Mindfulness-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is one of the latest mindfulness-based behavior therapies shown to have compelling evidence and efficacy with a wide range of clinical conditions. ACT is so hard to categorize that it is often described as an amalgamation of existential, humanistic, cognitive-behavioural therapy. ACT is often referred as process-based CBT and is one of the ‘third-wave' of behavioural therapies. It is currently the fastest growing evidence-based therapy in the world, with currently at least 304 Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) being recorded all over the world. It has proven effective in different cultural contexts with a diverse set of clinical conditions, from depression, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, chronic pain, grief, loss and terminal illness, anxiety, and workplace stress.

Social Isolation, Illness Anxiety, and Quality of Life in Corona Survivors

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between social isolation, illness anxiety and quality of life in corona survivors. This paper focuses on moderating role of illness anxiety on the relationship between social isolation and quality of life of COVID-19 survivors who faced this disease in past 6 months. The sample comprised of 110 survivors of COVID-19. Purposive sampling was used to assess the participants with the help of Google forms. Social isolation was measured by using Lubben Social Network Scale (Lubben et al., 2006), quality of life was measured by WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization, 1996), and to measure illness anxiety Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1959) was used. Correlational analysis revealed that social isolation had positive relationship with illness anxiety. Illness anxiety had negative relationship with physical health, psychological health environment and overall quality of life. Moreover, moderation analysis revealed that illness anxiety significantly moderated the relationship between social isolation and quality of life. This research attempted to explore the social isolation during lock down and illness anxiety corporate in low quality of life in COVID-19 pandemic. This study has variety of clinical implications as this research gave us insight into the role of social isolation and illness anxiety on quality of life especially in this pandemic so it will help psychologists to take measurements accordingly.

Spiritual and religious beliefs and behaviour: data collected from 27/28-year-old offspring in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, 2019-2020.

Religious/spiritual belief and practices have sometimes been demonstrated to have positive associations with outcomes such as coping with serious illness, anxiety, depression, negative life events and general well-being, and therefore warrants consideration in many facets of health research. For example, increasing secularisation evidenced, particularly in the West, may reflect increasing rates of depression and anxiety. Very few studies have charted the ways in which religious/spiritual beliefs and practices of parents and their offspring vary longitudinally or between generations. Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is one such study that can relate belief and practices with aspects of physical and mental health and/or distinguish the different facets of the environment that may influence the development, or inter-generational loss, of belief and behaviours. This paper describes the 2019-2020 data collection in the ALSPAC on the religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviours (RSBB) of the study offspring (born 1991/1992) at ages 27-28 years. Previously collected and new data on the offspring are described here and comparisons are made with identical data completed by their parents (mothers and their partners) in early 2020. The most striking observations are that in almost all aspects of RSBB the offspring of both sexes are more secular, especially when compared with their mothers. For example, 56.2% of offspring state that they do not believe in God, or a divine power compared with 26.6% of mothers and 45.3% of mothers’ partners. When asked about their type of religion, 65.4% of participants stated ‘none’, compared with 27.2% of mothers and 40.2% of partners. This confirms previous research reporting increasing secularisation from one generation to the next. As with the mothers and their partners, female offspring were more likely than males to believe in a divine power and to practice their beliefs.

Are you a health care and information seeker or avoider? A new assessment tool

Healthcare seeking and avoidance behaviors, when applied maladaptively may negatively impact individuals’ functioning and the public healthcare system. This study describes the development of the first tool to assess these behaviors. 359 university students (279 females, 80 males; age range=17-45) completed the new Healthcare Behaviors Questionnaire and measures of illness anxiety. Results supported a six- (Care Seeking, Information Seeking, Asking for Care, Care Avoidance, Information Avoidance and Postponing Care) and a two-factor structure (Healthcare Seeking and Healthcare Avoidance) of the tool and provided evidence for its good psychometric properties (internal consistency and construct validity). There were no gender, living place and medical diagnosis differences in healthcare seeking and avoidance behaviors. Healthcare Behaviors Questionnaire factors were significant predictors of increased illness anxiety. The factor structure and psychometric properties of the tool remain to be confirmed in other samples, including clinical and medical populations, to support its clinical and research utility.