Stepping back or stepping in: A qualitative investigation of self-distanced versus self-immersed stressor reflections with competitive swimmers.

High performance sport consists of stressor events which can disrupt an athletes' functioning and negatively influence performance. The way in which one reflects upon stressor events and develops insights regarding how they coped is essential to overcoming similar experiences in the future. We conducted a pilot randomised controlled trial with a qualitative analysis to explore the coping insights among 48 highly trained/national level swimmers in the lead up to major swimming competitions, who reflected on stressor events from self-distanced or self-immersed perspectives over a 3-week period. Using the self-reflection and coping insight framework as a guideline, we captured divers coping insights across both groups. Irrespective of the group to which they were assigned, athletes showed positive signs towards re-interpreting their stressor experience and embracing the stressor event, whereas consideration of individual values and adoption of a future-focus viewpoint were areas lacking. The emotionality described by athletes in their written reflections varied across both groups and influenced the development of coping insights. Our findings indicate a necessity to examine the emotionality associated with unique stressor events and consider integrating reflection strategies, while also enhancing the operational definitions within conceptual models of stress reflection protocols.

A randomized controlled trial comparing the effects of self-reflective writing focused on successful and unsuccessful coping experiences on resilience.

Evidence supports the effectiveness of self-reflective training approaches for the development of resilience. Building this work, the objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the focus of coping self-reflective activities on resilience by applying a self-reflection approach to a sample of 254 Australian ministry workers. This randomized controlled trial included three attention-matched conditions: (1) self-reflective writing focused on successful coping, (2) self-reflective writing focused on unsuccessful coping or (3) written descriptions of stressor events alone. Participants were assessed across four time points: prior to, immediately post, 3-months, and 6-months after the intervention. Results demonstrated that self-reflective writing was more effective in enhancing perceived resilience than descriptive writing. Analyses also showed greater maintenance of beneficial effects in the successful self-reflection condition, compared to the unsuccessful condition. These findings support the use of self-reflection training to strengthen individuals' psychological resilience, particularly when focused on successful coping situations for those who initially experience more ruminative thought.

Using Latent Profile Analysis to Understand Health Practitioners' Attitudes Toward Voluntary Assisted Dying.

Prior work has documented considerable diversity among health practitioners regarding their support for voluntary assisted dying (VAD). We examined whether their attitudes are characterised by different combinations of personal support, normative support by other health practitioners, and whether they are predisposed to vicariously experience others' emotions (i.e., empathy). We also examined whether these profiles experienced different mental health outcomes (i.e., burnout and posttraumatic stress) in relation to VAD. To test this, 104 Australian health practitioners were surveyed after VAD was legalised in Victoria, Australia in 2019. Results indicated that practitioners' attitudes were characterised by three profiles: 1) strong personal and normative support (strong VAD supporters), 2) moderate personal and normative support (moderate VAD supporters), and 3) lower personal and normative support (apprehensive practitioners). However, each profile reported similar mental health outcomes. Findings suggest that the normative environments in which health practitioners operate may explain their diverse attitudes on VAD.

Developing resilience in first responders: Strategies for enhancing psychoeducational service delivery.

Large-scale potentially traumatic events (e.g., unprecedented fires and global pandemics) require the involvement of frontline staff critical to managing such crises. These personnel also carry the psychological burden associated with more direct exposure to potentially traumatic events. A critical role for resilience interventions is to support the psychological health of personnel during and after such events. However, there is a notable lack of a conceptual blueprint regarding how to approach the delivery of resilience interventions in the workplace. This article will draw from the current resilience training scholarship with the objective of providing a roadmap for both the enhancement and delivery of resilience training across sectors and future research into resilience interventions. Central to this article is the need for greater integration of organizational training theory into strategies for developing and implementing resilience training in the workplace. Following a brief review of the broad approaches to resilience training, we provide an account of how psychologists and other providers may maximize resilience training effectiveness, drawing on lessons learned from the military experience. Further, we give consideration to the intersection between resilience training and the organizational training scholarship and explore the factors that influence the effect of training on mental health outcomes, including pretraining conditions, training methods and instructional strategies, and posttraining conditions. An overarching challenge for this article is to support the development of a framework for best practice in resilience training that integrates organizational training theory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Building a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive drivers of performance under pressure: An international multi-panel Delphi study.

Introduction: The ability to perform optimally under pressure is critical across many occupations, including the military, first responders, and competitive sport. Despite recognition that such performance depends on a range of cognitive factors, how common these factors are across performance domains remains unclear. The current study sought to integrate existing knowledge in the performance field in the form of a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive mechanisms that underlie performance under pressure. Methods: International experts were recruited from four performance domains [(i) Defense; (ii) Competitive Sport; (iii) Civilian High-stakes; and (iv) Performance Neuroscience]. Experts rated constructs from the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework (and several expert-suggested constructs) across successive rounds, until all constructs reached consensus for inclusion or were eliminated. Finally, included constructs were ranked for their relative importance. Results: Sixty-eight experts completed the first Delphi round, with 94% of experts retained by the end of the Delphi process. The following 10 constructs reached consensus across all four panels (in order of overall ranking): (1) Attention; (2) Cognitive Control-Performance Monitoring; (3) Arousal and Regulatory Systems-Arousal; (4) Cognitive Control-Goal Selection, Updating, Representation, and Maintenance; (5) Cognitive Control-Response Selection and Inhibition/Suppression; (6) Working memory-Flexible Updating; (7) Working memory-Active Maintenance; (8) Perception and Understanding of Self-Self-knowledge; (9) Working memory-Interference Control, and (10) Expert-suggested-Shifting. Discussion: Our results identify a set of transdisciplinary neuroscience-informed constructs, validated through expert consensus. This expert consensus is critical to standardizing cognitive assessment and informing mechanism-targeted interventions in the broader field of human performance optimization.

The interplay between social interaction quality and wellbeing in military personnel during their initial two-years of service.

This research examined the nature of social interaction profiles in the initial two-years of military service, profile association to early vulnerability to psychological distress, and the association between supervisor interaction qualities in the likelihood of profile membership. Data were collected as part of a larger longitudinal study. Participants who completed key variables at either 3-12 months post-enlistment (N = 5,233; 85.6% male) or 15-24 months post-enlistment (N = 2,162; 79.2% male) were included in the cross-sectional profile analysis of social interaction quality from military and nonmilitary sources. Cross-sectional latent profile analyses and transition analysis were used to investigate the social interaction profiles at each time-point, the effect of leader interactions on movement between profiles, and related psychological distress outcomes. Social interaction quality, and in particular colleague interactions, was predictably associated with psychological distress. Leadership interactions were associated with the nature of colleague social interactions. Greater positive social interactions with leadership was related to a reduced likelihood of experiencing less frequent negative interactions with colleagues. The findings implicate a possible role for supervisors in perpetuating positive or negative colleague interactions. Moreover, a trajectory of vulnerability to psychological distress may start in the initial two-years of military service and emerge from the psychosocial context.

The coping insights involved in strengthening resilience: The Self-Reflection and Coping Insight Framework.

BACKGROUND: Recent theoretical work suggests that self-reflection on daily stressors and the efficacy of coping strategies and resources is beneficial for the enhancement of resilient capacities. However, coping insights emerging from self-reflection, and their relationship to resilient capacities, is an existing gap in our understanding. OBJECTIVES: Given that insights come in many forms, the objective of this paper is to delineate exemplar coping insights that strengthen the capacity for resilience. METHODS: After providing an overview of self-reflection and insight, we extend the Systematic Self-Reflection model of resilience strengthening by introducing the Self-Reflection and Coping Insight Framework to articulate how the emergence of coping insights may mediate the relationship between five self-reflective practices and the enhancement of resilient capacities. RESULTS: We explore the potential for coping insights to convey complex ideas about the self in the context of stressor exposure, an awareness of response patterns to stressors, and principles about the nature of stress and coping across time and contexts. CONCLUSIONS: This framework adds to existing scholarship by providing a characterization of how coping insight may strengthen resilient capacities, allowing for a guided exploration of coping insight during future research.

A clustered-randomized controlled trial of a self-reflection resilience-strengthening intervention and novel mediators.

This study tests the efficacy of a unique resilience-strengthening intervention using a clustered-randomized controlled trial. It was hypothesized that the training, which encourages adaptive self-reflection on stressor events and the effectiveness of coping strategies and resources, would exert a positive effect on mental health outcomes via increased reflection and decreased brooding. The trial was conducted during a significant stressor period with a final sample of 204 second-class Officer Cadets from the Royal Military College, Australia. Platoons of Cadets were randomly allocated to either Self-Reflection Resilience Training (SRT; n = 96) or an exposure-matched active control group that received training as usual (i.e., cognitive-behavioral skill development training) and communication skills seminars (n = 108). Compared to the active control group, SRT was more effective at preventing the onset of depression symptoms and promoting stable levels of perceived stress during a period of increased exposure to training stressors, consistent with a resilient trajectory. The Self-Reflection group unexpectedly demonstrated higher anxiety symptoms than the Control group at immediate follow-up, but these symptoms returned to baseline levels at longer term follow-up. In contrast, the Control group experienced increasing anxiety symptoms between immediate and longer term follow-up. Mediation analyses supported an indirect effect of SRT on all three outcome measures via brooding, but not via reflection. This study provides support for the capacity of a practical, sustainable, and scalable intervention based on self-reflection to strengthen resilience in the military training setting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Strengthening resilience in over 50's: a nested clustered-randomized controlled trial of adaptive systematic self-reflection.

Background and objectives: This study investigated the efficacy of guided self-reflection to strengthen resilience in adults over 50 by exploring the effects of the training on mental health and positive emotional outcomes. Design: A nested clustered-randomized controlled trial was conducted to test the efficacy of the training. Measures occurred at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at four to five months follow-up. Method: Two samples of participants were recruited. First, older employees from a consumer goods company took part in the clustered-randomized controlled trial. Ninety-three employees (mean age = 54.02 years; 36.56% females) were assigned to the intervention (n = 52) or active control (n = 41) group. Second, older adults from the community (n = 51) were recruited (mean age = 58.63 years; 80.40% female) and assigned to the intervention only. Results: Improvements were observed in the community sample, compared to the active control group, across a range of wellbeing outcomes. When training engagement was used as a moderator, positive benefits for the corporate intervention group emerged for highly engaged participants. Mediation analyses indicated that stress-as-enhancing mindset, stressor benefit, and coping self-efficacy acted as possible mechanisms for change in primary outcomes. Conclusions: Findings provide support for the use of guided self-reflection for resilience training with older adults.

Leveraging the experience of stressors: the role of adaptive systematic self-reflection.

Background: To date, little attention has been paid to the processes by which resilience is developed, and how the likelihood of a resilient outcome may be enhanced over the life course. Objective: This study investigates the potential for adaptive systematic self-reflection to support the development of situation resilience via stressor exposure. Design: An experimental randomized controlled design was conducted. Participants were randomly assigned to either the Systematic Self-reflection intervention (n = 61) or disengagement control group (n = 60). Method: Participants were 121 university students (female = 68%) ranging in age from 18 to 56 years. Participants experienced two psychosocial stressors and completed a baseline survey, a second survey occurred post-stressor 1, and a third post-stressor 2. Salivary cortisol was taken pre stressor 2, immediately post stressor 2, and at 10 min intervals until 30 min. Results: The intervention was associated with greater reductions in negative affect, than a disengagement control task, and prevented the continued reduction in positive affect observed in the disengagement control condition. Moreover, the intervention promoted a steeper cortisol recovery trajectory, than the control condition for those with higher pre-stressor cortisol. Conclusions: This study provides further evidence that certain self-reflective practices may be involved in the development of resilience from stressor exposure.

Strengthening resilience in military officer cadets: A group-randomized controlled trial of coping and emotion regulatory self-reflection training.

OBJECTIVE: This group-randomized control trial examined the efficacy of guided coping and emotion regulatory self-reflection as a means to strengthen resilience by testing the effects of the training on anxiety and depression symptoms and perceived stressor frequency after an intensive stressor period. METHOD: The sample was 226 officer cadets training at the Royal Military College, Australia. Cadets were randomized by platoon to the self-reflection (n = 130) or coping skills training (n = 96). Surveys occurred at 3 time points: baseline, immediately following the final reflective session (4-weeks postbaseline), and longer-term follow-up (3-months postinitial follow-up). RESULTS: There were no significant baseline differences in demographic or outcome variables between the intervention groups. On average, cadets commenced the resilience training with mild depression and anxiety symptoms. Analyses were conducted at the individual-level after exploring group-level effects. No between-groups differences were observed at initial follow-up. At longer-term follow-up, improvements in mental health outcomes were observed for the self-reflection group, compared with the coping skills group, on depression (Cohen's d = 0.55; 95% CI [0.24, 0.86]), anxiety symptoms (Cohen's d = 0.69; 95% CI [0.37, 1.00]), and perceived stressor frequency (Cohen's d = 0.46; 95% CI [0.15, 0.77]). Longitudinal models demonstrated a time by condition interaction for depression and anxiety, but there was only an effect of condition for perceived stressor frequency. Mediation analyses supported an indirect effect of the intervention on both anxiety and depression via perceived stressor frequency. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide initial support for the use of guided self-reflection as an alternative to coping skills approaches to resilience training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

"Wish You Were Here": Examining Characteristics, Outcomes, and Statistical Solutions for Missing Cases in Web-Based Psychotherapeutic Trials.

BACKGROUND: Missing cases following treatment are common in Web-based psychotherapy trials. Without the ability to directly measure and evaluate the outcomes for missing cases, the ability to measure and evaluate the effects of treatment is challenging. Although common, little is known about the characteristics of Web-based psychotherapy participants who present as missing cases, their likely clinical outcomes, or the suitability of different statistical assumptions that can characterize missing cases. OBJECTIVE: Using a large sample of individuals who underwent Web-based psychotherapy for depressive symptoms (n=820), the aim of this study was to explore the characteristics of cases who present as missing cases at posttreatment (n=138), their likely treatment outcomes, and compare between statistical methods for replacing their missing data. METHODS: First, common participant and treatment features were tested through binary logistic regression models, evaluating the ability to predict missing cases. Second, the same variables were screened for their ability to increase or impede the rate symptom change that was observed following treatment. Third, using recontacted cases at 3-month follow-up to proximally represent missing cases outcomes following treatment, various simulated replacement scores were compared and evaluated against observed clinical follow-up scores. RESULTS: Missing cases were dominantly predicted by lower treatment adherence and increased symptoms at pretreatment. Statistical methods that ignored these characteristics can overlook an important clinical phenomenon and consequently produce inaccurate replacement outcomes, with symptoms estimates that can swing from -32% to 70% from the observed outcomes of recontacted cases. In contrast, longitudinal statistical methods that adjusted their estimates for missing cases outcomes by treatment adherence rates and baseline symptoms scores resulted in minimal measurement bias (<8%). CONCLUSIONS: Certain variables can characterize and predict missing cases likelihood and jointly predict lesser clinical improvement. Under such circumstances, individuals with potentially worst off treatment outcomes can become concealed, and failure to adjust for this can lead to substantial clinical measurement bias. Together, this preliminary research suggests that missing cases in Web-based psychotherapeutic interventions may not occur as random events and can be systematically predicted. Critically, at the same time, missing cases may experience outcomes that are distinct and important for a complete understanding of the treatment effect.

Positive Affect Is Associated With Reduced Fixation in a Realistic Medical Simulation.

OBJECTIVE: This study extends previous research by exploring the association between mood states (i.e., positive and negative affect) and fixation in practicing anesthetists using a realistic medical simulation. BACKGROUND: The impact of practitioner emotional states on fixation is a neglected area of research. Emerging evidence is demonstrating the role of positive affect in facilitating problem solving and innovation, with demonstrated implications for practitioner fixation. METHOD: Twelve practicing anesthetists (4 females; Mage= 39 years; SD = 6.71) were involved in a medical simulation. Prior to the simulation, practitioners rated the frequency they had experienced various positive and negative emotions in the previous three days. During the simulation, the patient deteriorated rapidly, and anesthetists were observed for their degree of fixation. After the simulation, practitioners indicated the frequency of these same emotions during the simulation. RESULTS: Nonparametric correlations were used to explore the independent relationships between positive and negative affect and the behavioral measures. Only positive affect impacted the likelihood of fixation. Anesthetists who reported more frequent recent positive affect in the three days prior to the simulation and during the simulation tended to be less fixated as judged by independent raters, identified a decline in patient oxygen saturation more quickly, and more rapidly implemented the necessary intervention (surgical cricothyroidotomy). CONCLUSION: These findings have some real-world implications for positive affect in patient safety. APPLICATION: This research has broad implications for professions where fixation may impair practice. This research suggests that professional training should teach practitioners to identify their emotions and understand the role of these emotions in fixation.

"I've Been a Long Time Leaving": The Role of Limited Skill Transferability in Increasing Suicide-Related Cognitions and Behavior in Veterinarians.

Barriers to occupational mobility were investigated to determine whether they increased reported suicide-related cognitions and behavior over 12 months. This was explored in a two-wave longitudinal study. Intention to leave, depression, perceived skill transferability, and suicide-related cognitions and behavior was measured at both time points approximately 12 months apart. Results indicated that when there was a high intention to leave at T1, reported suicide-related cognitions and behavior increased over 12 months only when skill transferability to other professions was perceived to be limited. Findings support the role of limited occupational mobility in suicide-related cognitions and behavior.

Building resilience through exposure to stressors: The effects of challenges versus hindrances.

This paper explores the potential for certain types of stressors to build resilience in the occupational setting. Using the challenge-hindrance stressor framework (Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, & Boudreau, 2000), we propose that challenge stressors have the potential to promote the capacity for resilience, whereas hindrance stressors experienced in the workplace erode resilient functioning. Employing a 2-wave longitudinal design we examined the effects of challenge and hindrance stressors on psychological resilience and strain 3 months later. Two-hundred and 8 working adults (48.1% female) participated in both surveys. Findings indicated that Time 1 challenge stressors had a significant effect on psychological resilience 3 months later (Time 2). In contrast, Time 1 hindrance stressors positively predicted Time 2 strain and negatively predicted psychological resilience. Moreover, resilience mediated the relationship between Time 1 stressors and Time 2 strain. These results demonstrate the potential positive and negative impacts of workplace stressor types on psychological resilience, and provide an exploration of a mechanism through which challenge and hindrance stressors influence well-being. This analysis also investigated the role of resilience in moderating the relationship between hindrances and strain. Some evidence emerged for the moderating role of resilience in the hindrance-strain relationship. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

The distinct role of performing euthanasia on depression and suicide in veterinarians.

Veterinarians are more likely to experience mood disorders and suicide than other occupational groups (Fritschi, Morrison, Shirangi & Day, 2009; Platt, Hawton, Simkin, & Mellanby, 2010). The performance of euthanasia has been implicated as contributing determinately to the prevalence of suicide risk and psychological distress in veterinarians (Bartram & Baldwin, 2008, 2010). In contrast, the application of psychological approaches would suggest a possible protective role for euthanasia administration. This paper is the first to investigate the association between euthanasia-administration frequency and depressed mood and suicide risk. A cross-sectional survey sampled 540 Australia-registered veterinarians (63.8% women), ranging in age from 23 to 74. Results revealed that the administration of objectionable euthanasia (i.e., euthanasia that the veterinarian disagreed with) was not related to our mental health variables. In contrast, overall euthanasia frequency had a weak positive linear relationship with depression. Moreover, overall euthanasia frequency moderated the impact of depression on suicide risk. The nature of this moderation suggested that average frequency per week of performing euthanasia attenuated the relationship between depressed mood and suicide risk. The implications of these findings and directions for further research are discussed.

Deviance as adherence to injunctive group norms: the overlooked role of social identification in deviance.

We currently report three studies investigating group members' expressions of dissatisfaction and discontent with the behaviour and attitudes of their in-group members. Our analysis examines the context in which group members will deviate from actual group member behaviour. We argue that highly identifying group members will challenge fellow group member behaviour when that group member behaviour is perceived to violate injunctive group norms. Further, we predicted that high identifiers would still challenge such group member behaviour even if that behaviour were conducted by a majority of group members. Thus, high identifiers were predicted to express descriptively deviant opinions when the behaviour of other members contravenes injunctive group norms. In Studies 1 and 2, group-level self-definition served as a moderator in the relationship between the expression of discontent and perceived injunctive norm violation; in Study 3, group-level self-investment served as this moderator. The findings supported our predictions. This support was particularly strong when a majority of group members violated group norms. Implications for the analysis of the relationship between social identification and deviance are discussed.

Motion streaks improve motion detection.

A number of studies were conducted to determine whether motion-streaks assist motion extraction, and whether a purely motion-based model could account for any observed facilitation. A 3-frame global-motion stimulus was used. Signal dots were manipulated in order to control the strength of the motion-streak. In the long-streak condition, the same dots carried the global-motion signal over successive motion frames, while in the short-streak condition, different dots carried the signal over successive frames. Noise dots always moved in different directions over successive frames. While lower thresholds in the long-streak condition could be explain by motion-streak facilitation, it could also be explained in terms of interactions purely within the motion system. Specifically, by excitatory feed-forward connections between neighbouring local-motion units tuned to the same or similar directions of motion. In order to test these two models, speed and contrast were varied. If lower thresholds are due to motion streaks (form input to motion) then maximum facilitation should occur at high speeds (no streak at low speeds) and high contrast (due to reduced streak magnitude and the low contrast sensitivity of the form cells that extract the motion-streak). Lower thresholds were obtained for the long-streak condition but only at high speeds and this facilitation was lost, or at least greatly reduced, at low (5%) contrast. These results support the notion that detection thresholds were facilitated by a motion-streak system.