Discriminative utility of a brief cognitive status assessment with alcoholics and the impact of cognitive status on acquisition of treatment-relevant information.

Assessed the discriminative utility of a brief assessment procedure for quantifying cognitive status in alcoholics and the impact of existing cognitive status on acquisition of information presented during treatment. 112 male patients (aged 20–77 yrs), consecutively admitted to an inpatient alcohol treatment program, were assessed at admission and discharge. The 30-min assessment protocol included the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Task (M. D. Lezak, 1983), portions of the Wechsler Memory Scale, and a brief structured interview that assessed treatment-relevant knowledge. These measures were able to differentiate performance levels related to age and drinking history. Recent drinking behavior and cognitive function may only moderately influence acquisition of treatment program content. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The science of prevention: A conceptual framework and some directions for a national research program.

A conceptual framework for studying the prevention of human dysfunction is offered. On the basis of recent advances in research on the development of psychological disorders and methods of preventive intervention, generalizations about the relation of risk and protective factors to disorder are put forward, along with a set of principles for what may be identified as the science of prevention. Emerging themes from the study of human devlopment, in general, need to be incorporated in the models for explaining and preventing serious problems of human adaptation. The article concludes with a set of recommendations for a national prevention research agenda. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and bulimia: The link between depression and bulimic cognitions.

29 bulimics and 16 controls from the general population were first assessed on levels of depression using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia—Change Version and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Bulimics were significantly more depressed than controls. Bulimics differed significantly from controls on all cognitive measures associated with depression (Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, and Attributional Style Questionnaire), but differences on these measures were nonsignificant when depression, as measured by the BDI, was controlled. Bulimics differed from controls regardless of level of depression on the 3 scales of the Restraint Inventory, the Rationalization and All-or-None scales of the Thoughts About Eating Inventory, and most of the 8 scales of the Eating Disorders Inventory. Bulimics showed more maladaptive thinking associated with depression, but these differences likely reflect the levels of depression for each group. The differences on the measures of cognitive and behavioral symptoms of bulimia remained when the level of depression was controlled statistically. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The emotional impact of MS diagnosis

127 patients were observed: 65 schizophrenic patients and 62 patients with vascular mental disorders. The treatment by hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) was applied in such patients to overcome resistance to psychopharmacotherapy. A positive clinical effect was marked in 72.5% of cases (in 67.4% of schizophrenic patients and in 77.4% of patients with vascular diseases). The conclusion was made that HBO enabled to shorten the time of hospital treatment as well as to improve both clinical and social prognosis.     

Fever and neutropenia in children with malignant disease

Treatment of episodes of fever and neutropenia in pediatric hematology-oncology patients includes hospitalization and administration of intravenous antibiotics until the patient is afebrile and no longer neutropenic. The present analysis characterizes retrospectively febrile episodes in neutropenic pediatric hematology-oncology patients with regard to frequency of documented infections, organisms associated with these infections, efficacy of a standardized antibiotic regimen, and safety of early antibiotic discontinuation under defined conditions. A total of 149 pediatric febrile neutropenic episodes were identified during a 4-year period between 1990 and 1994. These occurred in 47 male and 19 female patients, of a mean age of 7.6 years (range 0.5-15). The most frequent diagnoses were leukemia (41% of patients), lymphoma (21%), rhabdomyosarcoma (7%), soft tissue sarcoma (5%), Ewing's sarcoma (5%), and osteosarcoma (4%). Infection was certain in 36% of febrile episodes, probable in 14%, and not determined in 50%. Patients with severe neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count < 100) had a slightly, although not significantly higher incidence of documented and probable infection (57%). Patients with solid tumor had documented infection in 40% of their febrile episodes, and the detection rate in the children with leukemia was 31% (P < .20) Blood cultures were positive in 21 (14%) of 149 episodes. Staphylococci (both coagulase-negative and coagulase-positive strains) and Pseudomonas were the organisms most frequently isolated (six episodes each). Mouth and throat (11), lungs (10), and skin (10) were the next most frequent sites of localized infection. Initial treatment consisted of piperacillin and amikacin or of vancomycin and amikacin when the source of fever was thought to be an infected central line catheter, with addition of amphotericin B by the seventh day of treatment when fever with neutropenia persisted or upon clinical suspicion of underlying fungal infection. There was a single fatality, of a patient with Burkitt's lymphoma. Antibiotics were discontinued when initial blood cultures had no growth after at least 48 hours and no source of infection was found, the blood count was improving, and if the patient became afebrile and clinically well. No patient needed readmission during the fortnight that followed discontinuation of antimicrobial therapy. Patients with negative blood cultures under defined conditions, as described above, could safely be discharged early, thus shortening the duration of intravenous antibiotic therapy and hospital stay.     

Assessment of classroom behavior: A multiattribute, multisource approach to instrument development and validation.

Describes the simultaneous development and validation of 3 parallel instruments for the multidimensional assessment of a young child's classroom behavior. Scales were constructed to depict teacher-, peer-, and self-rated behavior, including positive as well as negative attributes. The scales were continually refined over the course of 3 successive years, with the total sample size approaching 1,000 1st- and 2nd-grade school children. The multidimensional nature, internal consistency, and test–retest properties of each device are explicated. Finally, higher order principal-components analyses are presented highlighting the convergent and divergent characteristics in this multiattribute, multisource battery. The assets and liabilities of the instruments taken individually and collectively are discussed, as well as directions for future research. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expertness, similarity, and perceived counselor competence.

Tested the effects of 2 levels of counselor similarity and expertness and 2 types of clients' problems on perceptions of the counselor's competence in an analog study. The basis for client-counselor similarity was age and student status; the basis for expertness was experience and training. Ss were 311 18-27 yr old undergraduates. They were given 1 of 8 biographical sketches of the counselor's background to read; then they heard a segment of a single taped interview. Counselor competence was assessed by evaluations on a 16-item Likert scale. It was hypothesized that suggestions of client-counselor similarity would facilitate perceptions of competence for affiliative problems, whereas suggestions of counselor expertness would facilitate perceptions of competence for academic problems. Suggestions of expertness led to higher evaluations of counselors for both problems. Findings support the importance of counselor credentials in determining clients' initial impressions of counselors. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial enhancement of immunocompetence in a geriatric population.

Assessed the enhancement of immunocompetence by relaxation and social contact in 45 60–88 yr old geriatric residents of independent-living facilities. Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 protocols: (1) relaxation training, (2) social contact, or (3) no contact. Ss in the relaxation and social-contact conditions were seen individually 3 times/wk for 1 mo. Blood samples and self-report data were obtained at baseline, at the end of the intervention, and at a 1-mo follow-up. At the end of the intervention, Ss in the relaxation group, who had been taught progressive relaxation and guided imagery as an active coping skill, showed a significant increase in natural killer cell activity and significant decreases in antibody titers to Herpes simplex virus and self-rated distress. The other 2 groups showed nonsignificant changes. There was a general increase in the T-lymphocyte response to phytohemagglutinin stimulation at the end of the intervention, with greater change at lower mitogen concentrations. Data suggest that cellular immunocompetence may be enhanced by psychosocial interventions. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)