Frank L. Collins

The Assessment of Emotional Reactivity: A Scale Development and Validation Study

The present paper describes the development of a scale to measure emotional reactivity. The Emotional Assessment Scale (EAS) consists of 24 emotion descriptors. Subjects rated the intensity of emotion on a 10-cm visual analogue scale. The first study evaluated psychometric properties of the scale by administering the EAS, Profile of Mood States, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory to 120 college students. Reliability and validity of the EAS met established guidelines. The second study provided data on emotional reactivity to laboratory Stressors. Three samples were included: college students, hospital employees, and men with a family history of cardiovascular disease. In each sample, emotions were assessed using the EAS at three phases: baseline, mental arithmetic (MA), and cold pressor (CP). Overall, the three samples showed similar emotional responses to the laboratory Stressors. There was a general trend for increases in negative emotion to both tasks, with more emotional responses to MA as compared to CP. These data are discussed in terms of the usefulness of the EAS for measuring momentary changes in emotion in laboratory or clinical settings.

Workforce Competencies in Behavioral Health: An Overview

Competency-based training approaches are being used more in healthcare to guide curriculum content and ensure accountability and outcomes in the educational process. This article provides an overview of the state of competency development in the field of behavioral health. Specifically, it identifies the groups and organizations that have conducted and supported this work, summarizes their progress in defining and assessing competencies, and discusses both the obstacles and future directions for such initiatives. A major purpose of this article is to provide a compendium of current competency efforts so that these might inform and enhance ongoing competency development in the varied behavioral health disciplines and specialties. These varied resources may also be useful in identifying the core competencies that are common to the multiple disciplines and specialties.

Cigarette Smoking and the Intention to Quit Among Pregnant Smokers

Research has demonstrated that smoking during pregnancy has deleterious effects on the health of the unborn child as well as the mother. The present study examined whether pregnant smokers would have a greater intention to quit smoking, whether the stage of pregnancy would influence the intention to quit, and whether variables which have predicted cessation among pregnant smokers would also predict intention to quit. The results indicated that pregnant women did not have a significantly greater intention to quit smoking compared to nonpregnant smokers, despite the health risks to their child. Women who were further along in their pregnancy and women who smoked more cigarettes on a daily basis demonstrated the least intention to quit. Notably, women in the first trimester showed the greatest intention to quit, suggesting that pregnant women may be most receptive to quitting during their first trimester.

Muscle Stretching as an Alternative Relaxation Training Procedure

The purpose of this program of research was to explore the use of muscle stretching procedures in relaxation training with a clinical population. In the first controlled study, stretching exercises for four muscle groups (obicularis occuli, sternocleidomastoid/trapezius, triceps/pectoralis major, and forearm/wrist flexors) were prepared. A group of people using these procedures (SR, N = 8) was compared to a group using the Bernstein and Borkovec (1973) tense-release (TR; N = 8) techniques for those same muscle groups, as well as compared to an appropriate group of controls (WL; N = 8). Assessment of physiological (multi-site EMG) and subjective (emotions, muscle tension, and self-efficacy) responses showed that persons in the SR displayed less sadness, less self-reported muscle tension at four sites, and less EMG activity on the r.masseter than persons in the TR group. In the second study, 15 subjects were administered an expanded version of the SR relaxation procedures. Results showed that all subjects reported significant decreases in self-reported levels of muscle tension; muscle tension responders showed lowered trapezius EMG and respiration rates and cardiovascular responders showed lowered diastolic blood pressure. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of relaxation procedures based primarily on muscle stretching exercises for lowering subjective and objective states of arousal.

Cigarette smoking and chewing gum: response to a laboratory-induced stressor.

The current study examined the anxiolytic effects of cigarette smoking and chewing gum on urge to smoke, withdrawal, and anxiety in response to a public speaking task in 45 undergraduate smokers. Participants were asked to smoke, chew gum, or do nothing in response to the stressor. Participants completed measures of anxiety, withdrawal symptoms, and urge to smoke pre- and poststressor. The smoke group reported fewer urges to smoke pre- and poststressor than the other groups. The smoke and gum groups reported fewer withdrawal symptoms than did the control group poststressor. Chewing gum was helpful in managing levels of withdrawal symptoms compared with the control group. Groups did not differ on measures of anxiety. Results suggest that smoking in response to a stressor may not reduce levels of affective stress. Furthermore, chewing gum may be helpful in managing withdrawal symptoms in response to a stressor.

Multimodal assessment of the effect of chewing gum on nicotine withdrawal.

The present study was designed to evaluate the usefulness of chewing gum to reduce nicotine withdrawal, craving, and salivary cortisol concentrations during temporary nicotine deprivation. A total of 20 male smokers were studied under conditions when gum was and was not accessible during a 4-hour deprivation period. All subjects smoked an initial cigarette shortly after arrival for the two experimental sessions and were informed that they would be unable to smoke for the remainder of each session. The sessions consisted of each subject watching a movie, then waiting in the lab for two consecutive 30-min intervals. Self-reported nicotine withdrawal and craving were assessed four times and salivary cortisol five times during each experimental session. Results from this study indicate that chewing gum helps with self-reported withdrawal but not craving when a smoker is prevented from smoking. This study also provides preliminary data on the use of salivary cortisol as a physiological marker that may map these self-reports of nicotine withdrawal and craving.

Chewing gum affects smoking topography

In a previous study, Wrigleys chewing gum was shown to reduce cravings to smoke and nicotine withdrawal when smokers were not allowed access to cigarettes. The present study expanded these findings by examining smoking behavior of 20 dependent cigarette smokers who were allowed free access to cigarettes throughout the study session but were encouraged and rewarded not to smoke. Each experimental session consisted of the participant watching a movie, then waiting an additional 30 min. Half of the participants were assigned to a gum condition in which they were asked to chew at least one piece of gum and had free access to chewing gum throughout the experimental session; half were assigned to a no-gum control. Results from this study indicate that when gum was present, participants took significantly fewer puffs and abstained for a longer period of time until their first cigarette. These results suggest that chewing gum may facilitate quit attempts.

Differentiating Withdrawal Patterns Between Smokers and Smokeless Tobacco Users

The present study was designed to document smokeless tobacco withdrawal patterns and to examine differential withdrawal responses between smokers and smokeless users. Participants (N = 19) were studied under deprivation and nondeprivation conditions, 1 condition per week. The Withdrawal Symptoms Checklist was administered to assess cognitive and affective changes. Both smokers and smokeless users experienced substantially more withdrawal at 48-hr deprivation compared to the 48-hr nondeprivation condition. Participants in both groups endorsed decreasingly fewer withdrawal symptoms from 0 hr to 48 hr on nondeprivation days. This downward trend suggests a need for stabilizing withdrawal responses before deprivation.

A comparison of two models of emotion: Can measurement of emotion based on one model be used to make inferences about the other?

Summary-Two models of emotion (Positive Affect/Negative Affect and Bioinformational) were compared to determine whether information obtained using one model could be used to make inferences about the other. These models measure self-reported emotion along the primary dimensions of Positive Affect/ Negative Affect and Valence/Arousal, respectively. Although these two models of emotion are distinct, proponents of each model suggest that the dimensions should be related to one another in a specific manner. This assumption was directly tested using data collected from 9.5 undergraduates who participated in an emotion induction study. The results did not support the suggested relationship between these two models of emotion. In fact, it may be misleading to assume that data obtained by measuring dimensions from one of the models can be used to make inferences about dimensions of the other model. Copyright 0 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Effects of dose and interdose interval on conditioned heart rate tolerance to smoking.

The effects of an environmental cue and smoking administration on heart rate (HR) responses to smoking were investigated in 2 studies. The 1st study was performed without smoking, to rule out the possibility that the cue manipulations alone could produce HR habituation. Thirty-six male nonsmokers were exposed to 6 trials of a changing or repeating cue (segments of a story on audiotape), followed by a paced-breathing period. HR habituation was not found. In the 2nd study, 40 male smokers smoked 4 puffs every 10 min (small-dose/long-interdose interval [IDI]) or 6 puffs every 5 min (large-dose/short-IDI) in 6 trials. The same repeating or changing cue preceded smoking. Only the repeating-cue, small-dose/long-IDI group developed HR tolerance. Modifying the cue on Trial 6 did not reverse tolerance. The results indicated that (a) tolerance to smoking appears to be subject to conditioning, (b) this effect depends on the dose and IDI, and (c) the observed tolerance is not likely to be a result of the effects of the cue alone. Nonassociative tolerance to smoking a high-dose/short-IDI did not occur in this study.