<p>Little attention has been paid to the psychological determinants by which benefits are accrued via yoga practice in cancer-related clinical settings. Using a longitudinal multilevel modeling approach, associations between affect, mindfulness, and patient-reported mental health outcomes, including mood disturbance, stress symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HRQL), were examined in an existing seven-week yoga program for cancer survivors. Participants (N = 66) were assessed before and after the yoga program and at three- and six-month follow-ups. Decreases in mood disturbance and stress symptoms and improvements in HRQL were observed upon program completion. Improvements in mood disturbance and stress symptoms were maintained at the three- and six-month follow-ups. HRQL exhibited further improvement at the three-month follow-up, which was maintained at the six-month follow-up. Improvements in measures of well-being were predicted by initial positive yoga beliefs and concurrently assessed affective and mindfulness predictor variables. Previous yoga experience, affect, mindfulness, and HRQL were related to yoga practice maintenance over the course of the study.</p>
Teachers are the primary implementers of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. Their beliefs about SEL likely influence program delivery, evaluation, and outcomes. A simple tool for measuring these beliefs could be used by school administrators to determine school readiness for SEL programming and by researchers to better understand teacher variables that impact implementation fidelity and program outcomes. In a two-phase study, we developed and then validated a parsimonious measure of teachers' beliefs about SEL. In Phase 1, survey items were administered to 935 teachers and subjected to both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, resulting in three reliable scales pertaining to teachers' "comfort" with teaching SEL, "commitment" to learning about SEL, and perceptions about whether their school "culture" supports SEL. Phase 2 provided evidence for the concurrent and predictive validity of the scales with a subsample of teachers implementing an SEL program as part of a randomized controlled trial. The discussion focuses on the value of measuring teachers' beliefs about SEL from both researcher and practitioner perspectives. (Contains 1 note, 3 tables, and 1 figure.)
Social and emotional learning competencies are included within physical education standards in the United States and abroad. Students should begin learning these important life skills in physical education at an early age, but most of the available teaching strategies target secondary environments. Physical educators can intentionally integrate social and emotional learning competencies in elementary settings through a combination of the skill themes approach and the personal and social responsibility model. This article provides a brief introduction to both the skill themes approach and the personal and social responsibility model, and an overview of four strategies for promoting social and emotional learning: (1) developing a student-centered learning environment, (2) creating progressions to help students learn social and emotional learning competencies, (3) being explicit about teaching social and emotional learning competencies, and (4) providing developmentally appropriate and relevant examples of transfer.
Schoolwide interventions are among the most effective approaches for improving students' behavioral and academic outcomes. However, researchers have documented consistent challenges with implementation fidelity and have argued that school social workers should be engaged in efforts to improve treatment integrity. This study examines contextual influences on the implementation of a whole-school intervention called Responsive Classroom (RC) in one urban K-8 public school serving a diverse student body. RC improves social, emotional, literacy, and math outcomes for disadvantaged students with behavior problems by building on the assets of teachers to intervene with misbehaving students in the classroom setting or school environment. Yet little is understood regarding the factors that constrain or enable implementation of RC in noncontrolled research conditions. Results from a mixed-methods convergent analysis of focus group, observation, and survey data indicate the influence of the following three contextual factors on implementation fidelity: (1) intervention characteristics such as compatibility with staff members' beliefs about behavior change and management, (2) organizational capacity such as principal and teacher buy-in, and (3) the intervention support system such as training and technical assistance. Implications for future school social work research and practice with respect to the implementation of schoolwide programs are discussed.
High relapse and recurrence rate of depression put financial pressure on already stretched resources for health care. Therefore, the demand for the development of prophylactic treatments in order to keep patients well, once recovered, has increased during the last decade. The development of a new therapy manual for group interventions, ‘Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression’ (MBCT), appears to be one of the first major developments in this direction. MBCT represents an adaptation of the mindfulness meditation approach into a group programme for relapse prevention of depression. This paper links the mindfulness approach into current metacognitive concepts and models of emotional disorders by firstly exploring the limitations of Beck's schema theory and then describing a more recent multilevel model (interacting cognitive sub-systems, or ICS) which represents the theoretical foundation for the mindfulness approach. A description of the MBCT manual is followed by looking at the methodological limitations of the mindfulness construct and its implications for future therapeutic interventions. Despite its methodological problems, MBCT appears to be an advanced and cost-efficient approach to prophylactic interventions to prevent recovered depressed patients from relapse. Further developments and methodological testing is still required to give the approach an even more robust foundation.
High relapse and recurrence rate of depression put financial pressure on already stretched resources for health care. Therefore, the demand for the development of prophylactic treatments in order to keep patients well, once recovered, has increased during the last decade. The development of a new therapy manual for group interventions, ‘Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression’ (MBCT), appears to be one of the first major developments in this direction. MBCT represents an adaptation of the mindfulness meditation approach into a group programme for relapse prevention of depression. This paper links the mindfulness approach into current metacognitive concepts and models of emotional disorders by firstly exploring the limitations of Beck's schema theory and then describing a more recent multilevel model (interacting cognitive sub-systems, or ICS) which represents the theoretical foundation for the mindfulness approach. A description of the MBCT manual is followed by looking at the methodological limitations of the mindfulness construct and its implications for future therapeutic interventions. Despite its methodological problems, MBCT appears to be an advanced and cost-efficient approach to prophylactic interventions to prevent recovered depressed patients from relapse. Further developments and methodological testing is still required to give the approach an even more robust foundation.
This preliminary study examined intervention effects of a universal prevention program offered by classroom teachers to public elementary school students. The Unique Minds School Program (M.B. Stern, 1999) is a teacher-led program designed to promote cognitive-social-emotional (CSE) skills, including student self-efficacy, problem solving, social-emotional competence, and a positive classroom climate, with the dual goal of preventing youth behavioral problems and promoting academic learning. During 2 consecutive school years, 119 students and their teachers were assessed in the fall and spring of Grade 4 and again in the spring of Grade 5. As compared to students in the comparison school, students in the intervention showed gains in student self-efficacy, problem solving, social-emotional competencies, and math grades. Incremental gains within CSE domains were found after 1 and 2 years of intervention. (Contains 1 table.)
OBJECTIVES:Major depressive disorder is a significant mental illness that is highly likely to recur, particularly after three or more previous episodes. Increased mindfulness and decreased rumination have both been associated with decreased depressive relapse. The aim of this study was to investigate whether rumination mediates the relationship between mindfulness and depressive relapse.
DESIGN:
This prospective design involved a secondary data analysis for identifying causal mechanisms using mediation analysis.
METHODS:
This study was embedded in a pragmatic randomized controlled trial of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in which 203 participants (165 females, 38 males; mean age: 48 years), with a history of at least three previous episodes of depression, completed measures of mindfulness, rumination, and depressive relapse over a 2-year follow-up period. Specific components of mindfulness and rumination, being nonjudging and brooding, respectively, were also explored.
RESULTS:
While higher mindfulness scores predicted reductions in rumination and depressive relapse, the relationship between mindfulness and relapse was not found to be mediated by rumination, although there appeared to be a trend.
CONCLUSIONS:
Our results strengthen the argument that mindfulness may be important in preventing relapse but that rumination is not a significant mediator of its effects. The study was adequately powered to detect medium mediation effects, but it is possible that smaller effects were present but not detected.
PRACTITIONER POINTS:
Mindfulness may be one of several components of MBCT contributing to prevention of depressive relapse. Although the original rationale for MBCT rested largely on a model of relapse causally linked to rumination, our findings suggest that the mechanism by which mindfulness impacts relapse is more complex than a simple effect on rumination.
OBJECTIVES: Randomized controlled studies on the effectiveness of body-oriented methods of treatment for children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are lacking. Our aim was to compare the effectiveness of two methods of treatment (yoga for children vs. conventional motor exercises) in a randomized controlled pilot study.
METHODS: Nineteen children with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD (according to ICD-10 criteria) were included and randomly assigned to treatment conditions according to a 2x2 cross-over design. Effects of treatment were analyzed by means of an analysis of variance for repeated measurements.
RESULTS: For all outcome measures (test scores on an attention task, and parent ratings of ADHD symptoms) the yoga training was superior to the conventional motor training, with effect sizes in the medium-to-high range (0.60-0.97). All children showed sizable reductions in symptoms over time, and at the end of the study, the group means for the ADHD scales did not differ significantly from those for a representative control group. Furthermore, the training was particularly effective for children undergoing pharmacotherapy (MPH).
CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this pilot study demonstrate that yoga can be an effective complementary or concomitant treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The study advocates further research into the impact of yoga or body-oriented therapies on the prevention and treatment of ADHD.
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ObjectiveWe examined whether prenatal mindfulness training was associated with lower depressive symptoms through 18‐months postpartum compared to treatment as usual (TAU).
Method
A controlled, quasi‐experimental trial compared prenatal mindfulness training (MMT) to TAU. We collected depressive symptom data at post‐intervention, 6‐, and 18‐months postpartum. Latent profile analysis identified depressive symptom profiles, and multinomial logistic regression examined whether treatment condition predicted profile.
Results
Three depressive symptom severity profiles emerged: none/minimal, mild, and moderate. Adjusting for relevant covariates, MMT participants were less likely than TAU participants to be in the moderate profile than the none/minimal profile (OR = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.03‐0.54, p = .005).
Conclusions
Prenatal mindfulness training may have benefits for depressive symptoms during the transition to parenthood.
College can be a time of immense stress. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to be an effective stress management technique. A significant limitation of the mindfulness literature, however, is a reliance on inactive control groups. We compared a mindfulness intervention with both an ecologically valid, active control (interacting with a dog during a group study break) and a no-treatment control. Participants (n = 74) were randomly assigned to groups, with the treatment groups completing 4 weekly sessions (duration: 1 hr). By the end of the 4th session, those in the mindfulness group exhibited significantly lower state anxiety compared with those in the other groups, while the dog group was also significantly less anxious than the control group. In addition, both the dog and the mindfulness groups exhibited significantly less dysphoric affect than the control group. All of the participants came in for a posttreatment assessment during which they were given a cognitive stressor challenge. Electrocardiogram data were collected during the cognitive challenge allowing us to assess heart rate variability (HRV)—a measure of the body’s ability to modulate the physiological stress response. Participants in the mindfulness group exhibited significantly higher HRV during the cognitive challenge than those in the other 2 groups, signifying a more-adaptive response to stress (p < .05). Individuals in the dog group, meanwhile, were no different from control participants. These preliminary findings suggest that brief mindfulness training can help college students manage their stress in response to the ubiquitous academic and cognitive challenges of college life.
IntroductionThe aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on suicidal ideation in an open-label randomised controlled trial of patients with residual depressive symptoms. Furthermore, this study aimed at examining whether an effect of MBCT on suicidal ideation was dependent on a reduction in depression severity, worry and rumination, or an increase in mindfulness.
Methods
One hundred and thirty participants were randomised to a treatment arm (treatment as usual plus MBCT) or a wait list arm. Change in depression, change in worry, change in rumination and change in mindfulness were entered as covariates in a repeated measures ANOVA in order to assess to what degree MBCT-induced changes in suicidal ideation were independent from changes in these parameters.
Results
There was a significant group × time (pre vs. post) interaction on suicidal ideation indicating a significant reduction of suicidal ideation in the MBCT group, but not in the control group. The interaction remained significant after addition of the above covariates. Change in worry was the only covariate associated with change in suicidal ideation, causing a moderate reduction in the interaction effect size.
Conclusions
The results suggest that MBCT may affect suicidal ideation in patients with residual depressive symptoms and that this effect may be mediated, in part, by participants’ enhanced capacity to distance themselves from worrying thoughts.
IntroductionSleep disturbance is common and associated with compromised health status. Cognitive processes characterized by stress and worry can cause, or contribute to, sleep complaints. This study systematically evaluated the evidence that sleep can be improved by mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a formalized psychoeducational intervention that helps individuals self-manage and reframe worrisome and intrusive thoughts.
Methods
Articles were identified from searches of Medline, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Digital Dissertations, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Eligible for inclusion were English language clinical trials of MBSR that reported preintervention and postintervention measures of sleep quality or duration. Studies employing multicomponent interventions were excluded. Studies were reviewed independently by the first and second authors.
Results
Thirty-eight articles were identified for review. Seven met inclusion criteria. Lack of standardized outcome measures precluded pooling of results for quantitative data analysis. Sleep report measures varied (standardized scales, single item, sleep diaries). Four studies (all uncontrolled) found that MBSR significantly improved measures of sleep quality or duration. The remaining studies found no statistically significant difference between treatment and control conditions.
Conclusions
To date, controlled studies have not clearly demonstrated the positive effects of MBSR on sleep quality and duration. However, there is some evidence to suggest that increased practice of mindfulness techniques is associated with improved sleep and that MBSR participants experience a decrease in sleep-interfering cognitive processes (eg, worry). More research is needed using standardized sleep scales and methods, with particular attention to the importance of MBSR home practice.
BACKGROUND: There appears to be consensus that patients with only one or two prior depressive episodes do not benefit from treatment with mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT).AIMS:
To investigate whether the effect of MBCT on residual depressive symptoms is contingent on the number of previous depressive episodes (trial number NTR1084).
METHOD:
Currently non-depressed adults with residual depressive symptoms and a history of depression (≤2 prior episodes: n = 71; ≥3 episodes: n = 59) were randomised to MBCT (n = 64) or a waiting list (control: n = 66) in an open-label, randomised controlled trial. The main outcome measured was the reduction in residual depressive symptoms (Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, HRSD-17).
RESULTS:
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was superior to the control condition across subgroups (β = -0.56, P<0.001). The interaction between treatment and subgroup was not significant (β = 0.45, P = 0.16).
CONCLUSIONS:
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduces residual depressive symptoms irrespective of the number of previous episodes of major depression.
Background. In the earlier stages of prostate cancer, effective treatments have created a need for research to focus on practices that may improve quality of life throughout survivorship. Physical activity is a significant supportive care management strategy for prostate cancer survivors, though the optimal modality is not yet understood. Hypotheses. The authors hypothesized that yoga would be a feasible physical activity option for prostate cancer survivors and their support persons and that the incorporation of social support would increase physical activity adherence. Methods. This 14-week feasibility study involved a 7-week class-based yoga program (adherence phase), followed by 7 weeks of self-selected physical activity (maintenance phase). Demographic information, physical activity behavior, quality of life, fatigue, stress, mood, and fitness variables were assessed at 3 time points. Prostate cancer survivors' perceived social support was rated during yoga and after yoga. Results. Class attendance was 6.1 and 5.8 for prostate cancer survivors (n = 15) and their support persons (n = 10), respectively, for the 7 classes. Levels of perceived social support were higher for those who brought a support person. Significant improvements with regard to stress, fatigue, and mood before and after yoga class (all Ps < .05) were reported by all participants. No clinically significant changes were noted on prostate cancer survivor's quality of life or fatigue over the course of the 14-week study. Conclusions. Yoga is a feasible physical activity option for prostate cancer survivors. The program had a promising uptake rate, high program adherence rate, and there were acute program benefits with regard to stress, fatigue, and mood for all participants. Future examination is warranted with regard to chronic benefits and group cohesion influences on levels of perceived social support.
BACKGROUND: In the earlier stages of prostate cancer, effective treatments have created a need for research to focus on practices that may improve quality of life throughout survivorship. Physical activity is a significant supportive care management strategy for prostate cancer survivors, though the optimal modality is not yet understood.HYPOTHESES: The authors hypothesized that yoga would be a feasible physical activity option for prostate cancer survivors and their support persons and that the incorporation of social support would increase physical activity adherence.
METHODS: This 14-week feasibility study involved a 7-week class-based yoga program (adherence phase), followed by 7 weeks of self-selected physical activity (maintenance phase). Demographic information, physical activity behavior, quality of life, fatigue, stress, mood, and fitness variables were assessed at 3 time points. Prostate cancer survivors' perceived social support was rated during yoga and after yoga.
RESULTS: Class attendance was 6.1 and 5.8 for prostate cancer survivors (n = 15) and their support persons (n = 10), respectively, for the 7 classes. Levels of perceived social support were higher for those who brought a support person. Significant improvements with regard to stress, fatigue, and mood before and after yoga class (all Ps < .05) were reported by all participants. No clinically significant changes were noted on prostate cancer survivor's quality of life or fatigue over the course of the 14-week study.
CONCLUSIONS: Yoga is a feasible physical activity option for prostate cancer survivors. The program had a promising uptake rate, high program adherence rate, and there were acute program benefits with regard to stress, fatigue, and mood for all participants. Future examination is warranted with regard to chronic benefits and group cohesion influences on levels of perceived social support.
Commonly proposed definitions of the "anthropocene" suggest that significant human alteration of the Earth system is connected to fossil fuel consumption coinciding with the Industrial Revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries, or global change resulting from the "Great Acceleration" following the Second World War. Although evidence for earlier, anthropogenically-driven environmental changes are acknowledged, they are seen as qualitatively different. This perspective is also prevalent in conservation and ecological discussions of human impacts on tropical forests. A growing body of archaeological and historical evidence demonstrates, however, that humans influenced physical, chemical, and biological systems through large regions of tropical forest starting as early as 45,000 years ago. This evidence challenges the idea, prevalent in global scenarios of anthropogenic land cover change, that human influence on tropical forests was limited until the colonial or industrial era. This paper reviews the role of tropical forests in the Earth system and, through a synthesis of archaeological data, critiques the prevailing view of anthropogenic influence on tropical forests in the pre-industrial world. We suggest that any definition of the anthropocene should account for the long history of human modifications to tropical forests. Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research in these ecosystems is also critical to the broader debates in the social and natural sciences around the onset and utility of the anthropocene concept, and the potential for long-term, sustainable occupation of tropical forest environments.
We evaluated the association between social support received from significant others, family, and friends and HIV-related sexual risk behaviors among African American men involved in the criminal justice system. Project DISRUPT is a cohort study among African American men released from prison in North Carolina (N = 189). During the baseline (in-prison) survey, we assessed the amount of support men perceived they had received from significant others, family, and friends. We measured associations between low support from each source (<median value) and participants’ sex risk in the 6 months before incarceration. Low levels of social support from significant others, family, or friends were associated with poverty and homelessness, mental disorders, and substance use. Adjusting for age, poverty, and other sources of support, perceiving low support from significant others was strongly associated with multiple partnerships (fully adjusted odds ratio (OR) 2.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29–5.42). Low significant other support also was strongly associated with sex trade involvement when adjusting for age and poverty status (adjusted OR 3.51, 95% CI 1.25–9.85) but further adjustment for low family and friend support weakened the association (fully adjusted OR 2.81, 95% CI 0.92–8.55). Significant other support was not associated with other sex risk outcomes including concurrent partnerships, anal sex, or sex with an STI/HIV-infected partner. Low family support was associated with multiple partnerships in analyses adjusting for age and poverty (adjusted OR 1.98, 95% CI 1.05–3.76) but the association weakened and was no longer significant after adjusting for other sources of support (fully adjusted OR 1.40, 95% CI 0.65–3.00); family support was not correlated with other risk behaviors. Friend support was not significantly associated with sex risk outcomes. Indicators of overall support from any source were not associated with sex risk outcomes. Helping inmates maintain ties may improve economic security and well-being during community re-entry, while supporting and strengthening relationships with a significant other in particular may help reduce sex risk. Studies should evaluate the protective effects of distinct support sources to avoid masking effects of support and to best understand the influence of social support on health.
Evidence is growing that vulnerability to depression may be characterized by strong negative feedback loops between mental states. It is unknown whether such dynamics between mental states can be altered by treatment. This study examined whether treatment with imipramine or treatment with Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) reduces the connectivity within dynamic networks of mental states in individuals with depressive symptoms. In the Imipramine trial, individuals diagnosed with major depression were randomized to imipramine treatment or placebo-pill treatment (n = 50). In the Mind-Maastricht trial, individuals with residual depressive symptoms were randomized to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) or to a waiting-list control condition (n = 119). Lagged associations among mental states, as assessed with the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), were estimated at baseline and post-intervention. The results show that few of the dynamic network connections changed significantly over time and few of the changes after MBCT and imipramine treatment differed significantly from the control groups. The decrease in average node connectivity after MBCT did not differ from the decrease observed in the waiting-list control group. Our findings suggest that imipramine treatment and MBCT do not greatly change the dynamic network structure of mental states, even though they do reduce depressive symptomatology.
Practising yoga creates a sense of calm and focus and heightens awareness of the body's functions and movements. For children with sensory processing difficulties - because they either have low sensory thresholds and are overwhelmed by sensory stimulation, or because they have high thresholds and do not register stimulation - yoga can be hugely beneficial.This book presents easy-to-follow basic postures and sequences for children and young people which can be easily adapted for adults. Nicole Cuomo gives practical advice for how to choose appropriate sequences according to the child's particular needs and mood, knowing that yoga will be most beneficial when it is fun! Photographs of each posture supplement the descriptions.
This practical book provides a wide range of ideas for therapists, educators and parents to help their children with sensory processing needs.
This study examined how training, dosage, and implementation quality of a social and emotional learning program, The RULER Approach, were related to students' social and emotional competencies. There were no main effects for any of the variables on student outcomes, but students had more positive outcomes when their teachers (a) attended more trainings and taught more lessons, and (b) were classified as either moderate- or high-quality program implementers. Student outcomes were more negative when their teachers were classified as low-quality implementers who also attended more trainings and taught more lessons. Post hoc analyses revealed that low-quality implementers felt less efficacious about their overall teaching than high-quality implementers. The discussion focuses on the importance of assessing the interaction of training and implementation variables when examining the effect of social and emotional learning programs. (Contains 3 tables.)
Mindfulness reflects heightened awareness and attention to the present moment, in both experience and behavior. Research has begun to examine mindfulness in the domain of pro-environmental behavior, and documents positive relationships with connectedness to nature, and engagement in pro-environmental behavior. Two independent studies with two different samples were conducted to test the study hypotheses. It was hypothesized that mindfulness would be significantly correlated with self-reported pro-environmental behavior (Hypothesis 1) and that that connectedness to nature indirectly affects the relationship between mindfulness and pro-environmental behavior (Hypothesis 2). Participants completed measures of mindfulness across five facets, connectedness to nature, and their engagement in 17 daily pro-environmental behaviors. Results support Hypothesis 1 in that mindfulness is significantly associated with pro-environmental behavior (Studies 1 and 2). Results also support Hypothesis 2 in that connectedness to nature indirectly affects the relationship between mindfulness and pro-environmental behavior (Studies 1 and 2). Post hoc analyses reveal that the facets of observing and nonreactivity are particularly important in the context of pro-environmental behavior (Study 2). We discuss these findings as they relate to the conceptualization of mindfulness as a means of behavioral regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Personality & Individual Differences is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
The practice of mindfulness is being used with increased frequency in schools around the world. In the current literature review we outline some of the core concepts and practices associated with mindfulness and discuss studies analysing the process of mindfulness teacher training. Preliminary research in this emerging field suggests that mindfulness has the potential to improve classroom management, teacher-student relationships and instructional strategies. Mindfulness instructors recommend that before teachers can feel comfortable and effectively teach mindfulness in the classroom they need to embody and practice mindfulness in their own lives. It is proposed that in order to improve our knowledge base in this area a critical synthesis and analysis of school-based mindfulness programs is required.
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