Behavior of Open- and Closed-Ended Piles Driven Into Sands

Both the driving response and static bearing capacity of open-ended piles are affected by the soil plug that forms inside the pile during pile driving. In order to investigate the effect of the soil plug on the static and dynamic response of an open-ended pile and the load capacity of pipe piles in general, field pile load tests were performed on instrumented open- and closed-ended piles driven into sand. For the open-ended pile, the soil plug length was continuously measured during pile driving, allowing calculation of the incremental filling ratio for the pile. The cumulative hammer blow count for the open-ended pile was 16% lower than for the closed-ended pile. The limit unit shaft resistance and the limit unit base resistance of the open-ended pile were 51 and 32% lower than the corresponding values for the closed-ended pile. It was also observed, for the open-ended pile, that the unit soil plug resistance was only about 28% of the unit annulus resistance, and that the average unit frictional resistance between the soil plug and the inner surface of the open-ended pile was 36% higher than its unit outside shaft resistance.     

Motivational Enhancement Therapy for Nicotine Dependence in Methadone-Maintained Pregnant Women.

Pregnant women who are dependent on nicotine and illicit substances are at especially high risk for health complications and psychosocial problems. Motivational enhancement therapy (MET) for reducing smoking during pregnancy was compared with standard-care practitioner advice in a 2-group randomized design. Participants were 63 pregnant opioid-dependent smokers seeking substance abuse treatment, methadone maintenance, and prenatal care. At a 10-week follow-up, self-report and biological measures (i.e., CO, cotinine) indicated no differences in smoking between the MET and standard-care groups. However, MET participants were more likely to have moved forward on the stage of change continuum than those in standard care. Intensive treatment for nicotine dependence, environmental interventions, and innovative harm reduction strategies are recommended to address the barriers to quitting observed in this population of pregnant women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of an objective measure on self-reports of behavior.

1,563 8th graders and their mothers completed self-report measures of cigarette smoking, and carbon monoxide levels in alveolar air were taken as an objective measure of smoking behavior. Adolescents who had smoked recently (according to their CO level) reported significantly greater amounts of smoking if they were informed about the biochemical measure before completing the questionnaire. Self-reports by adolescents who had not smoked recently (according to CO levels) and self-reports by mothers were not influenced by awareness of the objective measure. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial consequences of bone marrow transplantation in donor and nondonor siblings

We investigated the psychosocial effects of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) on siblings of transplant recipients. We asked how donor siblings compared with nondonor siblings on quantitative measures of behavior, psychological distress, and sense of self. Participants included 44 siblings (21 donors and 23 nondonors, ages 6-18 yr) of surviving pediatric BMT patients. On self-report measures, donors reported significantly more anxiety and lower self-esteem than nondonors. On teacher-rated scales, donors showed significantly more adaptive skills in school. On these same scales, nondonors showed significantly more school problems than donors. One-third of the siblings in each group reported a moderate level of post-traumatic stress reaction. Exploratory multiple regression analyses point to factors that might influence sibling adjustment and suggest counseling strategies and avenues for future research.     

Neural activity during health messaging predicts reductions in smoking above and beyond self-report.

Objective: The current study tested whether neural activity in response to messages designed to help smokers quit could predict smoking reduction, above and beyond self-report. Design: Using neural activity in an a priori region of interest (a subregion of medial prefrontal cortex [MPFC]), in response to ads designed to help smokers quit smoking, we prospectively predicted reductions in smoking in a community sample of smokers (N = 28) who were attempting to quit smoking. Smoking was assessed via expired carbon monoxide (CO; a biological measure of recent smoking) at baseline and 1 month following exposure to professionally developed quitting ads. Results: A positive relationship was observed between activity in the MPFC region of interest and successful quitting (increased activity in MPFC was associated with a greater decrease in expired CO). The addition of neural activity to a model predicting changes in CO from self-reported intentions, self-efficacy, and ability to relate to the messages significantly improved model fit, doubling the variance explained (R2self-report = .15, R2self-report + neural activity = .35, R2change = .20). Conclusion: Neural activity is a useful complement to existing self-report measures. In this investigation, we extend prior work predicting behavior change based on neural activity in response to persuasive media to an important health domain and discuss potential psychological interpretations of the brain–behavior link. Our results support a novel use of neuroimaging technology for understanding the psychology of behavior change and facilitating health promotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Skilled iv therapy clinicians' product evaluation of open-ended versus closed-ended valve PICC lines: a cost savings clinical report

The IV therapy clinician team at Florida Hospital has become active product selectors of IV therapy materials for the institution. It is recognized for its expertise, experience, and knowledge in IV therapy. As end users of many IV therapy products, members are well-qualified to act as principal product selectors of these patient care items. These clinicians identified costly problems with the performance of a conventional open-ended peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) product being used. A market search for a better product was done and the Bard Groshong closed-ended valve PICC (Bard Access Systems, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT) was selected. These PICCs were used for a 6-week trial period. The 58 inserted Groshong closed-ended valve PICCs were compared with the last 58 open-ended PICCs inserted. Greater quality assessment was apparent in its performance. A substantial cost savings of 21% also was achieved by using the Groshong closed-ended valve PICCs. A clinical report comparing these two products was presented to the value analysis committee. The validated superior performance of the Groshong closed-ended valve PICC with the cost savings for the 6-week trial period won the committee's approval and the change was made to the Groshong closed-ended valve PICC.     

Validity and reliability of a new questionnaire on patient satisfaction in rehabilitative therapy

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine some psychometric properties of a new questionnaire measuring patients' satisfaction with respect to the quality of care during stay in a rehabilitation unit. The instrument (called SAT-16) is composed of 16 four-level items and 2 open-ended questions. The construct validity of the 16-item section was already demonstrated in a previous study based on factorial analysis. In this study the concurrent validity, further aspects of the construct validity and test-retest reliability were analyzed. METHODS: The SAT-16 was administered to 339 inpatients, admitted consecutively to a Rehabilitation Center. RESULTS: 262 questionnaires (77%) were returned, of which 221 with all items filled in. The SAT-16 correlated well with two other measures of satisfaction (CSQ-8 and global satisfaction regarding the hospital stay). The answers to two open-ended questions came out to be consistent with those to the 16 closed-ended questions. The high values for the indices of test-retest reliability (ICC and kappa) are evidence of the stability of the scores in two repeated administrations. CONCLUSIONS: The SAT-16 was found to be provided with good psychometric characteristics. It can be proposed as a valid instrument for use in clinical practice for the continuous quality improvement of inpatient medical rehabilitation programmes.     

Validation of computer-mediated open-ended standardized patient assessments

Quantitative information regarding the development of students' clinical reasoning skills is valuable in assessing third- and fourth-year medical students' clinical knowledge. Standardized patient cases are often used to obtain this quantified information. These cases typically involve a post-patient examination consisting of a series of closed-ended multiple-choice questions. Many medical educators question whether the results from the closed-ended multiple-choice questions truly reflect students' clinical knowledge and reasoning proficiency. Since 1995, the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCOM) has used a computer program, SOAP Note Plus, for standardized patient assessment of students to automate the post-encounter documentation and evaluation. This paper describes the development of the SOAP Note Plus program and a validation study which was conducted to determine the empirical association between the computer-mediated closed-ended and open-ended post-encounter standardized patient assessments. Correlation and GENOVA statistics were used in the analysis of the performance of third-year medical students on the closed-ended and the open-ended assessments following standardized patient encounters and the relationship to their undergraduate GPA, first 2-year medical school GPA and the actual clinical rotation evaluations. The initial results show the positive relationship between the open-ended assessment and the actual clinical rotation evaluations. undergraduate GPA and the first two-years of medical school GPA.     

Effectiveness of behavioral therapy for chronic low back pain: A component analysis.

The effects of outpatient group behavioral therapy including aerobic exercise (BE), behavioral therapy only (B), and aerobic exercise only (E) on pain and physical and psychosocial disability were evaluated and compared in a group of mildy disabled chronic low-back-pain patients. Ninety-six Ss were randomly assigned to the 3 treatments and a waiting-list control (WL) condition and assessed on a variety of patient self-report, spouse-rated, and direct observational measures at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Patients in the BE condition, but not the B or E conditions, improved significantly more pretreatment to posttreatment than did WL patients on the patient self-report and observer-rated measures. At both follow-ups, all 3 treatment groups remained significantly improved from pretreatment, with no significant differences among treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-help books and amount of therapist contact in smoking cessation programs.

Evaluated 2 self-help behavior therapy books (B. G. Danaher and E. Lichtenstein, 1978; O. F. Pomerleau and C. S. Pomerleau, 1977) for stopping smoking against a widely available minimal treatment program. A 3?×?2 factorial design was employed to evaluate the 3 treatments under both self-administered and therapist-administered conditions. 85 chronic cigarette smokers (mean age 37.3 yrs) participated in the 8-wk treatment programs and a 6-mo follow-up. Dependent variables included self-monitored number of cigarettes smoked daily, CO concentrations in expired breath samples, dosage scores based on topographical aspects of smoking behavior, and adherence and cost-effectiveness measures. Under self-administered conditions, the minimal treatment program was at least as effective as the behavior therapy books. On the self-report measures, therapist contact was associated with improved treatment outcome for the behavior therapy programs but not for the control condition. Reliable between-groups differences were not consistently observed on CO levels. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do smokers know what we're talking about? The construct validity of nicotine dependence questionnaire measures.

Few studies have examined whether nicotine dependence self-report questionnaires can predict specific behaviors and symptoms at specific points in time. The present study used data from a randomized clinical trial (N = 608; M. E. Piper et al., 2007) to assess the construct validity of scales and items from 3 nicotine dependence measures: the Fagerstr?m Test for Nicotine Dependence (T. F. Heatherton, L. T. Kozlowski, R. C. Frecker & K.-O. Fagerstr?m, 1991), the Nicotine Dependence Syndrome Scale (S. Shiffman, A. J. Waters, & M. Hickcox, 2004), and the Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (M. E. Piper et al., 2004). Scales from these measures were used to predict participants' reports on real-time measures of withdrawal symptoms and smoking behavior and retrospective self-report questionnaires to assess convergent and discriminative validity. The nicotine dependence measures' scales and items generally predicted the real-time measures of similar constructs, but the percent of variance accounted for was low. The nicotine dependence measures did, however, show evidence of discriminative validity. Thus, this study provides modest support for the construct validity of these nicotine dependence scales. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empirical validation of the Marital Satisfaction Inventory: An actuarial approach.

Despite the proliferation of self-report measures of marital satisfaction, few satisfy even minimal criteria of reliability and validity. The current study presents data demonstrating the actuarial validity of the Marital Satisfaction Inventory, a multidimensional self-report measure of marital interaction. 50 couples (mean age 35 yrs) entering marital therapy were interviewed conjointly, and spouses were rated separately on a 61-item checklist of relevant clinical criteria. Subsequent analyses identified 95 significant Scale?×?Criterion correlations, with an average of 9 correlates for each scale. In addition to providing substantial support for the basic interpretive intent of individual scales, findings demonstrate their convergent and discriminant validity as well. Implications for both the clinical and research utility of this instrument are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial correlates of childhood anxiety disorders

OBJECTIVE: This study explored psychosocial and "environmental" correlates of childhood anxiety disorders. The study examined relationships among parental psychiatric symptomatology, perceived family environment, temperament, and self-competence in children with a DSM-III-R anxiety disorder. METHOD: A community sample of third through sixth graders was screened initially for symptoms of test anxiety. Those with high and low scores were administered the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children. Three groups (childhood anxiety disorder, test-anxious only, and normal controls) were identified and compared on the psychosocial variables. RESULTS: Children with an anxiety disorder had greater impairment on the indices of perceived self-competence and temperamental flexibility than controls, with the test-anxious children showing intermediate, yet significant, levels of disturbance. There was a trend for children with an anxiety disorder to describe their families as less promoting of independence than the other groups. Finally, measures of parental psychiatric symptomatology revealed more obsessive-compulsive symptoms for the fathers of both the anxiety disorder and test-anxious children compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: Results are consistent with previous findings suggesting the familial transmission of anxiety disorders and recent speculations regarding a relationship between behavioral inhibition, environmental control, and anxiety. Further research may isolate psychosocial and family environmental factors as instrumental treatment targets in the management of childhood anxiety disorders.     

Sex differences and adolescent depression.

This study investigates the role of certain psychosocial variables—sex, age, body image/self-esteem, self-consciousness, stressful life events, and the degree to which an individual identifies with the cultural stereotype of masculinity—as correlates and antecedents to depression in adolescents and explores possible intraindividual mediators of the stress–depression relationship in adolescents. A battery of self-report measures was administered to public high school students in Grades 9–12 in their classrooms at two different times 1 month apart. Female adolescents reported more depressive symptoms, self-consciousness, stressful recent events, feminine attributes, and negative body image and self-esteem; no age effects were obtained. Results suggest a model of adolescent depression in which body image/self-esteem and stressful recent events are significant contributors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overexpression of CC10 modifies neoplastic potential in lung cancer cells

The purposes of this study were to examine the frequency and risk factors (correlates) of single and concurrent health risk behaviors (HRBs) including obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, and alcohol use in a sample of 352 rural, predominately African-American sixth graders. This study was guided by Jessor's (1992) adolescent risk behavior conceptual framework. Data were collected using physical measures and a self-report questionnaire. Thirty-two percent of the sample had no HRB, 44% had one HRB, and 24% had two or more HRBs. Obesity and physical inactivity were more prevalent in this sample than in the general population. Gender differences in risk factors were evident. Our findings suggest the testing of interventions that focus on the social needs of girls and that influence behavioral modeling for boys to reduce single and concurrent health risk behaviors.     

Cognitive outcome in children and adolescents following severe traumatic brain injury: influence of psychosocial, psychiatric, and injury-related variables

Previous studies of childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) have emphasized injury-related variables rather than psychiatric or psychosocial factors as correlates of cognitive outcomes. We addressed this concern by recruiting a consecutive series (N = 24) of children age 5 through 14 years who suffered a severe TBI, a matched group who sustained a mild TBI, and a second matched group who sustained an orthopedic injury. Standardized intellectual, memory, psychiatric, family functioning, family psychiatric history, neurological, and neuroimaging assessments were conducted at an average of 2 years following injury. Severe TBI, when compared to mild TBI and orthopedic injury, was associated with significant decrements in intellectual and memory function. A principal components analysis of independent variables that showed significant (p < .05) bivariate correlations with the outcome measures yielded a neuropsychiatric factor encompassing severity of TBI indices and postinjury psychiatric disorders and a psychosocial disadvantage factor. Both factors were independently and significantly related to intellectual and memory function outcome. Postinjury psychiatric disorders added significantly to severity indices and family functioning and family psychiatric history added significantly to socioeconomic status in explaining several specific cognitive outcomes. These results may help to define subgroups of children who will require more intensive services following their injuries.     

Psychosocial and physical correlates of survival and recurrence in patients with head and neck carcinoma: results of a 6-year longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: Studies that have examined correlations between psychosocial factors and survival in cancer patients do not permit any definitive conclusions. To the authors' knowledge, to date no study has examined the relation between medical as well as quality of life variables and survival in head and neck carcinoma patients. The current study focused on the complex interactions among psychosocial, medical, behavioral, and demographic variables as they relate to prognosis in these patients. METHODS: A total of 133 consecutive head and neck carcinoma patients were included in a prospective study at pretreatment. In addition to clinical variables, psychosocial and physical functioning was assessed by means of a self-report questionnaire. RESULTS: During the observation period 57 patients died whereas 76 were still alive at 6 years after treatment. Results of the multivariate survival analysis indicated that patients without head and neck metastasis had a better prognosis than patients with positive cervical lymph nodes. Pretreatment smoking showed a negative correlation with overall survival. Patients who were more physically self-efficacious (i.e., higher perceived physical abilities) were more likely to survive and less likely to develop a recurrence. In addition, patients who expressed intense psychosocial complaints prior to treatment had a better prognosis than had those who did not express such negative feelings. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings linking physical self-efficacy and prognosis are promising, but clinical trials are necessary to examine the direct and indirect mediational pathways of the variables that underlie physical efficacy and influence survival and recurrence. Also, the negative correlation between pretreatment smoking and survival suggests a need for increased efforts to address smoking in newly diagnosed patients.     

Construct validity of sensation seeking and curiosity measures of normal and psychotic subjects.

In a study with 27 art students, 26 teacher trainees, and 30 hospitalized schizophrenics, self-report and performance measures of curiosity (e.g., the Shipley-Institute of Living Scale for Assessing Intellectual Impairment, a modified Barron Welsh Art Scale, and the Specific Curiosity Questionnaire) were examined for internal consistency, discriminant validity from social desirability, intelligence and anxiety measures, and for convergent validity. In performance tasks, generalizability of results from random polygons to art products was examined. Results show that self-report measures were limited psychometrically and were not unitary scales, while performance measures confounded method and stimulus variance. Both types of measure overlapped with discriminant variables, but self-report measures overlapped more. Convergent validity was greater for self-report than performance tests. No factor united all variables. There was some support for generalizing from polygons to paintings. (French summary) (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguishing depressed from nondepressed individuals using energy and psychosocial variables.

This study was conducted to determine whether energy level can be used to distinguish depressed from nondepressed individuals and to assess the relative importance of energy level and psychosocial variables in making this distinction. Fifty-seven participants experiencing a current episode of major depression and a matched sample of nondepressed participants completed a self-report questionnaire containing measures of energy level and psychosocial variables. Discriminant analysis revealed that energy level correctly classified 93% as depressed or nondepressed, whereas psychosocial variables correctly classified 87%. Combining the energy and psychosocial variables did not increase the accuracy of classification over that achieved by using only the energy measures. The measure of exhaustion provided the greatest relative contribution to the overall discriminant function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)