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Biomedical subjects

J Firth-Cozens

Publications and source records attributed to J Firth-Cozens.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Self-criticism in adulthood and recalled childhood experience.

We investigated in a sample of 75 medical students the hypothesis that higher levels of self-criticism, a major vulnerability factor for depression, are related to retrospective reports of less satisfactory parenting, even when the potentially confounding factors of mood state and social desirability response set are controlled. At each of 2 measurement times, there were significant cross-sectional correlations between parental ratings and both depression and self-criticism, but the associations with self-criticism were no longer significant when depression was controlled. However, even after controlling for the effects of mood state and social desirability, persons with high levels of self-criticism at both measurement points (high trait self-criticism subjects) reported significantly worse relationships with their mothers than did the remaining subjects. They were also more likely to report below average relationships with both parents jointly.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Fear of death and strategies for coping with patient death among medical trainees.

This paper describes a longitudinal study of fear of death following up fourth-year medical students in their junior house officer year. It confirms previous findings that the fear of death is and remains multidimensional, with fear of being dead having the lowest score on both occasions and fear of someone close dying being consistently the highest. Fear of death reduces on each dimension over time, though not significantly. An analysis of descriptions of strategies used by students to cope with patient death showed that passive acceptance through rationalizing was the most commonly used, especially by men, followed by supporting the patient emotionally or clinically, which was used especially by women. The highest fear and stress scores were associated with avoidance, dismissal and seeking advice, while the lowest were shown by those who rationalized the event. The paper goes on to describe the relationship of fear of death to various individual differences including empathy, gender, parental death, parental anxiety, and stress.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Source of stress in women junior house officers.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the causes of stress in women doctors and relate these to levels of depression. DESIGN: Questionnaire study. SUBJECTS: Of 92 women doctors who had graduated from the universities of Leeds, Manchester, and Sheffield in 1986 and had been working as junior house officers for eight months 70 (76%) returned completed questionnaires. MAIN RESULTS: Mean score on the general health questionnaire was 13.79 (SD 5.20) and on the symptom checklist for depression was 1.43 (0.83). The scores of 32 subjects (46%) were above the criterion for clinical depression. Overwork was perceived as creating the most strain, followed by effects on personal life, serious failures of treatment, and talking to distressed relatives. Both stress and depression were related to effects on personal life, overwork, relations with consultants, and making decisions. Sex related sources of stress were conflicts between career and personal life, sexual harassment at work, a lack of female role models, and prejudice from patients. In addition to these, discrimination by senior doctors was related to depression. CONCLUSION: Changes are needed in the career paths of women doctors, and could be implemented.

Decision Making↗
PubMed1990

Two-year follow-up of the Sheffield Psychotherapy Project.

Of 40 depressed and anxious patients who received treatment during the Sheffield Psychotherapy Project, 31 completed the BDI and SCL-90 at two-year follow-up. At both group and individual levels, outcomes were very similar to those obtained at the completion of treatment. Substantial minorities of patients reported major life events and seeking further help for psychological problems during the two years, but these reports were not reliably associated with symptoms at follow-up. Patients recalled very different elements in prescriptive and exploratory therapies as helpful, with a notable emphasis upon prescriptive therapy's relaxation and anxiety management as a source of problem solution.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Stress in medical undergraduates and house officers.

Junior doctors, and to a lesser extent medical students, suffer higher rates of stress and depression than the general population. While some of the causes of these problems may lie with the individual, others are associated with organizational and career factors and with a training which still does not prepare them for those first postgraduate years.

Female↗
PubMed1988

Attributional change during psychotherapy.

Previous research suggests that causal attributions for life-events are involved in the process of recovery from depression. The study assessed depressive symptoms and attributions before and after treatment in 40 clients. Each client received two forms of therapy in a cross-over design: Exploratory (relationship-oriented, interpersonal) therapy, and Prescriptive (cognitive-behavioural) therapy. During the course of treatment, attributions became significantly more unstable, specific and controllable. There was a positive relation between attributional change and change in depression symptoms, with significant correlations occurring on all dimensions, apart from Externality, and on a composite measure.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1988

Client perceptions of significant events in prescriptive and exploratory periods of individual therapy.

This study compared the impact of helpful and hindering events, as perceived by 40 clients, in two forms of psychotherapy: an exploratory, relationship-oriented therapy, and a prescriptive, cognitive/behavioural therapy. All clients received eight sessions of each type of treatment in a crossover design. Events were obtained by self-report both during and at the end of each period, and content analysed for type of therapeutic impact by three trained raters. Results showed that during treatment the most commonly occurring helpful impacts across both types of treatments were 'problem solution', 'awareness' and 'reassurance', while the most commonly occurring hindering impact was 'unwanted thoughts'. Similar impacts were reported at the end of each period, with the addition of 'personal contact'. In addition, it was found that 'problem solution' and 'reassurance' impacts were more commonly reported in prescriptive treatment, whereas 'awareness' and 'personal contact' impacts were more prevalent in exploratory treatment. Only the prevalence of 'unwanted thoughts' was correlated (negatively) with outcome. Some possible reasons for the lack of correlation between reported impacts and outcome are suggested.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1987

Emotional distress in junior house officers.

In a study of 170 junior house officers who were followed up from their fourth year in medical school mean levels of stress were higher than in other reported occupational groups, and the estimated prevalence of emotional disturbance was 50%, with 28% of the subjects showing evidence of depression. Nearly a fifth of the subjects reported occasional or frequent bouts of heavy drinking, a quarter took drugs for physical illness, and a few took drugs for recreation. Those who were emotionally distressed at the initial study and the follow up were more empathetic and more self critical than those who had low levels of stress on both occasions. Overwork was the most stressful aspect of their jobs, though the number of hours worked was not related to stress levels, unlike diet and sleep. The more stressed they were the more unfavourably they viewed aspects of their jobs. The incidence of distress is unacceptably high in junior house officers, and both they and the hospitals need to deal with the causes of the distress.

Affective Symptoms↗