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R L Uliana

Publications and source records attributed to R L Uliana.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Content analysis of speech of schizophrenic and control adoptees and their relatives: preliminary results.

Speech samples were collected on 20 Danish schizophrenic adoptees, along with 26 control adoptees and their respective biological and adoptive relatives. Typewritten transcripts of these speech samples were scored using the Gottschalk-Gleser Social Alienation-Personal Disorganization (SA-PD), or "Schizophrenic', content analysis scale. Both mean scale scores and the proportion of subjects with extremely high (i.e. deviant) scores were significantly higher in schizophrenic adoptees than in either (a) subjects with no psychiatric disorder or (b) the sample with psychiatric disorders other than schizophrenia. The proportion of deviant scores was also notably high among subjects who, though not schizophrenic, had schizotypal features on the SADS-L interview. Scores were particularly high in schizophrenic adoptees who had a biological parent or sibling with schizophrenia or schizotypal features. By contrast, scores of 29 adoptive relatives of the schizophrenic probands were quite low. The present study appears to corroborate the results of previous studies done in the U.S.A. and Great Britain which suggest that high scores on the SA-PD scale tend to characterize those schizophrenics for whom genetic liability appears to be strongest.

Adoption

Mood changes during the internship.

A prospective study using two standardized psychological tests, the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), was conducted in an effort to quantify the emotional changes experienced by internal medicine house staff members during the internship. In contrast to instruments used in previous investigations of this type, the POMS and the SDS are standardized tests with proven reliability and validity. The six mood factors measured, "tension-anxiety," "depression-dejection," "anger-hostility," "vigor-activity," "fatigue-inertia," and "confusion-bewilderment," are reported to be among those factors most often affected by the internship experience. Twenty-three interns completed both tests at four-month intervals during one academic year. One-way analysis of variance for repeated measures revealed that the level of only anger-hostility of the mood factors changed significantly during the year. The intensity of this factor increased between the first and third testing periods before dropping at the end of the year. In contrast to findings in previous studies, the depression and fatigue factors did not increase during the year. By characterizing interns' reactions to the stresses of postgraduate medical education, standardized psychological tests can contribute to improved understanding of these reactions and to more intelligent planning of support systems.

Anger

Preliminary validation of a set of content analysis scales applicable to verbal samples for measuring the magnitude of psychological states in children.

Scores on 17 psychological dimensions of the Gottschalk-Gleser content analysis scales were obtained from 5-minute speech samples of 37 white children hospitalized on the psychiatric service of a general hospital. These content analysis scores were compared to identical scores obtained from a normative sample of 109 white children. Groups of children were classified by the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) system as having Healthy Responses (N = 2), Personality Disorders (N = 17), Reactive Disorders (N = 9), Psychoneurotic Disorders (N = 7), and Developmental Deviations (N = 2), and by DSM-III as having Parent-Child Problems (N = 2), Conduct Disorders (N = 26), Anxiety Disorders (N = 7), and Special Developmental Disorders (N = 2). By either classification, these groups of children showed salient differences in their scores in certain psychological dimensions from the same types of scores occurring with the normative group. These findings provide initial construct validation of the Gottshalk-Gleser content analysis scales when applied to speech samples obtained for children. Moreover, the profiles of children's psychological characteristics obtained by this method provide, in themselves, an objective descriptive and dynamic classification.

Adolescent