Stigma, self-compassion, and psychological distress among people with Parkinson's.

PURPOSE: People with Parkinson's disease (hereafter Parkinson's) can experience stigma through the attitudes and actions of others (enacted stigma) and through anticipation of enacted stigma and internalisation of negative stereotypes (felt stigma). Self-compassion may protect against the impact of stigma. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between self-compassion, stigma, and psychological distress among people with Parkinson's. METHODS: A total of 130 people with Parkinson's completed questionnaires measuring self-compassion, enacted and felt stigma, and depression, anxiety, and stress. Correlation, mediation, and moderation models were used to investigate relationships between variables. RESULTS: All variables correlated significantly in the expected directions. Felt stigma mediated the relationship between self-compassion and the three outcome variables - depression, anxiety, and stress. Self-compassion did not moderate the relationship between enacted stigma and distress and suggested enacted stigma was associated with distress, regardless of levels of self-compassion. CONCLUSIONS: Self-compassion and both enacted and felt stigma are important predictors of distress for people with Parkinson's. Part of the relationship between lower self-compassion and psychological distress appears to occur via the internalisation of stigma. These findings may be relevant to the development of individualised and societal interventions with the aim of improving the psychological wellbeing of people with Parkinson's.Implications for rehabilitationSelf-compassion was associated with lower levels of psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) and self-stigma partially mediated this relationship.Self-compassion did not moderate the relationship between enacted stigma and psychological distress, suggesting enacted stigma increases distress, regardless of self-compassion.The development and assessment of the effectiveness of compassion-focused interventions tailored for people with Parkinson's may be important as well as systemic stigma focused interventions.

Factors predicting first appointment attendance at a traumatic brain injury clinical neuropsychology outpatient clinic: a logistic regression analysis.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of our study was to investigate factors which predicted first appointment attendance within a traumatic brain injury (TBI) neuropsychology outpatient department. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A newly introduced telephone triaging system was implemented in a clinical neuropsychology service for individuals with a TBI. The effects of receiving a triage telephone call, amongst other variables, were analysed as predictors of attendance at the first face-to-face clinic appointment. The data from 161 individuals were analysed using routine patient information collected by the clinical neuropsychology service. Logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate predictors of first appointment clinic attendance. RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses identified higher age, shorter waiting times, and answering the triage call as potential predictors of attendance, highlighting where the service might focus efforts to facilitate attendance. CONCLUSIONS: Both patient and service factors were found to be significant predictors of patient attendance. Further service evaluation could explore patients' experiences of triage telephone calls, and investigate relationships between waiting times and neuropsychological outcomes.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONIdentifying predictors of appointment attendance can allow the service to focus on the needs of particular patient groups.Implementing a telephone triage initiative had positive effects, both on waiting times and efficient use of face-to-face clinic time.The analysis highlighted the need to think about better ways of reaching out to younger individuals and those who have waited longer to attend appointments, who are less likely to attend once invited.