Quality of life

One modality to improve quality of life, in Breast Cancer Survivors (BCS), is physical activity (PA). Less than 30% of BCS participate in PA. The purpose of this study is to explore BCS’s intention to exercise. Seventy-five BCS patients, undergoing treatment, completed a survey. The survey assessed the following: Health care practitioner influence, Demographics, Stages of Change (SOC), anxiety and depression, perceived barriers to exercise, past and current exercise, and the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). BCS who were older, had less education, did not exercise before diagnosis, were in the pre-contemplation and contemplation stages, and/or exhibited a low Perceived Behavioral Control had a lower intention to exercise. Incorporating the findings from this research into an intervention may assist with increasing intention to exercise among BCS.

This project examines the explanatory style of Colombians, the habitual way in
which they explain the good and bad events that occur in their lives, and its relationship
to life satisfaction. Two hundred and twenty Colombians completed a life satisfaction
question, the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), and demographic questions.
Simple means, correlations, and a multiple regression analysis were used to assess the
results. The results of the ASQ were also compared to two previously conducted studies:
a comparison of American and Chinese national levels of explanatory style and a study
conducted on a non-clinical sample of American adults. The results of this study showed
that the mean of Colombian overall explanatory style is more optimistic than the mean
overall explanatory style for participants in both the United States and mainland China.
There are no correlations between individual responses of life satisfaction and
explanatory style for the full sample; however, national means for explanatory style seem
to correlate with national means of life satisfaction. The multiple regression analysis showed that when taking explanatory style, gender, age, stratum, income, education,
occupation, and city into account, the only factors that are statistically significant are
occupation and city. More specifically, the results show that those Colombians who Jive
in Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, and Medillfn will tend to have higher levels of life
satisfaction than those who live in Bogota, and those who are unemployed will tend to
have a lower level of life satisfaction than those who work.

Mindfulness – nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment - has recently garnered significant attention in psychological literature for decreasing clinical symptoms. Certain personality traits such as emotionality, however, can predict higher levels of anxiety and depression. The present study examines whether mindfulness mediates the relationship between personality traits and perceived stress and depression in nonclinical populations. A total of 321 participants from two samples—American and Japanese undergraduates —self-reported scores on measures of mindfulness, personality, perceived stress and depression. Cross-cultural comparisons following measurement invariance tests also allow for insight into the definition of mindfulness, especially given the Eastern religion origin of mindfulness. Results demonstrate that mindfulness partially mediates the relationships between personality clinical symptoms, particularly for extraversion and conscientiousness. These results can play an important role for developing mindfulness-based treatment and prevention programs and bridge an important gap between Western conceived and Eastern religion mindfulness.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive, degenerative disorder that attacks the
brain's nerve cells, or neurons, resulting in loss of memory, thinking and language skills,
and results in behavioral changes and lack of communication. Family members and
caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease can assume added responsibilities and
stress due to the progressive and degenerative component of this disability and places an added strain on the family system. This study was designed to examine predictors of
quality of life of persons living with AD and to examine caregiver burden and predictors
of quality of life of persons living with AD. This study hopes to empower the caregivers
and test the resiliency model of family stress, sense of coherence and social support while incorporating individual patient and family needs by surveying caregivers involved with working with patients with AD. Specific aims of the study include validating
relationships of the resiliency model while determining the importance of family
resiliency, the sense of coherence, social support and the role of psychosocial
interventions specifically Validation Communication Intervention (VCI), to reduce
caregiver burden and to predict the quality of life in persons with Alzheimer’s disease.

This study was a secondary analysis of data collected by Freeman, E., Ruppenthal, B., and Flinders, R. entitled "Meditation on a Passage and Repetition of a Mantram to Enhance Self-Care of Persons with HIV Infection" (1992). Selected data were re-analyzed in light of the Self-Care Deficit Theory (Orem, 1995). Self-care consisted of daily repetition of an inspirational passage and mantram, which served as the interventions for the primary study. The primary researchers noted that ASCAS scores rose significantly after the intervention. Thus, secondary analysis focused on the relationships of the basic conditioning factors (BCFs) to the total scores on the Adult Self-Care Agency Scale (ASCAS) before and after the self-care intervention. Secondary analysis revealed that diet alone, from among the BCFs, differentiated the sample of HIV-infected or family members of infected persons according to ASCAS scores at study entry and exit.

I create opportunities for nourishment that are physical, emotional and spiritual with my functional porcelain vessels. They reference the human body's sensual curves, dimples, and bulges, establishing the experience of eating as a metaphor for the sensual experience of human interaction. The tactility is heightened by the variety of glazes dancing around the vessels, from satiny smooth and skin-like, to wet and dripping. Handmade vessels connect the users not only more deeply to the food that provides them nourishment, but also connects them more deeply to one another, and to the maker of the work. The slow, deliberate work of making one-of-a-kind objects is similar to the act of carefully preparing a homemade meal, and in turn, dedicating time to the ritual of sitting down together to enjoy that meal. Whether I'm working in my studio creating vessels, or in my kitchen creating a meal, I derive the same experience of spiritual wellbeing. In these moments I am completely present and mindful.