The cardiac anxiety questionnaire: development and preliminary validity

Heart-focused anxiety (HFA) is the fear of cardiac-related stimuli and sensations because of their perceived negative consequences. Although HFA is common to a wide variety of persons who experience chest pain and distress, it often is unrecognized and misdiagnosed, particularly in cardiology and emergency room patients without and with heart disease. To address these concerns, this article reports on the development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of the Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ) designed to measure HFA. In Study 1, 188 cardiology patients completed the CAQ. Item and factor analyses indicated a three-factor solution pertaining to heart-related fear, avoidance, and attention. Reliability analysis of the 18-item CAQ revealed good internal consistency of the total and subscale scores. In Study 2, 42 patients completed the CAQ and several other anxiety-related questionnaires to assess its convergent and divergent properties. Although preliminary validity results are promising, further psychometric study is necessary to cross-validate the CAQ, examine its test-retest reliability, and confirm the stability of the factor structure. Taken together, the CAQ appears to assess HFA, and may therefore be a useful instrument for identifying patients with elevated HFA without and with heart disease.     

E-mentoring for youth with special needs: preliminary results.

Recently, a growing number of electronic mentoring (e-mentoring) Web sites have become available that provide vocational and career support. To date, few researchers have addressed the phenomenon of e-mentoring from a socioemotional perspective for populations with special needs. This paper presents a pilot study designed to test and evaluate an e-mentoring intervention program based on mutual self-disclosure and friendship for youth with special needs. Using qualitative methods, the study characterized the e-mentoring process and its contributions to this population. Results provided support for the socioemotional potential of computer-mediated communication for youth with special needs, although some barriers were found. Practical implications for implementing feasible e-mentoring programs for youth with special needs are discussed.     

The developmental profile: preliminary results on interrater reliability and construct validity

This study presents the preliminary results of research into the interrater reliability and construct validity of the Developmental Profile (DP). In the DP a number of developmental lines, such as Object-Relations, Self-Images, and Problem-Solving Capacities, are assessed and classified according to the level of functioning. A total of 108 profiles were assessed, drawn from three different categories of patients. The weighted kappa values for interrater reliability were sufficient. On the adaptive level, but also on the maladaptive levels Symbiosis and Resistance, significant differences were found between psychiatric patients, "normal controls" (dental patients) and somatic patients. No differences were recorded between the latter two groups. The conclusion is that the DP is a promising instrument, of which the reliability and validity has to be further investigated in order to contribute to scientific support for psychodynamic theory formation.     

The development and evaluation of the Harm Reduction Self-Efficacy Questionnaire.

The authors recruited 99 injection drug users to assess the psychometric properties of a new self-report questionnaire--the Harm Reduction Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (HRSEQ)--designed to measure injection drug users' confidence to employ 15 specific health-preserving coping skills in different types of high-risk situations (experiencing withdrawal, feeling depressed, and feeling social pressure to use drugs unsafely). Scores for each high-risk situation had good internal consistency (alphas = .89 -.92) and good 1-week test-retest reliability (rs = .70 -.85). Comparison with measures of drug-related problems, use of coping skills, and health self-efficacy supported both construct and discriminant validity of the HRSEQ. Exploratory factor analyses revealed 3 major themes (cleanliness precautions, overdose precautions, and safer injection practices) that summarized most, but not all, of the 15 items. Mean differences among the 3 situations suggest that harm reduction self-efficacy should be assessed in the context of specific high-risk situations.     

Workaholism: definition, measurement, and preliminary results

Questionnaires were developed to assess the concept of workaholism, defined in terms of high scores on measures of work involvement and driveness and low scores on a measure of enjoyment of work, and to contrast this profile with work enthusiasm, defined as high work involvement and enjoyment and low driveness. Additional scales were devised to test several predictions about the correlates of workaholism. A test battery including these scales was given in a mail survey to a national sample of male (n = 134) and female (n = 157) social workers with academic positions. The psychometric properties of the scales are described. Cluster analyses for each sex revealed groups who corresponded to the workaholic and work enthusiast profiles as well as several other profiles. As predicted, workaholics were higher than work enthusiasts (among other groups) on measures of perfectionism, nondelegation of responsibility, and job stress. They were also higher on a measure of health complaints. Investigations are being initiated to determine the association of workaholism and other score profiles with objectively diagnosed cardiac disorders and with measures of occupational performance.     

The Speech Anxiety Thoughts Inventory: scale development and preliminary psychometric data

Cognitions have been known to play a central role in the development, maintenance, and treatment of speech anxiety. However, few instruments are currently available to assess cognitive contents associated with speech anxiety. This report describes three studies examining the psychometric characteristics of a revised English version of the Speech Anxiety Thoughts Inventory (SATI)-an instrument measuring maladaptive cognitions associated with speech anxiety. In Study 1, factor analyses of the SATI revealed a two-factor solution-"prediction of poor performance" and "fear of negative evaluation by audience", respectively. In Study 2, the two-factor structure was replicated. In addition, results revealed stability over a four-week period, high internal consistency, and good convergent and discriminant validity. In Study 3, the scale demonstrated sensitivity to change following brief exposure-based treatments. These findings suggest that the SATI is a highly reliable, valid measure to assess cognitive features of speech anxiety.     

Attitudes to doctors and medicine: The preliminary development of a new scale

Abstract

The preliminary development of a new scale to measure attitudes towards medicine and doctors is described. The scale comprises four factors: “positive attitude towards doctors,” “positive attitude towards medicine,” “negative attitude towards doctors,” and “negative attitude towards medicine.” Alpha coefficients for the four scales were satisfactory, ranging from 0.69 to 0.76. Test re-test reliabilities ranged from 0.69 to 0.81. Evidence of criterion-related validity was obtained from comparison of the attitudes of five groups involved in health care: nurses, medical students, patients, and sociologists and psychologists who are teachers in medical schools. Patients and medical students held significantly more positive attitudes towards doctors and medicine that did nurses and behavioural scientists. While nurses were as negative towards doctors as sociologists and psychologists, they were significantly less negative about medicine.     

Duty orientation: Theoretical development and preliminary construct testing

We develop and test the construct of duty orientation that we propose is valuable to advancing knowledge about ethical behavior in organizations. Duty orientation represents an individual’s volitional orientation to loyally serve and faithfully support other members of the group, to strive and sacrifice to accomplish the tasks and missions of the group, and to honor its codes and principles. We test the construct validity and predictive validity of a measure of duty orientation across five studies and six samples. Consistent with the conceptualization of duty orientation as a malleable construct, we found in separate field studies that duty orientation mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and ethical and unethical behaviors, and between transformational leadership and ethical behavior. In predicting ethical and unethical behavior, duty orientation demonstrated incremental predictive validity beyond the effects of affective organizational commitment, organizational identification, experienced job responsibility, collective self-construal, and organizational values congruence.     

Examining Improvements in Criminogenic Needs: The Risk Reduction Potential of a Structured Re-entry Program

The risk-need-responsivity (RNR) model describes the importance of targeting criminogenic needs through planned interventions in order to reduce the risk of future offending behavior. Although risk/needs instruments capture these dynamic risk factors and previous research has demonstrated their sensitivity to change in these domains, correctional programs may not be leveraging the full case management potential of these instruments. This study explored the potential for improvements in criminogenic needs through participation in a brief, structured re-entry program consistent with the principles of RNR. Four criminogenic needs were identified as having the potential to change during the course of this program: education/employment, family/marital, procriminal attitudes/orientation, and antisocial pattern. The results indicated that overall risk level significantly decreased during the course of the treatment program, as did risk level for each of these criminogenic needs. For three of these domains, the participants in the highest risk category experienced significant improvements, consistent with the risk principle of RNR. Implications for the interface between assessment and treatment planning are discussed. Copyright ? 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social mimetic behaviour and social anticipation in dogs: preliminary results

Learning contributes to the development of mutual mimicry in group mates. The aim of our study was to investigate whether dogs would initiate walking a detour if they were repeatedly exposed to the detouring behaviour of their owner. Eight dog owners were asked to modify their usual way of approaching their home at the end of their daily walks, namely, to make a short detour before the entrance. Owners performed the detour at least 180 times, over a period of 3–6 months. During the first 30 detours (trials 1–30) all dogs followed the owner on the new route. Between trials 151 and 180, four dogs started to walk the detour before the owner displayed any intention to walk in that direction in 50–93% of the cases. Further observations that were carried out on one dog showed that the initialisation of the detours manifested sooner if a second familiar person started to walk the detours. Interestingly, the dog persisted in initialising detours long after the owners stopped detouring. We describe the observed phenomenon in the framework of social anticipation that manifests when an animal learns the proper sequence of an act performed by another animal, so that it can (1) predict the action in this sequence, and (2) as a result start either a similar or a complementary action as a response. These observations suggest that the dogs' social anticipation ability contributes to behavioural synchronisation and cooperative processes between dog and owner. Electronic Publication     

Self-disclosure of HIV infection: preliminary results from a sample of Hispanic men.

We examined self-disclosure of HIV infection among 101 seropositive Hispanic men residing in Los Angeles. Results indicated that disclosure was highly selective and presumably influenced by the social, psychological, and material consequences of informing others about one's medical condition. Subjects tended to inform significant others such as parents, friends, and lovers than less significant others such as employers, landlords, and religious leaders. There was a relatively high rate of disclosure (75%) to doctors/dentists who were not treating subjects for HIV infection. Gay and bisexual subjects (89% of the sample) were more inclined to disclose their HIV serostatus to homosexual or bisexual others than to heterosexuals and to inform those who were aware of their sexual orientation. Disclosure increased with severity of disease independently of length of time since testing seropositive. Self-rated negative changes in appearance correlated with disclosure to less significant others. The role of cultural attitudes and values in self-disclosure of HIV infection is discussed.     

The postnatal development of the motor speech area: a preliminary study

This preliminary study follows the maturation of motor speech areas and their adjacent orofacial motor zones in the right and left hemispheres of the human infant from 3 months to 72 months of age. Quantitative studies of basilar dendrite patterns of layer 5 cortical pyramids are reported in 17 age-graded subjects. The sequence of developmental changes is characterized by early (3 month) prominence of orofacial motor zones over motor speech areas and of the right hemisphere over the left as expressed in total basilar dendritic length and the length of proximal order dendritic segments. The complex series of changes which follow appear to involve increase in number and marked increase in length of the developing distal order segments and possible shortening of the proximal segments. During a variable sequence of apparent growth spurts and resorptions, dendrite arborizations of the motor speech areas overtake and exceed those of orofacial musculature and the total length of dendrite systems on the left finally exceeds those on the right, although even in the most mature group, (42-72 months), distal segment length in the right motor speech area still exceeds that of the left. The early structural primacy of right-sided dendrite systems and the progressive shift to left-sided primacy is considered in the light of the presence of a long phylogenetic and ontogenetic history of gross anatomical asymmetry favoring the left side. The possibility that developmental patterns of the cortical macroenvironment and microenvironment may be dissociated with the microenvironment depending heavily on epigenetic factors receives support from recent data suggesting the existence of a time window or critical period during which primary language proficiency must be attained if normal lateralization of language function is to occur.     

The development and initial validation of the Multicultural Environmental Inventory: a preliminary investigation

This article describes the development and initial validation of the Multicultural Environmental Inventory (MEI). The MEI is an instrument designed to measure an individual's perceptions about the degree to which graduate counseling programs address multicultural issues within curriculum, supervision, climate, and research. This investigation was conducted using the data from 208 students and faculty from counseling psychology graduate programs across the United States approved by the American Psychological Association. By using techniques of exploratory factor analysis, a 4-factor solution was determined to account for the relationships among the items on the MEI. The instrument was modified from 53 to 27 items on the basis of the items' effectiveness in measuring the underlying constructs of interest, and internal consistency information is provided on the final revised instrument (MEI-R). The factors underlying the MEI-R are discussed within the context of a multicultural environment in graduate counseling programs, and directions for future research are considered.     

Physical and emotional abuse and motor development: a preliminary investigation

Mothers of 212 children aged 2 to 12 yr. responded to a problem checklist. Significantly more children reported as maltreated were said to have learning difficulties than comparison children; language delays and poor motor coordination were also noted. Such children would benefit from the formal assessment and remediation of problems in motor development.     

The development of a physical education state anxiety scale: a preliminary study

The aim of the present study was to develop a measure of state anxiety for school physical education. The Physical Education State Anxiety Scale was designed to assess the basic anxiety dimensions plus the related cognitive processes. High school students (n = 631) completed the scale just prior to a test on two track and field tasks, in order to create a stressful condition. Data from the sample were randoml y split in two and subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which supported the proposed three-factor structure of Worry, Cognitive Processes, and Somatic Anxiety. Internal consistency coefficients were acceptable. Moderate correlations among the subscale scores supported its construct validity. Results provide preliminary evidence for validity and reliability.     

The Iowa Personality Disorder Screen: development and preliminary validation of a brief screening interview

The length and expense of comprehensive personality disorder interviews makes them unwieldy for routine use. A brief but sensitive screen could eliminate administration of longer instruments in many instances. We describe the development of the Iowa Personality Disorder Screen (IPDS)--a mini-structured interview which can be completed in less than 5 minutes. Retrospective analyses using 1,203 SIDP-R interviews suggested that the IPDS items should provide good sensitivity and specificity. We present results from a prospective validation study, using a mixed group of 52 nonpsychotic inpatients and outpatients who were diagnosed using the SIDP-IV. Blind administration of the IPDS yielded excellent sensitivity (92%) and good specificity (79%), using a subset of five screening items. Addition of two more items leads to an estimated sensitivity of 79% and specificity of 86%. The IPDS shows promise as a quick personality disorder screen for use in research settings or standard clinical interviews.