Background Motivational support is crucial for the success of smoking cessation. Significant others are a proven source of that support [1,2]. As far as we know social support has been used to achieve smoking cessation higher rates, but only as support and not as a concurrent attempt of a couple to quit smoking. We investigated whether the inclusion of couples of significant others in a joint e...

AIM The aim was to describe significant others' experiences of dialectical behaviour therapy-family skills training (DBT-FST), their life situation before and after DBT-FST, and measurement of their levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. METHODS The study had a descriptive mixed method design. Data were collected with free text questionnaires (n=44), group interviews (n=53) and the HAD sc...

Three studies demonstrate a novel phenomenon—self-regulatory outsourcing—in which thinking about how others can be instrumental (i.e., helpful) for a given goal undermines motivation to expend effort on that goal. In Experiment 1, participants who thought about how their partner helped them with health goals (vs. career goals) planned to spend less time and effort on health goals in the upcomin...

BACKGROUND Exclusive breastfeeding until six months followed by the introduction of solids and continued breastfeeding is recommended by the World Health Organisation. The dominant approach to achieving this has been to educate and support women to start and continue breastfeeding rather than understanding behaviour change processes from a broader perspective. METHOD Serial qualitative interv...

This study investigated the social adjustment of female family members and significant others (FSOs) of illicit drug users in order to gain insight into the impact of drug use upon those close to the user. Using the Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report (SAS-SR), we examined the social adjustment self-ratings (overall and in seven specific role areas) of 41 female partners and 24 mothers of drug ...

To test an attribution-emotion model of reactions to chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis, 30 significant others of 30 adult patients with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis were administered a semi-structured interview about their beliefs regarding the patient's illness and completed questionnaire measures of distress and behavioural responses to the patient. Spon...

This study is about intensive care patients and the bodily presence of significant others. The aim of the study is to inquire and understand the patients experience of the body in relation to their significant others during critical illness. Open, unstructured, in-depth interviews with six former intensive care patients provide the data for the study. The phenomenological-hermeneutical analysis...

Extending research on the automatic activation of goals associated with significant others, the authors hypothesized that self-verification goals typically pursued with significant others are automatically elicited when a significant-other representation is activated. Supporting this hypothesis, the activation of a significant-other representation through priming (Experiments 1 and 3) or throug...

CONTEXT Teenagers' decisions about how to resolve a pregnancy are made in the context of a society, a family and a relationship with a partner. Little is known about how such decisions are made, however, particularly in Australia. METHODS The association between the influence--both direct and indirect--of significant others and adolescent women's decisions to terminate or continue a pregnancy...