Clients' beliefs about psychological problems

An investigation of clients beliefs about the causes and treatments of their own psychological problems, using a new instrument, the Opinions about Psychological Problems (OPP). We found that, although the beliefs about the various models were positively correlated, clients made clear overall discriminations between them. For causation, they tended to agree with the four psychological models (Behavioural, Cognitive, Humanistic and Psychodynamic) and the Naïve model, and tended to disagree with the Socio-economic and Organic models. For treatment, they endorsed Behavioural, Cognitive and Humanistic most highly, and again disagreed overall with Socio-economic and Organic. Individual difference variables showed that clients reporting a higher level of psychological symptoms tended to endorse all causation beliefs more highly, and also were more likely to agree with Behavioural, Cognitive, Humanistic and Psychodynamic treatments. The structure of clients' beliefs differed from that found in previous studies. There was a single factor which loaded on the four psychological models, with which the Organic, Socio-economic and Naive subscales were less strongly, but still positively, correlated     

Predictors of response and drop-out during intensive dialectical behavior therapy

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness, and predictors of response and drop-out during a four-week course of intensive dialectical behavior therapy (I-DBT) in 447 outpatients suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD), over a 10-year period. Assessments included a diagnostic interview, the International Personality Disorder Examination Screening Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale. Among these participants, 103 started a second course of treatment. In agreement with previous reports, I-DBT was effective in reducing levels of depression and hopelessness with a trend of increasing effectiveness over the study period. High schizoid scores and low narcissistic score predicted poor response. Treatment completion rate was high, and low education predicted dropout. A discussion on the usefulness of a second course of treatment should be held with patients and staff as it was not effective in reducing depression and hopelessness.     

It's not all about me: motivating hand hygiene among health care professionals by focusing on patients

Diseases often spread in hospitals because health care professionals fail to wash their hands. Research suggests that to increase health and safety behaviors, it is important to highlight the personal consequences for the actor. However, because people (and health care professionals in particular) tend to be overconfident about personal immunity, the most effective messages about hand hygiene may be those that highlight its consequences for other people. In two field experiments in a hospital, we compared the effectiveness of signs about hand hygiene that emphasized personal safety ("Hand hygiene prevents you from catching diseases") or patient safety ("Hand hygiene prevents patients from catching diseases"). We assessed hand hygiene by measuring the amount of soap and hand-sanitizing gel used from dispensers (Experiment 1) and conducting covert, independent observations of health care professionals' hand-hygiene behaviors (Experiment 2). Results showed that changing a single word in messages motivated meaningful changes in behavior: The hand hygiene of health care professionals increased significantly when they were reminded of the implications for patients but not when they were reminded of the implications for themselves.     

Smile when you call me that!: The problems with punishing hate motivated behavior

During the last several years, many jurisdictions have enacted laws meant to punish behavior motivated by racial hatred or other forms of bigotry. The actual impact of these laws is probably largely symbolic. These laws, which are often called “hate crime” laws, have a number of problems. Hate crime laws may violate the constitution, but this problem can usually be avoided through careful drafting. More importantly, there are a number of practical and policy problems with hate crime laws; not only are these crimes difficult to identify, but they involve the problematical consideration of the offender's motive. In addition, social scientific theories suggest that the laws may actually increase bigotry and disempower minorities. For these reasons, it is recommended that policy-makers explore other means of reducing bigotry.     

Concurrent validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory Borderline scales in patients seeking dialectical behavior therapy

The purpose of this study was to explore the usefulness of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991) Borderline full scale (BOR) and subscales in the assessment of patients being evaluated for dialectical behavior therapy (DBT; Linehan, 1993).We administered 67 patients both the PAI and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) Structured Clinical Interview for Axis II disorders (SCID-II; First, Spitzer, Gibbon, Williams, & Benjamin, 1997). Point biserial correlations showed a significant relationship between the presence of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and scores on the BOR and Schizophrenia (SCZ) scales. A regression analysis showed that among the BOR subscales, those measuring identity disturbance, self-harming behavior, and negative relationships were significantly related to the total number of SCID-II BPD criteria. Diagnostic efficiency statistics between the BOR scale and the number of SCID-II BPD criteria indicated that a T score cutoff of 65 optimally differentiates patients who do and do not meet criteria for BPD. The relationship between BOR and SCID-II BPD demonstrates the concurrent validity of the PAI and shows its usefulness in this setting.