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Frontiers in Psychology 2022Through featuring a historical review of the L2 speaking assessment scales applied in related studies, this paper targets at providing responses for the following three...
Through featuring a historical review of the L2 speaking assessment scales applied in related studies, this paper targets at providing responses for the following three questions (a) How are the scales assessing L2 speaking anxiety developed and adapted in related research? (b) What are the frequently adopted methods for validating speaking anxiety scales? (c) How is L2 speaking anxiety represented and interpreted with a dynamic approach? Based on analyzing the development process of frequently-used scales for assessing test anxiety, foreign language classroom anxiety, and speaking anxiety, the author classified the scales into three categories: test-based scales measuring speaking anxiety, classroom-based scales measuring speaking anxiety, and activity-based scales measuring L2 speaking anxiety. As for the scale validation methods, Classical Testing Theory (CTT) and Rasch measurement were introduced as two major statistical paradigms for guaranteeing the reliability of the scales. This paper also summarizes the emerging themes generalized from research focusing speaking anxiety assessment, where the dynamic approach is discussed as a guideline to interpret the relationship among anxiety, language performance, and other factors involved in language learning. This paper ends with highlighting possible directions for anxiety-related research in the future, where technology intervention and the "positivity ratio" might become new attempts for pedagogical design.
PubMed: 36337559
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.972671 -
Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) Apr 2023The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the new grave and acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), generated an unprecedented danger to public health. This... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the new grave and acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), generated an unprecedented danger to public health. This condition may impact survivors' quality of life and includes extensive pulmonary and respiratory outcomes. Respiratory rehabilitation is known for its effects in improving dyspnea, alleviating anxiety and depression, reducing complications, preventing and ameliorating dysfunctions, reducing morbidity, preserving functions and improving subjects' quality of life. For this reason, respiratory rehabilitation may be recommended for this category of patients.
OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness and benefits produced by the adoption of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programs in COVID-19's post-acute phase.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
A search of relevant publications was conducted using the following electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus, PEDro, and Cochrane Library. A single reviser selected pertinent articles that studied the effects of pulmonary rehabilitation during COVID-19's post-acute phase in improving the respiratory function, physical performance, autonomy and quality of life (QoL).
RESULTS
After an initial selection, 18 studies were included in this systematic review, of which 14 concern respiratory rehabilitation delivered in conventional form and 4 concern respiratory rehabilitation provided in telehealth.
CONCLUSIONS
Pulmonary rehabilitation combining different types of training-breathing, aerobic, fitness and strength-and not bypassing the neuropsychological aspects revealed itself to be capable of improving pulmonary and muscular functions, general health and quality of life in post-acute COVID-19 patients, besides increasing workout capacity and muscle strength, improving fatigue states and reducing anxiety and depression.
PubMed: 37107905
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare11081071 -
Frontiers in Physiology 2023The aim of our meta-analysis was to compile the available evidence to evaluate the effect of physical exercise-based therapy (PEBT) on pain, impact of the disease,...
The aim of our meta-analysis was to compile the available evidence to evaluate the effect of physical exercise-based therapy (PEBT) on pain, impact of the disease, quality of life (QoL) and anxiety in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), to determine the effect of different modes of physical exercise-based therapy, and the most effective dose of physical exercise-based therapy for improving each outcome. A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out. The PubMed (MEDLINE), SCOPUS, Web of Science, CINAHL Complete and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) databases were searched up to November 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the effects of physical exercise-based therapy and other treatments on pain, the impact of the disease, QoL and/or anxiety in patients with FMS were included. The standardized mean difference (SMD) and a 95% CI were estimated for all the outcome measures using random effect models. Three reviewers independently extracted data and assessed the risk of bias using the PEDro scale. Sixty-eight RCTs involving 5,474 participants were included. Selection, detection and performance biases were the most identified. In comparison to other therapies, at immediate assessment, physical exercise-based therapy was effective at improving pain [SMD-0.62 (95%CI, -0.78 to -0.46)], the impact of the disease [SMD-0.52 (95%CI, -0.67 to -0.36)], the physical [SMD 0.51 (95%CI, 0.33 to 0.69)] and mental dimensions of QoL [SMD 0.48 (95%CI, 0.29 to 0.67)], and the anxiety [SMD-0.36 (95%CI, -0.49 to -0.25)]. The most effective dose of physical exercise-based therapy for reducing pain was 21-40 sessions [SMD-0.83 (95%CI, 1.1--0.56)], 3 sessions/week [SMD-0.82 (95%CI, -1.2--0.48)] and 61-90 min per session [SMD-1.08 (95%CI, -1.55--0.62)]. The effect of PEBT on pain reduction was maintained up to 12 weeks [SMD-0.74 (95%CI, -1.03--0.45)]. Among patients with FMS, PEBT (including circuit-based exercises or exercise movement techniques) is effective at reducing pain, the impact of the disease and anxiety as well as increasing QoL. PROSPERO https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42021232013.
PubMed: 37123268
DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1170621 -
JMIR MHealth and UHealth May 2024Unaddressed early-stage mental health issues, including stress, anxiety, and mild depression, can become a burden for individuals in the long term. Digital phenotyping... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Unaddressed early-stage mental health issues, including stress, anxiety, and mild depression, can become a burden for individuals in the long term. Digital phenotyping involves capturing continuous behavioral data via digital smartphone devices to monitor human behavior and can potentially identify milder symptoms before they become serious.
OBJECTIVE
This systematic literature review aimed to answer the following questions: (1) what is the evidence of the effectiveness of digital phenotyping using smartphones in identifying behavioral patterns related to stress, anxiety, and mild depression? and (2) in particular, which smartphone sensors are found to be effective, and what are the associated challenges?
METHODS
We used the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) process to identify 36 papers (reporting on 40 studies) to assess the key smartphone sensors related to stress, anxiety, and mild depression. We excluded studies conducted with nonadult participants (eg, teenagers and children) and clinical populations, as well as personality measurement and phobia studies. As we focused on the effectiveness of digital phenotyping using smartphones, results related to wearable devices were excluded.
RESULTS
We categorized the studies into 3 major groups based on the recruited participants: studies with students enrolled in universities, studies with adults who were unaffiliated to any particular organization, and studies with employees employed in an organization. The study length varied from 10 days to 3 years. A range of passive sensors were used in the studies, including GPS, Bluetooth, accelerometer, microphone, illuminance, gyroscope, and Wi-Fi. These were used to assess locations visited; mobility; speech patterns; phone use, such as screen checking; time spent in bed; physical activity; sleep; and aspects of social interactions, such as the number of interactions and response time. Of the 40 included studies, 31 (78%) used machine learning models for prediction; most others (n=8, 20%) used descriptive statistics. Students and adults who experienced stress, anxiety, or depression visited fewer locations, were more sedentary, had irregular sleep, and accrued increased phone use. In contrast to students and adults, less mobility was seen as positive for employees because less mobility in workplaces was associated with higher performance. Overall, travel, physical activity, sleep, social interaction, and phone use were related to stress, anxiety, and mild depression.
CONCLUSIONS
This study focused on understanding whether smartphone sensors can be effectively used to detect behavioral patterns associated with stress, anxiety, and mild depression in nonclinical participants. The reviewed studies provided evidence that smartphone sensors are effective in identifying behavioral patterns associated with stress, anxiety, and mild depression.
Topics: Humans; Depression; Stress, Psychological; Anxiety; Phenotype; Smartphone
PubMed: 38780995
DOI: 10.2196/40689 -
Iranian Journal of Public Health May 2023Maternal anxiety has been accompanied by many unfavorable effects on breastfeeding in the postpartum period. We aimed to provide scientific evidence in identifying... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Maternal anxiety has been accompanied by many unfavorable effects on breastfeeding in the postpartum period. We aimed to provide scientific evidence in identifying effective interventions for anxiety and breastfeeding self-efficacy (BSE) in a systematic review and meta-analysis.
METHODS
All published studies with inclusion criteria by 2022 were searched in Embase, Cochrane library, Web of Sciences, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, SID and Magiran. The literature search was performed using PRISMA instructions. Further, 20 eligible interventional studies (RCT and pre-posttest) and one case study were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Publication bias was checked with Eggers test and funnel plot methods. The collected data were analyzed using stata version16.
RESULTS
It is not possible to provide an explicit and accurate conclusion about the effective intervention method in reducing anxiety and increasing BSE among lactating women during the covid19 pandemic. The results indicated a significant increase in BSE among lactating women after educational and psychological interventions (4.20, 95% CI: 3.61 to 4.80, I = 26.38%).
CONCLUSION
It is recommended to conduct further studies with a strong methodology and based on intervention methods during the postpartum period, especially in the first month of birth to reduce the symptoms of stress and anxiety in the mother, establish better mother-child attachment, and improve BSE and maternal performance during the Covid-19 pandemic.
PubMed: 37484712
DOI: 10.18502/ijph.v52i5.12710 -
International Journal of Environmental... Aug 2021Breast cancer (BC) treatment is associated with many physical and psychological symptoms. Psychological distress or physical dysfunction are one of the most common side... (Review)
Review
Breast cancer (BC) treatment is associated with many physical and psychological symptoms. Psychological distress or physical dysfunction are one of the most common side effects of oncological treatment. Functional dysfunction and pain-related evasion of movement may increase disability in BC. Virtual reality (VR) can offer BC women a safe environment within which to carry out various rehabilitation interventions to patient support during medical procedures. The aim of this systematic review was to conduct an overview of the clinical studies that used VR therapy in BC. The review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines method: the initial search identified a total of 144 records, and 11 articles met the review criteria and were selected for the analysis. The results showed that VR seems to be a promising tool supporting oncological treatment in BC patients. VR can have a positive effect on mental and physical functions, such as relieving anxiety during oncotherapy, diminution pain syndrome, and increasing the range of motion and performance in daily activities.
Topics: Anxiety; Breast Neoplasms; Female; Humans; Pain; Virtual Reality; Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
PubMed: 34444513
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18168768 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2019Math anxiety (MA) has been suggested to decrease the math performance of students. However, it remains unclear what factors moderate this relationship. The aim of this...
Math anxiety (MA) has been suggested to decrease the math performance of students. However, it remains unclear what factors moderate this relationship. The aim of this research was to explore the link between MA and math performance. Studies that explored the math anxiety-performance link, conducted from 2000 to 2019 (84 samples, = 8680), were identified and statistically integrated with a meta-analysis method. The results indicated a robust negative math anxiety-performance link. Furthermore, regarding the analysis of moderator variables, this negative link was stronger in the studies that involved Asian students, but this link was the weakest in the studies that involved European students. Moreover, this negative link was stronger in the studies within a senior high school group, whereas it was the weakest in the studies within an elementary group. Finally, this negative link was strongest among studies that used a custom test and studies that assessed problem-solving skills. Potential explanations and implications for research and practice are discussed.
PubMed: 31447719
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01613 -
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2023Levels of state and trait anxiety are relevant for performing artists and professional athletes to obtain optimal performance outcomes. However, evidence-based knowledge... (Review)
Review
Levels of state and trait anxiety are relevant for performing artists and professional athletes to obtain optimal performance outcomes. However, evidence-based knowledge regarding the effectiveness of psychological interventions on performance anxiety is currently minimal. Thus, the objective of this systematic review with meta-analysis was to characterize, aggregate, and quantify intervention effects on measures of state and trait performance anxiety in performing artists and professional athletes. A systematic search of the literature according to the PRISMA guidelines was conducted on the databases PubMed, Medline, SPORTDiscus, PsycInfo, Embase, and Web of Science from 1 January 1960 to 9 November 2022. The search only included controlled studies employing pre-post measures and excluded performing arts fields that do not depend on fine motor skills. Initially, 1022 articles were identified; after removing duplicates and assessing abstracts and full texts, 20 articles were used to calculate weighted standardized mean differences (). In terms of state performance anxiety, our results revealed a large overall effect ( = 0.88), a medium effect ( = 0.62) for studies using scales with total scores (i.e., MPAI-A, STAI), and large effects (cognitive anxiety: = 0.93, somatic anxiety: = 0.92, self-confidence: = 0.97) for studies applying scales with sub-scores (i.e., CSAI-2R)-all in favour of the intervention groups. Regarding trait performance anxiety (e.g., SCAT), we detected a small effect ( = 0.32), also favouring the intervention groups. Interventions to reduce performance anxiety in performing artists and professional athletes revealed varying levels of effectiveness ranging from small (trait) to large (state). Therefore, future studies should investigate modalities to increase intervention efficacy, especially for the small-sized changes in trait performance anxiety.
PubMed: 37998657
DOI: 10.3390/bs13110910 -
Journal of Trauma Nursing : the...Millions of Americans are injured each year, with 75% suffering orthopedic injuries. Those with orthopedic injury often experience postinjury symptoms, such as anxiety,...
BACKGROUND
Millions of Americans are injured each year, with 75% suffering orthopedic injuries. Those with orthopedic injury often experience postinjury symptoms, such as anxiety, that negatively influence long-term outcomes. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate (1) the prevalence of anxiety symptoms chronologically in relation to time of orthopedic injury, (2) the associations of anxiety symptoms with other symptoms in individuals with orthopedic injury, and (3) the associations between anxiety symptoms and functional performance and mental health outcomes in individuals with orthopedic injury.
METHODS
The databases CINAHL, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid PsycInfo, Ovid Embase, ProQuest, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched on June 25, 2020. Studies were selected for review if (1) participants were 16 years or older, (2) the prevalence of anxiety symptoms was listed, (3) anxiety symptoms were assessed using a validated instrument, (4) the study was published in English, and (5) more than 50% of the participants suffered orthopedic injury to the appendicular skeleton or pelvic ring.
RESULTS
Anxiety symptoms were present in 11.5%-55.9% of individuals up to 10 years after orthopedic injury and often co-occurred with those of depression, pain, and posttraumatic stress disorder to negatively influence functional performance and mental health outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS
Anxiety symptoms post-orthopedic injury are highly prevalent and persistent. Anxiety symptoms are associated with other distressing symptoms and influence long-term outcomes. These findings highlight the need to screen for and treat anxiety symptoms following orthopedic injury and may help in designing future self-management interventions.
Topics: Anxiety; Cross-Sectional Studies; Humans; Male; Pain; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Trauma Nursing
PubMed: 33417403
DOI: 10.1097/JTN.0000000000000557