Background: In the past decades, there was a worldwide increase in people playing video games. Researchers have started to conduct studies and identified positive and negative associations with video gaming. Comparable studies have been done.   Aim: The aim is to analyse, if there is an association between the average hours an adult participant has played computer games per day and depression or social phobia.   Methods: Data from 4,936 adults who voluntarily participated in an online survey which was posted in the forum ‘www.reddit.com’ has been analysed. The survey included two verified Scales (CES-D and SPIN). Multiple linear regression was applied to test for significance respectively for each sex and after adjusting for other variables.   Results: More than 56% of the participants were above the suggested cut-off scores of the CES-D Scale and more than 44% of the SPIN Scale. Positive associations were found between ‘Computer Gaming Hours’ and the outcomes ‘Depression’ and ‘Social Phobia’ in the total population. After stratifying for gender, no associations were found in all groups in the variable ‘Gender’ towards the outcome ‘Depression’. However, a positive association was found towards the outcome ‘Social Phobia’ for ‘males’ and ‘females’.   Conclusions: The findings are not generalizable. Researcher need to investigate the differences between the results of this study compared to other studies, as well as the high prevalence of depression and social phobia among the participants. Additionally, more studies need to investigate, if having a depression or social phobia can lead to increased video gaming hours.

The present study was based on a state-wide survey of ethnic minorities attitudes toward AIDS in the state of Arizona. The purpose of the study was to test a model for the relationship between level of acculturation and perception of risk for AIDS among Mexican Americans. The data was derived from a questionnaire on knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about AIDS completed by 600 Mexican Americans in rural and urban counties in the state of Arizona. Results indicate that education rather than acculturation is a stronger predictor of perception of risk. However, the strongest predictors of Fatalistic Views about AIDS and perceived Severity of AIDS were Negative Attitudes Toward Risk Groups and Knowledge about AIDS respectively. Respondents seemed to be antagonistic toward risk group who are perceived to transmit a deadly virus which is highly contagious via behaviors that are socially and morally objectionable. It is recommended that AIDS prevention campaigns emphasize accuracy of information about AIDS disease characteristics, in addition to accurate information about groups at risk for AIDS, in order to dispell misconceptions and fears that hinder the effective prevention of AIDS.

Bakgrund: Stickrädsla är ett vanligt problem hos barn och vuxna, vilket innebär ett lidande för dessa patienter. Rädslan och oron gör att vissa patienter även utvecklar en fobi. Sjukvården är ofta förknippad med provtagningar som innebär nålstick. Då vissa patienter är så rädda för nålar medför det att vård inte söks eller uteblir, fast vissa patienter vore i behov av vård. Det kan även gå så långt att kvinnor undviker att skaffa barn. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att genom litteraturstudier belysa stickrädsla och undersöka vad sjuksköterskan kan göra för att lindra lidandet hos stickrädda patienter såväl barn som vuxna. Design/ Teoretisk Referensram: Beskrivande litteraturstudie valdes som metod för denna studie, granskning skedde av 13 artiklar vilka presenteras i resultatet. Katie Erikssons teori om lidande användes som teoretisk referensram. Resultatet: I resultatet visas hur lidandet kan lindras av sjuksköterskans förhållningssätt genom: bemötande, stöd, delaktighet, miljö, farmakologiska metoder, icke farmakologiska metoder och reaktioner hos barn och vuxna. I de olika kategorierna framkommer vad som kan lindra rädslan respektive vad som bidrar till en ökad rädsla för dessa patienter. Exponering för nålar kan bidra till både en ökad rädsla. Design på den medicinsk tekniska utrustningen kan bidra till en minskad rädsla. Det gäller att se den unika patienten och vad som lindrar dennes rädsla. Slutsats: Stickrädsla innebär för många patienter ett stort lidande. Sjuksköterskor bör uppmärksamma detta lidande och lindra det genom att vidta omvårdnadsåtgärder. / Background: Needle Fear is a problem in children and adults so painful for these patients. Fear and anxiety cause some patients also to develop a phobia. While some patients are so afraid of needles it implies that care is not appealed or absent, although some patients were in need of treatment, although it may go so far that women avoid having children. Aim: The purpose of this study is, by studying literature, to highlight needle fear and examine what the nurse can do to alleviate the suffering of the needle fear patients both children and adults. Design/ Theoretical Frame of reference: Descriptive design was chosen as the method of this study, examination was done of 13 articles which are presented in the results. Katie Erikssons theory and her view of the suffering were used as a theoretical frame work. Result: The result shows how suffering can be alleviated by the nurses´ attitudes: attitude, support, participation, environment, non- pharmacological approaches, pharmacological methods and reactions in children and adults. In each category is found as can alleviate fear and in contributing to an increased fear of these patients. Exposure to needles can contribute to both an increased fear. Design of the medical technical equipment can help to reduce any fear. You have to see the unique patient and what relieves his fear. Conclusion: Needle Fear means for many patients a great deal of suffering. Nurses should pay attention to alleviate this suffering and by providing care and empathy for the patients.

Bakgrund: Stickrädsla förekommer i alla åldrar och uppskattningsvis lider minst 10 procent av befolkningen av det. För individen kan stickrädsla innebära stort obehag som kan leda till att en stickrädd person undviker hälso- och sjukvården och därmed riskerar att drabbas av ohälsa. Behoven hos en stickrädd person kan förbises inom hälso- och sjukvården på grund av bristande resurser och kompetens vilket kan leda till lidande. Syfte: Att belysa omvårdnadsåtgärder för vuxna personer med stickrädsla. Metod: En allmän litteraturstudie utfördes med en systematisk litteratursökning i databaserna Cinahl, PubMed och PsycINFO. Resultatet baserades på 12 vetenskapliga artiklar som granskades med avseende på vetenskaplig kvalitet och etik. Resultat: Resultatet mynnade ut i fem teman som belyser omvårdnadsåtgärder för stickrädda vuxna personer: ett empatiskt förhållningssätt, skapa distraktion, ge information och utbildning, anpassa rum och utrustning, ge farmakologisk och icke farmakologisk smärtlindring. Omvårdnadsåtgärderna lindrar lidande hos personer med stickrädsla när de utförs av kompetent hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal genom ett professionellt vårdande. Implikation: Genom dialog, utbildning och förändrade arbetsrutiner kan medvetenheten kring stickrädsla och lindrande omvårdnadsåtgärder ökas hos hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal och sjuksköterskestudenter. / Background: Needle fear occurs in all ages and an estimated minimum of 10 percent of the population suffers from it.For the individual, needle fear can involve great discomfort which can lead to that a person with needle fear avoids health care and therefore risks to become ill. The needs of a person with needle fear can be overlooked in health care due to lack of resources and competence which can lead to suffering. It is important to identify effective nursing interventions for health care personnel to alleviate the suffering of persons with needle fear. Aim: To illuminate nursing interventions for adults with needle fear. Methods: A literature review was conducted with a systematic litterature search in the databases Cinahl, PubMed and PsycINFO. The result was based on 12 scientific articles that were viewed regarding scientific quality and ethics. Results: The outcome resulted in five themes that illuminate nursing interventions for adult persons with needle fear: an empathic approach, create distraction, give information and education, adjust room and equipment, give pharmacological and non pharmacological pain relief. The nursing interventions alleviate suffering for persons with needle fear when performed by competent health care personnel through professional care. Implication: The awareness of needle fear and alleviating nursing interventions can be raised among health care professionals and nursing students through dialogue, education and altered working procedures.

This paper tests Reiss' (1991) expectancy theory of fearfulness. Reiss' moderation model of fears speculates that individual differences in fearfulness and phobic avoidance is a function of the interaction between trait vulnerabilities (i.e., sensitivities) and beliefs about potential outcomes during exposure to phobic stimuli (i.e., expectancies). Four hundred and forty-five undergraduates completed questionnaires related to Reiss' fundamental sensitivities (e.g., "anxiety sensitivity"), expectancies (e.g., "expectancy of physical injury or harm") and the intensity of common fears. Informed by findings concerning fear-related outcome expectancies, a system for measuring expectancies was developed for this study called the Focus of Apprehension Survey Schedule (FASS). Additionally, "disgust sensitivity" and "expectancy of contamination or illness" were included to examine whether they account for fearfulness beyond that predicted by Reiss' sensitivities and expectancies alone. In Experiment 1, hierarchical multivariate regression was employed to test Reiss' moderation model of expectancy theory for four fear subtypes (animal, blood/injection/injury (BII), claustrophobic, social). For each of these fear types, results did not support Reiss' moderation model. However, disgust sensitivity improved the prediction of animal fears and contamination expectancies improved the prediction of BII fears beyond Reiss' fundamental sensitivities and expectancies alone. In Experiment 2, a competing mediation model of expectancy theory was tested in which sensitivities were expected to indirectly influence individual differences in fearfulness through outcome expectancies. Results of path analysis using LISREL 8.54 did not support a mediation model per se. However, expectancies were found to mediate relationships between sensitivities and fears in several predicted instances (e.g., contamination expectancies mediated the disgust-BII fears relationship). The results provide some encouraging replications of prior studies and are discussed in the context of implications for theories of fear as well as for future directions in research.

The amygdala is crucially involved in the acquisition and retention of fear memories. Experimental research on fear conditioning has shown that memory retrieval shortly followed by pharmacological manipulations or extinction, thereby interfering with memory reconsolidation, decreases later fear expression. Fear memory reconsolidation depends on synaptic plasticity in the amygdala, which has been demonstrated in rodents using both pharmacological manipulations and retrieval-extinction procedures. The retrieval-extinction procedure decreases fear expression also in humans, but the underlying neural mechanism have not been studied. Interfering with reconsolidation is held to alter the original fear memory representation, resulting in long-term reductions in fear responses, and might therefore be used in the treatment of anxiety disorders, but few studies have directly investigated this question. The aim of this thesis was to examine the effects of the retrieval-extinction procedure on amygdala activity and behavioral fear expression in humans. The work presented here also investigated whether findings from studies on recent fear memories, established through fear conditioning, extends to naturally occurring long-term phobic fears. Study I, combining fear conditioning and a retrieval-extinction procedure with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), demonstrated that memory retrieval shortly followed by extinction reduces later amygdala activity and fear expression in healthy subjects. In Study II, these subjects were re-tested 18 months later. The results showed that the effects on fear expression were still present and that initial amygdala activity predicted long-term fear expression. Using an adapted version of the retrieval-extinction procedure, Study III showed that memory retrieval shortly followed by exposure to spider pictures, attenuates subsequent amygdala activity and increases approach behavior in subjects with life-long fear of spiders. In Study IV, these subjects were re-tested 6 months later, and the results showed that effects on amygdala activity as well as approach behavior were maintained. In summation, retrieval-extinction leads to long-lasting reductions in amygdala activity and fear expression. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that retrieval-extinction alters an amygdala dependent fear memory. Retrieval-extinction can also attenuate long-term phobic fears, indicating that this manipulation could be used to enhance exposure-based treatments for anxiety disorders.

[pt] De acordo com a teoria freudiana em sua abordagem por Lacan, os conceitos angústia e objeto são articulados sob dois aspectos na presente dissertação. Primeiro, a partir de um exame das considerações de Freud a respeito da fobia, que liga a angústia a um objeto na realidade. Com a formulação do objeto a por Lacan, constata-se uma transformação do estatuto do objeto, uma vez que se trata de um objeto inconsistente. Exploramos, então, as possíveis relações entre a fobia do caso Pequeno Hans e tal objeto. / [en] According to Freud´s theory and its interpretation by Lacan, the concepts anguish and object are articulated in two aspects in this dissertation. First, by examining Freud´s considerations about phobia, that links anguish to an object in reality. With Lacan`s formulation of object a, we confirm a transformation of the statute of the object, as long as it treats of an inconsistent object. Then we explore the possible relations of phobia and the object in the case Little Hans.

Övervikt blir ett allt större problem världen över,där antalet personer med övervikt eller fetma ständigt ökar. Samtidigt har det visats att negativa attityder och fördomar mot överviktigapersonerfinns i alla delar av samhället, inklusive inom vården. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att med hjälp av Fat PhobiaScale undersöka om dessa attitydertill övervikt finns även hos sjuksköterskestudenter och civilingenjörsstudenter vid Luleå tekniska universitet. Enkäter skickades per e–post till 200 studenter av vilka 90svarade. Resultaten analyserades med enfaktoriell ANOVA,där utbildningsprogram, deltagarens BMI (Body Mass Index) och kön var faktorer,och poäng på Fat Phobia Scale var beroendevariabeln. Ingen effekt erhölls för någon faktor. Nivåerna hos fördomsfullhet låg på en måttlig nivå. Resultatentolkas som att negativ attityd till överviktiga inte är ett problem bland studenter vid Luleå tekniska universitet.

The present study focused on the interactions between a child with selective mutism and that child's teachers. The hypothesis was that the teachers unknowingly maintained the mutism by not placing the expectations of speech on the child. Therefore, by training three out of the four teachers how to interact with the child with selective mutism, and using the fourth teacher as a control, the researchers were able to identify that the training not only changed the three teachers' behaviors, but also the child with selective mutism's behaviors as well. Also, based on a pre-training/post-training test, the teachers had a much better understanding of the disorder after the training was implemented. The control's behaviors did not change during the course of study.

This mixed methods case study examined the effect of reduced fear of negative evaluation and self focus on behaviors related to shyness in a church environment. A sample of 239 members, regular attenders, and visitors completed a survey, consisting of the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation-Straightforward (BFNE-S) Scale; two checklists measuring perceived acceptance and levels of comfort in situations known to be difficult for shy people; and extended response questions regarding thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in six church situations. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed the BFNE-S (General and Context-specific) had acceptable fit compared with previous studies, and descriptive statistics were similar to those of previous studies. Lower self-reported levels of fear of negative evaluation and higher levels of perceived comfort, but not acceptance, in the church setting were found to be statistically significant, although the effect size was negligible. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed no statistically significant difference for gender or race for individuals in the church setting compared to the non church setting. A multiple regression failed to reveal a statistically significant relationship between depth and breadth of involvement in church activities and reduced fear of negative evaluation. The Clark-Wells (1995) model of social phobia explained 62% of self-reported behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of individuals with high levels of shyness when in social situations in the church setting. A statistically significant difference was found between focus of attention and quality of thought scores for individuals with minimal to low levels of shyness and high levels of shyness. To explore further the validity of scores obtained with the BFNE-S, it would be useful to conduct a study in different environments and seek to understand individuals in those environments with high and low fear of negative evaluation. Future research regarding the church setting should utilize a sample with fewer long-term members and regular attenders. Additionally, future studies could probe how religious beliefs help people cope with difficult situations, in particular shyness.