Opinions about mental illness: Hospital social atmosphere profiles and their relevance to effectiveness.

For a sample of 12 VA mental hospitals, OMI data were obtained on representative 50% samples of hospital employees, clustered into hospital social atmosphere types, and related to time in community, adjusted for prognosis of patients admitted to these hospitals. It was found that authoritarian-restrictiveness was negatively related to in-community days and that other atmosphere types were positively related. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal characteristics of college volunteers in mental hospitals.

41 male and 110 female undergraduates volunteering for summer work in mental hospitals were compared to 142 control students on personality, occupational-interest, and life-history variables. Striking personality characteristics of mental health volunteers were maturity and control, drive for independent achievement, and sensitivity to people and human problems. Vocational interests and life-history data on volunteers were consistent with these personality characteristics. In vocational interests, volunteers were similar to men and women in the independent professions and in professions emphasizing social service or the exercise of language and artistic skills. Life-history data indicated that volunteers were more service-oriented and committed to mental health work than other college Ss. The role of test-taking attitudes in producing these differences was discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early recollections related to anxiety and introversion-extroversion.

The relationship between personality characteristics and early recollections (ERs) was investigated. The hypotheses were that a consistent relationship would be established (a) between Taylor Manifest Anxiety (MA) Scale scores and the anxiety content of ERs, and (b) between R scale scores of the Inventory of Factors STDCR and the introversion-extroversion (I-E) content of ERs. The significant findings indicate that ERs have some utility in evaluating personality characteristics. The nonsignificant judges' I-E ratings and the less reliable judges' I-E ratings indicate that I-E features of ERs are more difficult to evaluate than anxiety features. The agreement between Ss' I-E ratings and their R scale scores suggests that they may have approached both tasks in a similar manner. Adler's position, that ERs reflect Ss' style of life, receives some support from the study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of malingered mental retardation.

In a cross-validation of results from L. O. Graue et al. (2007), standard psychological assessment instruments, as well as tests of neurocognitive and psychiatric feigning, were administered under standard instructions to 24 participants diagnosed with mild mental retardation (MR) and 10 demographically matched community volunteers (CVH). A 2nd group of 25 community volunteers was instructed to malinger MR (CVM) during testing. CVM participants obtained Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (3rd ed.; D. Wechsler, 1997) Full Scale Intelligence Quotient scores that were significantly lower than the demographically similar CVH group but comparable to the MR group, suggesting that CVM subjects feigned cognitive impairment. On the basis of standard cutting scores from test manuals or published articles, of the 11 feigning measures administered, only the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM; T. N. Tombaugh, 1996) retention trial had a specificity rate >.90 in the MR group. However, the 2nd learning trial of the TOMM, as well as a short form of the Digit Memory Test (T. J. Guilmette, K. J. Hart, A. J. Guiliano, & B. E. Leininger, 1994), approached this level of specificity, with both at .88. These results raise concerns about the specificity rates at recommended cutting scores of commonly used feigning tests in defendants with MR. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics of college students volunteering for service to mental patients.

85 male college students volunteering for service as companions to chronically ill mental patients were compared to a group of 85 control students on a number of psychological tests administered during the students' freshmen years. These tests consisted of the MMPI, EPPS, Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Scale of Values, the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and the Terman Concept Mastery Test. Students taking part in the Companion Program are not differentiated from their control counterparts in any clinical respect. There is evidence that the companions are: (a) slightly more religiously oriented, (b) more morally concerned, (c) more compassionate, and (d) more introverted than the control students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of a companion program on college student volunteers and mental patients

Used a pretest-posttest control group design to assess the effects of a companion program on 20 college student volunteers and 21 mental patients. Results of change score analyses show that companionship was beneficial to some patients and detrimental to others, although responses to questionnaires indicated that hospital staff, student companions, and patients all had positive feelings about the companion program and wanted it to continue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensionality of internal-external control: Implications for past and future research.

Factor analyzed the scores of 130 20-55 yr old females in a weight-reducing club and 85 undergraduates on Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale. Results of the 2 studies offer rather clear evidence that there are at least 2 independent factors of Internal vs External (I-E) control. The 1st factor, "Fatalism," concerned the belief that luck, fate, or fortune vs hard work, ability, and personal responsibility determine one's outcomes. The 2nd factor, "Social System Control," measured the extent to which people believe they can or cannot effect change within the sociopolitical realms of their society. The possible limitations of Rotter's rather heterogeneous I-E scale are explained and an alternative research strategy involving multiple regression analyses based on homogeneous I-E subscales is proposed. This new approach would not only facilitate more accurate predictions of criteria, but would also promote further refinement of I-E theory. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in locus of control as a function of life crisis resolution.

Examined Rotter's Internal-External (I-E) scale in relation to life crisis and crisis resolution. It was hypothesized that crisis patients (N = 30), overwhelmed by external forces in their lives, would initially be more externally oriented on the I-E scale than a similar group of noncrisis outpatients (N = 30), but would show a significant shift toward the internal end of the dimension following a 6-wk crisis resolution period, while the noncrisis patients would show no significant I-E shift. Results are consistent with this hypothesis, but do not support a prediction that magnitude of I-E change would be negatively related to age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Staff attitude and atmosphere scores as a function of ward size and patient chronicity.

Analyzed the Opinions About Mental Illness Scale (OMI) and the Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS) for 72 treatment staff of 4 inpatient wards treating adult psychotics. Wards were selected to cross large and small size with acute and chronic patient populations, with all wards documented to profess a milieu therapy orientation. Staff were selected from each ward to equate numbers, position and training, experience, age, sex, and personality variables (MMPI Lie scale). An OMI profile that had previously been associated in the literature with effectiveness of treatment units was found to cluster significantly without interrelationships being affected by ward size or patient chronicity; however, interrelationships among WAS scores were affected by ward size and patient chronicity. Differences in the level of OMI scores for the effectiveness profile were obtained, indicating that previous relationships reported between OMI scores and treatment effectiveness appear to reflect 2 partially correlated outcomes of unit size and patient chronicity that have been confounded in other work. It is concluded that direct assessment and monitoring of actual staff functioning is a better approach for ultimately determining treatment and staff effectiveness than indirect assessment of presumed functioning via attitude and atmosphere variables. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internal-external control and social-political activism: A test of the dimensionality of Rotter's internal-external scale.

Reexamined the issue of the usefulness of the internal-external concept in understanding commitment to social-political action and evaluated the empirical intactness of Rotter's Internal-External (I-E) Control Scale. 85 female and 81 male university students, 66 of whom belonged to campus social-political action groups, completed several personality inventories including the I-E measure and Kerpelman's Political Activity scale. 3 scores were derived from the I-E instrument, 1 based on responses to all 23 items. The other 2 scores were based, respectively, on responses to the political or world events stems and to the nonpolitical stems identified by H. Mirels as forming independent item domains. The 2 item clusters from the I-E scale were uncorrelated. Political commitment was predicted by scores on the political I-E items (p     

Prediction of length of stay out of the hospital for released psychiatric patients.

The scores of 104 consecutively released nongeriatric psychiatric patients on the California Psychological Inventory, the Waco Social Adequacy Scale, Opinions about Mental Illness Scale (administered to relatives also) and background variables were correlated with success or failure in achieving a 9-mo. uninterrupted stay in the community after release. Only the Waco, OMI Authoritarianism, Benevolence, and Social Restrictiveness, and 4 of the background variable correlated significantly (p.     

Bayley's Infant Behavior Record: Relations between behaviors and mental test scores.

Analyzed ratings on Bayley's Infant Behavior Record and test scores from the Bayley Mental Scale for 60 female and 50 male infants over a 2-yr period, at ages 6, 12, 18, and 24 mo. Results show significant relationships between certain behaviors and mental test scores. Composite scores were calculated for 2 behavioral clusters-one composed of behaviors relating to Primary Cognition and the other to Extraversion-and these composite scores were correlated with both concurrent and subseqeunt mental test scores. The Extraversion composite was related to concurrent mental scores for females but not for males, and had no predictive utility for either sex. In contrast, the Primary Cognition composite was strongly associated with mental test scores both concurrently and predictively for both sexes, although the patterns were somewhat more cohesive for males. The Extraversion composite showed very little age-to-age stability, whereas the Primary Cognition score was stable from age to age, particularly for males. Results raise questions about the appropriateness of including social items in infant mental tests since these behaviors show neither stability nor prognostic utility. Cognitive, task-oriented behaviors were more stable and had prognostic value approaching that of the mental test score itself. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes toward professional counseling among Asian-American college students: Acculturation, conceptions of mental illness, and loss of face.

The present study attempted to examine the influence of culture-bound barriers such as acculturation status, loss of face, and conception of mental health on the attitudes of Asian American college students (n = 134) toward seeking professional psychological help. An adapted Acculturation Attitude Scale (AAS; U. Kim, 1988), Zane's (1991) Loss of Face Scale (LOFS), a 10-factor Conception of Mental Health Scale (CMHS; Nunnally, 1961), and a modified version of the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPHS) with four subscales (Fischer & Turner, 1970) were used in this study. Results support the hypothesis that acculturation and conceptions of mental health were significantly correlated with attitudes toward mental health services. Loss of face was also significantly correlated with attitudes of being open to professional counseling. Implications for mental health professionals working with Asian Americans are highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Right ventricular function in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy: assessment using krypton-81 m blood pool scintigraphy

The characteristics and pathogenesis of right ventricular dysfunction in 14 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) were investigated by equilibrium right ventricular blood pool scintigraphy using ultrashort-lifetime 81mKr. Thirteen patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction due to old anterior myocardial infarction (OMI) and nine normal subjects were used as controls. The right ventricular end-diastolic pressure and volume index, mean pulmonary arterial pressure, and total pulmonary vascular resistance index were almost the same in the DCM and OMI patients. The right ventricular ejection fraction was 44.2 +/- 6.0% (mean +/- SD) in DCM patients and 47.1 +/- 7.9% in OMI patients, both significantly lower than those in the normal subjects (54.5 +/- 5.3%), but with no difference between the two case groups. The right ventricular peak filling rate was significantly reduced in both case groups as compared with the normal subjects (2.46 +/- 0.81 EDV/sec). The reduction was significantly greater (p < 0.05) in the DCM group (0.97 +/- 0.47 EDV/sec) than in the OMI group (1.61 +/- 0.46 EDV/sec). Cineangiography showed that the wall motion abnormality of the interventricular septum was remarkable in OMI patients, but was relatively mild in DCM patients. Lesions of the interventricular septum may be of major importance in right ventricular dysfunction in OMI, while extensive severe damage to the right ventricular free wall may be important in DCM. 81mKr blood pool scintigraphy is useful in the study of the right ventricular systolic and diastolic function. The diastolic parameters are more sensitive indicators for evaluation of right ventricular function in DCM than the systolic parameters.     

Sex and cultural differences in perceived locus of control among students in five countries.

Administered the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control (I-E) Scale to more than 1,500 students in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, and the US. Scores were categorized by sex and country and analyzed by a #2 * 5 analysis of variance. A Sex main effect (p     

Internal-external control as contributor to and outcome of work experience.

Examined both the influence of internal-external (I-E) control on a number of facets of work experience and the influence of work experience on change in I-E control. Utilizing 2,972 respondents from the National Longitudinal Surveys' representative national sample of middle-aged males, multiple regression analysis, and an 11-item abbreviated version of Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale, a systematic influence of I-E control on success in the world of work was observed. The observed relationships were independent of individual differences in skills, abilities, and demographic distribution and were obtained on the basis of longitudinal as well as cross-sectional data. The data also provide considerable support for the hypothesis that success at work enhances the expectancy of internal control. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internal-external control of reinforcement and the Strong Vocational Interest Blank: A comparison study.

Studied the relationship between the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB), Form T399, and Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale (I-E scale). A previous study by D. G. Zytowski (see record 1967-07353-001) suggested a relationship between locus of control and occupational interest. To verify this, he correlated the SVIB with the I-E scale and concluded that such a relation did exist. Because the SVIB has been revised since Zytowski's study, a comparable study using the newer SVIB form was completed. Using a college freshman sample of 736, Pearson correlation coefficients were computed between the I-E scale and the SVIB; several correlations were significant at the .10 level; however, the largest correlation was -.16. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical attractiveness and mental illness.

Investigated the relation between physical attractiveness and mental disorder in 2 studies of women. In the 1st study, 23 hospitalized mental patients, 30 university employees, and 29 shoppers served as Ss. Results show that the hospitalized mental patients were decidedly less physically attractive than normal controls, based either on live (face-to-face) ratings or on ratings of photographs of the Ss by judges who were unaware of the Ss' mental statuses. Early and current adjustment were reliably associated with appearance for both mental patients and nonpatients. A 2nd study of 50 mental patients replicated some of the 1st study's findings and further examined the consequences of appearance within a psychiatric hospital setting. As compared to the more attractive patients, homelier patients were less socially responsive in a standardized interview procedure, had more severe diagnoses, were hospitalized for longer periods, and received fewer visitors from the community. Physical attractiveness accounted for a large significant amount of length-of-hospitalization variation when degree of psychopathology and other possible moderator variables were controlled statistically. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Treating depressed primary care patients improves their physical, mental, and social functioning

BACKGROUND: This study describes the functioning of primary care patients with major depressive disorder, the relationship of medical comorbidity to functional status, and the effects of depression-specific treatment on functional status after 8 months. METHODS: Patients were randomized to a protocol intervention (nortriptyline hydrochloride or interpersonal psychotherapy) or to usual care with the patient's physician in a clinical trial of primary care treatments of depression. Their functional status was evaluated using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Global Assessment Scale. Medical comorbidity was assessed with the Duke Severity of Illness Checklist. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Beck Depression Inventory were used to measure depressive severity. Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 1, 2, 4, and 8 months after randomization. RESULTS: At baseline, patients reported substantial impairments in the functional domains as assessed by the SF-36 and Global Assessment Scale. Severity of general medical illness and depression were not correlated. Greater medical comorbidity was associated with diminished physical, but not psychological, functioning. Mean scores on SF-36 scales and the Global Assessment Scale improved significantly during the 8 months of follow-up. Patients assigned to protocol treatments showed greater improvement, compared with those assigned to usual care, on the SF-36 mental summary scale and most individual scales but not on the SF-36 physical summary scale. However, patients who completed protocol treatment also experienced significant improvement on the physical summary scale. Medical comorbidity was only a weak predictor of outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care patients with major depressive disorder report substantial impairments in physical, psychological, and social functioning on initial assessment. Severity of baseline medical comorbidity did not correlate with severity of depression and only weakly correlated with functional status at 8 months. Functional impairments improve with time, but standardized depression-specific treatment is associated with greater improvement in more domains of functioning than is a physician's usual care.