Search Results

Context Abnormal emotion processing is frequent in schizophrenia and affects social and functional outcome. Past event-related potential (ERP) research investigating processing of affective stimuli in schizophrenia was done mainly with facial expressions and revealed impaired facial emotion recognition in patients relative to control subjects. Experimentations involving fMRI with this group of patients, showed alteration of limbic and frontal regions in response to emotional unpleasant images, compared to neutral stimuli during a memory task. Other studies have also noted an increase in brain activity when the activation of the stimuli was high compared to low arousal stimuli. This may indicate a different sensitivity threshold to emotional arousal and emotional valence involving frontal pathways in these patients. But very few studies attempted to separate the contributions of emotional valence and arousal within an episodic memory protocol with ERP, in that population.Goal The aim of the current research is to investigate brain electro-cortical activity in schizophrenia in response to emotional images during an episodic memory task.Method ERP components were analyzed in 16 schizophrenic and 17 control participants matched for age, sex and intelligence. ERPs were obtained from 56 EEG electrodes. The tasks consisted in a classical episodic memory task that presented 100 repeated old and 100 new photographic images divided into four categories (unpleasant-high arousal, unpleasant-low arousal, pleasant-high arousal and pleasant-low arousal) selected from the International Affective Picture System. The N200, P300 and late positive component (LPC) mean amplitude, were analyzed using repeated-measure analyses of variance (MANOVA).Results Patients with schizophrenia and control subjects gave comparable subjective evaluations of arousal and valence. However, the frontal N200 and the P300 both showed an interaction of the group x memory x valence x hemisphere (F [1.32]=8.36; p <.01). Thus, this complex interaction denotes an increase of the episodic memory effect in the right hemisphere in response to unpleasant stimuli, with schizophrenic patients. With respect to the control group, there is also an increase of this memory effect in the right hemisphere, but in response to pleasant stimuli. The schizophrenic patients presented a smaller LPC memory effect, especially at the frontal region. More specifically, the frontal LPC was reduced, and the clinical group was less reactive to the emotional arousal content, compared to the control group.Discussion Altogether, our results revealed that while the subjective evaluation of emotional pictures is equivalent across groups, cerebral differences are present in schizophrenic patients during emotional recognition. N200 and P300 results in the frontal region suggest impaired selective attention and episodic memory to unpleasant stimuli in patients, while later processes related to conscious recollection (parietal LPC) are not affected with patients affected with schizophrenia.Conclusion This finding provides further support for the notion of a possible discrepancy between the subjective experience and the physiological expression of emotions in schizophrenia patients. Those results could open the door to new clinical research investigations in psychiatry, particularly in the comprehension of a relationship between frontal cortex vulnerability and episodic memory often present in psychosis.

Keywords: mémoire, émotions, potentiels évoqués cognitifs, schizophrénie, ERP, schizophrenia, psychosis, event-related potentials, memory, emotion, valence, arousal

Along other breakthroughs in computer sciences, such as artificial intelligence, virtual characters (i.e. digitally represented characters featuring a human appearance or not) are foreseen as potential providers of mental healthcare services. However, their current use in clinical practice is marginal and limited to an assistive role to help clinicians in their practices. Safety and efficiency concerns, as well as a general lack of knowledge and experience, may explain this discrepancy between the expected (sometimes futuristic) and current use of virtual characters. An overview of recent evidence would help pinpoint the main concerns and challenges pertaining to their use in mental healthcare. Objective This paper aims to inform relevant actors, including clinicians, on the potential of virtual characters in mental healthcare practices and to raise awareness on societal challenges regarding their use.Method A narrative literature review was conducted to summarize basic and clinical research findings, and to outline an in-depth discussion on various societal caveats related to the inclusion of virtual characters.Results Basic studies highlight several characteristics of the virtual characters that seem to influence patient-clinician interactions. These characteristics can be classified into two categories: perceptual (e.g. realism) and social features (i.e. attribution of social categories such as gender). To this day, many interventions and/or assessments using virtual characters have shown various levels of efficiency in mental health, and certain elements of a therapeutic relationship (e.g. alliance and empathy) may even be triggered during an interaction with a virtual character. To develop and increase the use of virtual characters, numerous socioeconomic and ethical issues must be examined. Although the accessibility and the availability of virtual characters are an undeniable advantage for their use in mental healthcare, some inequities about their application remain. In addition, the accumulation of biometric data (e.g. heart rate) could provide valuable information to clinicians and could help develop autonomous virtual characters, which raises concerns over issues of security and privacy. This paper proposes some recommendations to avoid such undesirable outcomes.Conclusion Due to their promising features, the inclusion of virtual characters will no doubt be increasingly prevalent in mental healthcare services. All involved actors should thus be informed about specific challenges raised by such breakthroughs. They should also actively participate in discussions regarding the development of virtual characters in order to adopt unified recommendations for their safe and ethical use in mental healthcare.

Keywords: personnages virtuels, avatars, agents virtuels, santé mentale, psychothérapie, virtual characters, avatars, virtual agents, mental health, psychotherapy

This article examines the transition of learners in adult general education (“formation générale des adultes”, or “FGA”) who decide, after obtaining their high school diploma in this educational framework, to register in college programs. The ethnographic inquiry approach used for this research relies on Long's theoretical model (1989) and Bélanger's lifelong learning model (2011). On this rarely addressed subject, pedagogical expertise in the field is engaged in a co-construction process from an adult education perspective. The psychological, pedagogical, and andragogical issues at play show the significant commitment adult learners must make and the reconstructive path they have chosen to facilitate social integration. The need to create a bridge between FGA and the college environment is presented as a way to support the educational emancipation of adults in Quebec society.

The Babylonian Talmud offers a very limited glimpse into women’s voices, words, and writings, and only seldom quotes them. In contrast, the woman Em is quoted by Abaye twenty-seven times, always in the context of medicine and always in an authoritative formula – “Em told me.” Abaye’s amra li Em (אמרה לי אם) opens a window into a unique healing tradition transmitted to the Talmud by a woman. This article will examine Em’s expertise through a gendered and cross-cultural prism. In addition, the article will explore Em’s substantial body of work in the medical field, and the similarities of some of her prescriptions to Greco-Roman healing techniques and to Mesopotamian magical practices.

A unique source on the practical aspects of the scientia astrorum (astronomy and astrology) in medieval Europe has come down to us in the shape of a letter written shortly after 1246 by John of London, an astronomer based in Paris. John used the letter to answer eight questions on technical problems posed to him by his addressee, a certain R. de Guedingue, with subject matters ranging from the rate of precession to the dates of the so-called Dog Days. The article makes this source available via a critical edition (based upon three manuscripts) and an accompanying English translation. An introduction discusses the background and transmission of John’s letter as well as the identities of the letter writer and addressee. The edition and translation are followed by commentaries elucidating the background to each of the eight questions and John’s answers to them.

Keywords: Medieval Astronomy, Astrology, Horoscopes, Thirteenth Century, John Of London, University Of Paris

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted nurses’ psychological health and work-family balance, including in ambulatory care settings. The results presented in this article are part of a study aiming to describe and contextualize the psychological health and changes in nurses’ follow-up practices in Quebec (Canada) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: Explore and describe factors that influenced ambulatory care nurses’ psychological health and work-family balance during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Exploratory mixed data cross-sectional study using the SurveyMonkey platform. We collected data from July 2020 to September 2020. The target population comprised all practicing nurses in Quebec whose clinical activities included the follow-up of ambulatory patients, 200 of whom completed the survey.  Results: Multiple linear regression models indicated that anxiety (GAD-7 scores) and depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 scores) were associated with younger age, living alone, worries about transmitting COVID-19, and feeling that one’s work was not coherent with one’s values. Work-family balance was considered more difficult than before the pandemic by 54.5 % of participants. Factors perceived as influencing work-family balance were either related to work conditions (e.g., schedule and time at work, access to work from home, redeployment to another work setting), to family-related responsibilities/tasks or were specific to the pandemic. Discussion and conclusion: Apart from age, the feeling that one’s work was not coherent with their values was the only variable correlated with both GAD-7 and PHQ-9 in multivariate models. Further research should investigate the relationships between sense of coherence, psychological health, and work conditions like schedule flexibility and access to work from home.

Keywords: nurses, infirmières, psychological health, santé psychologique, work-family balance, conciliation travail-famille, pandémie, pandemic, soins ambulatoires, ambulatory care

Introduction: A sustainable diet is a diet that is respectful of ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible and healthy. It is considered as a promising avenue for optimizing health and reducing the impacts of food on the environment. Several nursing associations have demonstrated a growing concern for nurses’ involvement in environmental and climate change issues, including in promoting sustainable diet. However, the literature reveals a lack of data on why and how nurses could address sustainable diet in their clinical practice. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore clinical nurses’ perceptions of their role in the promotion of sustainable diet. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was conducted based on 6 focus groups involving 20 nurses from 7 regions of the province of Quebec, Canada. Computer-assisted thematic analysis was conducted on verbatim transcripts. Results: The discussions revealed 3 major themes. First, some dimensions of sustainable eating are already implicitly addressed and nurses were theoretically open to make further. However, it was difficult to see how nurses could translate this interest into concrete action due to a lack of time and their other clinical priorities. Lastly, in order to do this, nurses need support from health organizations as well as clear guidelines, training and tools. Discussion and conclusion: Despite experts’ recommendations, many barriers and inadequacies between experts’ recommendations and nurses’ reality prevent the implementation of concrete initiatives toward the promotion of sustainable diet among nurses. Nurses are invited to get involved and contribute to the promotion of sustainable diet with a “bottom-up” approach.

Keywords: sustainable diet, alimentation durable, sustainable development, développement durable, nursing practices, pratiques infirmières, recherche qualitative, qualitative research, rôle infirmier, nurses’ role