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Biomedical subjects

John R Graham

Publications and source records attributed to John R Graham.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Effects of the medical liability system in Australia, the UK, and the USA.

Although the direct costs of the medical liability system account for a small fraction of total health spending, the system's indirect effects on cost and quality of care can be much more important. Here, we summarise findings of existing research on the effects of the medical liability systems of Australia, the UK, and the USA. We find systematic evidence of defensive medicine--medical practice based on fear of legal liability rather than on patients' best interests. We conclude with discussion of four avenues for reform of traditional tort compensation for medical injury and several suggestions for future research.

Australia↗
PubMed2006

A comparative study of family functioning, health, and mental health awareness and utilization among female Bedouin-Arabs from recognized and unrecognized villages in the Negev.

A good portion of geography is contested by the Israeli state and the country's Bedouin-Arab population. There are two categories of Bedouin villages: those areas that are "officially" recognized by the state and those that are not. In this article we determine utilization and awareness of health and mental health services among 376 Bedouin-Arab women in recognized and unrecognized villages in the Negev. Although there are differences between them, primary health care (PHC) services usually are available within recognized villages, accessible to those from unrecognized villages, and tend to precipitate user satisfaction. We conclude with various suggestions for improving health service delivery and making PHC and mental health delivery more accessible. Through this article we intend to help mental health practitioners on two levels: the policy level, regarding the design of mental health services for societies in transition, such as the Bedouin Arab, and the practical level by helping practitioners better appreciate the psychosocial status of women in Bedouin-Arab societies and the factors associated with Bedouin-Arab PHC utilization.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

A comparison of family functioning, life and marital satisfaction, and mental health of women in polygamous and monogamous marriages.

BACKGROUND: A considerable body of research concludes that the polygamous family structure has an impact on children's and wives' psychological, social and family functioning. AIMS: The present study is among the first to consider within the same ethno-racial community such essential factors as family functioning, life satisfaction, marital satisfaction and mental health functioning among women who are in polygamous marriages and women who are in monogamous marriages. METHOD: A sample of 352 Bedouin-Arab women participated in this study: 235 (67%) were in a monogamous marriage and 117 (33%) were in a polygamous marriage. RESULTS: Findings reveal differences between women in polygamous and monogamous marriages. Women in polygamous marriages showed significantly higher psychological distress, and higher levels of somatisation, phobia and other psychological problems. They also had significantly more problems in family functioning, marital relationships and life satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The article calls on public policy and social service personnel to increase public awareness of the significance of polygamous family structures for women's wellbeing.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Incremental validity of the MMPI-2 PSY-5 scales in assessing self-reported personality disorder criteria.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) Personality Psychopathology-Five (PSY-5) scales were developed to measure abnormal personality symptomatology. The present study examines the incremental validity of the PSY-5 scales beyond the clinical and content scales in assessing criteria associated with personality disorders. The current sample includes 240 male and 407 female clients from private practice settings who completed the MMPI-2 and the Multiaxial Diagnostic Inventory (MDI), a self-report checklist of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., revised) symptoms. Six of the MDI personality disorder scales, conceptually related to the PSY-5 scales, are used as criteria. Hierarchical regression analyses determine the incremental validity of each PSY-5 scale. In most analyses, PSY-5 scales add a significant increment of variance to the clinical and content scales. Implications of the results are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Elevation differences between MMPI-2 clinical and restructured clinical (RC) scales: frequency, origins, and interpretative implications.

The frequency, origin, and interpretative implications of elevation differences on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) clinical and restructured clinical (RC) scales were examined. Two large clinical samples consisting of 1,770 outpatients and 2,438 inpatients were used for this study. Three potential factors (Demoralization, subtle items, and K correction) were explored as to the extent to which they contributed to elevation differences between a clinical scale and its restructured counterpart. Results showed that differences in elevation between clinical and RC scales occurred between 10% and 35% of cases. Demoralization, subtle items, and K correction contributed substantially to elevation differences. Findings indicate that core descriptors of a clinical scale should be emphasized only when its corresponding RC scale is also elevated, whereas for Scales 4, 6, and 8, elevated scores on the RC scales are interpretable even when the corresponding clinical scales are not elevated.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Correlates of the MMPI-2 restructured clinical (RC) scales in a college counseling setting.

We designed this study to identify empirical correlates on the MMPI-2 (Butcher et al., 2001) restructured clinical (RC) scales in a college counseling setting with a sample of 228 men and 522 women from a university-based psychological clinic. Participants were administered the MMPI-2 at intake and were rated by their therapists on a variety of variables including a 192-item Client Description Form. The findings indicate that the RC scales were generally most strongly correlated with conceptually relevant criteria and generally uncorrelated with conceptually nonrelevant criteria, which replicated findings of convergent and discriminant validity from previous studies. Follow-up analyses indicate that the RC scales have improved discriminant validity in comparison to the clinical scales and stronger convergent validity than a set of alternative MMPI-2 measures.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Incremental validity of the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) scales in a private practice sample.

Building on results reported in Sellbom, Graham, and Schenk (2005), in this study, we examined the incremental validity of the newly introduced MMPI-2 (Butcher et al., 2001) Restructured Clinical (RC) scales (Tellegen et al., 2003) over both the Clinical and Content scales. Participants were 647 clients in private practice who were administered the MMPI-2 and the Multiaxial Diagnostic Inventory (Doverspike, 1990) early in therapy. The results indicate that the RC scales had acceptable internal consistency, reduced intercorrelations (compared to the Clinical scales), and promising convergent and discriminant validity. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the RC scales added incrementally to both the Clinical and Content scales in predicting self reported clinical symptoms. These findings suggest that the RC scales are relatively homogenous measures of core clinical constructs that can add unique information to the understanding of private practice clients above and beyond the Clinical and Content scales.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Further evidence on the validity of the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales: addressing questions raised by Rogers, Sewell, Harrison, and Jordan and Nichols.

The reviews by Rogers, Sewell, Harrison, and Jordan (2006/this issue), and by Nichols (2006/this issue) offer markedly contrasting appraisals of the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales introduced by Tellegen et al. (2003). The one common feature is that both reviews draw on the same atypical MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) data set for their empirical analyses, with results warranting critical scrutiny. Rogers et al.'s critique provides an evaluation of the RC Scales from the perspective of Jackson's (1970) method of test development. One significant issue in Rogers et al.'s review concerns social desirability, prompting us to clarify our own views on this topic. We also highlight and discuss problems associated with Rogers et al.'s use of the unrepresentative data set. Nichols's polemical critique neglects empirical and theoretical support for demoralization as a central construct and misconstrues as "construct drift" the purposeful process of developing the RC scales. Nichols's criticisms and proposals overlook requirements for assessing syndromes and for construct validation and even rudiments of scale development. Our reply incorporates evidence, including new findings, refuting his criticisms and confirming that demoralization is a pervasive MMPI dimension, that the RC Scales capture the major distinctive features of the original Clinical Scales, and that they generate correspondingly meaningful validity patterns.

Evidence-Based Medicine↗
PubMed2005

Ability of substance abusers to escape detection on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) in a juvenile correctional facility.

The ability of respondents to underreport successfully on substance abuse and validity scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A; Butcher et al., 1992) was evaluated. Incarcerated teens (67 substance abusing, 59 non-substance abusing) completed the MMPI-A twice: once under standard instructions (SI) and once under instructions to fake good (FG). Under SI, substance scales correctly classified about 60% to 85% of adolescents. Under FG, substance- and non-substance-abusing juveniles produced lower scores on substance scales. However, the Lie Scale (L) was able to detect more than 75% of deceptive profiles and about 77% of honest profiles. When scale L and the best substance scale were used in combination, only about 18% of faking substance abusers were not identified as either substance abusers or as underreporting. For feigning substance abusers, only about 10% of substance abusers were detected, with about 72% being categorized as faking and needing further assessment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Susceptibility of the MMPI-2 clinical, restructured clinical (RC), and content scales to overreporting and underreporting.

The authors examined and compared the susceptibility of three Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) scale sets (Clinical, Restructured Clinical [RC], and Content) to over- and underreporting using five analog samples. Two samples of 85 and 191 undergraduate students, respectively, took the MMPI-2 under underreporting versus standard instructions. Three samples consisting of 42 undergraduates, 73 psychiatric inpatients, and 84 medical patients took the MMPI-2 under overreporting versus standard instructions. A comparison of the effect sizes across the three sets of scales indicated that Clinical Scale scores are not less susceptible to distortion than the Content or RC Scales. An apparent lesser susceptibility to underreporting for the Clinical Scales was an artifact of the subtle items' effect on these scales.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Symptom correlates of MMPI-2 scales and code types in a private-practice setting.

The purpose of this study was to determine empirical symptom correlates of MMPI-2 (Butcher et al., 2001) scales for private-practice clients, a very understudied yet important population. We examined the scores of 240 male and 407 female clients on the Clinical scales, Content scales, Supplementary scales, and frequently occurring code types. We used a factor analyzed version of the Adult Clinical scales of the Multiaxial Diagnostic Inventory (Doverspike, 1990) as a criterion measure. The results generally indicated that the symptom correlates for the MMPI-2 scales and code types were quite similar to those that have been previously reported in other outpatient and inpatient settings. We concluded that descriptors of MMPI-2 scales and code types generated in other settings may be used when interpreting MMPI-2 profiles of private-practice clients.

Female↗
PubMed2005

Assessing psychopathic personality traits with the MMPI-2.

In this study, we examined the utility of the MMPI-2 (Butcher et al., 2001) in assessing psychopathic personality traits. We explored whether MMPI-2 scales that measure affective and interpersonal traits add to the instrument's social deviance measures in assessing global psychopathy and its two facets. Our study of 281 male and female college students indicates that the MMPI-2 Social Deviance scales (e.g., Clinical Scales 4 and 9, ASP) predict substantial variance in the social deviance factor and affiliated subscales of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996), whereas MMPI-2 measures of affective and interpersonal functioning predict substantial variance in the affective-interpersonal PPI factor. In addition, the results of two regression models indicate that the Restructured Clinical scales provide the most parsimonious assessment of psychopathic personality traits.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Cross-national study of attitudes towards seeking professional help: Jordan, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Arabs in Israel.

BACKGROUND: Help-seeking processes provide critical links between the onset of mental health problems and the provision of professional care. But little is known about these processes in the Arab world, and still less in transnational, comparative terms. This is the first study to compare help-seeking processes among Muslim Arab female students in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Israel. AIMS: The present study compares the attitudes of Arab Muslim female students from Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) towards mental health treatment. METHOD: A convenience sample of 262 female Muslim-Arab undergraduate university students from Jordan, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Arab students in Israel completed a modified Orientation for Seeking Professional Help (OSPH) Questionnaire. RESULTS: Data revealed that nationality was not statistically significant as a variable in a positive attitude towards seeking professional help; year of study, marital status and age were found to be significant predictors of a positive attitude towards seeking help. High proportions of respondents among the nationalities referred to God through prayer during times of psychological distress. CONCLUSIONS: The discussion considers implications for professional service delivery and programme development. Future research could extrapolate findings to other Arab countries and to Arab peoples living in the non-Arab world.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2004

Construct validity of the MMPI-2 College Maladjustment (Mt) Scale.

The construct validity of the MMPI-2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2) College Maladjustment (Mt) Scale was examined using 376 student clients at a university psychological clinic. A principal components analysis and correlations of Mt scale scores with clients' and therapists' ratings of symptoms and functioning showed that the Mt scale identifies the presence of maladjustment as defined in terms of depressive and anxious symptoms. There is no evidence to show that the scale is specific to college students or that it is sensitive to severe psychological disturbance. The Mt scale does not inform the clinician as to why a person is distressed. In addition, there is no evidence from this study to suggest the superiority of the Mt scale over other MMPI-2 maladjustment measures. Therapists should use the entire MMPI-2 profile, not just the Mt scale, to gain the most comprehensive and specific understanding of clients.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed2003

MMPI-2 validity scale characteristics in a correctional sample.

The current study investigated the proportion of content-nonresponsive and content-responsive faking Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) protocols in a state corrections sample. Participants were 51,486 inmates who completed the MMPI-2 at the time they entered the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction system. Overall, approximately 79% of the study participants produced valid profiles. Of the entire study sample, 11.3% produced content-nonresponsive profiles, and 9.4% produced content-responsive faking profiles. African Americans produced a higher proportion of content-nonresponsive profiles than Caucasians, and women were slightly more likely than men to produce content-responsive faking profiles. Differences in level of education between African Americans and Caucasians did not account for the disparity in content-nonresponsive profiles. Implications for current practice and future research are discussed.

Adult↗