Beneficial impression management: Strategically controlling information to help friends.

It was hypothesized that people will strategically regulate information about the identities of friends to help them create desired impressions on audiences. Experiment 1 demonstrated that participants described a friend consistently with the qualities preferred by an attractive, opposite-sex individual but inconsistently with the qualities preferred by an unattractive, opposite-sex individual. Experiment 2 showed that a friend who had a high social need to make a good impression on an interviewer was described more positively than a friend who did not have such a need or a stranger regardless of social need. Impression management to benefit friends by promoting and protecting their desired identities may be one of the more common and pleasant forms of help giving in everyday life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding AIDS developmentally: A comment on the November 1988 special issue on psychology and AIDS.

Comments on the concealment of major theoretical differences in psychology implied in the vague use of terms such as education, information giving, or communication and notes the need for attention to developmental process in education or prevention programs. Qualitatively different psychological processes related to cognitive development result in distinctively diverse ways of thinking about a disease. For instance, both adults and children may rely on concrete or magical thinking rather than abstract reasoning in their conception of any illness, including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Thus, information must be tailored to systematic differences in cognitive maturity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Epidemiologic assessment of overmet need in mental health care

The traditional purpose of psychiatric epidemiologic surveys has been the assessment of mental illness and, by implication, the need for care. Previous research has focused on unmet need, defined as those who meet "caseness" but do not receive care, but has rarely examined the converse. Since survey respondents receiving care but not meeting caseness have been found to represent up to one-half of mental health service users, this is a significant service delivery issue. The data are drawn from the Mental Health Supplement to the Ontario Health Survey (the Supplement), a household survey of 9,953 respondents, which used the University of Michigan's version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (UM-CIDI) as its diagnostic instrument. Community residents who used formal mental health services in the past year but who did not have a concurrent UM-CIDI/DSM-III-R (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 3, revised) diagnosis were defined as "treated without CIDI disorder". Their need for care was evaluated by comparing them to "treated depressed" and "healthy" respondents, using indicators of functional impairment, vulnerability to developing disorder, and risk of relapse. The match between need and care levels was examined by comparing their type and intensity of use with those of the treated depressed. Results present strong evidence for conceptualizing need as continuous, rather than discrete. The results for the group defined as "treated without CIDI disorder" were consistently between those for the other two groups (with the "treated depressed" always showing the highest need) on all indicators as well as on a summary need index. However, their type and intensity of service use appeared to be unrelated to their level of need. Although some of the "treated without CIDI disorder" group may require preventive or follow-up treatment, the need for service for others is not as convincingly demonstrated. Outcome studies are needed to provide comparative data to describe more fully the problems experienced by this group and indicate whether treatment is helpful. In an age of fiscal restraint, when resource reallocation (rather than generation of new resources) is the likely scenario, such close examination of the fit between need and care is critical if services are to be targeted appropriately.     

Family relationships during serious illness

Serious illness can have a profound effect on patients and their families, whose attempts to protect each other often mean they have to deal with their fears and anxieties on their own when they are most in need of mutual support. And this can affect the way in which they relate to the nursing staff they depend on. Talking to patients about their families can help them to maintain their identities, both as patients and as family members.     

Impact of psychological and physical health, stressful events, and social support on subsequent mental health help seeking among older adults.

Factors that influence mental health help seeking among adults 55+ yrs were examined prospectively. A discriminant analysis significantly differentiated between 120 older adults needing and seeking services and a comparison group of 120 older adults not needing services. Prior to having sought help, help seekers demonstrated poorer psychological well-being, reported more physical health problems, reported a higher level of unpleasant stressful events, and perceived greater deficits in the amount of social support available to them in time of need. The vast majority of these older help seekers sought help for their mental health problems from a medical doctor rather than from a mental health center or clinic or from a minister. Significantly more help seekers than nonseekers experienced stressful events involving bereavement, social and economic loss, and new physical illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A direct comparison of inhalant effects on locomotor activity and schedule-controlled behavior in mice

Despite recent advances in the treatment of individuals with severe mental illness (SMI), their full integration into society is hindered by lingering negative attitudes towards them. In this paper, a brief overview is provided on stigmatization towards individuals with SMI, including its' impact on quality of life and self-esteem, as well as the factors which likely underlie it. Research is reviewed showing that lowered negative perceptions towards persons with SMI are associated with previous contact with this population and with presentation of empirically-based information on the association between violence and SMI. Limitations of these findings are discussed with an eye towards developing improved techniques for reducing stigma.     

Values of hemisoagglutinins and immunoglobulins among patients with surgical diseases and blood donors. Preliminary communication (author's transl)

Our investigations show distinctly higher values of hemagglutinins and immunoglobulins in patients with severe consuming and tumor diseases than in blood donors or subjects with slighter illness. Therefore, those are often able to form much more antibodies than supposed till now, inspite of their severe or cancer diseases. The stimulation of their immune system by intestinal mucosa is discussed, containing compounds identical to blood group substances A and B. They are resorbed from ulcers or during operations. More than 3/4 of our patients with severe or cancer diseases suffered from gastro- or intestinal illness. Cancer patients having often a good antibody forming system do not need automatically stimulating means such as BCG-vaccine in the cancer diseases.     

Test-taking sets and the performance of schizophrenics on laboratory tests.

Administered an abbreviated MMPI, a word association test, and a reaction time test under 2 test conditions (neutral and mental illness) to 3 schizophrenic groups-28 acute and 28 chronic Ss from open wards, and 28 chronic Ss from closed wards. Chronic Ss from open wards were the only group to perform differentially on the tests under the 2 conditions, presenting themselves as "healthier" on the MMPI and giving more common responses on the word association test in the mental illness than in the neutral condition. It is concluded that schizophrenic patients likely to be included in research may perform differently on tests given under different conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Jacob Cohen (1923–1998).

Memorializes Jacob Cohen, who made significant contributions to psychological research methods and statistics. Cohen invented the kappa statistic (often called Cohen's kappa) for assessing agreement in categorical judgments, introduced multiple regression analyses to psychologists, and advocated a focus on the magnitude of statistical effects. He also encouraged researchers to consider the size of their samples, giving them tools to determine how large samples need to be to provide adequate statistical power. In his later years, he implored researchers to rethink the tradition of null hypothesis testing, instead advocating modern methods that avoid the pitfalls of significance tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of absence from work: People's Republic of Chine versus Canada.

Cross-cultural theory was marshaled to predict how views of absence from work would be similar and different in Canada and the People's Republic of China. Respondents (N?=?1,209) from both cultures had self-serving perceptions of their own absence levels, seeing them as exemplary compared with those of their work group and occupational peers. The Chinese showed a stronger tendency to generate estimates that favored their work group. Both cultural groups underreported their own actual absence. Chinese managers and employees agreed on absence norms, whereas Canadian managers provided lower estimates than did employees. Canadians and Chinese ranked the legitimacy of reasons for absence and attendance fairly similarly, but ratings showed that Canadians were less likely to endorse domestic reasons for absence, whereas Chinese were less likely to endorse illness, stress, and depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child health psychology.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 9(6) of Health Psychology (see record 2008-09119-001). The name of the author, Sharon Millstein, should be Susan Millstein.] The term child health psychology refers to the field of research on the behavioral aspects of children's health and illness. At this time we need to continue the work of the child health psychology special interest group and to draw into the Division of Health Psychology a much larger number of developmental psychologists, who need to be informed about the relevance of their scientific training to child health issues. We call the Division's attention and that of granting agencies such as the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the following high-priority child health research issues: adherence to pediatric medical regimens; child health promotion; family influences on child and adolescent health and disease; and stress and coping in childhood illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Study of 500 patients attending an osteopathic practice

The experiences of 500 consecutive patients presenting with a new episode of illness at a five practitioner osteopathic practice in an east midlands town is reported. The osteopath completed a structured questionnaire about each patient who then completed two symptom questionnaires, one before treatment and a second four months later. Questionnaires were completed by osteopaths for 495 patients (99.0%). Almost all patients completed the first questionnaire (98.6%) and 367 patients (73.4%) completed the second questionnaire. Female patients had more treatment sessions than male patients (3.2 versus 2.7 over the four month period, P < 0.01) and suffered from more spinal muscular problems and postural imbalance than males (P < 0.05). The commonest diagnostic group was spinal joint sprain and patients with this diagnosis reported significantly better symptom improvement at four months than those in other diagnostic groups. Greater improvement at four months was also associated with shorter duration of illness before treatment (P < 0.001). The 147 patients who had seen their general practitioner before attending the osteopath had worse symptoms of a longer duration than the 347 patients who had not seen their general practitioner (P < 0.001), but showed greater improvement in symptoms over the subsequent four months. It is concluded that suitable patients should be encouraged to attend an osteopath early on in an illness. In subsequent episodes, if osteopathic treatment is of benefit to them, patients should attend before they see their general practitioner.     

Perceptions of urban versus rural hospital patients about return to their communities

During a two-month period in 1976, male patients scheduled to be discharged from two Veterans Administration Hospitals, who were aged 55 or older, chronically ill, able to communicate rationally, and had been hospitalized at least a week for the current illness, were interviewed prior to discharge. Information was sought regarding their feelings about admission and discharge, the availability of and their need for 13 related health-related services at home, and the informal support systems available to them in their local communities. Comparisons were made between patients from distinctly rural settings (communities with less than 5,000 population) and those from larger towns or cities. Both urban and rural patients were modest in assessment of their own health-related needs, especially their need for social and ancillary health services. In almost all instances, the perceived availability exceeded perceived needs. Rural dwellers reported somewhat less apprehension about entering the hospital; they also reported more social contact in their home communities despite the fact that in this sample the rural dwellers were more likely to be older, widowed, and living alone. Rural dwellers were slightly more likely to have their own family doctor.     

Active listening to cancer patients' stories

Approximately two thirds of all Dutch cancer patients have severe emotional problems; shortly after their change from the treatment regime into the regime of medical controls. Half of them even need professional support. It is, therefore, important that a professional listens with empathy to the patient's version of the illness story. Story telling helps to overcome the existential crisis of being a cancer patient; it is an essential step in the revalidation process. Themes and open questions which structure the communication are suggested in this article.     

Is befriending by trained volunteers of value to people suffering from long-term mental illness?

People who suffer from long term mental illness may be vulnerable to loneliness and isolation when living in community settings. Befriending by volunteers may be an effective way of combating such problems and helping clients to develop social networks. The findings of a small scale project to evaluate the views of people suffering from long term mental illness of an organized befriending scheme are reported. Nine subjects who suffer from severe mental illness were interviewed, all subjects felt befriending was helpful to them, and 67% of subjects thought it had improved their confidence when in social situations. Subjects who lived alone indicated a preference to see volunteers at home, whilst those who lived with carers preferred support in going out socially. The value of befriending schemes as part of community care services for this needy client group are discussed.     

Clonal origin of trisomy for chromosome 7 in the epithelial compartment of colon neoplasia

To examine primary care physician recognition of hypochondriacal patients, we identified a series of such patients in a general medicine clinic using the Whiteley Index. Clinic physicians made blind global ratings of severity of physical disease and unreasonable fear of illness (hypochondriasis) and completed a checklist of somatizing characteristics. Patient records were audited for diagnoses, laboratory tests, consultations, and medications prescribed. Twenty-nine (14%) of 210 patients scored above an established cutoff on the Whiteley Index. These hypochondriacal patients were rated by clinic physicians as more hypochondriacal and were more often given psychiatric diagnoses. Also, clinic physicians identified more somatizing features among hypochondriacal patients including their own reaction to them. This recognition of hypochondriac characteristics may have contributed to better management but may need to be raised to the diagnostic level for maximum benefit.     

Factors underlying unmet need for family planning in the Philippines

The prevalence of unmet need for family planning is a primary justification for family planning programs, but the causes of unmet need have not been much explored. This article investigates four explanations for unmet need: (1) as an artifact of inaccurate measurement of fertility preferences and contraceptive practice; (2) as a reflection of weakly held fertility preferences; (3) as a result of women's perceiving themselves to be at low risk of conceiving; (4) as due to excessive costs of contraception. The explanations are examined using quantitative and qualitative data collected in 1993 from currently married women and their husbands in two provinces in the Philippines. The results indicate that the preference-behavior discrepancy commonly termed "unmet need" is not an artifact of survey measurement. The most important factors accounting for this discrepancy are the strength of women's reproductive preferences, husbands' fertility preferences, and the perceived detrimental side effects of contraception. Inaccessible family planning services appear to carry little weight in this setting. Modification of services to make them more attentive to other obstacles to contraceptive use would improve their effectiveness in reducing unmet need.     

The accreditation program of hospital institutions in Argentina

This document explains and evaluates the strategy adopted and the experience gathered by the Joint Commission for the Development of Quality Assurance for Medical Care, for accreditation and categorization of health care establishments. This Commission is a non governmental and non profit making institution formed by representatives of 12 Scientific Entities, Social Welfare (Social Security) and Union of Private Health Care Establishments, which is giving strength to a volunteer Accreditation Programme in establishments. The promotion of the programme has allowed to evaluate different aspects of the mentioned problematic. Among them: a) Primary Evaluation of Establishments, observing a high influence of small establishments that do not fulfill the basic requirements, b) the need to differentiate between establishments concerning their risks and complexity and c) development of the accreditation manual which has the application methodology and the standards agreed.     

Narrative elaboration: Test of a new procedure for interviewing children.

Because young children provide incomplete accounts of the past and tend to acquiesce to leading questions, procedures are needed to help them describe past events fully, without contaminating memory. This study tests the efficacy of "narrative elaboration," an innovative procedure designed to expand children's spontaneous reports of past events, reducing the need for leading questions. One hundred thirty-two children from 2 age groups (7–8 years and 10–11 years) were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 preparation conditions: (a) narrative elaboration intervention, (b) instruction based intervention, and (c) control group. After participating in a staged activity and subsequent preparation sessions, children were interviewed about the activity. Children in the narrative elaboration condition demonstrated a 53% improvement in spontaneous recall over the control group, without compromising accuracy. Younger children using the narrative elaboration procedure performed at the level of older children in the control group. Discussion centers on implications for interviewing child witnesses and preparing them for courtroom examination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)