A conceptual model for achieving well-being in adults with mild cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE: Low well-being is common among people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). We propose a model to examine how different types of resources work together to maintain well-being in people with MCI. METHODS: Participants included 121 community dwelling adults over the age of 60 who were diagnosed with MCI. Structural equation modeling assessed suggested relationships between resources and well-being. RESULTS: Emotional intelligence, general mental ability, morbidity, economic status, basic activities of daily living, and age were correlated to well-being in a triple mediation process through cognitive function, instrumental activities of daily living, and social support. Model fit was excellent (RMSEA-0.04; IFI-.96; CFI-.96; CMIN/DF-1.23), CONCLUSION: Achieving well-being when coping with MCI requires a combination of objective resources and subjective evaluation of the situation. Ultimately, social support determines an individual's level of well-being. Findings suggest the need to understand what kind of social support is required by those coping with MCI.

The right kind of smart: emotional intelligence's relationship to cognitive status in community-dwelling older adults.

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether emotional intelligence (EI) is associated with cognitive function (CF) in a sample of community-dwelling, non-demented elderly out-patients. DESIGN: Correlational cross-sectional study. SETTING: Two memory clinics in an urban community in central Israel. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals age 60 and older without dementia, recruited from two memory clinics (N = 151). MEASUREMENTS: Health history was obtained from medical charts. All participants underwent tests measuring CF, basic and instrumental function, general mental ability (GMA), EI, and depression. RESULTS: Mean age of the participants was 79 years (SD = 7.00) with 96 females (63.6%). Mean score for Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was 21.62 (SD = 3.09) and for EI was 14.08 (SD = 3.30). Linear multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine associations of CF with EI while controlling for gender, age, education, GMA, and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Age, education, GMA, and CCI were significant correlates of CF and accounted for 31.1% of the variance [F(7,143) = 10.8, p<0.01] in CF. EI was added in the second block and was the factor most strongly associated with CF, explaining an additional 9.1% (a total of 40.2%) of the variance in CF [F(8,142) = 13.2, p<0.01]. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to show the association between EI and CF in older adults. Future prospective studies are needed to explicate the possibility of EI as a protective factor against cognitive decline.

A New Take on a Resource-Based Model of Quality of Life in Hemato-Oncological Patients: Demographic, Personal, and Social Factors.

This study tests a new comprehensive model accounting for the role of demographic, personal, and social factors in quality of life (QOL) among a sample of hematological cancer patients. We hypothesized that positive and negative affect would mediate the associations between these factors and QOL. Seventy-two patients were recruited at an outpatient hematological clinic in a midsized medical center in northern Israel. They completed measures of QOL, social support, positive and negative affect, and emotional intelligence (EI). Diagnostic and demographic information was retrieved from their files. Path analysis supported a model in which positive and negative affect mediated the association between income level, social support, EI, and QOL. This study presents a model accounting for QOL among hematological patients that for the first time pertains to demographic, personal, and interpersonal factors. This model may guide future research as well as future interventions to empower and support this fragile target population.

Nursing Home Administrator Quality Improvement Self-Efficacy Scale.

BACKGROUND: Nursing home (NH) quality improvement (QI) is challenging. The critical role of NH leaders in successful QI is well established; however, current options for assessing the QI capabilities of leaders such as the licensed NH administrator are limited. PURPOSE: This article presents the development and preliminary validation of an instrument to measure NH administrator self-efficacy in QI. METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: We used a mixed-methods cross-sectional design to develop and test the measure. For item generation, 39 NH leaders participated in qualitative interviews. Item reduction and content validity were established with a sample of eight subject matter experts. A random sample of 211 administrators from NHs with the lowest and highest Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Five-Star Quality ratings completed the measure. We conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and tested the measure for internal reliability and convergent, discriminant, and known group validity. FINDINGS: The final measure included five subscales and 32 items. Confirmatory factor analysis reaffirmed the factorial structure with good fit indices. The new measure's subscales correlated with valid measures of self-efficacy and locus of control, supporting the measure's convergent and discriminant validity. Significant differences in most of the subscales were found between the objective (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Five-Star Quality rating) and subjective (Self-Rated Facility QI Index) quality outcomes, supporting the measure's known group validity. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The instrument has usefulness to both NH organizations and individual NH administrators as a diagnostic tool to identify administrators with higher/lower chances of successfully implementing QI. Organizations and individuals can use this diagnostic to identify the administrator's professional development needs for QI, in general, and specific to the instrument's five subscales, informing directions for in-house training, mentoring, and outside professional development. Attending to NH administrators' QI professional development needs prior to implementing QI holds promise to enhance the chances for successful implementation of QI, which is urgently needed in many NHs.

Neural correlates of emotional intelligence in a visual emotional oddball task: an ERP study.

The present study was aimed at identifying potential behavioral and neural correlates of Emotional Intelligence (EI) by using scalp-recorded Event-Related Potentials (ERPs). EI levels were defined according to both self-report questionnaire and a performance-based ability test. We identified ERP correlates of emotional processing by using a visual-emotional oddball paradigm, in which subjects were confronted with one frequent standard stimulus (a neutral face) and two deviant stimuli (a happy and an angry face). The effects of these faces were then compared across groups with low and high EI levels. The ERP results indicate that participants with high EI exhibited significantly greater mean amplitudes of the P1, P2, N2, and P3 ERP components in response to emotional and neutral faces, at frontal, posterior-parietal and occipital scalp locations. P1, P2 and N2 are considered indexes of attention-related processes and have been associated with early attention to emotional stimuli. The later P3 component has been thought to reflect more elaborative, top-down, emotional information processing including emotional evaluation and memory encoding and formation. These results may suggest greater recruitment of resources to process all emotional and non-emotional faces at early and late processing stages among individuals with higher EI. The present study underscores the usefulness of ERP methodology as a sensitive measure for the study of emotional stimuli processing in the research field of EI.

Winning or losing a bet and the perception of randomness.

This study examines the potential effects of random gain, loss, or neutral outcomes on individuals' judgments of randomness in life and in unpredictable life events. Based on existing evidence, we hypothesize that experiencing gain would decrease the perception of randomness, whereas loss would have the opposite effect. One-hundred and ten students participated in a random bet for academic credit required for their introductory psychology course, where they could experience gain (bonus credit), loss (no credit), or neutral (exact credit as promised) outcomes. In addition, they filled out a questionnaire on their beliefs in randomness in general and in various everyday life events, as well as their judgment of the extent to which each event was pre-determined. The results provide partial support for our hypotheses. The participants experiencing a 'neutral' result report the highest level of randomness in general and in everyday life events, as well as the highest extent to which the events were judged as pre-determined. Randomness was judged as lower in both the 'loss' and 'gain' conditions. These patterns only emerge after controlling for gender and religiosity. The results are discussed in light of existing evidence and directions for future studies.

Someone to watch over me: exposure to war events and trust in the armed forces in Israel as factors in war-related stress.

This study examined the role of trust in the national armed and security forces in Israel as a potential protective factor in post-war stress symptoms, alongside other known correlates such as exposure to war events, sense of danger, and demographics. A cluster sample of 870 residents of the town of Kiryat-Shemona in Israel participated in this correlational study. The town was under heavy bombing during the second Lebanon war, and data collection took place about a year after the end of the war. Our results suggest that while sense of danger and exposure to war events are the strongest correlates of stress related symptoms, trust in the armed forces was negatively correlated with stress, even after controlling for demographics; therefore supporting our hypothesis. Theoretical, methodological and practical implications are discussed in light of our findings.

'With a Little Help from My Friends': Emotional Intelligence, Social Support, and Distress during the COVID-19 Outbreak.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a global existential social and health challenge, with individuals suffering mentally and psychologically. College and university students are young adults, typically away from their natural support systems; with pandemic-imposed measures such as isolation, they may have been at higher risk of experiencing negative psychological outcomes. The study tested a model in which social support mediated the association between emotional intelligence (EI) and a latent factor representing general mental distress at the height of the COVID-19 crisis in Poland. One hundred and fifty-nine young adults filled in measures of trait EI, psychological and instrumental social support, three distress measures (depression, anxiety, and stress), and demographics. The results supported a model in which psychological social support (but not instrumental social support) mediated the association between trait EI and a factor representing all three distress measures. The results shed light on how individual and social resources work together to help maintain psychological integrity in times of crisis. They add to recent results on the differential effects of psychological-emotional and instrumental social support on distress and well-being.

Elderly people coping with the aftermath of war: resilience versus vulnerability.

OBJECTIVES: The present study compares coping of elderly people and two younger groups 1 year after a war. Coping was determined by stress symptoms and posttraumatic recovery and two levels of resiliency. DESIGN AND SETTING: Thirty-six streets (covering most of the city streets) were sampled randomly from the map of Kiryat Shemona (a town next to the Lebanese border) about a year after the end of the Second Lebanon War. PARTICIPANTS: The sample constituted 870 adult residents of the town. Participants were divided into three age groups: elderly (age 65 years and older, N = 108), adults (age 46-64 years, N = 252) and young adults (age 20-45 years, N = 462). MEASUREMENTS: 1) Stress symptoms measured by short version of Brief Symptom Inventory; 2) Individual resilience measured by Sense of Coherence Inventory; 3) Posttraumatic Recovery Inventory (PTR); and 4) Public Resilience Scale (included a scale for community and national resilience). RESULTS: The results indicated 1) The elderly group reported significantly higher levels of stress symptoms and lower levels of PTR; 2) Females in the three age groups reported higher levels of stress symptoms and lower levels of PTR and individual resilience than males; 3) Individual and public resilience negatively predicted stress symptoms and positively predicted posttraumatic recovery across three age groups; and 4) Public resilience has a differential effect on stress symptoms in each of the three age groups but not on PTR. CONCLUSION: Results question the division of older people into a vulnerable or inoculated group, indicating that the participants responded concurrently in a more vulnerable and a more resilient manner. Older people were characterized by higher levels of postwar stress symptoms, as well as a higher sense of coherence.

Emotional intelligence and electro-dermal activity.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a promising concept in our understanding of emotional regulation, related behaviors and pathologies. However, research linking EI to underlying physiological and biological structure and responses is meager. This study explored potential associations of EI with electro-dermal activity (EDA) responses to emotionally arousing visual stimuli. It was hypothesized that higher levels of EI will associate with more efficient emotional regulation as reflected by EDA. Eighty-four healthy participants were exposed to stimuli consisting of a series of 12 images designed to evoke positive or negative emotional responses, presented in a counterbalanced order. A self-report questionnaire and a computer based test of EI were administered along with a demographic questionnaire. EDA measures were taken during the exposure to the above stimuli using BIOPACK MP150. EI test scores (Beta = .35, .32; p < .001) and age (Beta = -.24, -.31; p < .03) associated with EDA delta (stimulus response-baseline) scores, while the self-report measure of EI and other demographics (e.g., gender. ethnicity) did not show any associations with the outcome measures. The results support the relevance of the concept to our understanding of emotional responses and regulation. The findings are briefly discussed within the context of underlying mechanisms of EI as well as measure validity and relevance.

Loneliness and emotional intelligence.

The possible associations of loneliness with Emotional Intelligence (EI), 2 of its correlates (life satisfaction and a sense of meaning), and several background variables were tested on a sample of 134 young adults attending college in northern Israel. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis provided support for the model, suggesting that the presence of meaning, EI, and size and availability of an individual's social network are the strongest correlates of loneliness. EI therefore emerges as a potentially important factor in our understanding of loneliness, and the model provides a framework for future studies. The results are discussed vis-à-vis existing findings in the literature and possible directions for approaching loneliness as a theoretical concept and a social phenomenon.

Days of worry: Emotional intelligence and social support mediate worry in the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study tested a model accounting for worries among 275 adults during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. The main hypothesis posited that psychological and instrumental social support will mediate the association between emotional intelligence and worry, controlling for the level of exposure to the virus risk and demographics. The results showed that social support mediated the above association: social support showed a negative association with worries while instrumental support showed a positive one. The results are discussed in light of existing findings and theories.

Postwar winners and losers in the long run: determinants of war related stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth.

The study focuses on the long-term impact of war on adolescents (N = 821) and adults (N = 870) living in a war afflicted Israeli community a year after the war. Results indicate the following: (a) stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth (PTG) correlate negatively with each other. (b) Age was positively associated with stress symptoms and negatively with PTG. (c) Economic condition predicted stress symptoms as well as PTG of adults better than exposure to traumatic events, whereas for school students the best predictor of stress symptoms was exposure to traumatic events while the best predictor of PTG was age of participants.

How people understand their world: perceived randomness of rare life events.

The authors asked 220 undergraduate students to decide the extent to which a series of rare life events were random or nonrandom. The authors examined the associations of these perceptions with gender and locus of control (LOC). They also examined whether participants perceived events differently when arranged on 3 axes (positive events vs. negative events; natural events vs. person-related events; events happening to self vs. events happening to others). The results support most of the hypotheses. Participants with more external LOC perceived various events to be less random than did participants with more internal LOC. Male participants perceived various events to be more random than did female participants. Participants judged natural events to be more random than man-made events. Contrary to the authors' hypothesis, participants perceived positive events to be more random than negative events. There were also no differences between vignettes relating to self versus others. The authors discuss the implications of the findings for further research and the understanding of decision-making processes in everyday settings.

The health care aide position in nursing homes: A comparative survey of nurses' and aides' perceptions.

BACKGROUND: The health care aide position embodies one of the most basic paradoxes of long-term care for older adults: those who have the most contact and most intensive interaction with nursing-home residents are also those having the least training, authority, and status within the system. They therefore hold one of the keys to quality care in many settings, especially nursing homes. In the absence of agreement on the position's roles, responsibilities, and authority, it is important to examine how the position is perceived by the key members in the long-term-care framework. OBJECTIVES: The current study examined and compared health care aides' and nurses' perceptions of the position in nursing-home settings in Israel, using a standardized tool developed for this inquiry. The comparison accounted for potential intervening factors that may help better understand the job requirements and boundaries. DESIGN: A comparative survey design. SETTINGS: 30 nursing homes (of at least 20 beds) in northern Israel. PARTICIPANTS: We used convenience sampling to recruit 369 health care aides and 261 nurses (a total of 630 participants). METHODS: The main instrument of data collection was specially designed and validated for this study. It was based on a qualitative study that defined basic content units representing tasks importance, knowledge, and personal characteristics for the job. RESULTS: Participants found it difficult to prioritize the job components or to differentiate between core tasks and characteristics and the secondary aspects of their job. General care, profession-specific knowledge, and emotional abilities were endorsed the most by participants. Cleaning, communication, and safety were ranked lower (although rankings were still considerably high). However, previous experience as a health care aide undermined incumbents' perceptions of their own responsibilities and professionalism. Incumbent health care aides rated most factors higher than nurses did, with the exception of the importance of communication. CONCLUSION: Our results may help decision makers understand the complexity around the health care aide position, manage and develop it more effectively while setting standards (training and certification, performance appraisal, and more) for professionalization processes and better defining the division of nursing work between health care aides and nurses.

Nursing students' expectations of the college experience.

Nursing students' expectations of college have not received much attention in the empirical literature. These expectations may be important in better understanding nurses' motivations, role acquisition, and academic and professional success. The first study discussed in this article examined the reliability and construct validity of an instrument designed to assess students' (N = 95) expectations of their college experience. The results indicate good reliability and validity. The second study discussed in this article examined differences in expectations, comparing nursing and non-nursing students (N = 160) in an urban college setting. The results suggest expectations emphasizing practical and professional aspects (i.e., acquiring a profession, earning more money), followed by self-betterment and social life expectations. Nursing students differed from non-nursing students by reporting higher self-betterment and professional expectations but lower academic expectations. Implications for application and further research are discussed.

Emotional intelligence, anxiety, and emotional eating: A deeper insight into a recently reported association?

Recent studies reported a negative association between emotional intelligence (EI: defined here as individual predispositions associated with effective identification and regulation of emotions) and emotional eating. Although theory provides some insights into how the concept represents mechanisms that may serve as protective factors, empirical evidence of the mechanism behind the association has yet to be presented. This study tested a proposed model in which anxiety levels mediate the association between emotional intelligence and emotional-eating patterns in a normative sample of women in Israel. A cross-sectional/correlational design was used to gather data from 208 generally healthy female participants who completed measures of trait emotional intelligence, anxiety, and tendency toward emotional eating, as well as demographics. Anxiety levels mediated the negative association between emotional intelligence and emotional eating. Background variables had only marginal involvement in this model. The results shed light on the mechanisms underlying the association between emotional intelligence and emotional eating. Should future studies corroborate the findings, they may serve as a basis for future screening protocols, prevention and interventions with individuals and groups at risk of EE and eating disorders.

Emotional Intelligence and Physical Activity.

OBJECTIVE: This report summarizes the first study (to the best of our knowledge) of the association between emotional intelligence (EI) and physical activity (PA) levels in a sample of generally healthy adults. METHODS: An online snowball sample of 110 generally healthy adults took part in this study and filled out measures of EI, PA, and background variables. RESULTS: Analysis of structural equating modeling supported a path of positive association between EI and PA ranging from .20 to .28, controlling for background variables associated with PA. Of these, only education showed significant associations with PA. CONCLUSIONS: EI may play a role in individuals' PA patterns. Potential underlying mechanisms and directions for future research are suggested.

Quality Improvement in Nursing Homes: Alignment Among Leaders Across the Organizational Chart.

Background and Objectives: This article describes nursing home (NH) leaders' involvement in quality improvement (QI) decisions, with an emphasis on the concept of alignment in QI decisions across leaders. Research Design and Methods: We used a qualitative approach and semistructured interviews to collect data from a convenience sample of 39 NH leaders, including corporate/executive-level leaders and facility-level leaders. Thematic analysis was used to inductively capture key patterns in data. Results: Variations in alignment emerged as a major theme to describe the interface and interaction among facility- and corporate/executive-level leaders around QI decision making and implementation of QI decisions. For this study, alignment refers to the extent of shared understanding, beliefs, motivations, and implied or explicit agreement among leaders in regards to: (a) goals, values, priorities, and expectations for quality or QI (and/or applicable resources); and (b) expectations for leaders to carry out QI decisions made by other leaders. Discussion and Implications: This study offers new insights into the complexities associated with leadership alignment toward improving NH quality. The findings provide a glimpse into leaders' involvement in QI based on their position on the facility's organizational chart and extend our understanding of the centrality of the concept of alignment in promoting QI. These findings may inform future research on facility- and corporate/executive-level leader interactions and how these interactions impact quality outcomes.

Emotional abilities and HbA1c levels in patients with type 1 diabetes.

In recent years a growing body of research is focused on the relationships between emotions and health. When it comes to diabetes, findings suggest that distress might play a key role in the acquisition and maintenance of health habits associated with diabetic management. This report describes two studies examining the roles of emotional abilities in diabetic management from two different conceptual points of view using two culturally different samples. In study 1, we examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and HbA1c levels in a sample of eighty-five patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) in Israel. In study 2, we examined the relationship between specific emotional regulation strategies and HbA1c in sixty-seven adolescents with DM1, while examining the mediating role of distress in this association. The results showed a negative association between emotional intelligence and HbA1c levels, even after controlling for potential intervening factors. We found that the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and HbA1c seemed to be mediated by diabetes-related distress. These findings may aid in the design of psychological models for future research as well as interventions aimed at improving emotional abilities in people with DM1.