0000000000429716
AUTHOR
Agostino Brugnera
The alliance-outcome association in group interventions: A multilevel meta-analysis.
Objective: The therapeutic alliance has been studied in group interventions, but its relationship to patient outcome is still controversial. This study systematically reviewed the association of both the member-leader and member-group alliance with patient outcomes, and assessed the effects of several theoretically informed moderators. Method: A three-level meta-analysis was conducted on 57 studies to disentangle within- and between-study variability in the alliance-outcome association. Results: The overall effect size of the unconditional model was r = -.259 (95% CI: -.302, -.214; p < .001), whereas the correlation between alliance and outcome based on the three-level meta-analytic mode…
Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic
INTRODUCTION: While online consultations have shown promise to be a means for the effective delivery of high-quality mental healthcare and the first implementations of these digital therapeutic contacts go back nearly two decades, uptake has remained limited over the years. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered this relative standstill and created a unique turning point, with a massive amount of both professionals and clients having first hands-on experiences with technology in mental healthcare. OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to document the uptake of online consultations and explore if specific characteristics of mental health professionals across and beyond Europe c…
The Effects of Attachment, Temperament, and Self-Esteem on Technology Addiction: A Mediation Model among Young Adults
Excessive use of technology has become a worldwide problem due to its high prevalence, fast growth rate, and undesirable consequences. However, little is known about underlying psychological mechanisms that maintain excessive use of technology. We investigated the mediating role of self-esteem, novelty seeking, and persistence on the relationship between attachment dimensions and technology addiction among young adults. Data were collected from 727 young adults (females, N = 478; 66.3 percent), aged 23.44 ± 3.02 years. Participants completed self-report measures of secure and insecure attachment dimensions, personality, and temperament characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, novelty seeking, an…
A longitudinal investigation on problematic Facebook use, psychological distress and well-being during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic
AbstractThe social isolation and the subsequent, increased use of Social Networking Sites due to the COVID-19 pandemic have had an impact on subjective well-being around the world. The present longitudinal study examined whether changes in psychological distress and well-being during the Italian second wave of the pandemic differ among people with different levels of Problematic Facebook Use (PFU). A total of 493 participants (Mage = 24.55 ± 7.25; 80.3% females) completed measures of passive use of Facebook, social comparison orientation on Facebook, fear of missing out, psychological distress (depressive symptoms and fear of COVID-19 pandemic) and well-being across three waves. Latent clas…
Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Experience in Close Relationship Scale 12 (ECR-12): An exploratory structural equation modeling study
The Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (ECR) is one of the most commonly used self-report instruments of adult attachment and has been widely adopted in psychotherapy research. Composed of two subscales, namely Attachment Avoidance and Anxiety, the ECR was recently shortened to a 12-items version, called the ECR-12. Given the importance of extending knowledge on its applicability in understudied populations, our aim was to validate the ECR-12 in a large sample of Italian native-speakers. A total of 1197 participants (73.2% females; mean age=28.53±11.37 years) completed the ECR-12. Each participant also completed other measures of attachment, psychopathology, interpersonal distress, cop…
Patients with Binge Eating Disorder and Obesity have qualitatively different interpersonal characteristics: Results from an Interpersonal Circumplex study.
Background: Patients with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and obesity experience distressing relationships, which could trigger negative affect and over-eating. To date no studies compared the interpersonal profiles and prototypicality of both groups using the Interpersonal Circumplex.Method: A sample of 177 patients with BED (mean age: 41.0 +/- 12.5 years; 11.3% males), 321 obese non-BED adults (mean age: 44.5 +/- 13.4 years; 28% males), and 108 normal weight adults (mean age: 37.3 +/- 9.6 years; 52.77% males) completed the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-32), and scales of binge eating and psychological distress at one time-point.Results: Compared to normal weight and obese participa…
Self-reported reflective functioning mediates the association between attachment insecurity and well-being among psychotherapists.
Objective: Subjective well-being is a crucial variable for mental health practitioners. This study examines the influence of therapists’ attachment dimensions and self-reported reflective functioning on their perceived well-being. Further, it examines if reflective functioning mediates the association between attachment insecurity and well-being. Method: A total of 416 experienced psychotherapists were enrolled in this cross-sectional study, and completed self-report measures of attachment insecurity, reflective functioning, and well-being. We tested the hypothesized mediation model with path analysis that examined indirect effects. Results: Both attachment anxiety and avoidance dimensions …