Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVE/UNASSIGNED:The COVID-19 pandemic led to a rapid shift toward remote delivery of psychological interventions and transition to voice-only and video communication platforms. However, agreement is lacking on key competencies that are aligned with equitable approaches for standardized training and supervision of remote psychological intervention delivery. A rapid review was conducted to identify and describe competencies that could inform best practices of remote services delivery during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS/UNASSIGNED:Scopus, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO were searched for literature published in English (2015-2021) on competencies for synchronous, remote psychological interventions that can be measured through observation. RESULTS/UNASSIGNED:Of 135 articles identified, 12 met inclusion criteria. Studies targeted populations in high-income countries (11 in the United States and Canada, one in Saudi Arabia) and focused on specialist practitioners, professionals, or trainees in professional or prelicensure programs working with adult populations. Ten skill categories were identified: emergency and safety protocols for remote services, facilitating communication over remote platforms, remote consent procedures, technological literacy, practitioner-client identification for remote services, confidentiality during remote services, communication skills during remote services, engagement and interpersonal skills for remote services, establishing professional boundaries during remote services, and encouraging continuity of care during remote services. CONCLUSIONS/UNASSIGNED:These 10 skills domains can offer a foundation for refinement of discrete, individual-level competencies that can be aligned with global initiatives promoting use of observational competency assessment during training and supervision programs for psychological interventions. More research is needed on identification of and agreement on remote competencies and on their evaluation.

Patterns of memory sharing begin early in one's life, informing relationships, one's history, and one's sense of cultural belonging. Memory sharing among families has been the focus of research investigating the relationship between mental health and intergenerational memory. A burgeoning body of research is showing that intergenerational knowledge of one's family history is associated with positive mental health and wellbeing. However, research on the specific mechanisms and potential applications of such findings are just beginning to emerge. In particular, studies examining intergenerational storytelling point to the importance of culture and gender as critical factors underlying how stories are told and the extent to which these stories are associated with wellbeing. Such findings hold important promise for the pentation and treatment of mental health issues. As research in this area continues to evolve, the identification and characterization of factors and mechanisms underlying intergenerational family stories and wellbeing may help to guide the integration of family stories into mental health interventions.

This study examined whether reduced performance on two neuropsychological tasks, cognitive flexibility and working memory, were associated with higher levels of trauma centrality. A growing body of research has shown that trauma centrality, the extent to which a person believes a potentially traumatic event has become central to their self-identity and life story, is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Furthermore, PTSD is often associated with alterations in neuropsychological functioning. The relationship between neuropsychological processes and trauma centrality, however, has yet to be explored. OEF/OIF combat veterans (N = 41) completed the Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Centrality of Event Scale (CES), and on-line measures of cognitive flexibility and working memory assessed via WebNeuro. Bivariate Pearson correlations showed that CES scores were positively correlated with PDS and BDI scores, and negatively correlated with cognitive flexibility and working memory. Linear regressions revealed that working memory significantly predicted CES when controlling for depression and PTSD severity while cognitive flexibility approached significance when controlling for these same variables. This study employed a cross-sectional design, precluding causality. The small sample size, entirely male sample, and use of an online neuropsychological assessment warrant follow-up research. Although numerous studies have found an association between CES and PTSD, this is the first to suggest that neuropsychological processes underlie the construct of trauma centrality. Given the importance of maladaptive cognitive processes underlying the pathogenesis of PTSD, these data suggest that future studies aimed at examining the link between neuropsychological processes and maladaptive cognitive processes, such as trauma centrality, may help to characterize and treat PTSD.

The goal of the current study was to examine the relationship between early physical victimization and long-term mental health outcomes in a sample of first responder police and firefighter personnel involved in the relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. Participants included 441 Biloxi and Gulfport Police and Firefighters. One fifth of participants reported having experienced physical victimization before age 18. After controlling for age, relationship status, and disaster exposure, early physical victimization was modestly associated with symptoms of PTSD, peritraumatic dissociation, depression, and sleep problems. The results suggest that early physical victimization might be a risk factor for mental health problems in police and fire personnel responding to mass disaster, pointing to the importance of developing interventions to mitigate risk related to a history of physical victimization in first-responders. C1 [Komarovskaya, Irina; Brown, Adam D.; Galatzer-Levy, Isaac R.; Madan, Anita; Henn-Haase, Clare; Marmar, Charles R.; Chemtob, Claude M.] NYU, Dept Psychiat, New York, NY 10016 USA. [Teater, Julie] Consulting Psychol Resources LLC, Biloxi, MS USA. [Clarke, Brandi H.] JW Hall LLC, Biloxi, MS USA