Petri Karkkola & Matti Kuittinen

Psychometric properties of the Finnish Pain-Self-Efficacy Questionnaire in musculoskeletal rehabilitees

The study examined the psychometric properties of the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ) and its associations with depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life. Its ability to explain depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life independently of neuroticism was also studied. Participants of the study were 74 rehabilitees at the beginning of their musculoskeletal rehabilitation program. The psychometric structure of the Finnish PSEQ was examined using principal components analysis, its test-retest reliability using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and the intraclass correlation coefficient and change over time using a t-test. Associations with depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life were examined with correla-tion coefficients. Linear regression analysis was used to study the ability of the PSEQ to explain depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life independently of neuroticism. The Finnish PSEQ seems to have a unidimensional and internally consistent psychometric structure. Its test-retest reliability is good. The PSEQ is associated with current depressive symptoms as expected but does not explain its variance once neuroticism is controlled. It is associated with all eight domains of health-related quality of life and explains the variance in seven of them even when neuroticism is controlled. Tentatively, the Finnish PSEQ can be considered a unidimensional measure of pain-related self-efficacy. In forthcoming studies, the aim should be in collecting larger samples more appropriate for confirmatory factor analysis. Validity of the measure should also be tested in prospective designs and with other than self-rating methods.

Keywords: Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, self-efficacy, pain, health-related quality of life

Ulla Kinnunen, Taru Feldt, Kalevi Korpela, Saija Mauno & Marjaana Sianoja

The stability of job exhaustion across two years: relations with recovery from work during off-job time

The aim of the study was to examine how the level of job exhaustion changes across two years and how this change or stability relate to recovery from work. Recovery from work was examined in terms of recovery experiences (psychological detachment from work, relaxation, mastery and control) and work-related rumina-tion (affective rumination and problem-solving pondering) during free time. Recovery experiences promote recovery from work, whereas work-related rumination hinders it. Altogether 664 employees from different fields took part in the study. 58 percent of the participants were women and 38 percent held an academic degree (master’s level or higher). Their average age was 47.5 years. The results showed that among the majority (61 %) of the employees, symptoms of job exhaustion remained stable across the two years (37 % had no symptoms, 17 % mild symptoms and 7 % severe symptoms). The symptoms of job exhaustion decreased in 19 percent of the employees and increased in 20 percent. The level and change of job exhaustion symptoms were related most clearly with affective work-related rumination, psychological detachment from work and relaxation during off-job time. In stable exhaustion groups rumination, detachment and relaxation in free time remained at the same level over time. Among those whose symptoms decreased, affective rumination decreased, whereas detachment and relaxation increased. Among those whose symptoms increased, rumination increased and detachment and relaxation decreased. Changes in weekly working hours and time demands at work supported the perceived change and stability in job exhaustion.

Keywords: job exhaustion, recovery from work, psychological detachment from work, work-related rumination

Susanne Ådahl

Researching auditory hallucinations: cultural and experiential perspectives

This article presents research conducted on a fairly little known, but surprisingly common human experience, voice hearing, also referred to as Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in medical parlance. In earlier psychiatric research hallucinations were integrated into a disease model and answers to the question of why some people experience hallucinations were sought in the mind sciences. The purpose of this article is to take note of how this phenomenon has been presented in biomedical research and why there is a need to present more phenomenologically informed perspectives on research in this field. A central goal of this post-psychiatric trend is to provide a more nuanced, experience-near account of this phenomenon and to push for collaborative research across and between the disciplines that concern themselves with hallucinations research. An additional goal is to support user-led re-search and interventions which have gained more currency in line with the upsurge of the recovery movement within psychiatry and medicine at large. The example of research on the AVH phenomenon can thus serve as an illustration of the advantages of employing a first-person perspective in research on states deemed to be pathological, and how this may gradually lead to a reduction of the stigma associated with voice hearing.

Keywords: auditory verbal hallucinations, research, phenomenology, first-person perspective, stigma