This cross-sectional, mixed-methods study examined the nature of, and association between, causal attributions and current smoking behavior in cervical cancer survivors who were smokers at cancer diagnosis (n=50). As a whole, participants’ beliefs about smoking as a risk factor or cause of cervical cancer in general (i.e., global attribution) and/or their own cervical cancer (i.e., personal attribution) reflected far greater endorsement of global than personal attributions. Data collection involved a quantitative survey and an optional semi-structured interview to assess key variables (i.e., smoking behavior and causal attributions). Data were analyzed via descriptive statistics and inferential tests, all of which illustrated greater endorsement of global smoking-related causal attributions versus personal attributions within the sample. In conclusion, the results of this formative study highlights the potential role of causal attributions in understanding the smoking behavior of cervical cancer survivors, the results of which aids understanding of how cancer survivors think about, and make changes in, their smoking behavior.

Abstract Associations have been found between diabetes status and periodontal diseases and dental caries. In addition to biological explanations, psychological features can be proposed to affect the relations between oral health and IDDM (=insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus). The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychological features characterizing oral hygiene practices, dental visiting and diabetes self-care. The research population consisted of 149 IDDM patients, and cross-sectional data were collected by a quantitative questionnaire, in clinical examinations and from patient records. There was a positive correlation between the sum scores for dental self-efficacy and diabetes self-efficacy and, correspondingly, between the dental and diabetes locus of control beliefs. High self-esteem was found to associate with good adherence to some specific health behaviors, such as tooth brushing, exercising and insulin adjustment. When Weiner's attribution theory was used, there were similarities in the causal thinking in oral and diabetes view. All in all, especially the perception of self-efficacy was found to be a powerful feature characterizing health behavior. There were overlapping relations showing an association of high dental self-efficacy with good diabetes adherence, of high diabetes self-efficacy with frequent dental visiting, and of good metabolic control with high tooth brushing self-efficacy, frequent tooth brushing and low plaque level. On the basis of these results, enhancement of self-efficacy appears important. These results suggest that there might, indeed, be some common psychological features for both oral health behavior and diabetes self-care. These could partly explain the relations between diabetes status and periodontal diseases and dental caries. The results can be utilized in patient-centered health education by identifying and enhancing the psychological features that characterize health behavior and health status. The results emphasize the need for co-operation between dental and diabetes health care professionals in their daily practice.

Recent work on the role of norms in the use of causal language by ordinary people has led to a consensus among several researchers: The consensus position is that causal attributions are sensitive to both statistical norms and prescriptive norms. But what is a statistical norm? We argue that there are at least two types that should be distinguished-agent-level statistical norms and population-level statistical norms. We then suggest an alternative account of ordinary causal attributions about agents (the responsibility view), noting that this view motivates divergent predictions about the effect of information about each of the two types of statistical norms noted. Further, these predictions run counter to those made by the consensus position. With this set-up in place, we present the results of a series of new experimental studies testing our predictions. The results are in line with the responsibility view, while indicating that the consensus position is seriously mistaken.

Background: Lifestyle changes and drug treatment can improve the prognosis and quality of life for patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), but their co-operation with suggested treatment is often limited. The aim of this thesis was to study how patients and their spouses conceive CHD and its treatment. Material and Methods: The research design used was inductive and descriptive. The studies were based on three complementary sets of data. Patients with CHD (n=23) and spouses (n=25) were interviewed one year after an episode of the disease. Consecutive patients with CHD derived from another investigation were interviewed within six weeks or one year after the coronary event (n=113). All semi-structured interviews, tape-recorded or from notes taken by hand, were subjected to analysis within the phenomenographic framework. Findings: The patients’ conceptions of CHD varied and were vague, even as judged on a lay level. They were associated with symptoms rather than with the disease. Co-operation with drug treatment was rarely linked to improved prognosis. The patients’ descriptions of benefits from lifestyle changes and treatment did not give the impression of being based on a solid understanding of the importance of such changes. Incentives for lifestyle changes were classified into four categories, all of which contained both facilitating and constraining incentives. Somatic incentives featured direct and indirect physical signals. Social/practical incentives involved shared concerns, changed conditions, and factors connected with external environment. Cognitive incentives were characterised by active decisions and appropriated knowledge, but also by passive compliance with limited insights, and by the creating of routines. Affective incentives comprised fear and reluctance related to lifestyle changes and disease and also lessened self-esteem. All incentives mostly functioned facilitatively. The cognitive and the social/practical incentives were the most prevalent. Spouses’ understanding about the causes of CHD involved both appropriate conceptions and misconceptions. Drug treatment was considered necessary for the heart, but harmful to other organs. Spouses’ support to partners was categorised, and found to be contextually bound. The participative role was co-operative and empathetic. The regulative role controlled and demanded certain behaviours. The observational role was passive, compliant, and empathetic. The incapacitated role was empathetic, unable to support, and positive to changes. The dissociative role was negative to changes and reluctant to be involved in lifestyle changes. Conclusions: These results could be useful in the planning of care and education for CHD patients. The findings also emphasise the importance of adopting a family perspective to meet the complex needs of these patients and their spouses in order to facilitate appropriate lifestyle changes. / On the day of the public defence of the doctoral thesis the status of article V was Submitted.

Moral injury (MI) among military personnel is a harmful condition caused by perpetrating, failing to prevent, or witnessing atrocities that violate one's deeply held morals or values. The current study built on the existing literature by exploring predictors of MI, specifically trait self-forgiveness (TSF), state self-forgiveness (SSF), perceived social support (PSS), and causal attributions (CA) following potentially morally injurious experiences (PMIEs) in service members and veterans. Participants were 92 U.S. military service members and veterans. The main findings were that TSF and PSS were both significantly negatively associated with MI in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Further, TSF and PSS were examined as potential moderators of the relationship between PMIEs and MI, but these moderation analyses were not significant. Given that some studies provide evidence for different symptom profiles between categories of PMIEs (i.e., PMIE-Self, PMIE-Other, and PMIE-Betrayal), the relationship between the different categories and TSF were explored. Of the three PMIE types, only PMIE-Betrayal was a significant negative predictor of TSF. Finally, CA was explored as a potential mediator of the relationship between TSF and MI outcomes, but this mediation analysis was not significant. Limitations, directions for future research, and implications for clinical practice are included for discussion.

A significant number of youth experience mental health disorders for which they suffer negative consequences. Although there are evidence-based therapies available to help children and their families, most youth do not receive treatment. Parental problem recognition is likely a primary barrier in this process. This study begins to address why parents may have difficulty recognizing mental health problems by extending existing models and integrating evidence about parental perceptions. Specifically, the study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental attributions and parents’ problem determination, and to examine the influence that parental characteristics have on this judgment process. Participants included 164 parents of youth ages 6-11 years. Purposive sampling was used to recruit mothers and fathers from both lower and higher SES communities. Parents completed self-report measures of parental characteristics, including: parental psychopathology, parenting stress, parental tolerance, and parental self-efficacy. Parents read ten brief child behavior vignettes and completed a version of the Written Analogue Questionnaire to rate the cause of each behavior (assuming it was their own child in the vignette) along four dimensions. Parents also rated the extent to which the behavior was seen as a problem. Results indicated that parents’ causal attributions were highly associated with parents’ problem ratings, and the attributions of stability and controllability were particularly robust predictors of problem determination. Hypotheses regarding parental characteristics as moderators of the relationship between attributions and problem determination were not supported. Findings are discussed in light of clinical and public health implications; results suggest that recognizing the influence of parental beliefs and attributions may help to increase the efficacy of outreach efforts for early intervention and help seeking for parental concerns.

Given that causal attributions of errors contain different motivational and behavioral implications for learning from errors, it is highly relevant for organizations to thoroughly understand the factors that promote functional attributions. This study set out to investigate whether perceived psychological safety is an antecedent of functional and dysfunctional causal attributions of errors and whether this association is mediated by error orientation. A total of 148 German and Swedish working students served as a convenience sample for the current cross-sectional survey study. Participants answered an online survey measuring their perception of psychological safety, error orientation, and causal attributions of errors. Partial correlation analysis, hierarchical multiple regression, and hierarchical binary logistic regression were performed to analyze the data. It was found that perceived psychological safety negatively predicted the orientation toward covering errors as well as the avoidant error orientation, whereas it did not predict the learning from errors orientation. No evidence of error orientation being related to causal attributions of errors, nor a direct or indirect link between perceived psychological safety and causal attributions was found. The results imply that organizations benefit from creating a psychologically safe work environment in that it reduces the counterproductive error orientations.

No description available.

Cette thèse vise à étudier les effets, bénéfiques ou délétères, de l’intensité de la comparaison ascendante sur l’évaluation de soi et la performance. Dans une série de cinq études, nous avons placé au coeur de nos investigations une controverse relative aux effets d’une comparaison ascendante forte par rapport à une comparaison ascendante modérée.La comparaison ascendante forte se révèle bénéfique à court terme, les participants améliorant leur performance, ce qui n’est pas systématiquement le cas pour une comparaison ascendante modérée (études 1, 2 et 3). En revanche, en ce qui concerne l’évaluation de soi, à l’exception de l’étude 1, une comparaison ascendante forte n’entraîne pas toujours une évaluation de soi inférieure à une comparaison ascendante modérée.Nous avons également cherché à clarifier cette controverse en interrogeant le rôle joué par les attributions causales (Weiner, 1985) dans l’évolution constatée de la performance. En interrogeant les attributions des participants, nous constatons une prévalence des attributions à l’effort (étude 2) ainsi qu’une corrélation positive entre celles-ci et les attentes de réussite (études 3, 4 et 5) dans la condition de comparaison ascendante forte. D’autre part, en manipulant les attributions de la cible de comparaison, il apparaît que les participants exposés à un feedback d’échec et des attributions à l’habileté présentent un niveau d’évaluation de soi plus faible qu’en l’absence de feedback d’échec (étude 4). De surcroît, les attributions à l’effort contribuent au maintien de l’évaluation de soi uniquement en présence de trois cibles en comparaison d’une seule cible (étude 5). / This thesis aims to study the beneficial or deleterious effects of intensity of upward comparison on self-evaluation and performance. In a series of five studies, we have placed at the heart of our investigations a controversy which deals with the effects of a strong upward comparison with regard to a moderate upward comparison.The strong upward comparison is beneficial in the short term, participants improving their performance, which is not always the case for a moderate upward comparison (Studies 1, 2 and 3). In contrast, as regards of self-evaluation, except for Study 1, a strong upward comparison does not always mean a lower self-evaluation than a moderate upward comparison.We also sought to clarify this controversy by questioning the role of causal attributions (Weiner, 1985) in the observed evolution of performance. By measuring participants’ causal attributions, we see a prevalence of effort attributions (Study 2) and a positive correlation between them and expectations of success (studies 3, 4 and 5) in the strong upward comparison condition. Furthermore, by manipulating causal attributions of the comparison target, it appears that participants exposed to a failure feedback and ability attributions have a lower level of self-evaluation than in the absence of feedback of failure (study 4). Moreover, effort attributions contribute to the maintenance of self-evaluation only in the presence of three targets compared to only one target (Study 5).

Cette recherche se propose trois objectifs : il s’agit, premièrement, de dégager les représentations et les causes que les patients tunisiens attribuent à la pathologie cancéreuse. Deuxièmement, de déceler les croyances en matière de contrôle perçu pour ce qui est de l’évolution de la maladie. Enfin, de chercher l’effet direct, médiatisé ou modéré d’un ensemble de variables personnelles, médicales et environnementales sur le coping de ces patients. Les résultats auxquels nous avons abouti, au moyen d’une étude quantitative, mettent en évidence l’effet direct du niveau socio-culturel du patient sur le choix du coping centré sur le problème. Cet effet se trouve médiatisé partiellement par un Lieu de contrôle-médecin, un fort sentiment d’efficacité personnelle et une tendance vers l’optimisme. En outre, une étude qualitative a fait émerger des notions comme celle d’optimisme réaliste, du coping religieux et de la croyance en un monde juste. De tels résultats sont en faveur de la conception et de la mise en place de programmes de formation et de développement des ressources humaines afin de promouvoir le système de santé du pays. / This research proposes three objectives: the first one consists in bringing out the representations and the causes that the Tunisian patients attribute to the cancerous pathology. The second is to identify the beliefs concerning the perceived control of the disease evolution. Finally, the third objective is to seek the direct, mediate or moderate effect of a set of personal, medical and environmental variables on the coping of these patients. The results which we have come to, by means of a quantitative study, highlight the direct effect of the socio-cultural level of the patient on the choice of the problem-focused coping. This effect is partially mediated by a doctor-health locus of control, a strong personal perceived efficacy and a tendency towards optimism. In addition, a qualitative study has led to the appearance of notions such as realistic optimism, religious coping and belief in a just world. Such results support both the conception and the establishment of programs for the training and the development of human resources in order to promote the country's health system.