Type D personality in Poland: Validity and application of the Polish DS14 Type D personality is an emerging risk indicator in cardiovascular disease, associated with poor patient-centered outcomes, mortality and morbidity. Little is known about the cross-cultural utility of the construct, as it has primarily been used in the Western European setting. We applied the Type D Scale to a large sample of healthy and CVD patients to validate the DS14 in Poland. DS14 was used in the sample comprised 1154 (...) persons, healthy and CVD. The internal consistency of the Polish version of the DS14 was good with Cronbach's alpha of 0.86 for negative affectivity and 0.84 for social inhibition. The 2-factor structure of the DS14 was confirmed both with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Both of the DS14 subscales were internally consistent and stable over time. Using the standardized cut-off ≥10 for both NA and SI to identify those with a Type D personality, the prevalence was 72.1% in CVD patients and 34.8% in healthy. The Type D personality construct, as assessed with the DS14, seems to be applicable to the Polish setting, as the Polish DS14 was shown to be a psychometrically sound instrument. (shrink)

Cognitive and behavioral predictors in the process of smoking cessation during pregnancy: Testing for discontinuity patterns in the Transtheoretical Model The aim of the study was to assess predictive power of cognitive variables and health-promoting behaviors for the process of smoking cessation described in terms of the Transtheoretical Model. Participants in the study were 150 women, in uncomplicated pregnancy. Cigarette smokers constituted 29.3% of the sample, while the rest had previously quitted smoking. Beliefs and expectations were measured by means of (...) scales developed by the author, while health-related behaviors were assessed using the Health Behavior Inventory by Z. Juczyński, supplemented with pregnancy-specific behaviors. TTM discontinuity patterns were tested in the study using polynomial-based orthogonal contrasts. Statistically significant linear trends were found for expectations concerning the infant's health state and the course of delivery, for beliefs about the effect of maternal smoking on infant health, as well as for pregnancy health behaviors. The obtained results were confirmed by hierarchical regression analysis, with smoking cessation explained to a larger extent by cognitive factors than by health-related behaviors. This may suggest that the TTM is a "pseudo-stage" model, and a general change of the variables under study is of greater importance for the process of smoking cessation than focusing on the TTM stages. (shrink)