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Biomedical subjects

J R Reddon

Publications and source records attributed to J R Reddon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Assessing the efficacy of antidepressants: the transactional paradigm.

Extant pharmacological literature seems to indicate that antidepressants are the most effective treatment for depression. However, there are flaws in the traditional paradigm for evaluating the efficacy of antidepressants. The traditional paradigm in pharmacology has adopted a biologically monistic causal structure, suggesting that the efficacy of antidepressants resides exclusively in biological pathways. The current paradigm in pharmacology has ignored the potential impact of psychological factors associated with the efficacy of antidepressants. This has occurred because psychological effects are seen as being a "paradigmatic anomaly," phenomena that are at odds with the traditional paradigm. Thus, the psychological factors associated with the administration of antidepressants have collectively been labeled as a "placebo effect" and discounted as a potential treatment pathway. However, empirical evidence suggests that the psychological factors, such as the formation of patient expectancies and a therapeutic alliance between physician and patient, increase the efficacy of antidepressants. Consequently, the current paper proposes the adoption of a transactional model that reflects the reciprocal interaction between psychological and biological factors associated with the efficacy of antidepressants.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Utility and stability of the basic personality inventory in psychiatric patients with longstanding psychotic disorders in a new psychiatric rehabilitation program over a two-year period.

34 long-term psychiatric patients with psychotic-type diagnoses, participating in a Psychiatric Rehabilitation program, completed the Basic Personality Inventory 5 times at 6-mo. intervals. In comparison with normative data, participants had statistically significant (p < .01) higher means at Time 1, indicating greater reported psychopathology on all scales except Interpersonal Problems. Program participants also showed greater impairment than a heterogeneous group of 112 psychiatric patients, with statistically higher means on the scales of Denial, Persecutory Ideas, Thinking Disorder, and Self-depreciation. No statistically significant differences were found for sex, time, or their interaction. Correlations indicated high stability in the scale scores over time. Considerable stability in test scores over time does not indicate lack of program success but reflects stability maintenance goals and processes in patients with longstanding psychotic disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

The factor structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised: one or two but not three factors.

One-, 2-. and 3-factor solutions for the WAIS-R normative samples were examined using principal components analysis with varimax rotations. Factors were examined across age groups by computing congruence coefficients and root mean square differences to determine the equivalence and consistency of factors across age groups. There is strong evidence for the general (g) and 2-factor (verbal and perceptual organization) solutions but noticeably less support for memory/freedom from distractibility in the three-factor solution. Verbal and perceptual organization factors were also attenuated in the three-factor solution. One and 2-factor solutions were essentially equally justifiable but because the 1-factor solution was weighted most heavily with verbal measures, the 2-factor solution may be advantageous because this solution does distinguish between verbal and performance measures.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Follow-up of rapists treated in a forensic psychiatric hospital.

Current research examining the effectiveness of sex offender treatment is encouraging. Despite this optimism, research focusing on men who sexually assault adult women is less optimistic. This study examines the preliminary results of 74 rapists admitted into the Phoenix program, a voluntary sex offender treatment program in a forensic psychiatric hospital. Patients were categorized according to whether they completed treatment or not. Treated rapists (n = 36) reoffended at a substantially lower rate than untreated rapists who were assessed but not treated (n = 38). Statistically significant differences in reoffense rates were found for violent, nonsexual offenses as well as nonviolent, nonsexual offenses. Although nearly twice as many treatment noncompleters reoffended sexually, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant. Mean follow-up time was well over four years for both groups. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Immediate antecedents to adolescents' offenses.

The current research examined importance ratings by adolescent offenders of immediate antecedents to their offenses. One hundred and fifteen adolescent offenders consecutively admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit for court-ordered assessment completed the High Risk Situations Questionnaire for Young Offenders (HRSQ-YO), an instrument designed to assess the self-reported importance of various antecedents to a past, highly salient, offense. Principal components analysis of responses to the 71 items of the HRSQ-YO resulted in three factors which were rotated to a varimax criterion and labelled Negative Affectivity, Delinquency, and Aggressivity. Delinquency factor scores were significantly higher for property offenses than for violent offenses, whereas Aggressivity factor scores were significantly higher for violent offenses than for property offenses. Negative Affectivity factor scores did not differ between property and violent offenses. Implications of the results for relapse prevention approaches to the reduction of recidivism among adolescent offenders are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Serum testosterone in adult sex offenders: a comparison between Caucasians and North American Indians.

Patients admitted to the Phoenix Program for sex offender treatment at Alberta Hospital Edmonton were separated by family history into a group of North American Indians and a group of Caucasians, with respective sample sizes of 53 and 192 after range matching the Caucasian to the North American Indian sample on a number of demographic variables. Controlling for body mass index and age, the two groups were equivalent in terms of 12 basic blood chemistry variables and 5 of 6 endocrine measures. Serum testosterone did differ significantly (p < .0005, covariate adjusted means of 22.3 and 26.5 nmol/L, respectively, for Caucasians and North American Indians). Further research will be required to establish the generality of this result and to ascertain the etiology.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Improvement in psychosocial adjustment for psychiatric patients after a 16-week life skills education program.

The Holden Psychological Screening Inventory, a 36-item screening inventory for psychosocial adjustment, was administered pre- and posttreatment to 31 psychiatric patients enrolled in a 16-week life skills education program. Statistically significant improvements in the Depression Symptomatology, Social Symptomatology, and Total scores were obtained, but the Psychiatric Symptomatology scale did not improve significantly. Size of effect was larger for Depression Symptomatology (.52) and Social Symptomatology (.30) than for Psychiatric Symptomatology (.23). On a 6-point scale all patients rated their overall satisfaction with the program on the two most favorable categories, excellent and very good. The results provide support for life skills education programming for psychiatric patients as part of the treatment and recovery process.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1996

Serum testosterone in violent and nonviolent young offenders.

Single morning serum testosterone samples from 194 15-17 year old male young offenders were compared between subgroups based on violent (n = 75), non-violent (n = 102), and sexual (n = 17) offenses. The violent group had the highest level of testosterone and differed significantly from both the nonviolent and sexual offender groups which were statistically equivalent. The offenders were also classified according to native/metis (n = 68) and Caucasian (n = 126) groups, and the native/metis group had significantly higher testosterone than the Caucasian group. Higher testosterone in the native/metis group may be because this group committed significantly more violent offenses than the Caucasian group. Genetic factors, such as the human leucocyte antigen system, may also be associated with higher testosterone in the native/metis group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Leisure motivation in relation to psychosocial adjustment and personality in young offender and high school samples.

The Jackson Personality Inventory (JPI), Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI), and the Leisure Motivation Scale (LMS) were administered to samples of 66 young offenders and 67 high school students. Significant between sample differences occurred for the HPSI Depression and Social Symptomatology scales, the JPI Responsibility and Risk Taking scales, but none of the 4 LMS scales. Statistically significant correlations were obtained for the LMS with 13 of the 15 JPI scales, with the HPSI Psychiatric, Social, and Depression Symptomatology scales, and with gender and sample. The canonical correlation redundancy index indicated that 40% of the variance in leisure motivation was accounted for by the HPSI and JPI measures. Sample and gender added 2% to the explained variance.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Infanticide of defective newborns: an old midwife's story.

The story of how a midwife many years ago dealt with defective newborns is used to illustrate complete control by a system external to the family. Similarities exist with current public policy concerning the interrelated issues of abortion, neonatal euthanasia, and infanticide in which the family system is often ignored. It is argued that the family's values, expectations, and desires are relevant to the establishment of public policy in this sensitive domain.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1994

Relationships among clinical and validity scales of the Basic Personality Inventory.

In interpreting the results of a self-report inventory it is important to evaluate the extent to which stylistic distortion may have been operative. This task is complicated because validity measures frequently are confounded with content measures. In order to evaluate the potential utility of the validity measures for the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) the relationships between validity measures and content scales were evaluated in a sample of 71 inmates. While some validity indices had significant correlations with content scales, other validity indices were relatively independent of the content scales. Recommendations are provided for using the BPI validity scales.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Superiority of clear-visor safety hat to opaque-visor hat: an evaluation of upper visual-field obstruction.

Three subjects were used to compare superior visual-field threshold for 5 North American industry-standard opaque safety hard hats with a prototype clear translucent-visor safety hard hat and a no-hat baseline condition. Average maximum degrees of superior visual field was equivalent for the clear-visor safety hat and no-hat conditions (52.0 degrees versus 48.3 degrees) but the opaque-visor safety hats resulted in only 15.1 degrees. The opaque safety hats were worse than the clear-visor safety hat and no-hat conditions by, on the average, an order of 3. Analysis indicated that visual-field obstruction is a potential problem for wearers of opaque safety hats. Field research will be required to assess the extent of injuries caused by an impaired superior field of vision when wearing opaque-safety-hat visors. The potential positive effects of the clear-visor safety hat on reduction of accidents also must be determined.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1993

Psychopathic and nonpsychopathic inmates differ from normal controls in tolerance levels of electrical stimulation.

With a Tursky electrode applied to the ventral surface of the forearm two samples of inmates (28 psychopaths and 28 nonpsychopaths) were compared to 29 normal controls. No differences were found among the three groups in lower detection thresholds. While there was no difference between the inmate groups in terms of pain tolerance, both inmate groups had a higher tolerance for pain than did the controls. Results do not support previous findings or theories/hypotheses about pain thresholds in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic inmates. Differential learning and experience of pain among inmates, as well as the association among testosterone, dominance, extraversion, and criminality, are suggested to account for the results.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Clinical construct validity of the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI).

With a sample of 64 adult psychiatric patients, we examined the construct validity of the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI) for a clinical population. Factor analysis supported the three-dimensional nature of the HPSI and the appropriateness of the instrument's scoring key. Reliability information confirmed the internal consistency of the inventory's scales. Clinical staff ratings were used as criteria, and analyses indicated that HPSI scales demonstrated convergent validity. Overall, findings extend previous nonclinical research on the HPSI and suggest that the instrument possesses construct validity for clinical applications.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Sadism and other paraphilias in normal controls and aggressive and nonaggressive sex offenders.

Penile circumference responses (PCRs) to a visual age/gender erotic preference battery were analyzed from 60 normal controls and 227 sexual offenders. Sixty offenders were classified as sexual aggressives on the basis of their behavior and damage to their victims. The mean PCR to sadism slides (visual portrayals of nonsexual violence against fully clothed females) was significantly larger for the sexually aggressive group compared to the sexual nonaggressive offender and normal control groups. There were no significant differences in mean victim damage scores between the sexual aggressives who responded significantly to the sadism slides and those who did not. Thus, PCRs were not useful in identifying more from less dangerous sexual aggressives. The incidence of a clinically significant PCR to any of the four paraphilic categories included in the assessment battery was 28, 60, and 65% in the normal controls, sexual nonaggressives, and sexual aggressives, respectively. For sadism, it was 5, 8, and 45% respectively, for these groups. Pedophilia had a low incidence of co-occurrence with other paraphilias whereas sadism, transvestism/fetishism, and the courtship disorder paraphilias had a high incidence of co-occurrence.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Speech Sounds Perception Test: nonrandom response locations form a logical fallacy in structure.

The response format of the Speech Sounds Perception Test confounds speech perception with irrelevant method variance. To rectify this problem the response format was revised by randomizing the response locations. An empirical comparison of the revised and original forms was undertaken with forensic (n=59) and psychiatric (n=67) samples. The empirical results coupled with the logical problem in the original form indicates that a revision is necessary.

Adult↗