Joanne Lusher

Dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) is associated with Novelty Seeking (NS) and substance abuse: the saga continues...

Dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) is associated with Novelty Seeking (NS) and substance abuse: the saga continues . . .

Evaluation of an intervention to help students avoid unintentional plagiarism by improving their authorial identity.

Students with poorly developed authorial identity may be at risk of unintentional plagiarism. An instructional intervention designed specifically to improve authorial identity was delivered to 364 psychology students at three post‐1992 universities in London, UK, and evaluated with before‐and‐after measures of beliefs and attitudes about academic authorship, using the Student Authorship Questionnaire. Changes in questionnaire scores showed that the intervention led to significantly increased confidence in writing, understanding of authorship, knowledge to avoid plagiarism, and top‐down approaches to writing, and significantly decreased bottom‐up and pragmatic approaches to writing. For understanding of authorship, knowledge to avoid plagiarism and pragmatic approaches to writing, significant intervention by year of study interaction effects showed that the greatest improvements were among year one undergraduates. Direct evaluative feedback showed that 86% of students believed the intervention helped them avoid plagiarism and 66% believed it helped them write better assignments. Post‐intervention focus groups revealed changed student understandings about authorial identity and academic writing. The results show that interventions can help students avoid unintentional plagiarism by adopting more authorial roles in their academic writing. Further research could explore other influences on authorial identity, and examine the impact of authorial identity interventions on other outcome indicators.

Dopamine D4 receptor gene and severity of dependence

Family, twin and adoption studies demonstrate that substance dependence is determined partially by genes. Recent studies in opiate‐dependent subjects have found a significant excess of the long‐long (LL) allele of the 48bp repeat in the coding sequence of the DRD4 gene. This study examined this association further in a sample of 60 opiate dependent, 51 alcohol‐dependent and 64 normal, healthy control subjects. No significant association between the polymorphism at DRD4 and opiate or alcohol abuse was found. However, results yielded a significant main effect on severity of dependence, demonstrating that individuals with the LL allele rated their severity of dependence significantly higher than those who had the short‐short (SS) allele :[F(2, 101) = 5.0, p < 0.01]. This study suggests that the DRD4 gene does not directly influence vulnerability to substance dependence, but that possession of the LL genotype significantly increases severity of dependence.

People with a body mass index ⩾30 under-report their dietary intake: A systematic review:

Under-reporting of total energy intake is a common and well-known source of measurement error in dietary assessment, and evidence suggests that this bias is particularly significant in obese individuals. After a multi-stage selection process of eligible papers, this literature review appraised 34 papers detailing the accuracy of self-reported dietary intake in people with an obese body mass index (BMI ⩾ 30). The available literature to date shows that having a body mass index ⩾30 is associated with significant under-reporting of food intake. Future research should look into identifying effective techniques to reduce this bias in clinical practice.

Determinants of exercise intention and behaviour among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia

Abstract Objective: The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) has been applied to understand exercise behaviour in the general population with little consideration to individuals diagnosed with a psychiatric disability, despite physical inactivity among them presenting a significant risk of cardiovascular disease and other physical and mental health problems. This study tested the applicability of the TPB in the prediction of exercise intention and behaviour among people with schizophrenia. Method: Using a cross-sectional research design, 214 participants (105 diagnosed with schizophrenia and 109 community controls) completed a questionnaire measuring TPB components, self-efficacy, health professional support and exercise behaviour. Results: Those with schizophrenia walked significantly more than the general population, but did significantly less moderate to strenuous exercise. Among those with schizophrenia, self-efficacy, perceived behavioural control and health professional support predicted 33.4% of the variance in intention to exercise. Exercise behaviour was predicted by self-efficacy and fruit and vegetable intake. Conclusion: It is hoped that these findings will prompt health practitioners to respond to these low levels of exercise among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia by providing support and exercise programmes that enhance self-efficacy.

Women's experiences of pregnancy related pelvic girdle pain: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE to systematically review the available studies which relay the experience of pregnancy related pelvic girdle pain and how this affects women psychologically and emotionally. METHOD a systematic review and meta-synthesis of the experiences of pregnancy related pelvic girdle pain was conducted for qualitative studies dated between 2005 and 2016. Predefined terms were used to search nine central databases and hand searches of two reference lists of identified studies were carried out. FINDINGS 614 records were identified, eight studies met the inclusion criteria for review. Pain from pelvic girdle pain impacted on womens daily lives both at home and the workplace. This had a negative emotional and psychological impact on women as it took away their feeling of independence. Women reported feelings of frustration, guilt, irritability and upset at being unable to carry out their normal roles. Pelvic girdle pain also affected the womens sense of identity and ability to care for their children. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Health professionals working with pregnant and postnatal women need to be aware of the anger, frustration and negative emotions resulting from PGP. These women may become socially isolated and there is a risk they could abuse analgesics in attempt to manage the pain especially if they do not have the social support. For women with young children, it is important to be aware of safety issues they face with carrying babies and controlling toddlers. It is therefore important that health professionals recognise PGP as a serious health issue, approach this condition sensitively and refer to appropriate treatment as soon as PGP is suspected.

Willingness to Try Electronic Cigarettes Among UK Adolescents

ABSTRACT Purpose: To investigate factors that lead to willingness to try electronic cigarettes among UK adolescents. Methods: A sample of 16- to 19-year-old pupils (N = 256) completed a questionnaire. Results: Smoking status significantly predicted more than one-third of the variance of willingness to try an electronic cigarette and a further 7.8% was significantly predicted by a positive prototype of a smoker (e.g., stylish) and a negative prototype of an electronic cigarette user (e.g., unattractive). Moreover, tobacco-flavored electronic cigarettes were less favorable than alternative flavors such as fruit, chocolate, and mint. Conclusions: Findings provide evidence that flavored electronic cigarettes are more appealing to all; adolescents, smokers, non-smokers, current and past electronic cigarette users, and never users.

The Dopamine D4 Receptor Gene (DRD4) is Associated with Attentional Bias in Heroin Abusers and Cigarette Smokers

The search for a genetic vulnerability gene for substance abuse has focused on dopaminergic genes, including the DRD4 receptor. In addition to clear biological mechanisms in substance abuse, many studies have found a psychologi- cal attentional bias to drug-related stimuli in substance users. This study aimed to determine whether a DRD4 gene poly- morphism is associated with such attentional biases to substance-related stimuli. Eighty heroin abusers in treatment, 80 cigarette smokers, 80 alcohol abusers in treatment and 80 non-smoking community controls undertook an emotional Stroop task to measure attentional bias to drug-related stimuli. DNA was obtained from cheek cell samples and the DRD4 VNTR polymorphism genotyped. Heroin abusers and cigarette smokers, but not controls, who carried the long variant at the DRD4 gene spent significantly longer responding to drug-related stimuli than they did to neutral stimuli when com- pared to those who did not carry the long variant at the DRD4 gene. A non-significant trend to delay was observed in al- coholics. These findings suggest that variants at the DRD4 gene influence attentional bias in substance abusers and offer further insight into the role of the DRD4 gene in drug dependence as well as individual differences in the susceptibility to attentional bias to drug-related environmental cues.

Postnatal depression, maternal–infant bonding and social support: a cross-cultural comparison of Nigerian and British mothers

Abstract Objectives: The high prevalence of Post-Natal Depression (PND) in low and lower-middle income countries of Africa raises questions about the functionality of the abundant informal support accessed in the enmeshed family structure. This study examined the interaction between social support, parity and culture in the development of PND and maternal–infant bonding (MIB) among Nigerian, British and Nigerian Immigrant mothers in the UK. Methods: Participants (N = 124) were recruited from the UK and Nigeria via local support groups for mothers, websites offering motherhood-related content and social media. Questionnaires including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire and Norbecks Social Support Questionnaire were uploaded onto SurveyMonkey®. Results: Findings revealed significant cultural differences in PND and social support. Multiple regression analyses revealed that PND, social support and culture could predict MIB, with PND being the only significant independent predictor. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance that cultural factors play in the development of PND and the establishment of MIB in the context of culturally attuned healthcare services.

The impact of breast cancer awareness interventions on breast screening uptake among women in the United Kingdom: A systematic review

The impact of breast screening awareness campaigns on mammography attendance among British women was explored. British Nursing Index, Medline, PsycINFO, Embase and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health were searched between October 2012 and February 2013. Searches identified research on breast cancer awareness interventions and breast self-examination. In total, 867 articles were identified and 14 met criteria for review. Breast cancer awareness interventions were found to increase the uptake of breast self-examination behaviours and increase the likelihood of breast cancer screening attendance. Predicting the impact of these interventions on survivability and general morbidity/mortality outcomes remains a challenge due to a shortage of suitably evaluated campaigns.