Extending the Male Depression Risk Scale for use with older men: the effect of age on factor structure and associations with psychological distress and history of depression.

OBJECTIVES: The Male Depression Risk Scale (MDRS-22) is a self-report scale that assesses externalising and male-typical depression symptoms with promising psychometric properties reported in young-to-middle aged men. However, studies are yet to consider the psychometric properties of the MDRS-22 in older men. This study examined the psychometric properties of the MDRS-22 in both younger and older males and its relationship to prototypic depression symptoms and self-reported depression history. METHOD: A community sample of younger (n = 510; 18-64 years) and older (n = 439; 65-93 years) males completed the original 82 MDRS items from which the MDRS-22 was derived, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and provided information regarding previous depression diagnoses. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine factor structure. Generalised linear models examined the relationship between externalised and male-typical symptoms with prototypic depression symptoms in younger and older men. RESULTS: Model fit indices demonstrated that the MDRS-22 performs well in older males. Results also revealed that the MDRS-22 is associated with prototypic depression symptoms and a previous depression diagnosis in both age groups. CONCLUSION: Results support the psychometric validity of the MDRS-22 as a measure of externalising and male-typical depression symptoms in older men. Use of scales such as the MDRS-22 may help to improve the detection of depression in men across the lifespan and may also identify factors that put men at risk of poor physical and mental health outcomes.

Hindering resilience in the transition to parenthood: a thematic analysis of parents' perspectives.

Objective: Investigate parents' recollections of resilience hindering experiences in the first year of parenthood.Background: The transition to parenthood is a significant period of change in the lifespan. Understanding the factors which undermine resilience during this process will help illuminate resilience theory and provision of perinatal support.Methods: We conducted a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 10 parents (including four fathers) and examined factors hindering resilience as a global theme within a broader thematic network.Results: We identified two organising themes; context which related to external experiences and relationships and appraisals which related to parents' internal attributions and experiences. We refined these organising themes into 24 specific resilience hindering factors including ambivalence about parenthood, fear of judgement, compromised self-care and relationship change. We also collated parents' suggested changes to structural supports such as providing a comprehensive overview of services available to new parents, having credible resources online, engaging fathers directly in perinatal care and a greater focus on postnatal support such as prioritising continuity of care and making longer hospital stays available.Conclusion: Our work illuminates parents' own thoughts about factors hindering resilience in the transition to parenthood and provides direct recommendations from consumers about improvements to provision of support throughout this critical period.

Enhancing resilience in the transition to parenthood: a thematic analysis of parents' perspectives.

Objective: Investigate parents' recollections of resilience enhancing experiences in the first year of parenthood.Background: Resilience is a concept of emerging interest in transition to parenthood research. Little is known about parents' descriptions and experiences of resilience in the first year of parenthood and existing research is based on data about mothers only.Methods: We conducted a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 10 parents (including four fathers) and created a thematic network of factors which participants described as enhancing their resilience in the first year of parenthood.Results: The thematic network comprised a number of subthemes (such as personal skills and support structures), and 39 specific resilience enhancing factors. These included personal skills such as acceptance, compassion, assertiveness and help-seeking; sources of support with the most preferred source for parents their partner, followed by mothers, peers, and midwifery; and important engagement characteristics displayed by support providers including attunement to the parent's needs and good communication skills.Conclusion: Our work contributes to an important gap in the literature and identifies factors for future research to explore and develop.

Chronic white matter changes detected using diffusion tensor imaging following adult traumatic brain injury and their relationship to cognition.

Objective: White matter (WM) changes detected using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) are reportedly related to cognitive outcomes following traumatic brain injury (TBI), but much existing research is underpowered or has only examined general outcomes, rather than cognitive functioning. Method: A large sample of adults who had sustained mild, moderate or severe TBIs seven months prior (N = 165) and a control group (N = 106) underwent DTI and cognitive testing. Fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity were calculated for 5 regions (corpus callosum: genu, body, splenium; fornix; superior longitudinal fasciculus) that recent meta-analyses identified as being affected by TBI and related to cognition following TBI. Memory, attention and executive functioning, which are often affected by TBI, were assessed. Results: Overall, mild TBI did not show significant WM or cognitive changes, relative to controls, but moderate to severe TBI was associated with large WM alterations (all regions) and poorer cognitive performance. No significant correlations were found between DTI findings and cognition in the moderate to severe group. Conclusions: The findings have shown that moderate to severe TBI leads to considerable WM and cognitive changes. Early and ongoing examination of mild TBI is needed to determine whether WM and cognitive changes are initially present and, if so, when they resolve. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

A fixel-based analysis of micro- and macro-structural changes to white matter following adult traumatic brain injury.

Diffusion tensor imaging is often used to assess white matter (WM) changes following traumatic brain injury (TBI), but is limited in voxels that contain multiple fibre tracts. Fixel-based analysis (FBA) addresses this limitation by using a novel method of analysing high angular resolution diffusion-weighted imaging (HARDI) data. FBA examines three aspects of each fibre tract within a voxel: tissue micro-structure (fibre density [FD]), tissue macro-structure (fibre-bundle cross section [FC]) and a combined measure of both (FD and fibre-bundle cross section [FDC]). This study used FBA to identify the location and extent of micro- and macro-structural changes in WM following TBI. A large TBI sample (Nmild = 133, Nmoderate-severe = 29) and control group (healthy and orthopaedic; N = 107) underwent magnetic resonance imaging with HARDI and completed reaction time tasks approximately 7 months after their injury (range: 98-338 days). The TBI group showed micro-structural differences (lower FD) in the corpus callosum and forceps minor, compared to controls. Subgroup analyses revealed that the mild TBI group did not differ from controls on any fixel metric, but the moderate to severe TBI group had significantly lower FD, FC and FDC in multiple WM tracts, including the corpus callosum, cerebral peduncle, internal and external capsule. The moderate to severe TBI group also had significantly slower reaction times than controls, but the mild TBI group did not. Reaction time was not related to fixel findings. Thus, the WM damage caused by moderate to severe TBI manifested as fewer axons and a reduction in the cross-sectional area of key WM tracts.

Computer-mediated communication and social support among community-dwelling older adults: A systematic review of cross-sectional data.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically assess the relationship between computer-mediated communication and social function in older adults aged 55 or older. METHODS: Embase, PsycINFO and PubMed were searched (database inception to December 2018). Where available, effect sizes (correlation r) with 95% confidence intervals and P values were calculated for individual studies. Of 4,139 eligible articles retrieved, 17 studies involving a pooled sample of 17,640 participants were included. RESULTS: Frequent computer-mediated communication was significantly, albeit weakly, associated with higher levels of social support and connectedness (r range = 0.08 to 0.33, P < 0.05). One discrepant negative relationship was noted (r = -0.16, 95% CI [-0.30, -0.02], P = 0.03), involving a distinct sample of gamers. CONCLUSIONS: Computer-mediated communication is related to amount of social functioning in older adults, although the causal nature of this relationship requires further longitudinal investigation. Sample confounds (eg socio-economic status and successful ageing) may limit the interpretation of these findings.

Application of resilience theories in the transition to parenthood: a scoping review.

OBJECTIVE: Investigate the use of resilience theories in the transition to parenthood literature. BACKGROUND: The transition to parenthood is a key developmental experience for many adults. Resilience is a unifying theoretical concept which incorporates many of the skills and resources linked with the transition to parenthood, but the uptake of resilience theory in this literature is unknown. METHODS: We used a scoping review to examine the use of resilience theory in published transition to parenthood research. This included a systematic search of the literature, descriptive analysis of theories and methods used and an assessment of theoretical integration. RESULTS: We identified 17 studies which met inclusion criteria. Explicit use of theory occurred in six studies and quality of theoretical integration was high for all of these. Resilience was seen as a desirable concept for mapping complex data, taking a holistic approach to psychological health and acknowledging environmental and systemic influences. We also identified 29 resilience supporting factors including positive self-concept, optimism, social support, family relationships, community services and social connectedness. CONCLUSION: Resilience is a useful concept for synthesising information about the transition to parenthood.

Diffusion tensor imaging changes following mild, moderate and severe adult traumatic brain injury: a meta-analysis.

Diffusion tensor imaging quantifies the asymmetry (fractional anisotropy; FA) and amount of water diffusion (mean diffusivity/apparent diffusion coefficient; MD/ADC) and has been used to assess white matter damage following traumatic brain injury (TBI). In healthy brains, diffusion is constrained by the organization of axons, resulting in high FA and low MD/ADC. Following a TBI, diffusion may be altered; however the exact nature of these changes has yet to be determined. A meta-analysis was therefore conducted to determine the location and extent of changes in DTI following adult TBI. The data from 44 studies that compared the FA and/or MD/ADC data from TBI and Control participants in different regions of interest (ROIs) were analyzed. The impact of injury severity, post-injury interval (acute: ≤ 1 week, subacute: 1 week-3 months, chronic: > 3 months), scanner details and acquisition parameters were investigated in subgroup analyses, with the findings indicating that mild TBI should be examined separately to that of moderate to severe injuries. Lower FA values were found in 88% of brain regions following mild TBI and 92% following moderate-severe TBI, compared to Controls. MD/ADC was higher in 95% and 100% of brain regions following mild and moderate-severe TBI, respectively. Moderate to severe TBI resulted in larger changes in FA and MD/ADC than mild TBI. Overall, changes to FA and MD/ADC were widespread, reflecting more symmetric and a higher amount of diffusion, indicative of white matter damage.

Alzheimers' disease and caregiving: a meta-analytic review comparing the mental health of primary carers to controls.

OBJECTIVES: To quantitatively review the literature comparing depressed mood, anxiety and psychological distress in caregivers (CGs) of older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) with non-caregivers (NCGs) Methods: Eighteen independent studies comparing AD CGs (N = 2378) with NCGs (N = 70,035) were evaluated in accordance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines. Standardised mean differences (Hedges' g) with associated 95% confidence intervals and p-values were calculated using a random-effects model. RESULTS: Studies generally conformed to STROBE criteria in terms of their methodological and procedural detail, although data management issues that may contribute to methodological bias were identified. Pooled effect estimates revealed medium to large group differences in depression (gw = 1.01 [CI: 0.73, 1.29] p < 0.01) and anxiety (gw = 0.64 [CI: 0.39, 0.89] p < 0.01): AD caregivers reported higher symptom severity. Gender was a significant moderator: female caregivers experienced poor self-reported mood (gw = 1.58 [CI: 1.11, 2.05], p < 0.01), although this analysis was limited in power given the small number of contributing studies. DISCUSSION: Caregivers of patients with AD experience poor mental health in comparison to the general population, with female caregivers being disproportionately affected. Further exploration of the psychosocial variables that contribute to these group differences is needed to inform effective support services and, in turn, help caregivers manage the emotional demands of AD.

Confidence-More a Personality or Ability Trait? It Depends on How It Is Measured: A Comparison of Young and Older Adults.

The current study (N = 244) compared two independently developed and substantively different measures of self-confidence; a self-report measure, and a measure described as "online." Online measures are confidence-accuracy judgments made following each item on a cognitive task; in the current study, online measures were yoked to tasks of fluid and crystallized intelligence. The self-report and online measures had not previously been compared, and it was unknown if they captured the same self-confidence construct. These measures were also compared to self-efficacy and personality for the purpose of defining self-confidence as an independent construct, as well as to clarify the primary comparison. This study also aimed to replicate previous findings of a stable factor of confidence derived from online measures. An age comparison was made between a young adult sample (30 years and under) and an older adult sample (65 years and over) to determine how confidence functions across the lifespan. The primary finding was that self-report and online measures of confidence define two different but modestly correlated factors. Moreover, the self-report measures sit closer to personality, and the online measures sit closer to ability. While online measures of confidence were distinct from self-efficacy and personality, self-report measures were very closely related to the personality trait Emotional Stability. A general confidence factor-derived from online measures-was identified, and importantly was found in not just young adults but also in older adults. In terms of the age comparison, older adults had higher self-report self-confidence, and tended to be more overconfident in their judgments for online measures; however this overconfidence was more striking in the online measures attached to fluid ability than to crystallized ability.

Experiences of Chinese immigrants and Anglo-Australians ageing in Australia: a cross-cultural perspective on successful ageing.

This study explored the life experiences and views on successful ageing of older Australians. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 participants consisting of 10 Chinese-Australians and 11 Anglo-Australians, aged 55 to 78 years. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results revealed that both groups associated successful ageing with health and personal responsibility. Anglo-Australians regarded growing old gracefully and acceptance as important aspects of successful ageing, whereas Chinese-Australians valued financial security and an active lifestyle. The research highlights that a cross-cultural perspective is imperative for service delivery and policy development to promote the health and well-being of older Australians.

Successful ageing by whose definition? Views of older, spiritually affiliated women.

OBJECTIVES: Researchers have pointed to significant omissions in Rowe and Kahn's model of successful ageing and their lack of consultation with older people. This study examined late mid-life and older women's views of successful ageing. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 women aged 60-89 years. Participants who identified themselves as spiritual and religious, or spiritual only and not religious, were recruited using the 'snowball technique'. Thematic analyses were conducted within an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis framework. RESULTS: Participants described multiple dimensions of successful ageing with 15 subthemes grouped into three overarching categories of personal agency, social value and quality of life/quality of death. CONCLUSIONS: Participants' multidimensional views of successful ageing were broader than Rowe and Kahn's model and included the need to have a degree of autonomy over the place and manner of the last phase of life and final days (successful dying).