Elternschaft, Krebs und Kindersorgen

Background

The diagnosis of parental cancer may destabilize the whole family, parents and children as well. The Hamburg children of somatically ill parents (COSIP) intervention supports parental skills and adaptation of children to the situation. There is currently no evidence for criteria to determine which family members should be involved in the COSIP intervention, predominantly the parents (parent setting), the children (child setting) or both (family setting).

Aim of the study

Data from a multicentre study were analyzed with respect to the predominant intervention settings, the correlation between setting and aims of intervention as well as variables that predict the involvement of children in the intervention.

Material and methods

A total of 203 documented cases were analyzed. Different variables that had been documented by the therapists were included in a regression analysis model in order to identify predictive variables.

Results

In 142 cases the intervention was carried out in a specific intervention setting. In 57?% of the cases children were involved (32?% family setting and 25?% child setting). A systematic relationship between the reported intervention aims and the intervention setting was not detected. The most powerful predictor was the existence of emotional problems of children as reported by the child itself.

Conclusions

Decision-making on intervention settings should therefore take the assessment of emotional symptoms of children by the means of age-appropriate self-reporting tools into consideration. Further investigations are needed to reveal variables concerning needs, motivation and capabilities of the family members as well as institutional conditions.     

Improvement in Detection of Differential Item Functioning Using a Mixture Item Response Theory Model

Usually, methods for detection of differential item functioning (DIF) compare the functioning of items across manifest groups. However, the manifest groups with respect to which the items function differentially may not necessarily coincide with the true source of the bias. It is expected that DIF detection under a model that includes a latent DIF variable is more sensitive to this source of bias. In a simulation study, it is shown that a mixture item response theory model, which includes a latent grouping variable, performs better in identifying DIF items than DIF detection methods using manifest variables only. The difference between manifest and latent DIF detection increases as the correlation between the manifest variable and the true source of the DIF becomes smaller. Different sample sizes, relative group sizes, and significance levels are studied. Finally, an empirical example demonstrates the detection of heterogeneity in a minority sample using a latent grouping variable. Manifest and latent DIF detection methods are applied to a Vocabulary test of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB).     

Accuracy of self-reported arrests among a forensic SPMI population

Self-reports are prone to response error even in the most structured and standardized environment, but the highly stigmatizing nature of illegal behavior and the possible cognitive problems inherent to the SPMI population increase the likelihood of such error. Using administrative data as the gold standard, the validity of self-reported arrests was examined among 85 mentally ill substance-abusing individuals with justice involvement. The overall accuracy of self-reported arrests during a three-month recall period was 84.7%. Validity was higher among individuals who at the time of the follow-up interview were either in a jail diversion program or incarcerated. Individuals with a mood disorder appeared to be somewhat less accurate in their self-reports than subjects with schizophrenia, despite the implication of cognitive distortion accompanying this latter diagnostic category. Further research on issues such as the accuracy of self-reports over longer recall periods, or the accuracy of self-reported frequency of arrest, is necessary, given the reliance on self-report methodology in outcome studies.     

The link between maternal interaction style and infant action understanding

The present study investigates whether the maternal interaction style is related to 6-month-old infants' action interpretation. We tested 6-month-olds ability to interpret an unfamiliar human action as goal-directed using a modified version of the paradigm used by Woodward, A. L. (1999). Infant's ability to distinguish between purposeful and non-purposeful behaviours. Infant Behavior & Development, 22, 145-160 and Király, I., Jovanovic, B., Prinz, W., Aschersleben, G., & Gergely, G. (2003). The early origins of goal attribution in infancy. Consciousness & Cognition, 12, 732-751. Additionally, all infants and their mothers participated in a free play situation to assess maternal interaction styles as measured by the CARE-Index. According to mothers' distinct interaction styles, infants were divided into three groups. Results suggest that at 6 months of age infants of mothers with a modestly controlling interaction style are better at interpreting a human action as goal-directed than infants of sensitive and relative unresponsive mothers. The ability to understand human action as goal-directed might be a corollary of an adaptive strategy in infancy.     

Episodic repetitive thought: dimensions, correlates, and consequences

Repetitive thought (RT) - attentive, prolonged, or frequent thought about oneself and one's world - plays an important role in many models of psychological and physical ill health (e.g., rumination and worry), as well as models of recovery and well-being (e.g., processing and reminiscing). In these models, repetitive thought is typically treated as stable or trait-like. In contrast, episodic RT reflects what people have "on their minds" at a particular point in time. In four studies, young women (N=94), college students (N=166), first-year law students (N=73), and older adults (N=174) described their episodic RT, which was then rated for qualities including valence, purpose, and theme. Episodic RT valence was associated with mood and depressive symptoms both between (Studies 1-4) and within people (Studies 3-4), and it mediated the effects of dispositional coping through emotional approach (Study 1). The effect of episodic RT valence in turn was moderated by other properties of episodic RT, including purpose, "trait" valence, and theme (Studies 1-4). The study of episodic RT complements that of trait RT and allows for observations of how RT and psychological adjustment change in concert and in context, as well as examining how the RT qualities that are not reflected in trait measures affect adjustment.