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At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Hand-scoring error rates in psychological testing.

Despite the comprehensive treatment of test validity in most technical manuals, test authors appear to routinely assume that clients and professionals will score their instruments without error. Recently Allard and Faust challenged this assumption by suggesting that error rates "may not be rare or benign" and demonstrated that tests with more complex scoring procedures were associated with a greater number of scoring errors. This study investigated error rates that resulted from hand scoring seven psychometric tests commonly employed in psychological practice. Significant and serious error rates were identified for both psychologist and client scorers across all tests investigated. Scoring complexity was found to predict the base rate of scorer errors. The findings suggest that greater development in and attention to test-scoring procedures is required to restrict the likelihood of scorer error.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The ethical issue of competence in working with the suicidal patient.

In this article, I discuss the ethical need for competence in the assessment and management of the suicidal patient, and further suggest that this specific competence be considered a routine element in professional psychological practice. I also argue that this particular competence necessitates adequate training in working with this high-risk population, as well as the need for every clinician to personally evaluate her or his own technical and personal competencies to work with suicidal patients before beginning independent practice activities in clinical situations wherein he or she may be called on to evaluate or treat a suicidal patient. This article concludes with a discussion of specific ethical dilemmas (e.g., the issue of confidentiality), and a list of suggestions for specific competencies in working with the suicidal patient is provided.

Confidentiality↗
PubMed2000

Reducing therapist contact in cognitive behaviour therapy for panic disorder and agoraphobia in primary care: global measures of outcome in a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Panic disorder, with and without agoraphobia, is a prevalent condition presenting in general practice. Psychological treatments are effective but are limited by restricted availability. Interest has grown in methods by which the efficiency and thus availability of psychological treatments can be improved, with particular emphasis on reduced therapist contact formats. AIM: To evaluate the relative efficacy in a primary care setting of a cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) delivered at three levels of therapist contact: standard contact, minimum contact, and bibliotherapy. METHOD: A total of 104 patients were randomly allocated to receive standard therapist contact, minimum therapist contact or bibliotherapy, with 91 patients completing treatment. All patients received an identical treatment manual and were seen by the same psychologist therapist. Outcome was reported in terms of brief global ratings of severity of illness, change in symptoms, and levels of social disruption. These brief measures were chosen to be suitable for use in general practice and were used at treatment entry and endpoint. RESULTS: The standard therapist contact group had the strongest and most comprehensive treatment response, showing significant differences from the bibliotherapy group on all, and the minimum therapist contact group on some, endpoint measures. Some reduction in efficacy was therefore found for the reduced therapist contact groups. CONCLUSION: The standard therapist contact group showed the greatest treatment efficacy in the present study. As it was of notably shorter duration than many other current formulations of CBT, it represents a useful and efficient treatment for panic disorder and agoraphobia in primary care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

[Chronic disease and family problems: a descriptive model for the pediatrician].

Starting from Minuchin's system interaction model on so-called psychosomatic families, and based on theories about coping with serious life events, the tasks are described that have to be faced by families with a severe ill or handicapped child. From clinical psychological practice it is learned that the majority of the families can cope adequately with the illness of their child. In a few families however serious problems emerge that impede the growth and development of the sick child. Characteristics of these families are elaborated into a model that may serve the pediatrician in the early diagnosis of these high-risk families.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2000

The coming of age of telecommunications in psychological research and practice.

Rapid and far-reaching technological advances are revolutionizing the ways in which people relate, communicate, and live their daily lives. Technologies that were hardly used a few years ago, such as the Internet, e-mail, and video teleconferencing, are becoming familiar methods for modern communication. Telecommunications will continue to evolve quickly, spawning telehealth applications for research and the provision of clinical care in communities, university settings, clinics, and medical facilities. The impact on psychology will be significant. This article examines the application of developing technologies as they relate to psychology and discusses implications for professional research and practice.

Forecasting↗
PubMed2003

Discourses of culture and illness in South African mental health care and indigenous healing, Part II: African mentality.

This discourse analytic study explores constructions of culture and illness in the talk of psychiatrists, psychologists and indigenous healers as they discuss possibilities for collaboration in South African mental health care. Disjunctive versions of what 'culture' is in relation to the illness of a person form an important site for the negotiation of power relations between mental health practitioners and indigenous healers. The results of this study are presented in two parts. Part I explores how a professionalist discourse structured western psychiatric and psychological practice as rational, pragmatic and effective. 'Cultural differences' were variously deployed to support and subvert western psychiatric power. Part II explores the various constructions of African culture'--as 'collectivist' and 'pathogenic'--and the 'African mind'--as 'primitive' and 'irrational'--and how these formulations work to disqualify egalitarian positioning for indigenous healers within formal mental health care settings in South Africa.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1999

Theory and concepts of prevention science as applied to clinical psychology.

This article provides an overview for this special issue on prevention science in clinical psychology. A brief historical perspective on prevention in clinical psychology is presented. An even greater emphasis on prevention in the future is related to changes in the current health-care system and their likely impact on psychological practice as we move into the next century. Conceptual and theoretical models of the prevention enterprise are addressed with a distinction drawn between health promotion and disease prevention in the areas of mental disorders and general physical health. The classification of preventive interventions is discussed and methodological challenges to outcomes research are outlined. The article concludes with a discussion of training and public policy implications and a brief overview of the other articles included in this special issue on prevention science.

Health Care Reform↗
PubMed1995

Community organizing: an ecological route to empowerment and power.

An important contribution to empowerment theory and community psychology practice can be made by examining how the concept of social power is developed and manifested in the context of community organizing. Theory and practice may be further informed through an ecological analysis of organizing processes and interventions. Lessons from a national community organizing network highlight the relationship between empowerment and power through a set of organizing principles and a cycle of organizing activity. Perhaps most important is the understanding that a reciprocal relationship exists between development of power for community organizations and individual empowerment for organization members. Implications for empowerment theory in the community organizing domain are provided in a matrix adapted from Zimmerman's description of empowerment processes and outcomes at multiple levels of analysis.

City Planning↗
PubMed1999

A survey of psychological need amongst adult burn-injured patients.

This study of 71 burn-injured adults was carried out to inform clinical psychological practice in a newly developed service for individuals affected by disfigurement. Self-completion questionnaires were administered to patients attending outpatient clinics and information was collated on a range of variables including time since injury, cause, location and perceived severity of injury. Questions were also asked about the level of psycho-social support received and needed during hospitalisation and post discharge and people were asked to indicate the type of help that they wanted. Results indicate no correlation between the amount of time since injury and the degree of emotional difficulty experienced. 56% reported current emotional problems and 38% of the sample felt that they would benefit from professional help. There was a significant correlation between individuals' perception of the severity of the injury and the degree of distress experienced (p < 0.05). The two most popular preferences for help was individual counselling followed by professionally led groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Environmental factors and adolescent fears and anxiety].

AIM: The following article aims to show the significant part that the environmental factor plays in developing fears and anxiety in adolescence. Both literature and psychological practice underestimate the role of that factor, emphasising at the same time the influence of sex, age or various types of stimulants causing negative emotional states. METHOD: In order to verify the suggested hypotheses, 540 adolescents in 18 groups of 30 people divided according to sex (270 girls and 270 boys), age (90 individuals of both sex in the following age groups: 12.0-13.0, 15.0-16.0 and 18.0-19.0) originating from three different environments: big city, town and village (180 individuals from each place) were examined. The following instruments of research have been used: MPi-64 of H.J. Eysencek, STAI of C.D. Spielberger and original Questionnaire of Anxiety. RESULTS: The results of the examination have confirmed the authenticity of the suggested hypothesis which stated that intensity of fears and anxiety depends on the types of stimulants, sex, age and particularly--on the kind of environment the individuals under examination have originated from. The second hypothesis was partially confirmed. In the group of boys the level of courage corresponded with the level of fear; in the group of girls in general the level of fear exceeded the level of courage. CONCLUSIONS: Socially-educational environment has a decisive influence on developing fears and anxiety, particularly on the intensification of those disorders. The village environment is the most conducive to developing strong fears, when the environment of a big city--the least. Other variables (sex, age, type of stimulant) have indirect influence on the substance and level of fears experienced by adolescents.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Depressive disorders in an out-patient oncology setting: prevalence, assessment, and management.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of depressive disorders among cancer patients attending the out-patient oncology clinic of a major hospital, and to initiate the development of a valid and practical psychological morbidity screening instrument suitable for local conditions. DESIGN: Survey utilising self-report screening scales and full psychiatric interviews. SETTING: Radiotherapy department, Groote Schuur Hospital. PATIENTS: Breast cancer, head and neck cancer, and lymphoma patients attending out-patient oncology clinics. RESULTS: A total of 456 patients completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Of that sample, 245 also completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and 100 were subjected to a structured psychiatric interview. The prevalence of depression in this population is approximately 14%, which is lower than estimates reported elsewhere. Only 14% of the interviewed depressed cases had been identified and treated by the existing health care system, highlighting the need for suitable screening tools. Appropriate screening tools and management strategies for this population are discussed. CONCLUSION: This study highlighted the need for routine screening for depression and the implementation of cost-effective management strategies in oncology settings.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Inadequate adherence to radiotherapy in Latina immigrants with carcinoma of the cervix. Potential impact on disease free survival.

BACKGROUND: Radiation therapy plays an important role in the loco-regional control of carcinoma of the cervix. Strict adherence to the radiation protocol, without the introduction of time breaks, has been shown to favorably affect loco-regional control and survival, making adherence a crucial variable for optimal outcome. Because carcinoma of the cervix is a common disease among Latinas, with survival rates worse than those of other ethnic groups in this country, the pattern of adherence to the prescribed radiation treatment among Latina patients seen at Los Angeles County Hospital were studied. METHODS: The records of 69 consecutive Latina patients with cervical cancer who received radiation therapy at Los Angeles County Hospital were reviewed. Semi-structured interviews in a successive group of 30 similar patients were conducted to acquire preliminary information about their psychosocial characteristics. RESULTS: The results demonstrate inferior rates of optimal adherence to radiation treatment among Latina immigrant patients when compared with the rates reported in the literature for the general population of cervical cancer patients in United States (16 vs. 63%). Furthermore, a large subset of patients (20%) in the series elected to discontinue treatment without a medical reason. When a comparable group of Latina patients was interviewed, potential practical, psychologic, and cultural barriers to optimal care were identified. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this exploratory study support the need for further studies to document the pattern of adherence to radiotherapy in the rest of the country among this minority population. The results suggest that an intervention to improve information and adherence to radiation therapy may be necessary to assure Latinas a chance for rates of cure comparable with the national standards.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Can hopelessness and adolescents' beliefs and attitudes about seeking help account for help negation?

Avoidance of appropriate help is common in acutely suicidal samples and has been confirmed in nonclinical samples but factors that contribute to this help negation effect remain unclear. In a sample of 269 nonclinical Australian high school students, the current study examines the impact of hopelessness, previous mental health care, beliefs, and attitudes toward professional psychological help on the help negation relationship. Results revealed that suicidal ideation significantly predicted lower help seeking intentions and that although hopelessness could not explain the help negation effect, it moderated the effect for seeking help from family. They also revealed that although previous mental health care was unable to explain the effect fully for professional mental health sources, beliefs and attitudes about professional psychological help could. Implications of the findings for prevention, primary health care, and professional psychological practice are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Processing time, articulation time, and memory span.

In each of two experiments, measures of memory span, processing time, and articulation time were administered. One study involved 7- to 14-year-olds and adults living in the United States (N = 288); the other, 7- to 12-year-olds and adults living in Korea (N = 84). In both studies, the natural logarithm of age was correlated positively with measures of memory span but negatively with measures of processing and articulation times. Causal modeling indicated that age-related change in processing time is associated with a decrease in the time required to articulate numbers and letters, which determines memory span.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Language proficiency and the prediction of spontaneous rehearsal in children who are deaf.

This study was an investigation of the role of language proficiency and automatization of language skills in the use of spontaneous rehearsal strategies by children who are deaf. Thirty-one profoundly deaf children, 7 to 13 years old, were given a serial recall task, a test of language proficiency (the Language Proficiency Profile-I), and a rapid automatized naming (RAN) task. Similar to previous studies, when the data were examined by age, an apparent developmental lag was observed in the children's spontaneous use of a cumulative rehearsal strategy. Logistic regression analyses further demonstrated that age was actually a nonsignificant predictor of rehearsal use, but that both language proficiency and the automatization of language skills were highly significant predictors. In subsequent hierarchical analyses, automatized language was a partial mediator of the language proficiency --> rehearsal use relation. These results provided support for the view that automatization of language skills is an important and perhaps necessary contribution to the relation between language proficiency and rehearsal use, but that other additional aspects of language proficiency also affect the child's use of a strategy. These findings were discussed in relation to Cummins' (1984) model of language proficiency.

Adolescent↗