The results correspond with previous studies on ACT for chronic pain and suggest the utility of ACT for FM as well as the role of psychological inflexibility as a mediator of improvement.

Recent developments within CBT have emphasized acceptance rather than control of pain and distress in treatments aimed at improving functioning and life quality, but there is still a lack of reliable and valid instruments to assess relevant processes in such interventions. The Psychological Inflexibility in Pain Scale (PIPS) was developed to assess target variables in exposure and acceptance oriented treatments. A preliminary validation study resulted in a two-factor solution with subscales for avoidance and cognitive fusion related to pain, showing satisfactory psychometric properties. This study sought to evaluate the instrument with 611 participants with whiplash associated disorders. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a two-factor solution with 12 items which showed an acceptable model fit, adequate internal consistencies, and strong relations with criteria variables (e.g. disability and life satisfaction). The construct validity of the instrument was supported by high correlations with subscales from the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) and the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK). Notably, hierarchical regression analyses illustrated that PIPS explained more variance than TSK in pain, disability, life satisfaction and depression. Furthermore, PIPS was found to mediate the relationship between e.g. pain and disability, suggesting the usefulness of PIPS as a process measure in treatments of people with chronic pain. Thus, it is argued that this 12-item version of PIPS may be used to explore the importance of psychological in/flexibility in chronic pain and to analyse processes of change in exposure based interventions, as well as for clinicians in tailoring interventions for patients with chronic debilitating pain.

The Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) assesses parental feeding attitudes, beliefs and practices concerned with child feeding and obesity proneness. The questionnaire has been developed in the U.S., and validation studies in other countries are limited. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the CFQ in Sweden and the associations between parenting practices and children's weight status. Based on records from the Swedish population register, all mothers of 4-year-olds (n = 3007) from the third largest city in Sweden, Malmö, were contacted by mail. Those who returned the CFQ together with a background questionnaire (n = 876) received the CFQ again to enable test-retest evaluation; 564 mothers completed the CFQ twice. We used confirmatory factor analysis to test whether the original 7-factor model was supported. Good fit (CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMR = 0.05) was obtained after minor modifications such as dropping 2 items on restriction and adding 3 error covariances. The internal reliability and the 2-week test-retest reliability were good. The scores on restriction were the lowest ever reported. When the influence of parenting practices on child BMI (dependent variable) was examined in a structural equation model (SEM), child BMI had a positive association with restriction and a negative association with pressure to eat. Restriction was positively influenced by concern about child weight. The second SEM treated parenting practices as dependent variables. Parental foreign origin and child BMI had direct effects on restriction, while pressure to eat was also influenced by parental education. While the results of the study support the usefulness of the CFQ in Sweden, carefully designed cross-cultural comparisons are needed to explain why the levels of restrictive feeding in Swedish families are the lowest reported.

IntroductionInsight into parents’ perceptions of their children’s eating behaviors is crucial for the development of successful childhood obesity programs. However, links between children’s eating behaviors and parental feeding practices and concerns have yet to be established. This study aims to examine associations between parental perceptions of preschoolers’ eating behaviors and parental feeding practices. First, it tests the original 8-factor structure of the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ). Second, it examines the associations with parental feeding practices, measured with the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ).Materials and MethodsQuestionnaires were sent to parents from 25 schools/preschools in Stockholm, Sweden and to parents starting a childhood obesity intervention. The CEBQ factor structure was tested with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Associations between CEBQ subscales Food approach and Food avoidance and CFQ factors Restriction, Pressure to eat and Monitoring were examined with structural equation modelling (SEM), adjusting for child and parental characteristics, and parental confidence, measured with the Lifestyle Behavior Checklist (LBC). CFQ Concern for child weight and Perceived responsibility for child eating were used as mediators.Results478 parents completed the questionnaires (children: 52% girls, mean age 5.5 years, 20% overweight/obese). A modified 8-factor structure showed an acceptable fit (TLI = 0.91, CFI = 0.92, RMSEA = 0.05 and SRMR = 0.06) after dropping one item and allowing three pairs of error terms to correlate. The SEM model demonstrated that Food approach had a weak direct effect on Restriction, but a moderate (β = 0.30) indirect effect via Concern, resulting in a substantial total effect (β = 0.37). Food avoidance had a strong positive effect on Pressure to eat (β = 0.71).DiscussionThe CEBQ is a valid instrument for assessing parental perceptions of preschoolers’ eating behaviors. Parental pressure to eat was strongly associated with children’s food avoidance. Parental restriction, however, was more strongly associated with parents’ concerns about their children’s weights than with children’s food approach. This suggests that childhood obesity interventions should address parents’ perceptions of healthy weight alongside perceptions of healthy eating.

Observational studies have suggested that with time, some diseases result in a characteristic odor emanating from different sources on the body of a sick individual. Evolutionarily, however, it would be more advantageous if the innate immune response were detectable by healthy individuals as a first line of defense against infection by various pathogens, to optimize avoidance of contagion. We activated the innate immune system in healthy individuals by injecting them with endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide). Within just a few hours, endotoxin-exposed individuals had a more aversive body odor relative to when they were exposed to a placebo. Moreover, this effect was statistically mediated by the individuals' level of immune activation. This chemosensory detection of the early innate immune response in humans represents the first experimental evidence that disease smells and supports the notion of a "behavioral immune response" that protects healthy individuals from sick ones by altering patterns of interpersonal contact.

Prolonged stress (≥ six months) may cause a condition which has been named exhaustion disorder (ED) with ICD-10 code F43.8. ED is characterised by exhaustion, cognitive problems, poor sleep and reduced tolerance to further stress. ED can cause long term disability and depressive symptoms may develop. The aim was to construct and evaluate a self-rating scale, the Karolinska Exhaustion Disorder Scale (KEDS), for the assessment of ED symptoms. A second aim was to examine the relationship between self-rated symptoms of ED, depression, and anxiety using KEDS and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD). Items were selected based on their correspondence to criteria for ED as formulated by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW), with seven response alternatives in a Likert-format. Self-ratings performed by 317 clinically assessed participants were used to analyse the scale’s psychometric properties. KEDS consists of nine items with a scale range of 0–54. Receiver operating characteristics analysis demonstrated that a cut-off score of 19 was accompanied by high sensitivity and specificity (each above 95%) in the discrimination between healthy subjects and patients with ED. Reliability was satisfactory and confirmatory factor analysis revealed that ED, depression and anxiety are best regarded as different phenomena. KEDS may be a useful tool in the assessment of symptoms of Exhaustion Disorder in clinical as well as research settings. There is evidence that the symptom clusters of ED, anxiety and depression, respectively, reflect three different underlying dimensions.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Early obesity treatment seems to be the most effective, but few treatments exist. In this study, we examine the effectiveness of a parent-only treatment program with and without booster sessions (Booster or No Booster) focusing on parenting practices and standard treatment (ST). METHODS: Families of children 4 to 6 years of age with obesity were recruited from 68 child care centers in Stockholm County and randomly assigned to a parent-only program (10 weeks) with or without boosters (9 months) or to ST. Treatment effects on primary outcomes (BMI z score) and secondary outcomes (BMI and waist circumference) during a 12-month period were examined with linear mixed models. The influence of sociodemographic factors was examined by 3-way interactions. The clinically significant change in BMI z score (20.5) was assessed with risk ratios. RESULTS: A total of 174 children (mean age: 5.3 years [SD 5 0.8]; BMI z score: 3.0 [SD 5 0.6], 56% girls) and their parents (60% foreign background; 39% university degree) were included in the analysis (Booster, n 5 44; No Booster, n 5 43; ST, n 5 87). After 12 months, children in the parent-only treatment had a greater reduction in their BMI z score (0.30; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 20.45 to 20.15) compared with ST (0.07; 95% CI: 20.19 to 0.05). Comparing all 3 groups, improvements in weight status were only seen for the Booster group (20.54; 95% CI: 20.77 to 20.30). The Booster group was 4.8 times (95% CI: 2.4 to 9.6) more likely to reach a clinically significant reduction of $0.5 of the BMI z score compared with ST. CONCLUSION A parent-only treatment with boosters outperformed standard care for obesity in preschoolers. WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Although obesity among preschoolers is common and on the rise, few existing treatment programs, including standard care, have been properly evaluated. Early treatment should be directed to parents and be of high intensity to be effective. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: We show that parent-only obesity treatment, including parenting skills training with follow-up booster sessions (but not without), outperformed standard treatment regarding improvements in child weight status. Thus, for successful obesity treatment in preschoolers, only parents need to be involved.

Detection and avoidance of sick individuals have been proposed as essential components in a behavioural defence against disease, limiting the risk of contamination. However, almost no knowledge exists on whether humans can detect sick individuals, and if so by what cues. Here, we demonstrate that untrained people can identify sick individuals above chance level by looking at facial photos taken 2 h after injection with a bacterial stimulus inducing an immune response (2.0 ng kg lipopolysaccharide) or placebo, the global sensitivity index being = 0.405. Signal detection analysis (receiver operating characteristic curve area) showed an area of 0.62 (95% confidence intervals 0.60-0.63). Acutely sick people were rated by naive observers as having paler lips and skin, a more swollen face, droopier corners of the mouth, more hanging eyelids, redder eyes, and less glossy and patchy skin, as well as appearing more tired. Our findings suggest that facial cues associated with the skin, mouth and eyes can aid in the detection of acutely sick and potentially contagious people.