Attentional bias toward emotional stimuli in accidentally injured Chinese patients with different posttraumatic growth levels

23^rd World Nursing and Healthcare Conference

July 10-12, 2017 Berlin, Germany

Annuo Liu, Xiaohong Liu, Lulu Wang and Tingting Yan

School of Nursing, Second Military Medical University, No.800 Xiangyin Rd., Shanghai, 200433, China
School of Nursing, Anhui Medical University, No.81 Mei Shan Rd., Shu Shan District, Hefei, Anhui Province, 230032, China
First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, China
Shanghai Jiguang Polytechnic College, Shanghai, China

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Extensive evidence has been obtained that supports an association between an attentional bias toward negative stimuli and vulnerability to stress-related psychopathology. Little is known regarding whether biased attention toward positive stimuli relates to mental health and posttraumatic growth (PTG). The current study investigated whether accidentally injured Chinese patients who had different levels of PTG showed different patterns of attentional bias toward either positive or negative stimuli. A sample of 202 patients completed questionnaires measuring PTG and the modified dot-probe task. Participants were split in three groups based on the 20th percentile on the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: high-PTG, medium-PTG and low-PTG. Patients who scored low levels on the PTGI did not exhibit attentional bias toward negative or positive stimuli, patients with medium levels of PTG had difficulty disengaging attention from negative stimuli, and finally, patients with high levels of PTG had difficulty disengaging attention from positive stimuli. An implication of this finding is that the understanding of information processing biases in PTG and therefore suggest a novel target for prevention and treatment interventions, such as attentional bias training addressing stress-related psychopathology.