Publications by authors named "Randi E McCabe"

Background: Sexual concerns are reported by 43%-82.5% of peri- and post-menopausal women and negatively impact physical and emotional well-being. Despite the high prevalence and negative impact, treatment options are limited, particularly those which are non-pharmacological.

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Background: Mental health disorders are the most prevalent health complication experienced during pregnancy and the postpartum, with anxiety disorders being most common. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a well-known feature of anxiety disorders and has recently been identified as a risk factor for the worsening of anxiety during the postpartum period. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a first-line treatment for perinatal anxiety, and CBT specifically targeting IU in non-perinatal populations has demonstrated positive findings for reducing anxiety.

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Nurses are at risk of adverse mental health symptoms due to frequent exposure to workplace stressors, but less is known about nurses' experiences with interprofessional stressors. This study was designed to understand nurses' perspectives on interprofessional stressors in the workplace. Nurses rated exposures to stressful events through an online survey and were invited to comment on the event they perceived to be the most distressing and impactful.

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The term "brain fog" has long been used both colloquially and in research literature in reference to various neurocognitive phenomenon that detract from cognitive efficiency. We define "brain fog" as the subjective experience of cognitive difficulties, in keeping with the most common colloquial and research use of the term. While a recent increase in use of this term has largely been in the context of the post-coronavirus-19 condition known as long COVID, "brain fog" has also been discussed in relation to several other conditions including mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Background: One of the most effective treatments for social anxiety disorder (SAD) is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Prior research indicates group cohesion is connected to treatment success in group CBT for SAD (CBGT). Videoconference CBGT delivery is now common following the COVID-19 pandemic; however, research investigating treatment outcomes and group cohesion in videoconference CBGT for SAD is limited.

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Introduction: Healthcare workers (HCWs) have reported COVID-19 pandemic-related adverse mental health impacts. We examined the demographic profile of HCWs who self-referred for mental health treatment, how referrals changed over time in relation to waves of COVID-19, what the main problem was for which HCWs sought treatment, and how this changed during the pandemic.

Methods: Five major healthcare institutions provided mental health supports to HCWs across Ontario during the pandemic.

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Aims: Structured clinical interviewing is considered the gold standard in psychiatric diagnosis. The Diagnostic Assessment Research Tool (DART) is a novel modularized, non-copywritten, semi-structured interview; however, no studies have examined the psychometric properties of its alcohol use disorder (AUD) module. The primary aims of this study were to: (i) validate the factor structure of the DART AUD module and (ii) examine measurement invariance across several key demographic and subgroup factors.

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Public safety personnel (PSP), such as police officers, firefighters, correctional workers, and paramedics, routinely face work stressors that increase their risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PSP may additionally face moral transgressions in the workplace (e.g.

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Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms are hypothesized to be driven by two core motivations: harm avoidance and incompleteness. While cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for OCD, many posit that OCD presentations characterized by high incompleteness may be harder to treat. The relationship between the core motivations and treatment outcomes remains to be further explored.

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Background: Staffing shortages across the healthcare sector pose a threat to the continuity of the Canadian healthcare system in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era. We sought to understand factors associated with turnover intention as well as Canadian healthcare providers' (HCPs) perspectives and experiences with turnover intention as related to both organizational and professional turnover.

Method: A convergent questionnaire mixed-methods design was employed.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigated how treatment affects neurocognitive performance in individuals with OCD, focusing on symptom changes and the role of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism as a genetic factor.
  • Participants (N = 125) received various treatments, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and physical exercise, with assessments done before and after treatment to measure OCD symptoms and neurocognitive abilities.
  • Results showed that while OCD symptoms improved with treatment, neurocognitive performance also enhanced independently of the BDNF genotype, indicating a strong link between symptom relief and cognitive function improvement.
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Introduction: Individuals with insomnia disorder often exhibit differences between reported experiences of sleep and objectively measured sleep parameters; however, the implications of this subjective-objective sleep discrepancy during treatment remains unclear.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) on the discrepancy between objective and subjective measures of sleep, and to assess whether changes in clinical variables such as depression, anxiety, fatigue, and beliefs about sleep, were related to changes in discrepancy.

Methods: Twenty-five participants with insomnia disorder were enrolled in group CBT-I.

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been used with increasing frequency as a therapeutic tool to alleviate clinical symptoms of obsessive compulsive-disorder (OCD). However, little is known about the effects of tDCS on neurocognitive functioning among OCD patients. The aim of this review was to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature examining the effects of tDCS on specific neurocognitive functions in OCD.

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Background: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective for several psychiatric and somatic conditions; however, most randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have administered treatment in person and whether remote delivery is similarly effective remains uncertain. We sought to compare the effectiveness of therapist-guided remote CBT and in-person CBT.

Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to July 4, 2023, for RCTs that enrolled adults (aged ≥ 18 yr) presenting with any clinical condition and that randomized participants to either therapist-guided remote CBT (e.

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Healthcare workers (HCWs) across the globe have reported symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moral Injury (MI) has been associated with PTSD in military populations, but is not well studied in healthcare contexts. Moral Distress (MD), a related concept, may enhance understandings of MI and its relation to PTSD among HCWs.

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Adults with clinical anxiety have significant symptom overlap and above average rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Despite this, ADHD remains a vastly under-detected disorder among this population, indicating the need for a screener with well-understood symptom dimensions and good discriminant validity. The current study compared competing models of ADHD as well as discriminant properties of self-reported ADHD symptoms as measured by the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-v1.

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Introduction: Respiratory therapists (RTs) faced morally distressing situations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including working with limited resources and facilitating video calls for families of dying patients. Moral distress is associated with a host of adverse psychological and functional outcomes (e.g.

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Article Synopsis
  • Healthcare providers (HCPs) experienced moral injuries related to shame and trust violations during the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting their mental health.
  • The study surveyed 176 Canadian HCPs to explore how different coping methods, like spirituality and organizational support, influenced these moral injuries.
  • Results showed that spiritual well-being and organizational support significantly reduced both total and specific types of moral injury, particularly highlighting their stronger impact on trust-violation-related injuries compared to shame-related injuries.
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Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) including exposure and response prevention is the first-line psychological treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Given changes in the clinical landscape, there are increasing efforts to evaluate its effectiveness in online contexts. Mirroring the traditional in-person delivery, few studies have assessed the role of therapist-guided, manual-based CBT for OCD delivered in real-time via videoconferencing methods.

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Although much is known about how intrusive thoughts become obsessions, the factors that determine which particular thoughts do so is not. The degree to which intrusions are personally significant may be such a determinant. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is heterogeneous; thus, it is possible that contradictions of personal values may play a varying role in the development of obsessions depending on which OCD symptoms manifest and may change differentially following treatment.

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Article Synopsis
  • The research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of aerobic exercise and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) on reducing OCD symptoms, particularly for those who don't respond well to CBT alone.
  • A total of 125 participants were divided into four groups: a waitlist control, an exercise group, a CBT group, and a group combining CBT with exercise, with OCD symptoms measured at different points during the study.
  • Results showed that both CBT and its combination with exercise led to more significant reductions in OCD symptoms compared to exercise alone, indicating that the frequency of exercise plays a crucial role in symptom improvement.
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Post-Event Processing (PEP) is prevalent and problematic in Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) but is typically not a direct target in evidence-based treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for SAD. The primary aim of the current study was to examine the impact of several theoretically and empirically derived interventions for PEP in SAD, including concrete thinking, abstract thinking, and distraction in comparison to a control (i.e.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the effects of a brief virtual coping intervention on the mental health of Canadian healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the lack of research on psychological support for this group.
  • The intervention was well-received, leading to significant improvements in anxiety, depression, perceived stress, insomnia, and fear of COVID-19, with some benefits also noted in work/social impairment.
  • Findings suggest that these improvements were largely independent of factors like age, gender, or prior mental health treatment, indicating that the intervention was effective across various HCW profiles.
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Background: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)-characterised by excessive and uncontrollable worry-is the most frequently diagnosed anxiety disorder during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Identification of GAD often relies on assessment of its cardinal feature, pathological worry. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) is the most robust measure of pathological worry to date but has not been extensively evaluated for use during pregnancy and the postpartum period.

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Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a leading mental health concern during pregnancy and the postpartum (perinatal) period. People with GAD engage in problematic behaviors to manage their distress. However, the extent of GAD behaviors during the perinatal period may not be adequately captured by the Worry Behaviors Inventory (WBI), the most comprehensive measure of GAD behaviors to date.

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