Thinspiration

BACKGROUND: In spite of the known negative impacts of idealized-body imagery exposure on body satisfaction, media with such imagery attract mass audiences.

METHODS: thin-ideal body image messages were presented to 51 women and the women's self-evaluation and self-improvement social comparisons and body satisfaction were measured.

RESULTS: A greater tendency to compare one's body with others' improved body satisfaction through self-improvement social comparisons, and fostered weight-loss behaviors through self-evaluation social comparisons.

Health Commun. 2014 Oct 15;:1-13

Honesty in Reflective Essays

QUESTION: how common is honesty in critical reflection essays?

METHODS: Third year physiotherapy students who completed reflective essays on clinical encounters participated in an anonymous online survey.

RESULTS: 34 students participated. 68 % stated that they were at least 80 % truthful about their experiences. Students questioned the belief that the reflection needed to be based on a factual experience.

CONCLUSION: the researchers maintain that reflective practice is a valuable part of the clinical education of health professionals, but that this value can be diminished through dishonest reflections. In order to get honest reflective essays, it is important to design grading criteria that encourages honesty. Students must also be taught the importance of honest reflection, and how to engage in honest, critical reflection.

Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2013 Oct;18(4):617-26

The Value of Self Compassion

Does self-compassion increase self-improvement?

Researchers recently compared people in a self-compassion condition, compared to a self-esteem condition and found that those with self-compassion a) expressed greater beliefs about a personal weakness, b) reported greater motivation to make amends and avoid repeating a recent moral transgression, c) spent more time studying for a difficult test following an initial failure, d) exhibited a preference for upward social comparison after reflecting on a personal weakness, and e) reported greater motivation to change a weakness.

The authors conclude from this research that taking an accepting approach to personal failure may make people more motivated to improve.

Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2012 Sep;38(9):1133-43

How Do Individuals Use Gossip for Self-Improvement?

Tell Me the Gossip: The Self-Evaluative Function of Receiving Gossip About Others.

HYPOTHESIS: do individuals use evaluative information about others (i.e., gossip) to improve, promote, and protect themselves?

RESULTS: Positive gossip had higher self-improvement value than negative gossip, whereas negative gossip had higher self-promotion value and raised higher self-protection concerns than positive gossip.



Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2014 Oct 24;

Want to Stop Smoking? Pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation

This review covers the basics regarding adjunctive pharmacotherapy to assist in smoking cessation. Varenicline appears to be the most effective, although it has the most side-effects. Buproprion is 2nd most effective, followed by nicotine replacement therapy. Nortriptyline and clonidine are 2nd line therapies to assist in smoking cessation.

PQI - Personal Total Quality Improvement

Personal quality improvement is total quality improvement applied to the individual. This technique pioneered by Deming and Juran helped revolutionize business operations throughout Japan after World War II. This technique has typically been applied to business organizations. Now, quality improvement techniques are being designed for the individual. One example is in the medical field. For several years now, the American Board of Medical Specialties has been implementing a Maintenance of Certification. This process is an attempt to apply quality improvement techniques to the individual. PersonalTQI.com helps improve this process by bringing together ideas from all sectors of society in the quest for personal total quality improvement.