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Biomedical subjects

T V Merluzzi

Publications and source records attributed to T V Merluzzi.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Perceptions of coping behaviors by persons with cancer and health care providers.

We studied perceptions of the importance and difficulty of coping behaviors, from the perspectives of cancer patients (n = 33) and health care providers (i.e. nursing and technical personnel, n = 24). They rated the importance and difficulty of 43 behaviors that correspond to six domains of coping with cancer. Generally, ratings of importance were similar for both patients and providers. However, patients rated the domains of Coping with Treatment Related Side Effects and Seeking Support as less important than staff. Ratings of difficulty were quite divergent. Patients perceived coping as less difficult than the medical staff in the following domains: Maintenance of Activity and Independence, Coping With Treatment-Related Side-Effects, Accepting Cancer/Maintaining Positive Attitude, and Seeking Support. These differences in difficulty ratings between patients and health care providers may reflect distinct perspectives or schemas about coping. That is, patients may hold 'positive illusions' about their coping capacity and, therefore, rate coping as less difficult. Health care providers may overestimate patients' distress and, therefore, underestimate patients' coping capacity. An understanding of these different perspectives may assist medical staff in fostering self-efficacy expectations for coping behaviors.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1997

Assessment of self-efficacy and coping with cancer: development and validation of the cancer behavior inventory.

This article reports the development of a measure of self-efficacy for coping with cancer. Items culled from a variety of sources were chosen for inclusion in the Cancer Behavior Inventory (CBI) based on the psychometric properties of the items and the fit of the items in a factor structure. Factor analysis on a group of 502 persons with cancer yielded 6 factors: (a) Maintenance of Activity and Independence (alpha = .89), (b) Coping With Treatment-Related Side Effects (alpha = .88), (c) Accepting Cancer/Maintaining Positive Attitude (alpha = .87), (d) Seeking and Understanding Medical Information (alpha = .88), (e) Affective Regulation (alpha = .75), and (f) Seeking Support (alpha = .77). Cronbach's alpha for the entire measure was .96, and correlations with other measures supported its validity. The CBI may be useful for research and clinical practice.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Opioid antagonist impedes exposure.

Exposure is a rapid and effective treatment for simple phobias. This study tested the assumption that endorphin release may be involved in exposure to a feared situation. Thirty spider-phobic Ss underwent exposure to 17 phobic-related, graded performance tasks. Half the Ss were randomly assigned to naltrexone, an opioid antagonist, and half to a placebo. Measures of heart rate, blood pressure, self-efficacy, anxiety, and cognitions were obtained during treatment. Six of the 15 Ss in the naltrexone group dropped out after the 10th step in the treatment compared with 1 of the 15 Ss in the placebo group, chi 2(1, N = 30) = 4.7, p = .03. The naltrexone group took significantly longer to complete the first 10 steps (the last step that included all Ss) compared with the placebo group, F(9, 252) = 2.17, p = .024. Maximum heart rate and anxiety were significantly greater at Step 10 in the naltrexone group, but no differences were found for self-efficacy or cognitions. The study provides further evidence that the endogenous opioid system may be involved in the process of exposure.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Effects of performance expectancy and self-focused attention on social interaction.

We investigated the impact of performance expectancies and self-focused attention on social performance in a mixed-sex dyad. A group of 48 undergraduate men with self-reported moderate social anxiety were divided into two groups on the basis of their high or low performance expectancies. Subjects were asked to respond to several self-report questionnaires before and after making a 4-5-min phone call to a female confederate for the purpose of getting acquainted. Half of the subjects in each expectancy group performed in the presence of a self-focusing stimulus (video camera). When anxiety level was controlled for, focus of attention alone had a very limited effect on performance. Expectancy had a significant influence on social performance, but only if subjects were self-focused. Thus confident subjects were rated by judges as more socially skilled than were doubtful subjects, but only when the camera was present. The interaction between these variables parallels previous research and supports the self-regulation model of Carver and Scheier.

Attention↗
PubMed1981

Client perceptions in an initial interview as a function of therapist sex and expertness.

Therapy has been construed as a interpersonal influence process (Johnson & Matross, 1977; Strong, 1978). Consistent with that framework the present study investigated the effects of therapist sex and level of expertness on the perceptions of Ss in an initial interview. Male and female interviewers who were introduced as expert or nonexpert met individually for a 15-minute period of time with 60 male undergraduates. The Ss then rated the interviewers on perceived expertness, attractiveness, trustworthiness, persuasiveness, and their liking for the interviewer. Results indicated that male experts were rated lower in social attractiveness; however, introductions did not affect either perceived expertness or trustworthiness. The results suggest that reasonably competent therapist behavior may result in neutralizing sources of differential expertness. However, the degree of expertness may be used as a source of differential social or interpersonal attraction.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Androgyny, Stereotypy and the perception of female therapists.

Assessed the effects of female therapists' experience (expert or nonexpert) and disclosure level (high or low) and Ss' sex role orientation (stereotyped or androgynous) on perceived expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness. Forty-six sex role stereotyped and 46 androgynous Ss rated therapists after they had read three brief transcripts of therapist-client interactions. Results indicated that experts were seen as more expert and more trustworthy, and high disclosing therapists were seen as more attractive. Moreover, a three-way interaction indicated that trustworthiness ratings of expert females were similar for stereotyped and androgynous Ss. However, nonexperts were rated differently by stereotyped Ss as a function f therapist disclosure level, whereas, androgynous Ss' ratings of nonexperts did not differ from their ratings of experts. The differential ratings as a function of sex role orientation were discussed, and future research directions were suggested.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Self-efficacy for coping with cancer: revision of the Cancer Behavior Inventory (version 2.0).

The Cancer Behavior Inventory (CBI), a measure of self-efficacy for coping with cancer, was revised by adding a new stress management scale and reducing its length from 43 to 33 items. The 33-item CBI was administered to 280 cancer patients. A principal factors analysis with varimax rotation yielded the hypothesized seven factors (alphas in parentheses): (1) maintenance of activity and independence (alpha=0.86), (2) seeking and understanding medical information (alpha=0.88), (3) stress management (alpha=0.86), (4) coping with treatment-related side-effects (alpha=0.82), (5) accepting cancer/maintaining positive attitude (alpha=0.86), (6) affective regulation (alpha=0.81), and (7) seeking support (alpha=0.80). The alpha for the entire CBI was 0.94, the test-retest (1 week) reliability coefficient was 0.74, and correlations with measures of quality of life and coping supported its validity. The CBI may be useful to researchers and clinicians and can be integrated into a self-regulation model of coping.

Adaptation, Psychological↗