An evaluation of an orientation plus tutoring school-based prevention program.

Some children who transfer into new schools are high-risk candidates for school and later-life difficulties. During transfer, children are faced with the tasks of gaining teacher and peer acceptance, learning school rules, and meeting new academic standards. Children who fail in these tasks are often of low socioeconomic status (SES), show academic lag, and are confronted with multiple life stressors. In this study, 20 schools were randomly assigned to (1) an intervention providing transfer children with an orientation program and tutoring or (2) a control condition. 54 children in Grades 3, 4, and 5 who were assigned to the intervention showed significantly better achievement scores than a group of 52 controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of inheritance of ovarian cancer. An analysis from an ovarian cancer screening program

BACKGROUND: A variety of inheritance patterns for familial ovarian cancer have been proposed including an autosomal dominant inheritance, a breast-ovary cancer syndrome and Lynch Cancer Family Syndrome (involving breast, bowel, ovary, and endometrial cancers). METHODS: Women participating in an ovarian cancer screening study completed a questionnaire concerning their family history of ovarian and other malignancies (in particular breast, bowel, and endometrial cancer). Confirmation of the diagnosis was sought when there was uncertainty. RESULTS: Two hundred forty women with a first-degree relative with ovarian cancer participated in the study. Nine percent of these women (representing 13 families) gave a definite history of two or more affected first-degree relatives. Two families had a pedigree consistent with an autosomal dominant inheritance. A breast-ovary cancer family and a Lynch cancer family syndrome were suspected in one family each, although 34% of all women gave a history of at least one other first-degree relative with either breast, bowel, or endometrial cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Only a small number of women with a family history of ovarian cancer fit into the recognized hereditary patterns. Difficulty in recognizing the inheritance patterns and the lack of definitive genetic markers poses problems in providing adequate counseling regarding screening and prophylactic oophorectomy.     

An initial evaluation of a clinical psychology practicum training program.

Assessed 2 groups of clinical psychology graduate student trainees (N?=?26) either 3 or 4 times over the 1st 2 yrs of training. Skills measured included the ability to both communicate and discriminate empathic responses. Faculty supervisory ratings of Ss and internship supervisory ratings were obtained. For comparison purposes, data were gathered from 9 graduate trainees who did not undergo systematic skills training. Results indicate that both experimental training groups (receiving skill training) improved in their ability to produce empathic responses as compared with the control group. The training group that received the more intense and experiential training showed greater improvement in ability to discriminate facilitative responses. Faculty ratings during practicum did not reveal improvement; however, internship supervisory ratings did reflect trainee improvement. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Witchcraft in histories of psychiatry: A critical analysis and an alternative conceptualization.

Histories of psychiatry have typically contended that those accused of being witches during the late medieval/early modern period were mentally disturbed. Specifically, they have argued that (a) a great upsurge in mental disorder occurred in the 15th century, (b) the mentally ill were considered to be witches, and (c) witches were obviously mentally disturbed because they confessed to bizarre and impossible happenings, exhibited localized analgesia, and were sometimes insensitive to torture. These contentions are examined and found wanting. The overriding sociopolitical factors that produced and sustained witch persecutions are outlined. Witch accusations, confessions, and purported insensitivity are conceptualized in terms consonant with modern social-learning and social-role theories. (168 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Students' evaluation of education in psychiatry

Students' written evaluations covering four years of education have been collected. According to the students' judgment, excursions, seminars involving presentation of patients, and teaching and problem solving in small groups were worthwhile. In general, the gain from lectures was regarded as low. The clinical rotation, predominantly based on hospital inpatient services, had been valuable for some, of limited value for about one half, and a waste of time for more than a quarter of the students. Hospital based teaching takes up most of the students' time and most of the institute's financial resources. According to the student's reports, however, it contributes only with 14% of the total gain from the course. Evaluations collected on several years of education provide information which cannot be obtained from a single assessment.     

An evaluation of the effectiveness of a consultation-liaison psychiatry service in general practice

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the 6-month outcome of patients referred by their general practitioner (GP) to a consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry service provided to eight group general practices. METHOD: Over a 12-month period, there were 307 referrals to the C-L psychiatry service of whom 86 consented to take part in an outcome study. Two different control groups were examined comprising patients seen by the same GPs but not referred to the C-L service, who were matched with the C-L referrals on the basis of either demographic characteristics (n = 86) or initial symptomatology (n = 59). Clinical interviews were conducted at recruitment to the outcome study using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), while postal questionnaires were used at both the initial and 6-month assessments. RESULTS: Data reported include DSM-III-R clinical audit and CIDI diagnoses, changes in current symptomatology (SCL-90-R) and changes in global ratings of physical health, emotional health, social relationships and ability to perform everyday duties. Consultation-liaison referrals without symptom-matched controls (n = 27), being patients with higher levels of symptoms initially, were more likely to be referred to other psychiatric services for treatment. They also showed more marked improvement over time on the selected outcome measures. However, there were no significant differences in the patterns of change over time between symptom-matched C-L referrals and their non-referred controls. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from the 6-month outcome study raise doubts about the overall benefit of the current C-L service relative to usual GP care. Improving the quality of psychiatric care in general practice is likely to require a range of interrelated strategies, including C-L psychiatry services, GP education and well-functioning links with public mental health services.     

An evaluation of a family visit education program

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to examine the impact of the Family Visit Education Program (FVEP) on family members, nursing staff, and nursing home residents with dementia. DESIGN: The study employed a 2 x 3 single-blind, randomized control group design with two study conditions, FVEP or usual care (UC), and three times of measurement, baseline, 3-months, and 6-months. SETTING: The study was conducted in five skilled-care nursing homes that ranged in size from 120 to 300 beds. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-six residents with dementia and their primary visitor were randomly assigned to FVEP (n = 32) or UC (n = 34). MEASUREMENTS: Residents were assessed for (1) psychosocial functioning, (2) depression, (3) agitated behavior, and (4) degree of positive social interaction. Nursing staff were assessed for changes in the time and methods used to manage problem behaviors. Visitors were assessed for (1) dementia management skills, (2) extent of perceived caregiving hassles, and (3) visit satisfaction. RESULTS: FVEP was effective for reducing residents' problem behaviors and for decreasing their symptoms of depression and irritability. It was also effective for improving the way family members and other visitors communicated with residents, but, with the exception of reducing the use of mechanical restraints, it was not effective in changing nurses' management of residents' behavior problems. CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to educate family members to communicate and interact more effectively with nursing home residents with dementia. This has beneficial effects on residents but not on nursing staff's management of problem behaviors.     

Development and evaluation of an interpersonal skill-training program for psychiatric inpatients.

Experimentally evaluated an empirically developed interpersonal-skill-training program for male psychiatric inpatients. The program development phase involved identifying patient-relevant problem situations, analyzing effective responses for these situations, deriving principles governing such effective behavior, and developing explicit scoring criteria for such behavior. In the evaluation phase, 36 male psychiatric inpatients received 3 individual sessions of either interpersonal skill training or pseudotherapy, or they were in an assessment-only control group. Skill training was superior to the other 2 conditions on a number of behavioral and self-report measures, both in the training context and in a more real-life context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patient management in geriatric psychiatry by ambulatory care services. Results of an empirical analysis

This study was designed to provide information to which extend home-based nursing care services for the elderly take part in the care for older people with mental disorders. Also of interest was the involvement of clinical facilities and services of the geropsychiatric treatment system in the health care for the clients. A one day data collection in 29 nursing care services in two North Rhine-Westphalian regions could raise informations about 1,246 clients aged 60 years and over 1,522 persons (41.8%) had a mental disorder, diagnosed by a nursing and/or medical professional. 68% of the mental disordered clients had dementia or a demential disorder, 6% a functional psychosis, and 31% a neurotic, psychogenic disorder or substance abuse (small number of clients with two and more diagnoses). 82% of clients with mental disorders had one or more additional somatic disease(s). These diseases were mostly the cause for the involvement of home-based nursing care service. Barely 8% of clients with mental disorders were placed from clinical facilities and services of the geropsychiatric treatment system into the nursing care services. Beside the home-based care, only a 12% of mental disordered received clients outpatient psychiatric treatment. Systematic cooperation between the nursing care services and the system of (gero-) psychiatric treatment was a rare exception.     

Dilemma in mental health program evaluation.

Considers 2 themes important to understanding problems of evaluating mental health programs: (a) new programs produce unintended consequences whatever their intended target, and (b) consensus on criteria to be applied is becoming difficult to achieve. It is suggested that a preferred strategy is to assume as broad a perspective as possible and to be continuously aware of unexpected "fall out" in the operation of the system. A primary task now is to discover more effective ways of monitoring the effect of new programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of an Internet-based program for reducing risk factors for eating disorders.

This study evaluated an Internet-delivered computer-assisted health education (CAHE) program designed to improve body satisfaction and reduce weight/shape concerns—concerns that have been shown to be risk factors for the development of eating disorders in young women. Participants were 60 women at a public university randomly assigned to either an intervention or control condition. Intervention participants completed the CAHE program Student Bodies. Measures of body image and disordered eating attitudes were assessed at baseline, postintervention, and 3-month follow-up. At follow-up, intervention participants, compared with controls, reported a significant improvement in body image and a decrease in drive for thinness. This program provides evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of providing health education by means of the Internet. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metacognitive influences on study time allocation in an associative recognition task: An analysis of adult age differences.

The current study evaluated a metacognitive account of study time allocation, which argues that metacognitive monitoring of recognition test accuracy and latency influences subsequent strategic control and regulation. The authors examined judgments of learning (JOLs), recognition test confidence judgments (CJs), and subjective response time (RT) judgments by younger and older adults in an associative recognition task involving 2 study–test phases, with self-paced study in Phase 2. Multilevel regression analyses assessed the degree to which age and metacognitive variables predicted Phase 2 study time independent of actual test accuracy and RT. Outcomes supported the metacognitive account—JOLs and CJs predicted study time independent of recognition accuracy. For older adults with errant RT judgments, subjective retrieval fluency influenced response confidence as well as (mediated through confidence) subsequent study time allocation. Older adults studied items that had been assigned lower CJs longer, suggesting no age deficit in using memory monitoring to control learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Estimates of the dollar value of employee output in utility analyses: An empirical test of two theories.

Examined distributions of estimates of the dollar value of performance in studies employing the method of F. L. Schmidt et al (1979) for estimating the standard deviation of job performance (SDy) and found evidence that (1) the mean 50th percentile estimate is biased downward, (2) estimates of SDy appear to be a constant percentage of the 50th percentile estimate, and (3) estimates of SDy as a percentage of the 50th percentile value (SDp) are quite similar to empirical SDp values based on actual employee output. These findings suggest that the downward bias in the mean estimate of the 50th percentile causes the mean estimates of SDy to be similarly biased downward, but does not bias the estimates of SDp. Finally, an objective method for estimating the value of average employee output is described. The product of this value and the mean supervisory estimate of SDp yields an unbiased estimate of SDy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evaluation of self-pacing in an auditory identification learning task.

Investigated a method of pacing in auditory identification learning in an experiment with 127 naval service school students. Traditionally, an instructor paces the learner by controlling the stimulus presentation during learning. The W. N. Dember and R. W. Earl theory and other research suggest that a learner might effectively pace himself, provided he has access to stimuli of appropriate complexity levels. An attempt was made to contrast these 2 positions and a condition in which there was no pacing and all training was on the criterion task. Major results were: (a) self-pacing was less efficient, but not less effective, than proficiency-pacing (traditional); (b) both pacing techniques were more effective than unpaced training on the criterion task; and (c) despite attempts to meet the restrictions of the Dember and Earl theory in designing the self-paced condition, the stimulus selection behavior of Ss in that condition was not mediated by stimulus complexity alone. The applicability of the Dember and Earl theory to complex learning situations is questioned. (French summary) (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preventing adolescent depression: An evaluation of the Problem Solving For Life program.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Problem Solving For Life program as a universal approach to the prevention of adolescent depression. Short-term results indicated that participants with initially elevated depressions scores (high risk) who received the intervention showed a significantly greater decrease in depressive symptoms and increase in life problem-solving scores from pre- to postintervention compared with a high-risk control group. Low-risk participants who received the intervention reported a small but significant decrease in depression scores over the intervention period, whereas the low-risk controls reported an increase in depression scores. The low-risk group reported a significantly greater increase in problem-solving scores over the intervention period compared with low-risk controls. These results were not maintained, however, at 12-month follow-up. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some problems in community program evaluation research.

Suggests that realities of the community context militate against good program evaluation research. Many limiting factors in such research stem from a clash in values between those who must deliver and those who must evaluate community services. Detailed consideration is given to several clusters of difficulties that plague community program evaluation studies, including (a) sources of data bias, (b) issues of design, (c) problems in the choice and use of criteria, and (d) problems of experimental control. Although community program evaluation studies can be improved, it is unlikely that the purity of laboratory research will ever be attained. Ultimate conclusions about the effectiveness of community service programs may thus have to come about slowly and cumulatively, based on convergent findings from many individual less-than-ideal outcome studies. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Practicum and internship training in program evaluation.

Survey results from 34 graduate programs indicate that there was a large amount of variability and ambiguity as to the role of field training in evaluation curricula. Diversity existed in the use of terminology, time commitment, and the amount and quality of supervision. There was some agreement concerning prerequisite course work and the type of settings viewed as suitable placements. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual and group perceptions of therapeutic factors and session evaluation: An actor–partner interdependence analysis.

The relationship between a group member's and other group members' perceptions of therapeutic factors and session evaluation were examined using Kenny, Mannetti, Pierro, Livi, and Kashy's (2002) model. In addition, I examined the relative variance in therapeutic factors as a function of sessions, group members, and groups. Thirty-six growth-group participants participating in six 28-session growth groups filled out critical incident (CI) forms and session evaluations. CIs were rated on 10 therapeutic factors dimensions derived from Bloch, Reibstein, Crouch, Holroyd, and Themen (1979). On average, 95% of the variance in the therapeutic factors was at the session level, 4% of the variance was at the person level, and 1% of the variance was at the group level. Contrary to the hypotheses, individual's perception of therapeutic factors was not significantly related to session depth or smoothness. Contrary to the hypothesis, other group members' perceptions of therapeutic factors were not significantly related to session depth, although there was a trend (p = .06). As hypothesized, other group members' perceptions of therapeutic factors were significantly related to session smoothness. The findings support Yalom and Leszcz's (2005) contention that the group leaders' primary function is to create a therapeutically effective group culture and not to focus on individual group member change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Design and evaluation of an obedience training program for mothers of preschool children.

Conducted a training program in a clinic playroom to teach 24 mothers to use the principles of contingent social reinforcement to increase their preschool child's obedience. During the training, E relayed commands to the mother, cued her to reinforce her child, and reinforced the mother from behind a 1-way vision screen using a "bug-in-the-ear" device. As a group, the mothers' contingent use of maternal proximity and verbal reinforcement improved significantly as a result of the training program. Children's obedience to their mothers' verbal commands was improved as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)