Biomedical subjects

Nina Heinrichs

Publications and source records attributed to Nina Heinrichs.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

[How well do parents and teachers' reports agree on behaviour problems in pre-school-aged children?].

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study is to examine the extent of parental and teacher agreement on behaviour problems in preschool-aged children. METHOD: Families were recruited from preschools in Braunschweig. In total, N=310 children aged three to six years were evaluated by their mothers and fathers and by their preschool teachers using the Child Behavior Checklist and the Caregiver-Teacher Report for ages 1(1)/(2) to 5. RESULTS: The inter-parental agreement on behaviour problems was high. Parents consistently reported more problem behaviour than did preschool teachers. The median of intra-class correlation between the evaluations by the mothers with those by the fathers was 0.65, and 0.18 (0.17) for parent-teacher dyads. For the agreement between parents with respect to the borderline/clinical range a mean of kappa=0.41 was found, while there was no agreement between parents and teachers. CONCLUSIONS: The results are integrated into the literature, and implications, particularly those for clinical assessment procedures at preschool age, are discussed.

Child↗

PubMed2006

The effects of two different incentives on recruitment rates of families into a prevention program.

This study experimentally manipulated two incentives for participation (monetary: paid participation for sessions and setting: group vs. individual) in a child behavior problem prevention program to analyze their effects on recruitment and retention of families. A population of 690 eligible families from 15 preschools located in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods was invited to participate in a parent training (PT) program. The study recruited parents by using advertisements that had information describing only the indicated condition (i.e., PT in group-unpaid, or PT individual-unpaid, or PT in group-paid, or PT individual-paid). Results demonstrate significant impact of payment on recruitment and initial attendance. Training setting alone (individual or group) did not significantly influence these rates. Editors' Strategic Implications: A compelling case is made for the utility of monetary incentives to increase proportions of low-income families in prevention research and programs. Evaluators and program designers should note the impressive use of the experimental design and hierarchical linear modeling to test the effects on recruitment.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

[The prevalence of ADHD and attention problems in preschool-aged children. A comparison of two diagnostic instruments].

OBJECTIVES: In order to analyse the prevalence of ADHD and attention problems in preschool-aged children, mothers were asked to rate their children using two measuring instruments. METHODS: The analysis is part of a prospective, randomised control study of N = 280 children aged three to six years, whose mothers rated them using the Child Behaviour Checklist/CBCL 1 1/2-5 and the Parent Rating Scale for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). RESULTS: The prevalence rates ranged from 2.7% to 9.9%. There was no significant gender effect in this age group. CONCLUSIONS: The study delivers initial findings and provides support for decisions to implement in Germany new assessment methods for preschool-aged children with ADHD or hyperkinetic syndrome. Finally, the different rates of prevalence and the implications of the findings for epidemiology and the prevention of ADHD and attention problems among preschool-aged children are discussed.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2005

Cultural differences in perceived social norms and social anxiety.

Cultural considerations in social anxiety are a rarely investigated topic although it seems likely that differences between countries in social norms may relate to the extent of social anxiety. The present study investigated individuals' personal and perceived cultural norms and their relation to social anxiety and fear of blushing. A total of 909 participants from eight countries completed vignettes describing social situations and evaluated the social acceptability of the behavior of the main actor both from their own, personal perspective as well as from a cultural viewpoint. Personal and cultural norms showed somewhat different patterns in comparison between types of countries (individualistic/collectivistic). According to reported cultural norms, collectivistic countries were more accepting toward socially reticent and withdrawn behaviors than was the case in individualistic countries. In contrast, there was no difference between individualistic and collectivistic countries on individuals' personal perspectives regarding socially withdrawn behavior. Collectivistic countries also reported greater levels of social anxiety and more fear of blushing than individualistic countries. Significant positive relations occurred between the extent to which attention-avoiding behaviors are accepted in a culture and the level of social anxiety or fear of blushing symptoms. These results provide initial evidence that social anxiety may be related to different cultural norms across countries.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Parent recruitment and retention in a universal prevention program for child behavior and emotional problems: barriers to research and program participation.

Despite the potential of parent training as a prevention and behavioral family intervention strategy, there are a number of important issues related to implementation (e.g., recruitment and retention of families). This paper presents recruitment and retention data from families enrolling in a randomized controlled universal prevention trial for child behavior problems conducted in Germany. The recruitment rate averaged 31% (general project participation), with families of lower socioeconomic status (SES) participating at a lower rate. Project-declining families most often reported intrusion of privacy as their primary concern. In contrast, once parents were enrolled in the project, participation among those randomized to the parent training group averaged 77% (program/intervention participation); non-participation was mostly due to logistical issues. Parents accepting the offer of parent training were more likely to report child behavior problems than did declining parents. Although parents from more disadvantaged areas had a lower overall level of participation in the project once recruited, parents with children having higher levels of behavior problems indeed were more likely to participate in the intervention. Different recruitment methods may be required to engage high-risk families from socioeconomically disadvantaged areas to further improve community-level impact on child mental health.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Cognitive assessment of social anxiety: a comparison of self-report and thought listing methods.

The goal of the present study was to compare 2 cognitive assessment methods for social anxiety: a thought listing and a self-report method. The focus of this study was on the convergent and divergent validity of these methods using a multi-trait multi-method approach. Furthermore, treatment sensitivity was explored. Fifty-eight patients with social phobia completed thought listings followed by 2 different social stress tasks before and after an exposure group treatment (n = 33), or following a waiting period (n = 25). One task consisted of speaking in front of 2 confederates while the other task involved initiating a conversation with an opposite-sex confederate. Two questionnaires measuring positive and negative self-statements regarding public speaking and social interactions were also completed. To compare the balance of positive and negative thoughts, the State of Mind ratio [positive thoughts/(positive+negative thoughts)] was calculated for both cognitive assessment methods. Results demonstrate that methods related to social interaction anxiety showed better convergent validity than methods related to public speaking anxiety; however, public speaking methods captured treatment effects better than methods related to social interaction anxiety. This study questions the common assumption that different cognitive assessment methods measure the same construct.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

The nature and expression of social phobia: toward a new classification.

Social phobia (social anxiety disorder) was officially recognized as a distinct clinical entity only with the publication of the DSM-III in 1980. Research on the psychopathology of this disorder has revealed a great degree of heterogeneity in its symptomatology. In order to acknowledge this heterogeneity, later versions of the nosological system introduced the generalized subtype of social phobia to describe individuals who fear most or all social situations. The empirical literature on the differences between the diagnostic subtypes has yielded inconsistent findings. Based on the recent emotion literature and concepts from evolutionary psychology, we discuss fearfulness, anxiousness, shyness, self-consciousness, submissiveness, and anger as dimensions of social phobia. The empirical evidence for this classification system and its relationship to the diagnostic subtypes will be discussed.

Anger↗

PubMed2004

Encoding processes in social anxiety.

According to current theories, memory processes play an important role in the maintenance of social fears. However, the empirical evidence regarding memory processes in social anxiety is controversial, and little is known about specific memory processes, such as encoding. The present study employs a release from proactive interference (RPI) technique to explore encoding-related processes in social anxiety. Eighty-four high and low socially anxious college students participated in the RPI task. The main hypothesis was that RPI effects that involve socially threatening words are greater in high than in low socially anxious subjects. Contrary to this hypothesis, however, greater RPI effects were found in low rather than in high socially anxious subjects if a social threat dimension was encoded. This suggests that low socially anxious individuals show more specific encoding strategies of threatening information than high socially anxious individuals.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Non-specific encoding of threat in social phobia and panic disorder.

This study employs a release of proactive interference technique to explore encoding-related processes in social phobia. Twenty-six individuals with social phobia and 24 individuals with panic disorder participated in the memory task. Significant release of proactive interference was found when neutral and threat dimensions were encoded, but not when social and physical threat dimensions, or when positive and threat dimensions were presented. Threat was therefore differently encoded depending on the active encoding context in which semantic processing occurred. Individuals with social phobia or panic disorder did not differ in the release of proactive interference. The present experiment consequently yields little support for the specificity hypothesis in memory of anxious individuals. Instead, the findings generally demonstrate that threat encoding is similar for people with social phobia and those with panic disorder.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Differential Effect of Mirror Manipulation on Self-Perception in Social Phobia Subtypes.

This study employed mirror manipulation to examine differences in self-perception between the DSM-IV subtypes of social phobia (social anxiety disorder). We asked 82 consecutively admitted patients with social phobia to record three positive and three negative characteristics about themselves. Sixty-three percent of them met criteria for a generalized subtype of social phobia (GSP). A random half of the total sample sat in front of a mirror before and during this task. Participants' responses were classified into either positive or negative self-statements concerning their bodily appearance, competence, and socially relevant or non-socially relevant personality characteristics. The mirror manipulation had a differential effect on self-perception in social phobia subtypes. The presence of a mirror led to more positive and negative self statements about bodily appearance, and to fewer negative self-statements about socially-relevant personality characteristics in participants with GSP. In contrast, participants not meeting criteria for GSP responded to mirror exposure only with fewer negative self-statements about non-socially relevant personality characteristics. These results suggest that mirror exposure leads to fewer negative self-statements about private aspects of the self, concerning social situations, while it enhances public self-consciousness in individuals with GSP.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

The liebowitz social anxiety scale as a self-report instrument: a preliminary psychometric analysis.

The Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS) is a commonly used clinician-administered instrument. The present study reports on the properties of a self-report version of the LSAS (LSAS-SR). About 175 participants diagnosed with social phobia participated in the study. The LSAS-SR showed overall good psychometric properties as indicated by the results of test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and convergent and discriminant validity. Furthermore, the scale was sensitive to treatment change. The construct validity of the LSAS-SR, however, remains to be further explored. These findings support the utility of the LSAS-SR, which has the advantage of saving valuable clinician time compared to the clinician-administered version.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Cognitive-behavioral treatment for social phobia in Parkinson's disease: A single-case study.

Individuals with Parkinson's disease often exhibit symptoms of social anxiety. However, they rarely meet criteria for social phobia due to the medical exclusion criteria of DSM-IV. The present study reports the case of a 60-year-old male with Parkinson's disease who also met criteria for social phobia. After receiving 12 weekly cognitive-behavioral group sessions for social phobia, clinician ratings and self-report measures at post-treatment and 6-month follow-up showed a significant short-term and long-term reduction of his social anxiety. These findings suggest that cognitive-behavior therapy may be an effective treatment for social anxiety, even if these symptoms are related to Parkinson's disease.

Journal Article↗