Monthly Archives: June 2011

Objectives.  Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the most disabling and highly prevalent anxiety disorders (ADs). Current cognitive models of OCD implicate views about the self and world in the maintenance of the disorder. However, little research has focused on issues that may lead to vulnerability to such views. In particular, a person’s attachment insecurities (attachment anxiety, avoidance) may be important risk factors increasing the likelihood of such non-adaptive perceptions (Doron & Kyrios, 2005). Design.  Participants meeting criteria for …

Participants took part in an intergroup negotiation. In the first stage participants recorded their individual preferences (i.e., which of several possible options they should strive to achieve during the negotiation) for each negotiation issue. In the second stage they repeated this process as part of a 3-person cooperative group in preparation for the negotiation task. Our results show that the decision aggregation of negotiation teams is driven by 2 factors: The majority/minority status of the members advocating a given option …

Abstract   We examined whether instructional materials describing how to rate child ADHD symptoms would improve the accuracy of mothers’ ratings of ADHD symptoms presented in standard child behavior stimuli, and whether instructions would be equally effective across a range of maternal depressive symptoms and family incomes. A community sample of 100 mothers with 5 to 12 year old sons were randomly assigned to either receive or not receive the instructions. All mothers watched standard video recordings of boys displaying nonproblem behavior, …

Central coherence refers to an in-built propensity to form meaningful links over a wide range of stimuli and to generalize over as wide a range of contexts as possible. In children with autism this ability is diminished, and the impact of central coherence deficits in children with autism have previously been observed using static measures of learning, such as reading comprehension test performance. In this study, the relationship between central coherence and more dynamic indicators of learning are investigated. The …

Abstract   The factor structure and psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale for Adolescents (MAAS-A) was studied in a sample of adolescents (n = 717; age range, 11–17 years) of the general population. The MAAS-A and other questionnaires measuring other constructs were administered in high schools across the Netherlands. A one-factor structure was demonstrated using principal component analysis and was further confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis. The MAAS-A was shown to have high internal consistency. Expected negative correlations …

Abstract   Over the past 20 years, states have increasingly moved away from centrally financed, state-operated facilities to financing models built around community-based service delivery mechanisms. This paper identifies four important broad factors to consider when developing a funding formula to allocate state funding for community mental health services to local boards in an equitable manner, based on local community need: (1) funding factors used by other states; (2) state specific legislative requirements; (3) data availability; and (4) local variation of factors …

Abstract   Although depressive symptoms have been linked to stroke, most research has been in relatively ethnically homogeneous, predominantly white, samples. Using the United States based Health and Retirement Study, we compared the relationships between elevated depressive symptoms and incident first stroke for Hispanic, black, or white/other participants (N = 18,648) and estimated the corresponding Population Attributable Fractions. The prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms was higher in blacks (27%) and Hispanics (33%) than whites/others (18%). Elevated depressive symptoms prospectively predicted stroke risk in …

Abstract   Studies have shown that some sociodemographic factors, such as marital status, employment status or social class, can affect mental health in different ways for each gender. However, up until now, few research projects have tried to ascertain if the role that reproductive work or psychosocial factors play in mental health is different for men and women. The aim of this study is to assess the differences between men and women in terms of how reproductive work, sociodemographic and psychosocial …

This paper explores the way in which service providers in East Anglia, a region of the United Kingdom, in 2002–2003 represent asylum seekers as problematic, isolated, and largely vulnerable dependents. In doing so, support organizations assume an exclusive position of expertise and knowledge of asylum seekers’ predicaments. This exclusivity can be understood as the ‘official explanation’ [Spivak, G. C. (1987) In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics, Methuen, New York/London, p. 114] put forth by organizations in order to ensure …

Abstract Purpose   It is important to understand the determinants of differences in quality of life in old age and to include a wide range of possible predictors. The present study investigated the determinants of quality of life in two groups of older adults for whom there was an unusually informative set of possible predictor variables. Method   Participants were members of the Lothian Birth Cohorts of 1921 (n = 550) or 1936 (n = 1,091). Four facets of quality of life (QoL) and general QoL …

Abstract   Latino immigrant families with children with disabilities experience multiple sources of oppression during their settlement process in the United States. Unfair social structures and dominant cultural values and norms and the way they influence the immigrants’ personal life stories generate a cycle of oppression very difficult to break. This paper presents a case study of how a group of Latino parents carried out a process of liberation fueled by the generation of empowering community narratives (critical awareness leading to …

Abstract   Women with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders and trauma histories vary greatly in symptom severity and use of support services. This study estimated differential effects of an integrated treatment intervention (IT) across sub-groups of women in this population on services utilization outcomes. Data from a national study were used to cluster participants by symptoms and service utilization, and then estimate the effect of IT versus usual care on 12-month service utilization for each sub-group. The intervention effect …

Publication year: 2011Source: Social Science & Medicine, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 28 June 2011Asha, Persson , Jeanne, Ellard , Christy, Newman , Martin, Holt , John, de WitAll UN member states have endorsed a commitment to protect human rights in the global fight against HIV and to ensure universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support. To assess progress towards fulfilling this commitment, countries submit reports to UNAIDS biennially, known as UNGASS reports. Our quantitative analyses show …

Abstract While sedentary leisure-time activities such as reading, going to movies, attending cultural events, going to sporting events, watching TV, listening to music, and socialising with friends would seem to contribute to excess weight, a perspective focusing on socioeconomic status (SES) differences in cultural tastes suggests the opposite, that some sedentary activities are associated with lower rather than higher body weight. This study aims to test theories of cultural distinction by examining relationships between leisure-time activities and body weight. Using …

Abstract   Filtering the measure of life satisfaction through the bias of social desirability and response styles would furnish an adequate analysis of socioeconomic impacts on the filtered life satisfaction. The filtering is necessary because social desirability and the response styles of acquiescence, extremity, and centrality are likely to contaminate the measure of life satisfaction. Based on survey data from 1,993 Hong Kong Chinese adults, the study applied the filtering on the Personal Wellbeing Index to obtain filtered life satisfaction. Results …

The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with repeated suicide attempts among criminal justice clients examined for substance abuse using the Addiction Severity Index. Among suicide attempters (n = 1,404), repeaters (two or more attempts, n = 770) were compared to nonrepeaters. In logistic regression, repetition was associated with younger age, opioid analgesics, somatic medication, overdose, maternal psychiatric problems, delirium tremens, cognitive problems, and violent behavior. As in other settings, factors associated with repetition differed from those associated with suicide attempts …

Abstract Objective Emotion regulation is a key issue for many psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders, including eating disorders. Eating disordered patients (EDP) show high levels of depressive comorbidity, and there is much uncertainty about disorder-specific deficits. This study is aimed at delineating disorder-specific disturbances of emotional perception in EDP. Method Fifty-two EDP were compared with 35 depressed patients (DP) and 25 healthy controls. They rated their emotional experience when viewing visual emotional stimuli. Emphasis was placed on the patients’ perception of …

ABSTRACT Background The prevalence of mental disorders among prisoners has been researched in a few countries worldwide but never previously in Spain. Aim Our aim was to estimate the lifetime and last month prevalence of mental disorders in a Spanish prison population. Methods This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, epidemiological study of 707 male prisoners. Sociodemographic, clinical and offending data were collected by interviewers. Offending data were confirmed using penitentiary records. Mental disorders were assessed with the clinical version of the …

Self-criticism plays a key role in many psychological disorders and predicts poor outcome in psychotherapy. Yet, psychotherapy research directly targeting self-critical processes is limited. In this pilot study, we examined the efficacy of an emotion-focused intervention, the two-chair dialogue task, on self-criticism, self-compassion and the ability to self-reassure in times of stress, as well as on depressive and anxiety symptoms among nine self-critical clients. Results showed that the intervention was associated with significant increases in self-compassion and self-reassuring, and significant …

Objectives. This study aims to identify the role of self-efficacy, recovery self-efficacy, and preparatory planning with regard to short-term smoking relapse. We also assessed whether the importance of these variables differed for smokers quitting individually and without help (self-quitters) and smokers quitting with the help of a smoking cessation course (group quitters). Design. A longitudinal quasi-experimental study with follow-ups at 1 and 3 months after the quit attempt was conducted in order to assess the role of baseline self-efficacy, recovery self-efficacy, and …

Using a case example, the authors explore how the counseling field’s participation in the discourse of heterosexist dominance fosters microaggressions toward sexual and gender-transgressive minorities. Specifically, the authors deconstruct four linguistic assumptions of the discourse of heterosexist dominance: (a) the sex/gender binary, (b) decontextualized disposition language of homophobia, (c) hierarchical disposition language of affirmation, and (d) gendered pronouns. The authors will also examine how these assumptions influence egalitarian, well-intended counselors and counseling psychologists to engage in microinvalidations of LGB and …

This study sought to identify patterns of substance use among 1,019 participants of the New South Wales Drug Court program (Sydney, Australia) between 2003 and 2009. Group-based trajectory modeling identified five groups of participants: compliant participants (24.4%), who had a near-zero probability of returning a positive urine test at each occasion; responding participants (25.3%), for whom the probability of returning a positive test decreased; relapsing participants (14.1%), for whom the probability of returning a positive test increased; mid-level chronic participants …

This article interrogates the nature of judgements used by social control professionals to identify signs of anti-social behaviour amongst young people and families referred to early intervention programmes. The emphasis of professionals working within such networks is mostly benevolent in seeking to support and direct specific services at particular individuals. This article traces the effects of these processes of social control in action, specifically the ways through which professionals’ judgements formed around the normative social class status of clients become …

This research sought to understand how people with dementia perceive interaction in the context of their service experience. Using the client data from a qualitative study that was conducted over three years and employed both inductive and deductive techniques, the data from 22 client interviews were consolidated and then analysed. Seven themes related to service experience were identified: Awareness; Communication; Dependency; Expectations; Experience; Position; and Relationship. These themes provide insights that could assist service providers to better understand and facilitate …

ABSTRACT   Individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) have significant health disparities. Wellness services embedded in community mental health organizations could lessen these disparities. This case study illustrates the integration of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) lifestyle intervention into a community mental health organization. The Diffusion of Innovations Theory was used as a model for integration, which included a collaboration between researchers and the organization and qualitative work, culminating in a small pilot of the DPP led by peer specialists to …

Abstract   Recently, federal funding was designated through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act giving states the opportunity to expand their prenatal case management programs (PCM) through home visitation. Studies evaluating the effect of PCM on birth outcomes have shown little or no positive results. One suggested reason for these findings is a lack of attention in the assessment of dosage. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the use of measuring PCM dosage when assessing pregnancy outcomes. A …

Abstract   Using the computational framework of National Transfer Accounts, this paper offers new results and explanations on the role of public support to India’s elderly population in 2004–05. New results refer to computed (a) lifecycle deficit (LCD) based on age profiles of aggregate labour income and consumption and (b) public age reallocations based on age profiles of transfers and asset based reallocations. The results show that the LCD of elderly population is about 34% of the LCD of all ages, …

Abstract Background   Infertility often is a dyadic stressor that constitutes blockage of a major life goal. Purpose   This study’s primary aims were to examine heterosexual partners’ goal appraisals during treatment for infertility and to test whether the direct effects of and interactions between partners’ goal-related perceptions were associated with each partner’s adjustment. Method   Women (n = 37) receiving fertility treatment and their male partners (n = 37) completed measures of goal appraisal and psychological adjustment. Results   Partners did not differ on ratings of the …

Abstract   233 high-service-utilizing (HSU) psychiatric patients were recruited during an inpatient psychiatric treatment. They completed a questionnaire related to their treatment beliefs and were tracked via computerized medical records over 2 years. During the follow-up period, 79.8% were readmitted for additional inpatient psychiatric treatment. Survival analysis techniques were used to examine patients’ rates of readmittance during the follow-up period. Number of previous year inpatient psychiatric days served as a significant predictor of readmittance status and time to readmission. The survival plot …

This article describes a study that was designed to examine the impact of brief psychoanalytic psychotherapy with children under-five years of age and their families. The work took place in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in England, to which children are routinely referred with a range of behavioural and emotional problems. The study examined the hypothesis that through formulating the emotional forces that underpin the family’s here-and-now experiences and bringing into the frame the child’s perspective, a …

Abstract   Although cognitive-behavioral treatments for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders demonstrate strong results in clinical trials, not all patients respond to these treatments. Common challenges in psychotherapy with delusional patients include a mismatch between the therapist’s and the patient’s expectations about the purpose of therapy, the patient’s lack of motivation to reduce delusional beliefs in service of other goals, and the patient’s dependence on the delusions in order to preserve an intact sense of self. This case highlights the value …

Abstract   Mutual support societies for problem gamblers have existed in Sweden for 20 years. They have helped more people with gambling problems than any other institution inside or outside the Swedish health care system. This paper outlines the background of these societies and describes the meetings of one of them. Data come from interviews with members of a local society and participation in mutual support meetings. It is argued that these mutual support societies provide help in a variety of ways …

Abstract   Although researchers and clinicians tend to use subjective evaluations of functioning and objective assessments interchangeably, there may be important differences between how people view their own abilities and objective indicators. This study aims to examine the relation between self-reported evaluations of function and health and performance-based (PB) measures of functional ability and objective health indicators in a sample of the oldest old. The study is based on data from a sample of 349 individuals aged 80 and older from …

Abstract   Neighborhood disadvantage in early adolescence may help explain racial and ethnic disparities in obesity during the transition to adulthood; however the processes may work differently for males and females and for minority groups compared to Whites. The present study examines the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and young adult obesity and the extent to which it contributes to racial/ethnic disparities among males and females. Data are from waves I and III of The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add …

Abstract   In this study we sought to explore the biopsychosocial connections between relational adjustment, hostility, and physical functioning of individuals who attended psychotherapy. Assessments were given at therapy intake, 6 months post intake, and 12 months after therapy intake. Path analyses between relational adjustment, hostility, and physical functioning revealed a good fit to the data. Results indicated that therapy may interrupt the relationship between hostility at intake and later marital satisfaction. Individuals’ ability to function physically day to day at 6 months post …

Abstract   Parents of individuals with autism were examined using the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ; Hurley et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 37:1679–1690, 2007) assessing BAP-related personality and language characteristics. The BAPQ was administered to parents as a self-report and as an informant (spouse)-based measure. Results indicated the same pattern of differences for the informant and best-estimate (average between self-report and informant scores) reports. Fathers were rated as more “aloof” than mothers, whereas mothers were rated as more “rigid” …

Abstract   Popular books on heterosexual relationships often present gender-dichotomized views of behavior. To test predictions derived from gender schema and social role theories, relationship suggestions from Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (Gray, 1992) were presented in masculine, feminine and neutral versions to 355 undergraduate students in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Participants either made descriptive stereotyping ratings or indicated their own preferences for the relationship suggestions. Half of each group was asked to respond as …

Abstract   Goal orientation theory is concerned with performance and learning goals in academic, athletic, and other ability areas. Here we examine performance and learning goals for emotion regulation. We define performance goals for emotion regulation as seeking to prove one’s ability to manage emotions; learning goals for emotion regulation are defined as seeking to improve one’s ability to manage emotions. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that performance goals for emotion regulation would be associated with greater use of …

Abstract   The present study examined cultural variations on performance perfectionism (Chang in Cogn Therapy Res 30:677–697, 2006; Cogn Therapy Res 33:334–344, 2009) in 168 European American and 151 Japanese college students. Results of between-groups analyses on performance perfectionism provided support for the general notion of self-enhancement in the West and self-criticism in the East. Moreover, performance perfectionism was found to be associated with concurrent and prospective (2 months later) depressive symptomatology in both cultural groups. Results of regression analyses for both …

Abstract   Grandparents provide a significant amount of child care to their grandchildren. However, there is limited research investigating whether grandparents would view a parenting program developed specifically for them as useful. Our study adopted a consumer focused perspective to program design and examined the challenges encountered by grandparents in their role as an informal child care provider. Focus groups were conducted with fourteen grandparents (11 females, 3 males) aged 45–76 years (M = 60.14) the majority of whom provided 11–20 h of care per …

Background: The aim of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties and the perceived usefulness of the BARO (Dutch: BAsisRaadsOnderzoek; Protection Board Preliminary Examination of Juvenile Suspects). The BARO is a first-line screening instrument for the identification of psychiatric disorders, adverse environmental factors, and levels of (dys)function in adolescent offenders (age 12 to 18), to be used by social workers of the Child Protection Board (CPB) following a police arrest.MethodCPB workers administered the BARO to 295 juvenile offenders (91% …

Care pathways are used increasingly worldwide to organize patient care. However, different views exist about their effectiveness. One of the reasons for this is that pathways are complex interventions. A recent Cochrane review was published which reported positive results, but although the Cochrane team performed excellent work with an enormous commitment, the conclusions may be inappropriate. To fully understand the potential and problems of care pathways, it is important to define (a) exactly what we are talking about (b) whether …

In 1998, the U.S. government launched the Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) to address growing ethnic and racial disparities in HIV/AIDS cases. The CDC performed an evaluation of its MAI-funded programs, including an assessment of community stakeholders’ perspective on the involvement of the faith community in HIV prevention. Individual interviews (N = 113) were conducted annually over 3 years in four communities. The majority of participants described a change in faith community’s attitudes toward HIV and a rise in HIV-related activities …

Background: Few data are available on the effects of a psychiatric label on medical residents’ attitudes towards an individual. Aims: To investigate the effect of a psychiatric label on the attitudes of medical residents towards an individual. Methods: Medical residents were randomly assigned to one of two vignettes describing the same apparently healthy person, differing only in the presence of a psychiatric label for one of them. Participants (N = 322) reported their attitudes towards the described individual and their …

Conscious visual perception of the constantly changing environment is one of the brain’s most critical functions. In virtually every moment of every daily activity, the visual system is confronted with the task of accurately representing and interpreting scenes that change rapidly over time. Adults can judge the identity and order of changing images presented at a rate of up to 10 Hz (~50 ms per image); this limit reflects a finite temporal resolution of attention. In the research reported here, …

Since much of humanistic psychology’s agenda has been taken up by mainstream psychology and culture, the question of whether humanistic psychology is relevant today is critical. This article draws on Maslow’s description of “sickness of the soul” to argue that a psychology that stresses connection and embodied experience, meaning and ethics, creativity and dreams, resilience and self-actualization is needed now more than ever.

Abstract   Latinos are the largest and fastest growing minority youth group in the United States. Currently, Latino adolescents experience higher rates of teen pregnancy compared to any other racial or ethnic group and have disproportionately high levels of sexually transmitted infections and HIV. Latino teens are also affected by a number of social problems such as school dropout, poverty, depression and limited access to healthcare, which contributes to disparities in reproductive health outcomes for this population. Relatively few intervention research …

Nail-biting is currently classified as an impulse control disorder not otherwise specified. Although seldom targeted as a primary symptom, nail-biting is often associated with somatic complications and decreased quality of life. The present study assessed the effectiveness of an innovative self-help technique, titled decoupling (DC). DC aims at attenuating pathological nail-biting by performing motor sequences that decouple and rearrange the behavioral elements involved in the habit. A total of 72 participants with excessive nail-biting were recruited via specialized self-help forums …

Abstract Indigenous children in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia have the highest school non-attendance rates and the lowest literacy and numeracy outcomes in Australia. The NT Department of Health and Families classifies failure to send children to school as neglect, and as such, a form of child abuse. This paper contends that the failure to provide children with learning opportunities by a lack of insistence by authorities on attendance is a form of systemic neglect. It suggests that an …

Abstract   Thousands of Mexican and Central American migrants converge at the Mexico-United States border. Undocumented migrants in transit to the United States are vulnerable due to their lack of access to health care and legal assistance. This study attempts to provide evidence on the violent-related consequences that migration has on migrants. A mixed-method study was conducted between April 2006-May 2007 in shelters in Baja California, Mexicali and Tijuana, Mexico. 22 in depth interviews were performed and fifteen hundred and twelve …

Rosacea is a chronic skin disorder, characterized by persistent painful facial flushing and often accompanied by papules and pustules. To evaluate the psychological and social impacts of rosacea, 31 individuals with rosacea filled in the Blushing Propensity Scale, the Fear of Negative Evaluation Questionnaire, the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale, the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Social Phobia Scale. The questionnaires were also completed by 86 controls. Participants with extensive facial papules and pustules had higher blushing propensity, stress …

Abstract   Most clients attend only a few sessions before dropping out of counseling and, consequently, never traverse the series of stages delineated in many counseling process models. There is frequently a mismatch between the counseling process as portrayed in many counseling textbooks with the counseling process students are likely to experience when they begin practicum and internship placements. Based on the counseling duration and premature termination literature, this article considers several models that counselor educators could adopt to better prepare …

Abstract Purpose   The aim of this study was to estimate the effectiveness of patient education methods on quality of life and functional impairment of patients with schizophrenia. Methods   A multicentre, randomized controlled trial was carried out in two psychiatric hospitals in Finland from March 2005 to October 2007. A total of 311 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizotypal disorder or delusional disorder were randomly allocated to computer-based patient education (n = 100), conventional education with standard leaflets (n = 106) and standard treatment …

This article draws on the work of the project ‘Challenging violence against women; identifying the links between poverty reduction and promoting women’s rights’. Using first-hand data and the experiences of women in the project, the article aims to offer an analysis of the influence of progressive social protection policies for women in Honduras during the period in which the project was active. In June 2009, just as vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, especially women, started to enjoy the benefits of these …

Abstract   This paper explores predictors of young adults’ savings using propensity score analysis and logistic regression with separate, longitudinal samples of whites and blacks aged 17–23 from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We ask who saves among adolescents and young adults and whether the likelihood of having a savings account and the amount saved in young adulthood can be predicted by two factors: (1) having a savings account during adolescence and (2) having families who own assets. The majority …

Accessible summary •  People who were sexually abused as children are at higher risk than non-abused people of suffering symptoms that doctors can’t explain (e.g. irritable bowel syndrome), and to have mental ill health (e.g. anxiety and depression). •  Relations between themselves and doctors or nurses can often become strained and frustrating, bringing high healthcare costs without relief of their ‘medically unexplained symptoms’. The aim in the literature review was to find an evidence base that might contribute to more …

Prompted by findings from the Munro Review of Child Protection, this paper provides a critical analysis of the combination of changes that appear to have undermined social workers’ ability to develop strong partnerships with children and their families. Here, we engage with a number of now familiar lines of critique that have exposed the negative consequences of aspects of New Labour’s modernisation agenda (such as excessive standardisation). However, we challenge our readers to think more broadly about the political foundations …