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This article describes a 6-item scale, the Life Engagement Test, designed to measure purpose in life, defined in terms of the extent to which a person engages in activities that are personally valued. Psychometric data are presented including information about the scale's factor structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, discriminant predictive validity, and norms. The data suggest that the Life Engagement Test is psychometrically sound across different gender, age, and ethnic groups and is appropriate for wider use. Discussion centers on the use of the Life Engagement Test in behavioral medicine and health psychology research and recent associations that have begun to emerge between the scale and health-relevant outcomes.

Background Evidence continues to build for the impact of the marital relationship on health as well as the negative impact of illness on the partner. Targeting both patient and partner may enhance the efficacy of psychosocial or behavioral interventions for chronic illness. Purpose The purpose of this report is to present a cross-disease review of the characteristics and findings of studies evaluating couple-oriented interventions for chronic physical illness. Methods We conducted a qualitative review of 33 studies and meta-analyses for a subset of 25 studies. Results Identified studies focused on cancer, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, HIV, and Type 2 diabetes. Couple interventions had significant effects on patient depressive symptoms (d=0.18, p<0.01, k=20), marital functioning (d=0.17, p<0.01, k=18), and pain (d=0.19, p<0.01, k=14) and were more efficacious than either patient psychosocial intervention or usual care. Conclusions Couple-oriented interventions have small effects that may be strengthened by targeting partners’ influence on patient health behaviors and focusing on couples with high illness-related conflict, low partner support, or low overall marital quality. Directions for future research include assessment of outcomes for both patient and partner, comparison of couple interventions to evidence-based patient interventions, and evaluation of mechanisms of change.

Background: Studies of the association between depressive symptoms and mortality in elderly populations have yielded contradictory findings. To address these discrepancies, we test this association using the most extensive array of sociodemographic and physical health control variables ever studied, to our knowledge, in a large population-based sample of elderly individuals.