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Interest in the potential for positive adjustment following trauma has prompted consideration of its clinical utility in working with people who have been traumatized. However, very little empirical research has addressed the issue of how the experience of positive changes may impact on chronic psychological distress. The present study examined the longitudinal associations of psychological distress (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, depression, and anxiety) and positive changes over a 6-month interval in 40 people who had been severely traumatized. Analyses indicated that the experience of positive changes predicted lower levels of PTSD symptoms, depression, and anxiety, over the 6-month interval. The discussion suggests directions for further research and potential implications of the findings for clinical work with traumatized people.Following trauma, people may suffer from a range of psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress

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Homicidal bereavement puts survivors at risk of developing a broad range of lasting and severe mental health problems. Previous research has often relied on relatively small and homogenous samples. Still, little is known about what factors influence the expression of symptoms following homicidal bereavement. Preventive and curative treatments often do not consider the complex coherence between the emotional, judicial, financial, and societal challenges that likely arise following a homicide. Despite the severity of its consequences on mental health, no gold standard for the preventative and curative treatment of mental health issues in homicide survivors exists. We aimed to introduce a time-limited, traumatic grief-focused outreaching model of care designed specifically for homicide survivors, and to examine its potential effectiveness. Furthermore, we aimed to investigate what factors influence the severity of mental health problems and response to treatment. In the current study, self-reported data on five different outcome measures, namely, symptoms of posttraumatic stress, prolonged grief, depression, anxiety, and functional impairment were available from 929 homicidally bereaved treatment receiving adults. We used Latent Growth Modeling to analyze our repeated measures data and to classify individuals into distinct groups based on individual response patterns. Results showed that the current model of care is likely to be effective in reducing mental health complaints following homicidal bereavement. Having a history of mental illness, being younger of age and female, and having lost either a child or spouse consistently predicted greater symptom severity and functional impairment at baseline. For change in symptom severity and functional impairment during treatment, having a history of mental illness was the only consistent predictor across all outcomes. This study was limited by its reliance on self-reported data and cross-sectional design without a control group. Future prospective, longitudinal research across different cultures is needed in order to

The researchers observed nurse-resident interactions in learning disability units in Hong Kong and interviewed a purposeful sample of nurses who had varying levels of interaction. The median interaction rate between nurses and residents was 27.5% with most interactions relating to physical care. When not interacting with residents, nurses performed administrative tasks. Factors that influenced nurses' interactions revolve around their orientation to a new clinical setting, stresses in the care setting and nurses' coping strategies, contextual constraints, and nurses' prioritization of care. Support for Goffman's self-mortification principle, Foucault's notion of the clinical gaze and infantilism theory were evident in the practice of the nurses studied.