Rosalind Crawley

Thematic roles, focus and the representation of events

Abstract Two experiments investigated the focusing properties of thematic roles, while a third experiment investigated the view that thematic role preferences reflect a focusing on the consequences of the represented event. Sentence continuation tasks were used in which subjects wrote continuations to sentence fragments containing two antecedents, each occupying a different thematic role. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 showed a preference for referring to a particular thematic role regardless of the presence or absence of a pronoun at the start of the continuation and regardless of whether the continuation was part of a different sentence from the one containing the antecedents (Experiment 1) or part of the same sentence (Experiment 2). These preferences were interpreted as being due to a focus on the consequences of the represented event in a mental model of the sentence. Experiment 3 tested this interpretation by using sentence fragments that ended in so (a connective that reinforces the focus on co...

Cognition in pregnancy and the first year post-partum.

A longitudinal study measured the performance of a group of 15 pregnant women on tests of verbal memory, divided attention, and focused attention on four occasions (second trimester, third trimester, 6 weeks post-partum, and 1 year post-partum) while at the same time obtaining self-assessment ratings of these cognitive functions. A group of 14 non-pregnant women was studied at equivalent intervals. The two groups of women did not differ in performance on the objective tests, and there was no change in performance over time except for an improvement in the measure of focused attention from the first to the final testing occasion. However, the self-assessment ratings showed that in the second trimester, the pregnant women rated themselves as more impaired than before compared with the non-pregnant women for all three cognitive abilities. To ensure that this difference was not due to the retrospective nature of the comparison of current with previous cognitive ability, a second longitudinal study compared 25 pregnant and 10 non-pregnant women using daily ratings over a period of 1 week on four occasions during pregnancy and the first year post-partum. Women in the third trimester of pregnancy reported mild impairments in their focused and divided attention ability and their ability to remember what they had read compared with the non-pregnant women. The results show that there are perceived cognitive impairments during pregnancy. It is suggested that these may be the result of mild impairments which are not revealed in objective tests because they can be overcome by conscious effort in short periods of testing. Alternatively, the perceptions may not be based on actual impairments but may result from depressed mood or expectations concerning the effect of pregnancy on cognition.

Recovering from stillbirth: the effects of making and sharing memories on maternal mental health

Objective: This study examined whether the experience of creating and sharing memories of their babies is associated with mothers’ mental health after stillbirth, taking account of factors previously shown to be important. Background: Mothers of stillborn babies are usually offered the opportunity to spend time with and create memories of their babies. However, evidence on whether this leads to better mental health outcomes is equivocal. One possible explanation is that the impact of making memories is mediated by the extent to which women subsequently share these memories. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire study. Mothers (N = 162) of stillborn babies completed online questionnaires of how memories were made and shared, satisfaction with memory-making and sharing, professional and social support, and symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD. Results: The majority of mothers made and shared memories. The number of different memory-making activities was not associated with mental health outcomes. However, the degree to which mothers shared their memories was associated with fewer PTSD symptoms. Regression analyses showed that good mental health was most strongly associated with time since stillbirth, perceived professional support, sharing of memories and less wish to talk more about the baby. Conclusion: This study confirms research showing that time since stillbirth and perceived professional support is associated with better mental health following stillbirth and for the first time shows the importance of opportunities to share memories of the baby. Variation in sharing opportunities may contribute to inconsistencies in the association between making memories and mental health following stillbirth.

Closure of autobiographical memories: The effects of written recounting from first- or third-person visual perspective

Autobiographical memories are recalled with varying degrees of psychological closure. Closure is a subjective assessment of how far a remembered experience feels resolved, and it has been suggested that one predictor of closure is the amount of emotional detail in the memory. Study 1 examined which aspect of emotional detail is important for closure, and showed that open and closed negative memories were distinguished by ratings of emotion evoked during recall, not by remembered emotion from the time of the event. The recall of open memories was accompanied by more intense, more negative, and less positive emotion than the recall of closed memories. Biased retelling of memories has been shown to influence closure and on the basis of evidence that third-person recall serves a distancing function, Study 2 examined whether instructions to repeatedly recount an open memory from a third-person perspective would increase closure compared with a single or repeated recounting from a first-person perspective. While repeated third-person recounting had the greatest influence on closure, there were also increases in the first-person recounting groups. The results suggest that closure can be increased by reporting memories in written narrative form, particularly if repeatedly expressed from the third-person perspective.

Supporting parents through stillbirth : a qualitative study exploring the views of health professionals and health care staff in three hospitals in England

OBJECTIVE To investigate the views of a range of hospital based health professionals and health care staff involved in the management of stillbirth. STUDY DESIGN A qualitative pilot study informed by grounded theory conducted in three hospital trusts in the North East of England. In total, 21 consultant obstetricians, 3 trainees (including 1 senior trainee), 29 midwives, 3 midwife sonographers and 4 chaplains took part in six focus groups and two semi-structured interviews. RESULTS Two different approaches in stillbirth management could be detected in our study. One approach emphasised the existing evidence-base and patient directed choice whilst the other emphasised tradition and profession-directed care. These differences were particularly apparent in choices over mode of delivery, and the location of women as well as the time interval between diagnosis of an IUD and delivery. The existence of these two approaches was underscored by a lack of high quality evidence. CONCLUSION Robust, high quality evidence is needed regarding the longer term psychological and emotional sequelae of different modes of delivery and varying time intervals and locations of women between diagnosis and delivery in stillbirth. If the competing discourses demonstrated here are found elsewhere then such need to be considered in any future policy development, evidence implementation and training programmes.

Assessing physical symptoms during the postpartum period: Reliability and validity of the Primary Health Questionnaire Somatic Symptom Subscale (PHQ-15)

Abstract Introduction: This study aimed at establishing the reliability and validity of the primary health questionnaire (PHQ-15) somatic symptom severity subscale for postpartum women. Methods: Women (N = 495) completed the PHQ-15 approximately 6 weeks postpartum during the baseline phase of a randomized controlled trial evaluating a writing intervention for postnatal health in England. Reliability was assessed using internal consistency statistics and convergent validity by comparing differences in self-reported physical health, health-related quality of life (QoL) and primary care usage by PHQ-15 symptom severity category. Results: Cronbach’s α for the PHQ-15 was 0.73 and item-total statistics met recommended guidelines. Validity analyzes showed 6% of women reported severe symptoms, 17% medium, 50% low and 27% minimal symptoms. Women with severe symptoms reported poorer overall physical health, poorer physical health-related QoL and greater use of primary care. Women with severe symptoms also rated their baby’s health as worse and used primary care more for their baby. Discussion: This study suggests the PHQ-15 has the potential to be a useful and valid measure of physical symptoms in postpartum women in high-income countries.