1,720,974 research outputs found
The Effects of Self-Compassion on Internalised Weight-Based Stigma
No full textWeight stigma is a painful and distressing phenomenon experienced by many individuals with overweight and obesity around the world. Weight stigma, whether experienced from others, or internalised by individuals with overweight, is associated with a myriad of detrimental physical and mental health outcomes (Latner, Durso, & Mond, 2013; Papadopoulos & Brennan, 2015; Pearl, Puhl, & Dovidio, 2015; Puhl & Brownell, 2001). Given the widespread and negative impact of weight stigma, there is a need for strategies to alleviate the effects of weight stigma and assist individuals to better cope with stigmatising situations (Flint, Raisborough, & Hudson, 2020). Concurrently, there has been an increased interest in the field of self-compassion research, for which there is now compelling evidence highlighting that self-compassion is beneficial for mental health and well-being. Evidence shows that self-compassion is particularly important during times of suffering and distress, and can serve to buffer the effects of stigma for various populations, including marginalised groups (Fredrick, Williams, & LaDuke, 2019). Evidence demonstrating the advantages of self-compassion provides a persuasive rationale to argue that self-compassion has the potential to attenuate the negative effects of weight stigma. However, studies merging the fields of weight stigma and self-compassion research are limited, and the role of self-compassion within the context of weight stigma is an understudied area of investigation. Based on empirical evidence available from both fields, it is argued that self-compassion can serve as a protective factor in the lives of weight stigmatised individuals with overweight. It is further argued that a compassion focused method to alleviate the effects of weight stigma and develop the capacity for self-compassion offers an important empirical contribution to the field of weight stigma research, which has not been offered by the approaches currently available.
This dissertation aimed to firstly present a review of empirical evidence across the fields of weight stigma and self-compassion. Following this, a series of studies aimed to identify and address gaps in the literature. Specifically, the research presented in this dissertation was designed to address three primary aims: 1) to investigate the role of internalised weight stigma and self-compassion in the relationship between weight stigma and outcomes of psychological distress, body shame, loneliness and life satisfaction; 2) develop a compassion-focused group intervention specifically designed to reduce the adverse effects of weight stigma; and 3) conduct a pilot study to examine the acceptability and feasibility of a compassion-focused group intervention for weight stigmatised women with overweight and obesity. This dissertation presents a compendium of three studies conducted to achieve these aims.
Study 1 involved an empirical study that tested the relative contribution of both internalised weight stigma and self-compassion on weight stigma, as mediators in the relationship between weight stigma and outcomes of psychological distress, loneliness, body shame and life satisfaction. Results revealed that internalised weight stigma mediated the relationship between external weight stigma and body shame, while self-compassion mediated the relationship between external weight stigma and psychological distress, loneliness and satisfaction with life. Study 2 provided a detailed account of the development of a 2-day Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) intervention, designed to increase self-compassion, and reduce internalised weight stigma for women with overweight and obesity. Two case studies demonstrated improvements in the expected direction for self-compassion, internalised weight stigma, depression, body shame, loneliness, weight self-efficacy, body dissatisfaction, life satisfaction, as well as weight loss. Study 3 tested the feasibility/acceptability of the 2-day, Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) program for a group of weight stigmatised females with overweight and obesity in Australia. Significant group improvements were found from pre-treatment to post-treatment for self-compassion and internalised weight stigma, with gains maintained at 3-month follow-up. Significant improvements were also found for psychological distress, life satisfaction, eating self-efficacy, body dissatisfaction and loneliness at the post-treatment assessment. A non-significant trend of mean group weight loss from pre-treatment to three-month follow-up was also observed. Credibility ratings of the program were high.
This compendium of research has advanced research knowledge in two main ways. Firstly, the research reported herein is the first to have demonstrated the unique roles of both self-compassion and internalised weight stigma as mechanisms through which experienced weight stigma can affect a range of adverse psychological consequences. Secondly, this dissertation has demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of a 2-day CFT-based group program specifically designed to increase self-compassion and reduce internalised weight stigma for women with overweight and obesity. The current program has merged two important fields of self-compassion and weight stigma research, thus providing evidence for self-compassion as a promising strategy through which to assist individuals to better cope with the painful effects of weight stigma.Thesis (Professional Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology (PhD ClinPsych)School of Applied PsychologyGriffith HealthFull Tex
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Implicit Approach-Avoidance Associations and Leisure-Time Exercise
No full textWhile the benefits of participating in regular leisure-time exercise are well known, many individuals fail to exercise regularly. Contemporary research into exercise motivation has identified automatic cognitive processes, such approach-avoidance biases, as at least partly involved in motivating exercise behaviour. Approach-avoidance biases refer to automatic and implicit dispositions to approach or avoid certain cues in the environment. These biases can be examined by measuring immediate action tendencies to approach or avoid, or by examining implicit approach-avoidance associations stored in long-term memory. Specifically, approach-avoidance associations reflect pre-existing links in memory between a target concept (e.g., exercise) and behavioural tendencies to approach or avoid. To date, existing research has not yet demonstrated a link between implicit approach-avoidance associations with exercise cues and exercise behaviour. Identifying whether participation in leisure-time exercise is associated with the strength of approach-avoidance associations may provide insight into why some individuals are automatically motivated to pursue exercise as a form of leisure and others are not. Therefore, the overarching aim of this thesis was to contribute to current understanding of exercise motivation by investigating the relationship between approach-avoidance memory associations and leisure-time exercise engagement. Study 1 used a Recoding-Free Implicit Association Test (IAT-RF) to examine the relationship between self-reported leisure-time exercise engagement and implicit approach-avoidance memory associations with exercise in a sample of healthy adults (N = 104). Results revealed stronger exercise-approach versus exercise-avoidance memory associations, indicative of an implicit approach bias for exercise cues. In addition, approach bias scores positively correlated with self-reported time spent on leisure-time exercise, and discriminated between individuals who did or did not meet global recommendations of weekly physical activity during their leisure time (i.e., >150 minutes of weekly physical activity). A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that approach bias scores explained unique variance in self-reported exercise behaviour when controlling for explicit exercise intentions and self-determined exercise motivation. The findings provided preliminary evidence that higher amounts of leisure-time exercise were associated with a stronger implicit cognitive bias to approach exercise-related cues in the environment. Study 2 utilised a Single Category Recoding-Free Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT-RF) to measure approach-avoidance associations with exercise cues using a sample of healthy undergraduate students (N = 110). Study 2 also investigated whether exercise habit strength moderated the relationship between approach-avoidance associations and self-reported exercise behaviours, operationalised as time spent on leisure-time exercise during a typical week and as average duration of exercise sessions. Consistent with the findings of Study 1, participants in Study 2 demonstrated an implicit approach bias for exercise-related cues, as measured by the SC-IAT-RF. However, when controlling for explicit exercise intentions, approach bias scores on the SC-IAT-RF were not significantly associated with self-reported exercise behaviour. Moreover, exercise habit strength did not moderate the relationship between approach-avoidance associations and self-reported behaviour. Intentions and habit were both found to independently predict time spent on leisure-time exercise, whereas only intentions significantly predicted average workout duration. While these findings did not support the role of approach-avoidance associations in exercise, they have suggested that intentions and habit may be important factors in predicting leisure-time exercise behaviour. Study 3 (N = 93) measured approach-avoidance associations using both the IAT-RF and the SC-IAT-RF and examined the relationship between approach bias for exercise, self-reported exercise behaviour, and immediate performance on a stationary cycling task. Study 3 also examined whether the relationships between approach bias, exercise intentions, and immediate exercise performance were moderated by situational demands on cognitive capacity. Results revealed that approach bias scores on the IAT-RF and the SC-IAT-RF positively correlated with self-reported time spent on leisure-time exercise. Moderated regression analyses revealed that intentions, but not approach bias, positively predicted objectively measured distance cycled irrespective of demands on cognitive capacity. Further, neither approach bias nor intentions predicted average percentage of maximum heart rate. The findings from Study 3 further supported the relationship between approach-avoidance associations and current levels of leisure-time exercise engagement, but indicated that further research is needed to identify the strength of the relationship between approach-avoidance associations and prospective exercise behaviour. In summary, this thesis has provided an original contribution to knowledge by demonstrating a relationship between self-reported leisure-time exercise behaviour and implicit approach-avoidance memory associations with exercise cues. Broadly, the current results have revealed that individuals who reported engaging in higher amounts of leisure-time exercise displayed a stronger implicit cognitive bias to approach exercise-related cues. These findings offer important theoretical insight into the factors that may influence exercise behaviour and have demonstrated that both controlled and automatic processes are linked to leisure-time exercise participation. Practically, the conclusion of this thesis that automatic processes play an important role in motivating exercise behaviour may be used to inform future public health campaigns. Alternatively, these findings may aid in the development of intervention strategies that aim to increase engagement in exercise and physical activity.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)School of Applied PsychologyGriffith HealthFull Tex
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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