Ian R. Price

The Impact of a Self-Efficacy Intervention on Short-Term Breast-Feeding Outcomes

Maternal self-efficacy for breast-feeding may contribute to success in breast-feeding. This study aimed to increase breast-feeding self-efficacy and actual breast-feeding through an intervention based on Banduras self-efficacy theory. A total of 90 pregnant women participated in the study. The women who were assigned to a breast-feeding self-efficacy intervention showed significantly greater increases in breast-feeding self-efficacy than did the women in the control group. Furthermore, at 4 weeks postpartum, women in the intervention group showed a trend toward breast-feeding their infants longer and more exclusively than did those in the control group. Greater increases in breast-feeding self-efficacy were associated with a significantly higher level of breast-feeding. Replicating previous research, breast-feeding self-efficacy was significantly related to concurrent breast-feeding behavior, and high antenatal breast-feeding self-efficacy predicted a higher level of later breast-feeding in control-group women. These findings have implications for breast-feeding support programs and for the potential general utility of self-efficacy-based interventions in health education.

The relationship between adverse childhood experience and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and beliefs: the role of anxiety, depression, and experiential avoidance.

Current cognitive-behavioral models of the etiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest that maladaptive appraisal of otherwise normal intrusive thoughts have their origins in early learning experiences. The present study investigated the relationship between adverse childhood experience and OCD symptoms and related dysfunctional beliefs in a general population using a structural equation modeling approach. The role of experiential avoidance and anxiety and depression were also explored in the model. Results indicated that adverse childhood experience was strongly associated with OCD symptoms and beliefs, but after controlling for anxiety and depression the relationship with OCD symptoms became non-significant and only a weak relationship with OCD beliefs remained. Experiential avoidance was significantly associated with OCD symptoms and beliefs and remained significant after controlling for anxiety and depression. Implications of these results in the context of a complete model of the development of OCD are discussed.

Adolescent computer use: Approach, avoidance, and parental control

The nature and extent of computer use in an Australian regional sample of adolescents was examined in relation to individual characteristics and parental control. High engagement with computers, problematic use of computers, and the use of computers for different purposes were related to general behavioural tendencies of approach and avoidance represented by the behavioural inhibition system (BIS)/behavioural activation system (BAS) measures and to measures of parental control provided by the Parental Bonding Instrument. Results indicated that age, gender, and the BIS/BAS measures were useful constructs in explaining variation in computer use generally, and in explaining the diversity of reasons for computer use. Parental control was only weakly related to outcome behaviours. It was concluded that problematic computer use and hours spent at the computer show some similarities with substance use except for the strength of the relationships and the role of the BIS.

GPS observation of shelter utilisation by Merino ewes

The present study examined how shelter availability, altitude and temperature influence paddock utilisation by pregnant and lambing Merino ewes. Global positioning systems (GPS) attached to collars allowed continuous tracking of ewes’ positions within two paddocks, and environmental conditions were also monitored throughout this time using temperature loggers. Animal tracking devices (UNEtracker GPS collars) were used in the spring (September–November) of 2008 (51 days) and 2009 (43 days), 14 days post-shearing, to monitor movement of pregnant grazing fine-wool Merino ewes (5 per paddock per year). The data were used to examine sheep use of lone trees, interior shelter, perimeter shelter and remainder of the paddock during three distinct diurnal activity periods, namely night camping, morning grazing and afternoon grazing. Regular use of shelter was consistently recorded in the two experimental years and in both paddocks. The ewes consistently used sheltered areas and both the leeward and windward sides of shelter, particularly during high sheep chill days. The sheep used the sheltered areas significantly more often than they used the remainder of the paddock, which was devoid of shelter except for lone trees. Night camping did not occur at the highest altitude, but predominantly where shelter was also located. The present study has demonstrated the consistent use of shelter by sheep. The shelter-seeking behaviour of the ewes a month post-shearing suggests that these animals are more sensitive to weather conditions than has been previously reported.

Nonlinear dynamics in a complex cubic one-dimensional model for sensory psychophysics

A cubic recursion with complex variable, has different properties in the phase spases of the reals and the imaginaries. The separation of the dynamics of the parts may be interpretable in terms of sensory intensity signal transmission through higher neural networks in man.

Psychometric Analysis of the Subscales of the Thoughts and Real-Life Experiences Scale

This paper reports on the reliability, validity, and factor analysis of the subscales of the Thoughts and Real-Life Experiences Scale (THARL Scale). Two hundred and twenty-three subjects completed the THARL Scale. Of these, 86 subjects also completed anxiety, stress, depressive cognitions, well-being, and general psychological health scales. Six weeks later, 174 subjects completed the THARL Scale again. The four subscales of the THARL Scale were found to be reliable. Thought-related distress and real life related distress correlated positively with anxiety, stress, and depressive cognitions, and the thought-related positive affect and real life related positive affect correlated negatively with anxiety, stress, and depressive cognitions. High distress was associated with low well-being and low psychological health, and high positive affect was associated with high well-being and high psychological health. Results of multiple regression analyses showed that positive affect due to thoughts was the best predictor of anxiety, while positive affect due to day-to-day experiences was the best predictor of stress and depressive cognitions. Positive and negative affect caused by thoughts were the two significant predictors of well-being while negative affect caused by thoughts and positive affect caused by day-to-day experiences were the two significant predictors of general psychological health. It was concluded that the THARL Scale may be employed as an instrument for the diagnosis of psychological problems and emotional health.

Training Merino sheep to respond to visual and auditory cues

The feasibility of training sheep to approach a stimulus was investigated in three experimental groups and a control group of fine wool Merino sheep (n = 11 in each group). The experimental groups (n = 11) were trained to approach either a visual (V), auditory (A), or visual + auditory (V+A) stimulus over eight training sessions and were subsequently tested in a T-maze for memory retention on six occasions over a 4-month period. Four testing occasions were spaced at greater than 30 days apart while two were less than 3 days apart. Sheep learned to approach the cues during the training period and the tests indicated that the sheep retained memory of the cues for over 130 days without reinforcement. The controls received no contingency exposure and made no choice in the T-maze test. The proportion of correct stimulus choices (±s.e.m.) in the T-maze averaged over the four longer-spaced testing occasions were V 0.61 (0.06), A 0.50 (0.11), V+A 0.77 (0.04). These differences approached significance (P = 0.058). Sheep trained to the V+A stimulus performed significantly (P < 0.05) better in the T-maze than sheep trained to the A stimulus alone. Comparisons over the shorter-spaced testing durations indicated that the sheep quickly learnt not to approach the stimulus (temporary extinction) when no food reward was available. Individual temperament of the animals was not related to their learning. This study highlights the potential for the use of V and A cues in manipulating the movement of sheep which may be useful for farm management purposes.

DEPRESSION IN EARLY ADOLESCENCE: RELATION TO EXTERNALISING AND INTERNALISING BEHAVIOUR

The relationship between depression, on the one hand, and externalising and internalising behaviour, on the other, in 151 adolescents (79 boys and 72 girls) was examined with respect to the possible moderating role of sex-role stereotyping. The Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale, the Achenbach Teacher Report Form, and the Australian Sex-Role Scale were used to assess the hypothesis that adolescents adapt to the experience of depression in gender-appropriate ways. A regression analysis indicated that the pattern of relationships was different for boys and girls. The hypothesis was supported for boys and externalising behaviour but not for girls and internalising behaviour.

Healing through giving testimony: An empirical study with Sri Lankan torture survivors:

Sri Lanka has recently emerged from a three decade long civil war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Behind the actual arena of conflict, forms of organised violence were often perpetrated on ordinary Sri Lankans who came into contact with law enforcement officials and other state authorities. The effects of these encounters on mental health, well-being, and community participation can be severe and long-lasting. Considering the generally poor availability of mental health services in many low-income countries, brief efficient interventions are required to enhance the lives of individuals and their families affected by torture, trauma, or displacement. In this context, the present study evaluated the effectiveness of testimonial therapy in ameliorating the distress of Sri Lankan survivors of torture and ill-treatment. The results indicated that over a 2- to 3-month period, psychosocial functioning was significantly enhanced in the therapy group compared to the waitlist control group. The general benefits of testimonial therapy, the ease with which it can be incorporated into ongoing human rights activities, and its application by trained nonprofessionals encourage greater use of the approach.

Effectiveness of training in negative thought reduction and positive thought increment in reducing thought-produced distress.

Subjects (N = 86) completed scales designed to measure distress caused by thoughts, distress caused by day-to-day experiences, positive affect caused by thoughts, positive affect caused by day-to-day experiences, anxiety, stress, depressive cognitions, well-being, and psychological health. Subjects who reported high distress as a result of one or more items on the Thought-Related Distress subscale were asked to nominate three specific thoughts related to one of the distress-producing thought categories. These subjects were randomly placed in one of the five training groups. One group was trained to reduce negative thoughts (NTR), the second group was trained to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts (PTI), the third group was given training in both procedures, the fourth group was given a placebo treatment, and the fifth group was not given any treatment. NTR, PTI, and the combination of both were effective in reducing the distress caused by the specific thoughts. There was a significant reduction in the distress caused by specific thoughts in the NTR and combined-treatment groups. Training produced no significant changes in overall negative and positive affect caused by thoughts and day-to-day experiences or in anxiety, stress, depressive cognitions, well-being, and general health.