A Comprehensive Assessment of Psychosocial Well-being Among Growing Rod Graduates: A Preliminary Investigation.

BACKGROUND: Traditional growing rods (TGR) encompass a long process, in which patients experience physical and psychosocial difficulties. However, the effect of repeating surgeries on the overall psychological functioning of graduated patients has not been thoroughly investigated in the literature. The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychological well-being of graduated idiopathic early-onset scoliosis patients in terms of psychopathology, neurocognition, and psychosocial functioning, and determine the accuracy of scoliosis outcome questionnaires in these regards. METHODS: TGR graduates with idiopathic early-onset scoliosis without known intellectual disabilities or neuromuscular impairments were included. Patients were thoroughly evaluated using psychological instruments [Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Auditory Consonant Trigram Test, Verbal Fluency Test, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Symptom Checklist-90, Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Spinal Appearance Questionnaire, Scoliosis Research Society 22-item questionnaire (SRS-22)]. Results were compared with normative data when available. Spearman correlations were performed between the results of these tests, the total treatment duration, and the number of spinal surgeries. RESULTS: Of the 15 patients included in the study, 9 were females, and the mean age was 18.73 (16 to 23). The mean age at index surgery was 6.38 (3 to 10) whereas that of graduation was 14.00 (12 to 16). The average number of spinal surgeries was 14.28 (7 to 20). Two patients performed below the range of adult intellectual functioning. Auditory Consonant Trigram Test showed normal verbal working memory and attention control. Six patients had abnormal Verbal Fluency Test performance. Eight patients had abnormal ratings on at least one of the assessment scales of psychopathology (Symptom Checklist-90, Beck Depression Inventory, and Beck Anxiety Inventory). Eight patients had low-to-moderate self-esteem (Rosenberg self-esteem scale). The median spinal appearance questionnaire and SRS-22 scores were 34 and 4.18, respectively. Pain and function subdomains of SRS-22 scored higher than self-image and mental health. No correlation was found between the treatment duration and number of surgeries and test scores. SRS-22 showed correlations with multiple psychological tests. CONCLUSION: Completed TGR treatment yields acceptable correction of deformities and surgical outcomes, however, may fail to improve psychological well-being. This is the first study to find various psychosocial abnormalities in two-thirds of cases. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV; cross-sectional study.

Effects of Age, Gender and Education on Phonemic and Semantic Verbal Fluency. / Yas, Cinsiyet ve Egitim Düzeyinin Fonemik ve Semantik Sözel Akicilik Testi Puanlari Üzerinde Etkisi.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to obtain normative data for Verbal Fluency Test and investigate the effects of age, gender, and education on verbal fluency in native Turkish-speaking individuals. METHOD: A pilot study was conducted to determine 3 letters with differing levels of difficulty for completing the phonemic fluency task. First names and animals were chosen for the semantic fluency task, and an alternating semantic task (first name-animal) was also used. In total, 415 participants (208 male and 207 female) were recruited and stratified based on the age and education levels. RESULTS: Level of education had a main effect on all verbal fluency tasks; people with higher education performed better. Age and gender were found to have no effect on phonemic verbal fluency. Only the < name production task was affected by gender, women performed better. Younger age groups produced more words in name generation and semantic alternating fluency tasks. CONCLUSION: The effects of age, gender and education on verbal fluency are in accordance with many previous reports. Analysis of various errors were also conducted. Results for Turkish are presented and discussed in the light of literature.

[Can Thought-Action Fusion Be Induced and Alleviated?] / Düsünce-Eylem Kaynasmasi Deneyiminin Olusturulmasi ve Düzeyinin Azaltilmasi Mümkün mü?

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the effects of the induction of thought-action fusion (TAF) on appraisal process, by using an enhanced paradigm which integrates the favourable aspects of Sentence Completion Task (SCT) with Obsessive-Compulsive (OC)-like perseverative reasoning (PR) task. The study also aims to evaluate the effect of psychoeducation (PE) on alleviating the level of TAF-Induction experience. METHOD: A total of three groups were formed. The first group with high OC traits (47 participants), a second with low OC traits (70 participants) were the two analogue groups; and a third group composed of patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) (52 participants) were used. For induction of TAF, all participants were asked to construct a causal link between two OC-like feared situations in a perseverative fashion. Later, for alleviation, while half of the participants read psychoeducational information about TAF, the remaining half read information about stress. Appraisal processes regarding TAF-Likelihood and TAF-Morality components were assessed before and after enhanced paradigm, and after PE. RESULTS: With the current methodology, the likelihood component of TAF could be obtained by the induction of experience. PE about TAF appeared to be effective only on TAF-likelihood component when compared to TAF-morality component. Contrary to the expectations, there was no difference between OCD group and the two analogue groups on TAF-Likelihood scores. In addition, also unexpectedly, participants in the analogue group having high OC traits had significantly higher scores on TAF-Morality compared to OCD group. DISCUSSION: Clinical implications are discussed in the light of literature.

[The Role of Distinctiveness of Stimulus in Memory Distrust as a Function of Repeated Checking]. / Tekrarli Kontrol Etme Davranisinin Bir Sonucu Olarak Hafizaya Olan Güvenin Azalmasiyla Ilgili Ayirt Edici Uyaranin Rolü.

OBJECTIVE: Recent literature proposes that repeated checking increases familiarity with the material, making recollections less vivid and detailed and promoting distrust in memory. The aim of the current study is to investigate the possible underlying mechanisms of low confidence in memory. METHOD: The Padua Inventory-Washington State University Revision (PI-WSUR) was applied in a cohort of university students. Among the students who completed the PI-WSUR, 84 participants were selected and assigned to low Obsessive-Compulsive Symptomatology (OCS) group or high OCS group according to their PI-WSUR scores. An interactive computer animation was developed to test repeated checking behavior. Participants were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions: "Feedback condition" and "no feedback condition". The participants were all asked to carry out checking rituals on a virtual gas ring. However, half of the participants were given feedback indicating that checking activity was successful and complete and half of the participants were not. RESULTS: While there was no significant difference in terms of memory accuracy, memory detail and memory vividness between feedback condition and no feedback condition, there was a significant difference in terms of memory confidence between two experimental groups. DISCUSSION: Results are discussed in the light of a different explanation offering that the level of distinctiveness of recollections plays crucial role in memory distrust rather than the explanation of low confidence hypothesis.