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BMC Medical Education Jun 2024Professional behaviour is the first manifestation of professionalism. In teaching hospitals, the residents can be considered vulnerable to lapses in professional...
Factors leading to lapses in professional behaviour of Gynae residents in Pakistan: a study reflecting through the lenses of patients and family, consultants and residents.
INTRODUCTION
Professional behaviour is the first manifestation of professionalism. In teaching hospitals, the residents can be considered vulnerable to lapses in professional behaviour when they fail to meet the set standards of professionalism. Residents of some specialties are more at risk of lapses in professional behaviour due to the demanding nature of work. Research focusing on the behaviour of residents in the field of Gynae and the underlying factors contributing to such behaviour is notably lacking in the literature. Additionally, there is a gap in understanding the perspectives of patients from Pakistan on this matter, as it remains unexplored thus far, which constitutes the central focus of this study. An increase in complaints lodged against Gynae resident's professional behaviour in Pakistan Citizen Portal (PCP) was observed. Therefore, an exploratory qualitative study was conducted to investigate the factors and rationales contributing to the lapses in resident's professional behaviour. The study collected the viewpoints of three stakeholder groups: patients and their families, consultants and residents. The study was conducted in three phases. First, the document analysis of written complaints was conducted, followed by face-to-face interviews (11 per group) conducted by trained researchers from an independent 3rd party. Finally, the interview data was transcribed, coded and analysed. In total 15 themes were identified from the interviews with 3 stakeholders, which were then categorized and resulted in 6 overlapping themes. The most prevalent lapse reported by all 3 stakeholders was poor verbal behaviour of residents.
CONCLUSION
The highly ranked factors contributing to triggering the situation were associated with workplace challenges, well-being of residents, limited resources, patients and family characteristics, patients' expectations, lack of administrative and paramedic support, cultural factors and challenges specific to Gynae specialty. Another intriguing and emerging theme was related to the characteristics of patients and attendants which helped in understanding the causes and implications of conflicting environments. The value of competency also emphasized that can be accomplished by training and mentoring systems. The thorough examination of these factors by key stakeholders aided in accurately analysing the issue, its causes, and possible solutions. The study's findings will assist higher authorities in implementing corrective actions and offering evidence-based guidance to policymakers to improve healthcare system.
Topics: Humans; Pakistan; Internship and Residency; Female; Professionalism; Qualitative Research; Male; Adult; Consultants; Family; Professional Misconduct
PubMed: 38831320
DOI: 10.1186/s12909-024-05509-9 -
Psychology and Aging May 2024Emotional content, specifically negative valence, can differentially influence speech production in younger and older adults' autobiographical narratives, which have...
Emotional content, specifically negative valence, can differentially influence speech production in younger and older adults' autobiographical narratives, which have been interpreted as reflecting age differences in emotion regulation. However, age differences in emotional reactivity are another possible explanation, as younger and older adults frequently differ in their affective responses to negative and positive pictures. The present experiment investigated whether a picture's valence (pleasantness) and arousal (intensity) influenced older adults' production of narratives about those pictures. Thirty younger and 30 older participants produced narratives about pictures that varied in valence (positive, negative, and neutral) and arousal (high, low). Narratives were recorded via Zoom, transcribed, and analyzed with Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count-22 to get measures of emotional word use, disfluencies, and linguistic distance. Results showed that negative valence increased age differences in speech production independent of picture arousal: Relative to younger adults, older adults used more positive words, fewer negative words, and had more silent pauses when telling narratives about negative pictures. In contrast, high arousal decreased age differences such that older adults used fewer positive words in narratives about positive pictures and more linguistically distant words evidenced by fewer present-tense verbs, relative to narratives about low-arousal pictures. Contrary to an explanation of enhanced regulation or control over emotions in older adulthood, these findings support the idea that older adults' speech production is influenced by their reactivity or affective response to emotional stimuli even when the task is not to communicate one's emotions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Arousal; Aged; Female; Male; Narration; Emotions; Young Adult; Adult; Middle Aged; Aging; Age Factors; Aged, 80 and over; Speech; Photic Stimulation; Adolescent
PubMed: 38829341
DOI: 10.1037/pag0000808 -
Eating Disorders Jun 2024The Body Project (BP) intervention for body image issues is supported by extensive efficacy and effectiveness research, most of which has been conducted in the United...
The Body Project (BP) intervention for body image issues is supported by extensive efficacy and effectiveness research, most of which has been conducted in the United States. The BP uses cognitive dissonance to help participants critique the ideal appearance through written, verbal, and behavioral exercises. This reduces the internalization of the appearance ideal, which in turn decreases body dissatisfaction symptoms and, in some individuals, the onset of eating disorders. To broadly implement this program in Mexico and Latin America, Comenzar de Nuevo (CdN), a non-profit organization for eating disorder treatment, partnered with the Body Project Collaborative in 2014. Together, they created a training and implementation infrastructure. This paper explores the adaptation of BP and its implementation in Mexico and Latin America. We used sustainable business, marketing, and educational models to fulfill CdN's mission to reduce eating disorder risk factors, including weight stigma, in the Latin American region. By integrating strategies to combat weight stigma within our program delivery, we strive to contribute to a more inclusive and supportive environment. We trained master trainers, regular trainers, and/or group facilitators from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Spain; and implemented the BP in 15 public schools supported by sponsorship programs. This paper provides crucial lessons learned, future directions, and implications for dissemination and implementation efforts in this region of the world.
PubMed: 38828520
DOI: 10.1080/10640266.2024.2360256 -
Journal of Affective Disorders May 2024A more in-depth understanding of the relationship between depressive symptoms, neurocognition and suicidal behavior could provide insights into the prognosis and...
The impact of antidepressant treatment on the network structure of neurocognition and core emotional depressive symptoms among depressed individuals with a history of suicide attempt: An 8-week clinical study.
BACKGROUND
A more in-depth understanding of the relationship between depressive symptoms, neurocognition and suicidal behavior could provide insights into the prognosis and treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) and suicide. We conducted a network analysis among depressed patients examining associations between history of suicide attempt (HSA), core emotional major depression disorder, and key neurocognitive domains.
METHOD
Depressed patients (n = 120) aged 18-65 years were recruited from a larger randomized clinical trial conducted at the Douglas Institute in Montreal, Canada. They were randomly assigned to receive one of two antidepressant treatments (i.e., escitalopram or desvenlafaxine) for 8 weeks. Core emotional MDD and key neurocognitive domains were assessed pre-post treatment.
RESULTS
At baseline, an association between history of suicide attempt (HSA) and phonemic verbal fluency (PVF) suggested that HSA patients reported lower levels of the latter. After 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment, HSA became conditionally independent from PVF. Similar results were found for both the HAM-D and the QIDS-SR core emotional MDD/neurocognitive networks.
CONCLUSION
Network analysis revealed a pre-treatment relationship between a HSA and decreased phonemic VF among depressed patients, which was no longer present after 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment.
PubMed: 38823590
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.05.111 -
Current Biology : CB Jun 2024Turn-taking is a central feature of conversation across languages and cultures. This key social behavior requires numerous sensorimotor and cognitive operations that can...
Turn-taking is a central feature of conversation across languages and cultures. This key social behavior requires numerous sensorimotor and cognitive operations that can be organized into three general phases: comprehension of a partner's turn, preparation of a speaker's own turn, and execution of that turn. Using intracranial electrocorticography, we recently demonstrated that neural activity related to these phases is functionally distinct during turn-taking. In particular, networks active during the perceptual and articulatory stages of turn-taking consisted of structures known to be important for speech-related sensory and motor processing, while putative planning dynamics were most regularly observed in the caudal inferior frontal gyrus (cIFG) and the middle frontal gyrus (cMFG). To test if these structures are necessary for planning during spoken interaction, we used direct electrical stimulation (DES) to transiently perturb cortical function in neurosurgical patient-volunteers performing a question-answer task. We found that stimulating the cIFG and cMFG led to various response errors but not gross articulatory deficits, which instead resulted from DES of structures involved in motor control (e.g., the precentral gyrus). Furthermore, perturbation of the cIFG and cMFG delayed inter-speaker timing-consistent with slowed planning-while faster responses could result from stimulation of sites located in other areas. Taken together, our findings suggest that the cIFG and cMFG contain critical preparatory circuits that are relevant for interactive language use.
Topics: Humans; Male; Adult; Speech; Female; Electric Stimulation; Prefrontal Cortex; Frontal Lobe; Young Adult; Electrocorticography; Middle Aged
PubMed: 38823382
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.080 -
Scientific Reports May 2024Speech is produced by a nonlinear, dynamical Vocal Tract (VT) system, and is transmitted through multiple (air, bone and skin conduction) modes, as captured by the air,...
Speech is produced by a nonlinear, dynamical Vocal Tract (VT) system, and is transmitted through multiple (air, bone and skin conduction) modes, as captured by the air, bone and throat microphones respectively. Speaker specific characteristics that capture this nonlinearity are rarely used as stand-alone features for speaker modeling, and at best have been used in tandem with well known linear spectral features to produce tangible results. This paper proposes Recurrent Plot (RP) embeddings as stand-alone, non-linear speaker-discriminating features. Two datasets, the continuous multimodal TIMIT speech corpus and the consonant-vowel unimodal syllable dataset, are used in this study for conducting closed-set speaker identification experiments. Experiments with unimodal speaker recognition systems show that RP embeddings capture the nonlinear dynamics of the VT system which are unique to every speaker, in all the modes of speech. The Air (A), Bone (B) and Throat (T) microphone systems, trained purely on RP embeddings perform with an accuracy of 95.81%, 98.18% and 99.74%, respectively. Experiments using the joint feature space of combined RP embeddings for bimodal (A-T, A-B, B-T) and trimodal (A-B-T) systems show that the best trimodal system (99.84% accuracy) performs on par with trimodal systems using spectrogram (99.45%) and MFCC (99.98%). The 98.84% performance of the B-T bimodal system shows the efficacy of a speaker recognition system based entirely on alternate (bone and throat) speech, in the absence of the standard (air) speech. The results underscore the significance of the RP embedding, as a nonlinear feature representation of the dynamical VT system that can act independently for speaker recognition. It is envisaged that speech recognition too will benefit from this nonlinear feature.
Topics: Humans; Pharynx; Speech; Nonlinear Dynamics; Male; Female; Speech Acoustics; Bone and Bones; Adult
PubMed: 38822054
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62406-3 -
Journal of Psychiatric Practice May 2024Catatonia is a complex syndrome with unique cognitive, psychomotor, and mood features. Mannerisms and stereotypies are catatonic signs that have been extensively...
Catatonia is a complex syndrome with unique cognitive, psychomotor, and mood features. Mannerisms and stereotypies are catatonic signs that have been extensively observed and described in the literature, mostly in the context of movements or motor acts. Stereotypies are commonly described as repetitive psychomotor or verbal acts with the abnormality not inherent in the act but in its frequency. Mannerisms, like stereotypies, are repetitive psychomotor or verbal acts, but they are fundamentally odd in nature. Recently, several reports have described these phenomena in the context of complex behaviors, such as eating and drinking. Identification and appreciation of personal and cultural norms, in addition to a careful analysis of behavioral processes and actions, are important tools for clinicians to identify these potentially elusive and often missed patterns of behavior in patients with catatonia. We present the case of a 30-year-old male with a psychiatric history of treatment-resistant, recurrent major depressive disorder with psychotic features who presented to the inpatient psychiatric unit with signs of catatonia, including repeated, purposeless eating. The patient's chart was reviewed, and a literature review was conducted using PubMed with the keywords catatonia, stereotypies, mannerisms, and hyperphagia. The patient, who was diagnosed with catatonia and expressed hyperphagia as a stereotypy, responded to lorazepam. This case shows that hyperphagia may present as a stereotypy in patients with catatonia.
Topics: Humans; Catatonia; Male; Hyperphagia; Adult; Stereotyped Behavior; Depressive Disorder, Major; Lorazepam
PubMed: 38819249
DOI: 10.1097/PRA.0000000000000786 -
American Journal of Health Promotion :... May 2024To examine the relative importance of social cognitive predictors (ie, performance accomplishment, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion, affective state) on health...
PURPOSE
To examine the relative importance of social cognitive predictors (ie, performance accomplishment, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion, affective state) on health promotion self-efficacy among older adults during COVID-19.
DESIGN
Cross-sectional.
SETTING
Data collected online from participants in British Columbia (BC), Canada.
SUBJECTS
Seventy-five adults (n = 75) aged ≥65 years.
MEASURES
Health promotion self-efficacy was measured using the Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices Scale. Performance accomplishment was assessed using the health directed behavior subscale of the Health Education Impact Questionnaire; vicarious learning was measured using the positive social interaction subscale of the Medical Outcomes Survey - Social Support Scale (MOS-SSS); verbal persuasion was assessed using the informational support subscale from the MOS-SSS; and affective state was assessed using the depression subscale from the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21).
ANALYSIS
Multiple linear regression was used to investigate the relative importance of each social cognitive predictor on self-efficacy, after controlling for age.
RESULTS
Our analyses revealed statistically significant associations between self-efficacy and performance accomplishment (health-directed behavior; β = .20), verbal persuasion (informational support; β = .41), and affective state (depressive symptoms; β = -.44) at < .05. Vicarious learning (β = -.15) did not significantly predict self-efficacy. The model was statistically significant ( < .001) explaining 43% of the self-efficacy variance.
CONCLUSION
Performance accomplishment experiences, verbal persuasion strategies, and affective states may be the target of interventions to modify health promotion self-efficacy among older adults, in environments that require physical and social distancing.
PubMed: 38816954
DOI: 10.1177/08901171241256703 -
The American Psychologist May 2024Natural language processing (NLP)-previously the domain of a select few language and computer scientists-is undergoing an unprecedented surge in popularity across...
Natural language processing (NLP)-previously the domain of a select few language and computer scientists-is undergoing an unprecedented surge in popularity across disciplines. The ubiquity of language data, alongside extremely rapid methodological innovations, has magnetized the field, attracting researchers with the promise of measuring, forecasting, and understanding the most central questions in business, psychology, biology, sociology, the humanities, and beyond. The power of language analysis to reveal insights into human thought, feeling, and behavior has become a core interest emerging from recent technological advances, which are being probed to unearth deeply embedded truths about the human condition. However, NLP research has reached a critical juncture, sitting at the cusp of societal transformation in many aspects of daily life. The details of how NLP research develops over the next 3-5 years will define this transformation. In this emerging, near-infinite space of NLP-driven research, we provide a critical frame of reference for how, when, and why these technologies should evolve in a particularly transdisciplinary manner. Specifically, we discuss (a) the urgency of pairing existing and emerging NLP research with existing scientific knowledge, theory, and principles from the behavioral sciences; (b) the coevolution of NLP technologies; and (c) the practical implications and ethical consequences of expanding language analysis using broader psychosocial theories of the human condition. While our discussion focuses principally on using language as a window in the this topic holds substantial implications for other disciplines and lines of inquiry, including the dynamics of social interaction and beyond. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
PubMed: 38815063
DOI: 10.1037/amp0001319 -
Frontiers in Public Health 2024The domination of the Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) industry in music markets has led to a significant increase in the number of CCM performers. Performing in a...
BACKGROUND
The domination of the Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) industry in music markets has led to a significant increase in the number of CCM performers. Performing in a wide variety of singing styles involves exposing CCM singers to specific risk factors potentially leading to voice problems. This, in turn, necessitates the consideration of this particular group of voice users in the Occupational Health framework. The aim of the present research was threefold. First, it sought to profile the group of Polish CCM singers. Second, it was designed to explore the prevalence of self-reported voice problems and voice quality in this population, in both speech and singing. Third, it aimed to explore the relationships between voice problems and lifetime singing involvement, occupational voice use, smoking, alcohol consumption, vocal training, and microphone use, as potential voice risk factors.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted in Poland from January 2020 to April 2023. An online survey included socio-demographic information, singing involvement characteristics, and singers' voice self-assessment. The prevalence of voice problems was assessed by the Polish versions of the Vocal Tract Discomfort Scale (VTDS) and the Singing Voice Handicap Index (SVHI). Also, a self-reported dysphonia symptoms protocol was applied. The perceived overall voice quality was assessed by a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) of 100 mm.
RESULTS
412 singers, 310 women and 102 men, completed the survey. Nearly half of the studied population declared lifetime singing experience over 10 years with an average daily singing time of 1 or 2 h. 283 participants received vocal training. For 11.4% of respondents, singing was the primary income source, and 42% defined their career goals as voice-related. The median scores of the VTDS were 11.00 (0-44) and 12.00 (0-40) for the Frequency and Severity subscales, respectively. The median SVHI score of 33 (0-139) was significantly higher than the normative values determined in a systematic review and meta-analysis (2018). Strong positive correlations were observed between SVHI and both VTD subscales: Frequency ( = 0.632, < 0.001) and Severity ( = 0.611, < 0.001). The relationships between most of the other variables studied were weak or negligible.
CONCLUSION
The examined CCM singers exhibited substantial diversity with regard to musical genre preferences, aspirations pertaining to singing endeavors, career affiliations, and source of income. Singing voice assessment revealed a greater degree of voice problems in the examined cohort than so far reported in the literature, based on the SVH and VTDS.
Topics: Humans; Poland; Singing; Male; Female; Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Middle Aged; Music; Voice Quality; Voice Disorders; Self-Assessment; Surveys and Questionnaires; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Young Adult; Speech
PubMed: 38813421
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1256152