Skip to main content
ABCT 2024 58th Annual Convention Main banner
Psychology Tools Ad
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session
Back
Evaluation ViewAttendees 4

Healing / Resilience
Symposia

Symposium 29 - Examining the role of hope and self-efficacy in mental health outcomes and cognitive-behavioral treatments

Friday, November 15, 2024
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
Location: Congress B, Fourth Floor, Loews Hotel
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Resilience, Coping, Stress
Level of Familiarity: Moderate to advanced
Recommended Readings: Gallagher, M. W., Long, L. J., & Phillips, C. A. (2020). Hope, optimism, self‐efficacy, and posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta‐analytic review of the protective effects of positive expectancies. Journal of clinical psychology, 76(3), 329-355.,   Ong, A. D., Liu, Z., & Cintron, D. W. (2023). Five challenges for hope and resilience research. Current Opinion in Psychology, 49, 101538.,   Benight, C. C., & Bandura, A. (2004). Social cognitive theory of posttraumatic recovery: The role of perceived self-efficacy. Behaviour research and therapy, 42(10), 1129-1148.,   Alessandri, G., Vecchione, M., & Caprara, G. V. (2015). Assessment of regulatory emotional self-efficacy beliefs: A review of the status of the art and some suggestions to move the field forward. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 33(1), 24-32.,  

Human resilience in the face of adversity continues to inspire scientific inquiry. For decades, researchers have been investigating factors that influence health outcomes and coping in the context of psychological stressors and trauma. Sometimes referred to as positive expectancies, hope and self-efficacy have been posited as cognitive factors that may protect one from developing psychopathology or facilitating recovery from it. In this symposium, three researchers will present data on the role that positive expectancy plays in well-being and mental health outcomes. The first researcher will report on a project that investigated the role that beliefs in one’s ability to regulate positive and negative emotions (Regulatory Emotional Self-efficacy; RESE) play in real-world social outcomes for adults suffering with anxiety and depression using ecological momentary assessment. Results showed that higher RESE for positive emotions (but not negative emotions) predicted feelings of satisfaction, connectedness, and acceptance during social interactions. Furthermore, higher RESE for positive emotions was associated with greater positive affect (PA) and lower negative affect (NA), which played mediating roles between the relationships between RESE for positive emotions and social outcomes. The second researcher will describe a project that evaluated whether discrimination and hope varied in health outcomes across cultural groups. Results showed that despite varying levels of discrimination and hope among different cultural groups, the relationships between these factors and health outcomes (e.g., measures of well-being, anxiety, and depression) were similar, suggesting that these psychological factors may operate similarly cross-culturally. The third researcher will present on a study that evaluated coping self-efficacy (CSE) as a mechanism of change during a two-week, cognitive processing therapy-based intensive treatment program for PTSD offered to military veterans and service members. Results did not demonstrate temporal precedence, a key component to demonstrate a mechanistic process, but did reveal that changes in CSE predicted subsequent changes in PTSD symptomatology, suggesting that CSE may be an indicator of treatment response. Finally, the symposium will conclude with comments made by a well-established researcher in the field, who will describe how the three studies fit into the broader literature on positive expectancies that has spanned nearly a half century.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Discuss the importance of regulatory emotional self-efficacy in the social and emotional experiences of adults with anxiety and depression.
  2. Describe the relationship between regulatory emotional self-efficacy for positive emotions and improved social interaction outcomes.
  3. Explain the relationship between hope and discrimination with mental health outcomes.
  4. Discuss how the relationships between hope, discrimination, and mental health may operate similarly cross-culturally.
  5. Describe the relationship between self-efficacy and symptoms change during treatment for PTSD

Presentations:

  • 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
    (SYM 29) Evaluating Self-efficacy as a Treatment Mechanism During an Intensive Treatment Program for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

    Speaker: Jonathan Murphy, ABPP, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Rush University Medical Center

  • 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
    (SYM 29) Hope, Discrimination, Mental Health and Well-being Across Asian, Hispanic, and African American Adults in the United States

    Speaker: Elijah R. Murphy, M.A. (he/him/his) – University of Houston

    Co-author: Jasmin Brooks Stephens, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Massachusetts General Hospital

    Co-author: Matthew W. Gallagher, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – University of Houston

  • 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
    (SYM 29) I Can Experience Positive Emotions When I Want To: Regulatory Emotional Self-efficacy Predicts Daily Social Connectedness in Adults with Anxiety or Depression

    Speaker: Samantha Hoffman, M.S. (she/her/hers) – San Diego State University/University of California Joint Doctoral Program

    Co-author: Charles T. Taylor, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – University of California San Diego