Challenges and opportunities for telehealth assessment during COVID-19: iT-RES, adapting a remote version of the test for rating emotions in speech.

OBJECTIVE: COVID-19 social isolation restrictions have accelerated the need to adapt clinical assessment tools to telemedicine. Remote adaptations are of special importance for populations at risk, e.g. older adults and individuals with chronic medical comorbidities. In response to this urgent clinical and scientific need, we describe a remote adaptation of the T-RES (Oron et al. 2020; IJA), designed to assess the complex processing of spoken emotions, based on identification and integration of the semantics and prosody of spoken sentences. DESIGN: We present iT-RES, an online version of the speech-perception assessment tool, detailing the challenges considered and solution chosen when designing the telehealth tool. We show a preliminary validation of performance against the original lab-based T-RES. STUDY SAMPLE: A between-participants design, within two groups of 78 young adults (T-RES, n = 39; iT-RES, n = 39). RESULTS: i-TRES performance closely followed that of T-RES, with no group differences found in the main trends, identification of emotions, selective attention, and integration. CONCLUSIONS: The design of iT-RES mapped the main challenges for remote auditory assessments, and solutions taken to address them. We hope that this will encourage further efforts for telehealth adaptations of clinical services, to meet the needs of special populations and avoid halting scientific research.

Loneliness and social integration as mediators between physical pain and suicidal ideation among elderly men.

OBJECTIVES: Suicide in the elderly is a complex and significant public health problem. The purpose of our study was to examine the role of loneliness and social integration as potential mediators in the relationship between physical pain and suicidal ideation in the elderly. DESIGN: Descriptive, bivariate correlations, and moderated mediation analyses were performed. SETTING: Personal meetings were held with participants in their homes. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 198 elderly men aged 65 and over. MEASUREMENTS: Self-report measures: Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation, Physical pain subscale, Multidimensional Social Integration in Later Life Scale, and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale (Version 3). RESULTS: Our findings showed that the association between physical pain and suicidal ideation was mediated by loneliness and social integration. Further analyses revealed that this mediation model was significant among single, but not married, men. CONCLUSIONS: Physical pain and social factors are both important in understanding suicidality in late life. Elderly single men who experience physical pain may be lonelier and less socially integrated, and these factors may contribute to higher risk of suicidal ideation.

Does emotion matter? The role of alexithymia in violent recidivism: A systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND: Several variables have been evidenced for their association with violent reoffending. Resultant interventions have been suggested, yet the rate of recidivism remains high. Alexithymia, characterised by deficits in emotion processing and verbal expression, might interact with these other risk factors to affect outcomes. AIM: Our goal was to examine the role of alexithymia as a possible moderator of risk factors for violent offender recidivism. Our hypothesis was that, albeit with other risk factors, alexithymia increases the risk of violent reoffending. METHOD: We conducted a systematic literature review, using terms for alexithymia and violent offending and their intersection. RESULTS: (a) No study that directly tests the role of alexithymia in conjunction with other potential risk factors for recidivism and actual violent recidivism was uncovered. (b) Primarily alexithymia researchers and primarily researchers into violence have separately found several clinical features in common between aspects of alexithymia and violence, such as impulsivity (total n = 24 studies). (c) Other researchers have established a relationship between alexithymia and both dynamic and static risk factors for violent recidivism (n = 16 studies). CONCLUSION: Alexithymia may be a possible moderator of risk of violent offence recidivism. Supplementing offenders' rehabilitation efforts with assessments of alexithymia may assist in designing individually tailored interventions to promote desistance among violent offenders.

Readiness to Use Psychoactive Substances Among Second-Generation Adolescent Immigrants and Perceptions of Parental Immigration-Related Trauma.

OBJECTIVES: This research explores the relationship between parental immigration-related trauma and second-generation adolescent substance abuse. To examine this relationship, we focused on Ethiopian adolescents in Israel who are at risk for substance abuse. Many immigrants from Ethiopia experienced severe immigration trauma and research indicates the existence of transgenerational trauma transmission. The current research focuses on the connection between Ethiopian adolescents' perceptions of their parents' immigration trauma and their readiness to use psychoactive substances. DESIGN: Five hundred and ten second-generation Ethiopian adolescents (Israeli-born children of Ethiopian immigrants) filled out questionnaires examining socio-demographic characteristics, immigration impact and readiness to consume alcoholic beverages and use illegal drugs. RESULTS: Our findings show that readiness levels among Ethiopian adolescents to use psychoactive substances are relatively low, and that parental trauma only affects the readiness to consume alcohol. The levels of readiness to consume drugs were partially related to parental trauma. Conclusions/Importance: Transgenerational trauma transmission should be considered when implementing alcohol and substance abuse treatment and prevention policies among second generation immigrants. This should be done on all levels including personal, interpersonal and community levels.

Predicting professional quality of life among professional and volunteer caregivers.

This study is one of the few that has compared volunteers' professional quality of life (PQL), which includes secondary traumatic stress (STS), burnout, and compassion satisfaction (CS), to those of professional caregivers. In addition, the research compared the ethical behavior of volunteers with that of professional therapists and examined the connection between years of experience, ethical behavior, and PQL. One hundred eighty-three volunteers and professional caregivers filled out a sociodemographic questionnaire, an Ethical Behavior Questionnaire and the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) questionnaire. The results indicated that professional caregivers report lower levels of STS and burnout, and higher levels of CS and ethical behavior compared with volunteer caregivers. Moreover, the findings suggest that ethical behavior correlates with STS, burnout, and CS. Ethical behavior has a protective value for mental health caregivers. The discussion emphasizes the value of a professional code of ethics and ethical training for professional and volunteering caregivers.

Mechanism of bystander-blaming: defensive attribution, counterfactual thinking, and gender.

Contemporary victimology recognizes that an understanding of the mechanism of blaming requires a comprehensive approach that includes the victim, the offender, and the bystander. However, most of the existing research on blaming focuses on the victim and the offender, ignoring the issue of bystander-blaming. This study highlights the bystander and investigates bystander-blaming by exploring some theoretical explanations, including counterfactual thinking, defensive attribution, and gender differences. The study included 363 young male and female participants, who read vignettes describing the behavior of the victim and the bystander in a rape scenario and answered questions regarding bystander-blaming. The results show that both counterfactual thinking and defensive attribution play a role in bystander-blaming. This article addresses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Elaborations on sexual assault on dates among Israeli students: risk, detrimental effect, and resilience factors.

The current study of 668 Israeli male and female students examines the prevalence of gendered risk factors for sexual assault (SA) on dates, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a detrimental effect of SA, and self-efficacy as resiliency to refuse unwanted sex following SA. Two different sets of risk factors that increased the likelihood of SA on dates emerged from the hierarchical regression. Sexual experience, use of drugs, and private location increased the risk of being SA victims among males, whereas sexual experience, perceived provocative behavior, and alcohol use increased the risk among females. In addition, PTSD and self-efficacy to refuse unwanted sex following SA on dates were predicted by the extent of coercive sexual victimization. PTSD was also predicted by subjective perception of sexual behavior and rape myths, whereas efficacy was predicted by private location. The findings contribute to the literature by showing the contribution of various risk factors to experiencing SA, and by showing SA effect on PTSD and self-efficacy.

Attribution of blame to rape victims among therapists and non-therapists.

This paper examines the hypothesis of modular judgment in the context of attribution of blame to rape victims. Modular judgment was operationalized using blame schemata suited to judgment of everyday aggression. Subjects were 72 individuals, 36 therapists and 36 non-therapists; half were men and half women. Each subject was presented with written descriptions of four rapes, which included information regarding victim's gender (male versus female) and victim's prior acquaintance with the rapist (stranger or known). Dependent variables were attribution of blame and judgments regarding severity of the rape and of the punishment deserved by the rapist. Among both therapists and non-therapists there was a slight general tendency to blame the victim. As expected, women were blamed more than men. Also, men attributed less blame to male victims then did women, whereas women attributed less blame to female victims then did men. These results support the theories of modular judgment and of defensive attribution. As for judgment of severity of the rape, therapists judged the rapes as slightly more severe. Similar results were found regarding judgment of deserved punishment. We suggest further investigation of the connection between blame attribution and rape myths, which may facilitate blaming the victim.

Aggression and anxiety in rapists and child molesters.

This study expands the empirical and theoretical understanding of the distinction between those who perpetrate sexual assaults against children (child molesters) and those who perpetrate them against adults (rapists). Two questionnaires were completed by 88 incarcerated, male sexual offenders (45 child molesters and 43 rapists): the Spielberger state trait anxiety inventory and the Buss-Durkee hostility inventory. It was found that the rapists' level of aggression was significantly higher than that of the child molesters. No significant differences in anxiety levels were found between the two groups. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance to theory and clinical practice.