective factors include having been more committed to the relationship and then continuing to experience closeness in that relationship but also having a rebound relationship. Effective interventions include a writing task describing the breakup, online group discussions of the breakup and tryptophan for its serotonin-enhancing properties. Limitations of this literature include lack of generalizability from the mostly female university student samples and potentially biased self-report data.

Two recent articles in the American Psychologist (Vol 74, no. 7, 2019) on the Stanford Prison Experiment induced me to re-read Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition (1958), On Totalitarianism (1973). and Eichmann in Jerusalem (Arendt and Kroh, 1964). This re-reading and reflection deepened my understanding of the value and role of social psychology and Arendt’s deep understanding of human speech and action as it relates to the Human Sciences and understanding our role in the social and political world. The review includes an experiment by Arthur Asch on “Opinion and social pressure” published in 1955 and then looks at Stanley Milgram’s experiment on obedience published in 1963. The review of these articles provides a context for looking at Philip Zimbardo’s Sanford Prison Experiment (1973) and a critique of that experiment which led to my re-reading Hannah Arendt. This article continues an exploration of my efforts (Morehouse, 2012; Morehouse, 2015; Morehouse et al, 2019) at integrating some elements of psychology and philosophy with the goal of deepening understanding of contemporary issues.

The phenomenon of workplace bullying is pervasive and exposure to bullying leads to long-term, systemic and individual negative impacts to targets of bullying and the organizations in which they work. Multiple studies confirm that workplace bullying is associated with psychological trauma and serious negative long-term outcomes for targets including mental health disorders and in extreme cases suicide. Emergency service organizations by design are hierarchical in nature, creating power structures that can lead to increased potential for bullying. The literature shows that first responders who work in emergency service organizations report rates of workplace bullying at upwards of 60% (six times the National average). The prevalence of workplace bullying amongst first responders, given their already high stress jobs, along with the long term negative impacts to a targets health, mental health and wellbeing are significant and constitute a serious crisis within the emergency services community.

Introduction: The academic league plays a key role in the student’s academic-professional construction, enhancing knowledge about a specific area, shaped by the university’s pillars, which are teaching, extension and research. The subject of mental health in undergraduate health courses is quite diverse. In general, only one discipline or module of approach is offered, often only theoretical content and little practice, which leads students to seek other ways to deepen knowledge in the area, such as leagues, extension projects, events, among others. Thus, a league facilitates the approach of the student with the theme, as well as mediation or the student in the execution of research and extension projects, or what makes it enriching for professional training. Objective: Report the importance of a multiprofessional academic league in professional training in mental health and describe the experiences of effective members of the league. Methods: It is a descriptive work of the experience report type, developed from the experiences of effective members of the Liga Acadêmica Interdisciplinar em Saúde Mental (LAISME-UNCISAL). The student who has joined the league participates in monthly meetings, health education activities, workshops, events, courses, practices and actions held within the annual cycle, which spanned the period from July 2018 to June 2019. areas of health and biological sciences and social and human sciences. Results: As a result of these experiences, we realize the multiple benefits that the academic league brings to the students involved, such as the exchange of knowledge between academics and professionals, rich experiences at the university, practices in mental health places such as CAPS, technical understanding. from diverse contexts of performance in mental health, in addition to learning about teamwork, responsibility, organization, respect for differences, among others. Conclusion: The Academic League has relevance to academic professional education, as it provides an exchange of experiences and disseminates…

Background: The news of a diagnosis such as cancer is quite scary for the patient and family members. This disease is surrounded by prejudices and representations, which hinders the provision of information in the context of health. In this context, there are confusions and expectations of health professionals and family members about the professional who should communicate a difficult diagnosis, and the psychologist is pointed out as a possible responsible for such a mission. Objective: to report the experience of the psychologist in the context of bad news in pediatric childhood oncology. Methodology: Experience report. Results and discussion: Before any reflection, it is important to understand that health professionals when they are going to communicate bad news should preserve the patient’s autonomy, the right to know about his illness. Lay people and some health professionals try to direct this task to the psychologist, assuming that they have more professional resources in their academic training for this. The psychologist does not communicate diagnosis, or bad news, but supports the patient in these moments, acting in partnership with the multiprofessional team. The whole team participates, but the doctor is responsible for communicating. And he counts on the psychologist to support the child and his family, who in pediatric oncology resorts to the recreational resources to facilitate this process for the child. They can use toys, tell stories, stimulate drawings, actions that favor understanding and confrontation by the patient, considering their desire, providing autonomy, respect and dignity. This is not an easy task, but the psychologist must do personal psychological work, to better deal with this context and to succeed in their interventions. Conclusion: Studies need to be done on this subject with health professionals about the professional’s perception of such work, as well as about the curricula of health courses, especially the…

INTRODUCTION: Healthcare work requires intense and prolonged attention from professionals to people who are in situations of need and dependence. Close contact with patients and the fear of making mistakes during care are additional chronic stress factors that favor the occurrence of Burnout. OBJECTIVE: To identify the main aspects related to the Burnout syndrome, due to the relevance of the current theme, according to the literature. METHODOLOGY: This is an integrative literature review, based on articles published between 2014 and 2019, indexed in the Lilacs and Bdenf databases. RESULTS: The results obtained with this study enabled the identification of the main risk factors related to the occurrence of Burnout syndrome, highlighting the infrastructure deficiencies, the rigid hierarchical structure, the excessive workload and lack of material. The syndrome causes numerous damages to the emotional and physical health of workers, such as memory deficit, immunological and cardiovascular impairment, myalgia, social isolation, aggressiveness, among others. All these symptoms generate repercussions such as poor professional performance, physical and mental exhaustion, and depersonalization, causing negative effects on the professional and social environments. CONCLUSIONS: This study made it possible to reflect on the process of illness of professionals regarding Burnout syndrome. It was possible to identify health professionals as a vulnerable population that needs attention from health service managers to carry out epidemiological investigations, in addition to actions of prevention and health promotion.

This descriptive study used non-teaching staff of the University of Abuja for the study. The main thrust of this work was to determine the predictors of self-concepts among staff on the basis of two demographic variables – gender and marital status. A sample size of one hundred and fifty participants was drawn for the study through stratified random sampling procedure. The sample size consisted of 74 males and 76 females. A modified version of workers/self-concept scale (WSCS) was adapted to generate data for the study. The 35-item instrument sought responses on various aspects of self-conceptsinvolving moral self, family self, self –satisfaction, self-criticism. Two null hypotheses were formulated to determine the predictors of self-concepts on the basis of gender and marital status. The results revealed that there was no significant difference in self-concepts among staff on the basis of gender and moral status. This implies that the two demographic variables, do not predict self-concepts among the generality of the university workforce. The t-values were not significant at .393 and .495 for gender and marital status respectively. The authors recommended among other measures a more elaborate and in-depts. study involving a heterogeneous sample to ascertain a more reliable influence of the two variables on self-concepts.

General health status is defined as individual self reported quality of health conditions in relation to somatic symptoms, anxiety/insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression among police. This study adopted cross-sectional survey design. Literature have not fully explored moderating role of gender on the relationship between occupational stress and general health condition among police in which this study tries to bridge gap in knowledge. Table of random sampling technique was used to select sample size of 474 serving police personnel. General Health status and occupational stress instruments were used and data generated were subjected to Pearson moment correlation, multiple hierarchical regression and univariance analyses. Significant relationship was observed between occupational stress and the four dimensions of general health conditions: (somatic symptoms, anxiety/insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression). Occupational stress predicted significant portion of variance in somatic symptoms, anxiety/insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression. The interaction (occupational stress*gender) accounted for significant variation in somatic symptoms, anxiety/insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression. Men significantly experience poor health conditions and occupational stress compare to women. Considering the potential role of occupational stress in this study, it is recommended that police institution should strategize her policy to make police work less stressful in order to achieve effective policing and training and workshop on health should be conducted to policemen considering their score on general health status.

The aim of the present study was to examine the factors influencing the attitudes of Nigerians toward people with physical disability. The study hypothesized that gender, age, level of education, and exposure to physical challenge will not influence the attitudes of Nigerians toward people with physical disability. The design of the study was cross-sectional. The participants comprise a total of one hundred (100) workers drawn from state and local government civil service in Anambra, Imo and Ebonyi States, Nigeria using random sampling technique. Data were collected through self-administered survey questionnaire, using a modified version of the Scale of Attitudes towards Disabled Persons (SADP). The four hypotheses were tested using 2x2x2x2 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results showed that the independent variables studied (i.e. gender, age, level of education, and exposure to physical challenge) neither jointly nor independently influenced the attitudes of Nigerians toward people with physical disability. The practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Objective: To report the experience of three students who performed an intervention that used photography as a therapeutic resource with users of a CAPS Disorder. Methodology: The intervention was the product of the Workshop on Mental Health of the 6th semester of the psychology course of the Faculdade Pernambucana de Saúde. During the Workshop, the students were able to build knowledge through their experiences and their interactions with the field studied. The experience was divided into three moments. Initially, a photography workshop and a collage activity were held. Afterwards, users went to Engenho Massangana to practice photography. Finally, they organized a photographic exhibition for their families and service staff. Results and discussion: During the activities, seventeen users participated voluntarily. Through artistic experimentation, it was realized that the intervention could favor psychosocial rehabilitation through protagonism, leisure and art. Users were able to explore the place and interact with others, developing a new socializing environment beyond the limits of CAPS. In addition, through the photographic gaze, they created narratives and ways of expressing subjectivity. Conclusion: The intervention allowed the exercise of autonomy and citizenship of service users. Thus, it is extremely important that mental health services promote recreational and leisure social activities, contributing to the social reintegration of individuals who have long been excluded from their families and communities.