Suchergebnisse

Purpose: A new 1-day intervention grounded on the inter-group contact theory was developed and implemented to reduce college students' stigma toward people with schizophrenia (PWS). We hypothesized that the stigmatizing situation could be alleviated by different levels of contact. Method: A pilot trial was conducted in Hong Kong with 41 college students participating in the intervention. Participants' perception, stigmatizing attitudes, and social distance toward PWS were measured pre-, post, and 1-month after the intervention. Results: Significant changes were found in all outcome variables with moderate to high effect sizes. Knowledge session without direct contact contributed most to participants' knowledge improvement, and higher levels of contact led to an obvious improvement in stigmatizing attitudes and social distance changes. Discussion:The current study provided evidence supporting the efficacy of the new intervention based on inter-group contact theory and practical experience for future stigma research.

Collective psychological ownership (CPO) refers to the sense shared by group mates that they jointly own their organization. CPO is an important emerging concept but its operationalization is still at an early stage. The study aimed to develop and evaluate the CPO scale among social service workers. The item pool together with a battery of validation scales formed the basis for an Internet-based survey. Through convenience and snowball sampling strategies, social service workers in Guangdong Province, China were invited to take part in the survey, resulting in 444 completed questionnaires. Bi-factor analyses were conducted. Both exploratory and confirmatory analyses of bi-factor analyses supported the one-general-two-specific structure of CPO. Internal consistency, assessed by Cronbach's alpha, was satisfactory for the bi-factor structure. Convergent and divergent validity were supported by the correlations with validation scales in the expected directions. The general factor was named shared possessiveness, and the two specific factors were shared decision-making and shared hardship endurance. With good preliminary psychometric properties, the newly developed CPO scale will trigger a series of studies related to workplace behaviors and well-being.

Objective:To evaluate the effects of compassion–mindfulness therapy (C-MT), an adapted version of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy that integrates compassion training.Method:Individuals aged 17–69 with recurrent depressive and anxiety symptoms were recruited from a community mental health service unit. Half of the participants were randomized to an 8-week C-MT program ( n = 41) and the other half to a wait-list control condition ( n = 41).Results:Intent-to-treat analyses showed significant improvements in all measures in the treatment group. The effect sizes for depression and anxiety were 1.11 and 1.10, respectively, and those for physical distress, daily functioning, positive affect, and negative affect ranged from 0.71 to 1.04. All improvements were sustained at the 3-month follow-up.Conclusions:The results provide preliminary support for C-MT as a viable treatment option for individuals with recurrent depression and anxiety symptoms. Time-limited treatments such as C-MT should be promoted in social work practice.

Abstract
This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a guided online mindfulness-based intervention (iMBI) for community residents experiencing emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. In a randomized controlled trial, 64 participants were recruited from collaborating community-based mental health service units in Hong Kong and assigned to either the treatment (n = 32) or control (n = 32) groups. The treatment group received a guided iMBI consisting of 16 online modules, weekly telephone counseling, and two half-day online workshops on mindfulness practice. In contrast, the waitlist control group did not receive any intervention during the initial stage. Using a 2 (two groups) × time (pre versus post) repeated measures linear mixed model and one-way analysis of variance, authors demonstrated that the treatment group experienced a significantly larger reduction in anxiety and depressive symptoms with a large effect size compared with the control group. Additionally, the treatment group showed a significantly greater improvement in mindfulness with a moderate effect size. The findings support the effectiveness of guided iMBI for community residents experiencing emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.