Suicide is a significant public health issue in the US. Despite national and international prioritization since 1996, little definitive progress has been made in terms of identification and intervention in cases of elevated suicide risk. Forty percent of those who died by suicide attended an emergency department within a year of death. Therefore, universal suicide risk screening in emergency departments could prove a vital component to a national suicide prevention strategy. The present study empirically evaluated the universal suicide risk screening program recently implemented at Parkland Health and Hospital System. The sample consisted of patients over 18 years of age (N=333,855; Mage=42.7, 32% male) screened as part of routine clinical care from May 4th, 2015, through November 3rd, 2015. The Parkland Algorithm for Suicide Screening (PASS) is part of a clinical decision support system for responses to Columbia - Suicide Severity Rating Scale Clinical Practice Screener (C-SSRS) items, leading to an automated clinical response via three suicide risk stratification levels: no action for no risk identified, psychiatric social worker assessment for moderate risk identified, and psychiatrist/psychologist interview for high risk identified. The present study used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, which found the PASS predicted disposition (z=30.46, p<.001, AUC=.78, …

Mexican Americans face a significant health disparity related to the development of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) when compared to other ethnic groups. Recent work has documented the utility of utilizing blood-based biomarkers in the detection of amnestic MCI among this population. Efforts to enhance the utility of biomarkers in detecting disease through the inclusion of select neuropsychological measures, an approach termed Molecular Neuropsychology, has shown promise. The present study sought to utilize the molecular neuropsychology approach and examine biobanked serum samples as well as neuropsychological assessments from the Health and Aging Brain among Latino Elders (HABLE) study. Random Forest analyses were conducted to determine the proteomic profile of MCI. Then separate linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the variance accounted for by the biomarkers within the select neuropsychological measures. Trail Making Test Part B was identified as having the least amount of variance and was combined with top five biomarkers within the MCI proteomic profile to create a biomarker-cognitive profile for detecting disease presence. This same method was applied to the amnestic and non-amnestic forms of MCI. The overall biomarker-cognitive profile was shown to be 90% accurate in the detection of MCI, with no significant increase when demographic variables …

Gender microaggressions are normative messages that communicate harmful stereotypes or attitudes towards women. Research suggests that being the target of microaggresions may contribute to negative mental and physical health outcomes. The current study examined how gender microaggressions affect emotional and physiological reactivity as well as performance on a working memory task. Results indicated condition (i.e., control vs. sexual objectification microaggression vs. denial of sexism microaggression) did not have a significant affect on reactivity or performance. Issues of population bias and essentialism may have played an important role in study findings. Future directions are discussed.

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is one of the most prevalent and disabling health conditions in the US and worldwide. Biomedical explanations of acute injury fail to account for why some individuals experience remission of pain and restoration of physical function while others do not. Pain-related fear, accompanied by elevated appraisals of physical exertion and avoidance of physical activity, has emerged as a central psychosocial risk factor for transition from acute injury to chronic pain and disability. Research has indicated that these pain-related factors may be maintained through observational learning mechanisms. To date, no studies have experimentally examined the role of observational learning and pain-related fear in the context of actual musculoskeletal injury. Accordingly, the present study examined the impact of observational learning and pain-related fear on activity appraisals and exertion following experimentally- induced acute low back injury. Healthy participants' appraisal of standardized movement tasks along with measures of physical exertion were collected prior to and following a procedure designed to induce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) to the lower back. Following induction of DOMS, participants observed a video prime depicting CLBP patients exhibiting either high or low pain behavior during similar standardized movements. In line with hypothesized effects, participants …

Research has begun to explore the presence and role of health-related injustice perceptions in samples of individuals who experience chronic pain associated with traumatic injury. Existing studies indicate that higher level of injustice perception is associated with poorer physical and psychosocial outcomes. However, to date, few clinical populations have been addressed. The aim of the current study was to explore injustice perceptions in a sample of individuals who have sustained a spinal cord injury (SCI), as research suggests that such individuals are likely to experience cognitive elements characteristic of injustice perception (e.g., perceptions of irreparable loss, blame, and unfairness). The study explored the relationship between participants’ level of perceived injustice and several variables associated with outcomes following SCI (depression, pain, and disability) at initial admission to a rehabilitation unit and at three months following discharge. The Injustice Experience Questionnaire was used to measure injustice perceptions. IEQ was found to significantly contribute to depression and anger at baseline. IEQ significantly contributed to depression, present pain intensity, and anger at follow-up. The implication of these preliminary findings may be beneficial for development of future interventions, as many individuals in the United States experience the lifelong physical and psychological consequences of SCI at …

New mothers often complain of impaired cognitive functioning, and it is well documented that women experience a significant increase in sleep disturbance after the birth of a child. Sleep disturbance has been linked to impaired cognitive performance in several populations, including commercial truck drivers, airline pilots, and medical residents, though this relationship has rarely been studied in postpartum women. In the present study 13 pregnant women and a group of 22 non-pregnant controls completed one week of actigraphy followed by a battery of neuropsychological tests and questionnaires in the last month of pregnancy (Time 1) and again at four weeks postpartum (Time 2). Pregnant women experienced significantly more objective and subjective sleep disturbance than the control group at both time points. They also demonstrated more impairment in objective, but not subjective cognitive functioning. Preliminary analyses indicated increased objective sleep fragmentation from Time 1 to Time 2 predicted decreased objective cognitive performance from Time 1 to Time 2, though small sample size limited the power of these findings. Implications for perinatal women and need for future research were discussed.

The nightmare prevalence literature to date has largely focused on nightmare episode severity (i.e. frequency), with 8%-87% of individuals reporting these events in the past week to year. While this has helped to determine the prevalence of these events, focus on the episode severity alone is problematic because it means little is known about the actual prevalence of nightmare disorder. Moreover, focus on episode severity likely overestimates the actual prevalence of clinically significant nightmares while also obscuring clinically significant consequences of the disorder. Understanding the prevalence of nightmare disorder can help guide treatment planning and interventions. The present study recruited UNT undergraduates (N = 372; 351 analyzed) and managed all participant data using Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap). The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of nightmare disorder, as stated in the DSM-5, to facilitate accurate characterization of the disorder. Additionally, as part of the secondary aim the influence of gender on nightmare disorder status and psychological wellbeing as measured by psychological and sleep outcome variables was examined. Finally, comparisons of individuals with DSM-5-defined nightmare disorder to those without the disorder were conducted on previously examined correlates (e.g., trauma symptoms, depression).

Although the negative impact of HIV stigma is well documented, a gap exists in exploration of constructs that mediate the relationship between HIV stigma and psychological QOL (PQOL). Self-esteem is often conceptualized as a protective factor. We used PLS-SEM to explore the relationships between HIV stigma, PQOL and self-esteem, where PQOL and self-esteem are latent constructs represented by direct observations. Our hypotheses were supported - stigma is negatively related to self-esteem (as measured by self-blame, forgiveness of self, acceptance without judgment and self-esteem), self-esteem is positively related to PQOL (as measured by depression, mental health, QOL and perceived stress) and when the two aforementioned relationships are controlled for, a previously significant relation between stigma and PQOL changes its value significantly. These findings have implications for interventions designed to mitigate the negative psychosocial effects of stigma in PLH.

This study examined racial/ethnic differences in pre-clinical disease, social support, and tested whether social support was a moderator of racial/ethnic differences in subclinical atherosclerosis. Participants were NHWs, NHBs, and Latinos (n = 283) from the baseline and cross-sectional sample of the North Texas Heart Study. Results from unadjusted models showed no significant racial/ethnic differences for common or bifurcation intima-media thickness (cIMT). However, unadjusted models for cIMT showed a main effect for race/ethnicity F(2, 229) = 3.12, p = .046, partial η2 = .027, with Latinos demonstrating significantly greater internal cIMT compared to NHB but not NHWs. In minimally adjusted models, there was a main effect for race/ethnicity, F(2, 227) = 3.10, p = .047, partial η2 = .027, with significantly greater internal cIMT in Latinos compared to NHBs but not NHWs. In fully adjusted models, racial/ethnic differences in cIMT were attenuated. Contrary to study hypotheses, no racial/ethnic differences in social support were found and social support was not a moderator of racial/ethnic differences in subclinical disease. In the North Texas Heart Study, few racial/ethnic differences emerged, with fully adjusted risk factor models accounting for these differences.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) in sexual and gender minority relationships is an underexplored and misunderstood phenomenon. Much of what has been investigated has explored IPV from a heterosexual lens, without taking into account the complexities of these relationship dynamics. Further, outcomes of IPV traditionally focus on negative sequelae, such as depression or anxiety. In this study, we examined the propensity to forgive partner abuse as a means of adaptively coping with the trauma. Further, we looked at resilience as a possible factor in the process of forgiveness. We hypothesized that psychological resilience significantly moderates the forgiveness process in sexual and gender minorities who have experienced IPV. Our sample of 77 gender- and sexual-minority participants completed measures of psychological and physical IPV, resilience, and forgiveness. A regression analysis found our model accounted for 36% of the variance in forgiveness of self (adj. R2=.36, F (4, 72) = 10.34, p < .01) and 20% of forgiveness of others (adj. R2=.20, F (4, 72) = 5.01, p < .01). However, there was no significant moderating effect, nor was IPV a significant contributor to forgiveness. Results suggest trauma does not influence one’s likelihood to forgive, though some personal trait, such as resilience, is more …

Currently, the etiology of obesity is conceptualized as a confluence of environmental, socioeconomic, behavioral, biological and genetic factors. With regard to behavioral factors, some have suggested that a failure of self-control may contribute to the difficulty of an overweight/obese individual because of their inability to resist food or maintain physical activity. Recent research proposed that self-control could be described as similar to a muscle that can be fatigued. Thus, if an individual engages in a self-control task they have lessened ability to utilize self-control on a subsequent task. Theory also suggests self-control may be fueled by a finite resource, identified as blood glucose. The role blood glucose plays is important to understand, especially in overweight and obese populations, as they may be more likely to be insulin resistant. In effect overweight and obese individuals are less likely to adequately process glucose. Therefore overweight/obese individuals might react to self-control tasks differently than normal weight individuals. Participants who were considered normal weight, overweight, and obese were recruited from the UNT research pool. They answered questions about their trait self-control in daily life and engaged in either a task that required them to exert self-control (e.g., resist crossing out a letter unless criteria …

Early adolescence (e.g., 10-14 years old) is a time during which health habits and behaviors first develop that carry over into adulthood. This age range is also a time when changes are often first observed in typical sleep patterns, such as a delay in bedtimes, decreased total sleep times, and increased sleep problems. Electronic media and social networking have become essential to adolescent interpersonal communication and are negatively associated with adolescent sleep. Room and/or bed sharing practices and having a parent-set bedtime are still common in this age range, though no study has examined the relationship between these culturally influenced practices and the sleep of racially/ethnically diverse early adolescents. The current study examined if differences exist between 1272 Caucasian, Hispanic/Latino, and African American early adolescents (ages 10-14 years) on self-reported bedtime, SOL, TST, and sleep efficiency, and whether these differences persist when taking into account presence of electronic media in the bedroom (i.e., TV, videogame console, computer, cellphone), media use at bedtime (i.e., watching TV, playing video/computer games, social networking, texting), room sharing, and parent-set bedtimes. Preliminary results showed that females reported worse sleep than males (i.e., longer sleep onset latency, shorter TST, and lower sleep efficiency, with a trend …

HIV is a potentially fatal virus that affects over 1,148,200 people in the United States. Due to the minority status that comes with living with HIV, PLH (people living with HIV) often encounter various aspects of stigma due to HIV, which contributes to suppressed overall psychological quality of life (PQOL).While the relationship between stigma and PQOL in PLH is well documented, little research examines mediators of this relationship. We hypothesized that spirituality (as measured by sense of peace, forgiveness of self and perceived fulfillment of life's goal) mediates the relationship between stigma and PQOL (as measured by depression, mental health and stress). We used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design which utilizes two distinct phases of the research process: quantitative (QUANT) analysis followed by qualitative (QUAL) analysis. Results of the QUANT phase suggest spirituality is a partial mediator in the relationship between stigma and PQOL in PLH. In the QUAL phase, we interviewed 15 PLH to elaborate on the relationships between the three constructs. We found PLH endorsed personalized stigma most frequently. Similarly, our results also indicate PLH experience stress, depression and anxiety as a result of their HIV status. Lastly, participant's interviewed most commonly described their spiritual beliefs as …

To date, traditional behavioral interventions have done little to reduce the prevalence and transmission of HIV among African American men who have sex with men (AAMSM), a highly at risk group. Some researchers theorize that the lack of success may be because these interventions do not address contextual factors among AAMSM. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is one approach to research with the potential to lead to effective interventions in the future. CBPR is a collaborative, mixed-methods and multidisciplinary, approach to scientific inquiry, which is conducted with, and within, the community. The current study follows the CBPR approach to engage and develop a relationship with the African American communities in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Contextual issues were discussed in order to identify emerging themes regarding HIV health related issues among AAMSM to provide the groundwork for continued CBPR research and future interventions with AAMSM in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. To accomplish this goal, researchers began the CBPR process by conducting interviews and focus groups with a sample of approximately 62 (34 from key informant interviews, 28 from focus groups [gender balanced]) AIDS service organization leaders and workers, advocates, medical doctors and community members with first-hand knowledge of HIV health issues in …

Since its emergence in the U.S., HIV has been a stigmatized illness. People living with HIV (PLH) are a minority and prone to psychological distress and poor mental health outcomes due to HIV-related stigma. PLH who identify with another minority group in addition to being HIV-positive (e.g., gay, African-American) experience multiple forms of oppression or layered stigma. Affirmative social support and resilience are negatively associated with HIV-stigma and are important coping resources for PLH. We used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design study involving a quantitative survey phase and a qualitative interview phase. We explored whether social support and resilience (Positive Psychological Resources) mediate or moderate the relationship between HIV Stigma and Psychological Distress among HIV-positive adults using partial least squares (PLS) path modeling and multiple regressions. Via PLS, we found Positive Psychological Resources partially mediated the relationship between HIV Stigma and Psychological Distress: the path between HIV Stigma and Psychological distress reduced (from t = 5.49, p = .000 to t = 2.39, p = .000) but remained statistically significant. Similarly, via regression, the Sobel test was significant (Sobel = .26, SE = .07, z = 3.63, p = .000). However, moderation was not found (HIV Stigma x Positive …