A Randomised Controlled Trial Comparing the Impact of Yoga and Physical Education on the Emotional and Behavioural Functioning of Middle School Children.

BACKGROUND: Yoga programs geared for school children have become more widespread, but research regarding its impact on children is lacking. Several studies have reported positive outcomes, though there is a need for more randomised controlled trials. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of yoga on children's emotional and behavioural functioning when compared with physical education (PE) classes. METHODS: Thirty middle school children were randomised to participate in either a school-based Ashtanga-informed yoga or PE class three times a week for 12 weeks. Emotional (i.e. affect, self-perceptions) and behavioural (i.e. internalising and externalising problems, aggression) functioning were measured pre and post-intervention. RESULTS: There were no significant changes between groups in self-reported positive affect, global self-worth, aggression indices or parent reports of their children's externalising and internalising problems. However, negative affect increased for those children participating in yoga when compared to the PE program. CONCLUSIONS: In general, findings suggest that yoga and PE classes do not differentially impact on middle school children's emotional and behavioural functioning. However, children reported experiencing increased negative emotions after receiving yoga while children in the PE group reported a decrease in these feelings. Implications of these results and potential directions for future research on children's yoga are discussed.

Being white helps: intersections of self-concealment, stigmatization, identity formation, and psychological distress in racial and sexual minority women.

This study had two objectives: (1) examine the impact of self-concealment on identity formation and on degree of psychological distress and (2) examine the impact of perceived stigma on identity formation and on degree of psychological distress. Analyses were conducted on a diverse sample of 166 women, ages 18-32 (white lesbian, non-white lesbian, white heterosexual, and non-white heterosexual). Findings revealed that self-concealment was positively associated with psychological distress in stigmatized women, but unrelated to psychological distress in the non-stigmatized group. Furthermore, although perceived stigma negatively impacted identity formation in the heterosexual groups, it did not impact either group of lesbians. Finally, non-white heterosexual women's perception of stigma was associated with psychological distress. Implications and specific psychological health disparities between groups are discussed.

Psychiatric civil and forensic inpatient satisfaction with care: the impact of provider and recipient characteristics.

INTRODUCTION: The goal of the study was to understand what characteristics of the provider and recipient of psychiatric care on inpatient civil and forensic units impact satisfaction ratings. Specifically, we explored how demographic variables (age, race), psychiatric diagnosis (psychotic, affective, substance-related), and patients' interactions with staff influence satisfaction ratings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After matching inpatient samples on demographic characteristics, 384 psychiatric inpatients (188 civil, 196 forensic) who completed surveys assessing their satisfaction with care were included in the present study. Demographic variables and psychiatric diagnosis information was gathered from chart reviews and in collaboration with the patients' treatment team. A series of univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to test main and interaction effects influencing mean satisfaction ratings. RESULTS: While ratings did not differ for recipients' unit type, age, diagnosis, or perceiving a connection with staff, significant differences were found for race and perceiving a problem with staff. Interaction effects emerged for unit type by psychotic diagnosis and race by perceiving a problem with staff. Supplemental analyses also examined how provider and recipient characteristics influenced components of satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Increasing patient satisfaction by targeting more "vulnerable" patients and addressing relations with staff may impact treatment compliance.

Forensic and civil psychiatric inpatients: development of the inpatient satisfaction questionnaire.

The present study reports on the development of a measure designed to assess satisfaction with service among civil and forensic psychiatric inpatients. Survey items drawn from a review of existing measures were administered to 427 forensic and 416 civil male psychiatric inpatients. In an effort to develop a reliable and valid measure, a rigorous test development procedure was undertaken involving item and principal components analyses followed by a confirmatory factor analysis of the remaining items. For forensic inpatients, a 14-item questionnaire (Forensic Inpatient Satisfaction Questionnaire; F-ISQ) emerged that addressed four domains of satisfaction: Medication and Treatment, Physical Environment, Telephone Access, and Unit Rules and Procedures. For civil inpatients, an 11-item questionnaire (Civil Inpatient Satisfaction Questionnaire; C-ISQ) included two domains of satisfaction: Needs and Opportunities and Food and Comfort. Strong internal reliability and concurrent validity with other established measures of patient satisfaction were demonstrated.

Trait impulsivity in a forensic inpatient sample: an evaluation of the Barratt impulsiveness scale.

Impulsivity is a fundamental component of psychopathology and an essential trait to consider when working with forensic populations. Nevertheless, impulsivity has not been widely studied in psychiatric forensic patients. The current study evaluated the use of a self-report measure of impulsivity, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), in a sample of 425 male forensic psychiatric inpatients with varying degrees of psychopathology and criminality. Patients also completed a measure of psychopathology, the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). Descriptive information and psychometric properties of the BIS-11 are presented. The primary findings were elevated Nonplanning versus Motor and Attentional Impulsiveness, and strong associations between impulsiveness and various psychopathologies. Using principal component analysis, the factor structure of the BIS-11 was also evaluated. Results failed to support the previously identified factor structure of impulsivity. The meaning of the revised scales and utility of the BIS-11 in this population is discussed.

Community violence victimization and depressed mood: the moderating effects of coping and social support.

The objectives of the current study were to (a) determine how lifetime community violence (CV) victimization, coping behavior, social support (SS), and depressed mood are related in young adults, and (b) assess whether the relationship between CV victimization and depressive reactions is moderated by perceived SS and coping style. Five hundred fifty college students (160 men, 355 women) completed questionnaires measuring lifetime experiences with violence, current depressed mood, perceptions of SS from family and friends, and general coping styles. Results of a series of hierarchical regressions indicated a positive relationship between frequency of CV victimization and depressed mood. Low levels of perceived SS and problem-focused coping and high levels of disengagement coping were associated with increased depression scores overall, but there was an interaction effect such that high disengagement coping strengthened the relationship between CV and depressed mood. Moreover, when controlling for the effect of posttraumatic stress, high-perceived friend support and low disengagement coping served as protective factors for depressed mood. These results were particularly strong in individuals whose last CV experience occurred within the previous 2 years. Findings suggest that perceptions of support and ability to actively cope with stressors are very important in the adjustment to CV victimization.

Yoga and Emotion Regulation in High School Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Middle adolescents (15-17 years old) are prone to increased risk taking and emotional instability. Emotion dysregulation contributes to a variety of psychosocial difficulties in this population. A discipline such as yoga offered during school may increase emotion regulation, but research in this area is lacking. This study was designed to evaluate the impact of a yoga intervention on the emotion regulation of high school students as compared to physical education (PE). In addition, the potential mediating effects of mindful attention, self-compassion, and body awareness on the relationship between yoga and emotion regulation were examined. High school students were randomized to participate in a 16-week yoga intervention (n = 19) or regular PE (n = 18). Pre-post data analyses revealed that emotion regulation increased significantly in the yoga group as compared to the PE group (F (1,32) = 7.50, p = .01, and eta(2) = .19). No significant relationship was discovered between the changes in emotion regulation and the proposed mediating variables. Preliminary results suggest that yoga increases emotion regulation capacities of middle adolescents and provides benefits beyond that of PE alone.

A randomized controlled trial on the effects of yoga on stress reactivity in 6th grade students.

There is an increasing interest in developing school programs that improve the ability of children to cope with psychosocial stress. Yoga may be an appropriate intervention as it has demonstrated improvements in the ability of children to manage psychosocial stress. Yoga is thought to improve the control of reactivity to stress via the regulation of the autonomic nervous system. The current study examined the effects of yoga compared to a physical education class on physiological response (blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR)) to behavioral stressor tasks (mental arithmetic and mirror tracing tasks). Data analysis of BP and HR was performed using a 2 × 2 × 4 repeated measures ANOVA (time × group × stressor time points). 30 (17 male) 6th graders participated in the study. Yoga did not provide significant differences in stress reactivity compared to a physical education class (group × time: systolic (F(1,28) = .538, P = .470); diastolic (F(1,28) = .1.061, P = .312); HR (F(1,28) = .401, P = .532)). The lack of significant differences may be due to the yoga intervention failing to focus on stress management and/or the stressor tasks not adequately capturing attenuation of stressor response.