The design of the MBT‐G adherence and quality scale

Few group psychotherapy studies focus on therapists' interventions, and instruments that can measure group psychotherapy treatment fidelity are scarce. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the reliability of the Mentalization‐based Group Therapy Adherence and Quality Scale (MBT‐G‐AQS), which is a 19‐item scale developed to measure adherence and quality in mentalization‐based group therapy (MBT‐G). Eight MBT groups and eight psychodynamic groups (a total of 16 videotaped therapy sessions) were rated independently by five raters. All groups were long‐term, outpatient psychotherapy groups with 1.5 hours weekly sessions. Data were analysed by a Generalizability Study (G‐study and D‐study). The generalizability models included analyses of reliability for different numbers of raters. The global (overall) ratings for adherence and quality showed high to excellent reliability for all numbers of raters (the reliability by use of five raters was 0.97 for adherence and 0.96 for quality). The mean reliability for all 19 items for a single rater was 0.57 (item range 0.26–0.86) for adherence, and 0.62 (item range 0.26–0.83) for quality. The reliability for two raters obtained mean absolute G‐coefficients on 0.71 (item range 0.41–0.92 for the different items) for adherence and 0.76 (item range 0.42–0.91) for quality. With all five raters the mean absolute G‐coefficient for adherence was 0.86 (item range 0.63–0.97) and 0.88 for quality (item range 0.64–0.96). The study demonstrates high reliability of ratings of MBT‐G‐AQS. In models differentiating between different numbers of raters, reliability was particularly high when including several raters, but was also acceptable for two raters. For practical purposes, the MBT‐G‐AQS can be used for training, supervision and psychotherapy research.     

Impact of mood,framing, and need for cognition on decision makers' recall and confidence

This study examined the impact of mood, information framing, and need for cognition on participants' amount of recall and level of confidence in a simulated business‐decision‐making setting. No main effect was obtained for either positive or negative mood. However, in support of the congruity–incongruity hypothesis, participants who received mood‐congruent framing information (positive mood/positive framing and negative mood/negative framing) showed significantly better recall and were significantly less overconfident than those who received mood‐incongruent framing information (positive mood/negative framing and negative mood/positive framing). Yet, congruity–incongruity effects were moderated by decision makers' need for cognition and were obtained only among participants' with a lower cognitive processing requirement. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is Grossarth-Maticek's coronary-prone type II an independent predictor of myocardial infarction?

Biomedical factors (hypertension, abnormal lipid metabolism, clotting factors) and behavioural factors (cigarette smoking, alcohol, fat intake) are established risk factors for ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Accumulating evidence suggests that psychosocial factors (e.g. type A behaviour, interpersonal relations and personality) also exert some influence. These factors seem to account for about 3% of the variance in IHD over and above the traditional risk factors [[Reference to Amelang, M. (1997)]. Using personality variables to predict cancer and heart disease. European Journal of Personality, 11, 319–342.] Grossarth-Maticek and colleagues have, in three prospective longitudinal studies, found that a particular type of coping in interpersonal relations (type II) predicted death from IHD over 10–15 years. The effect sizes have been of a magnitude far exceeding those reported in similar studies. This paper reports results from a cross-sectional, population-based, mailed questionnaire survey (N=5014). Using logistic regression, we did not find a significant relation between type II and myocardial infarction, when controlling for age, IHD in the family, diet, job stress and health complaints. Type II, however, had an effect on health complaints when controlling for age, IHD in the family, and job stress. A path model including an indirect effect from type II to IHD via health complaints explained 23 and 44% of the variance in health complaints and IHD, respectively. A possible explanation for results showing that type II significantly affects IHD may be that smoking is the core factor in such a way that type II is related to health complaints and smoking.     

Psychological characteristics of elderly insomniacs

Sixty insomniacs, aged 60 years or over, fulfilling the DSM-IV criteria for primary insomnia, completed a set of questionnaires measuring psychological distress. These included the Sleep Impairment Index (SIM), the Symptom Check List 90-Revised (SCL-90-R), the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20) and the Elders Life Stress Inventory (ELSI). The insomniacs were compared on these measures with two contrast groups, one of elderly good sleepers and one an elderly community sample. As norms were developed for the SCL-90-R and PSWQ, insomniacs were also contrasted with the norm groups on these measures. In general, the results indicated a higher level of psychological distress among insomniacs than among the good sleepers, while there were negligible differences between insomniacs and the community sample on most measures. Overall, elderly insomniacs scored higher on measures of worry compared with the other groups, followed by measures of somatization, obsessive-compulsion and depression. It is concluded that excessive worrying was the most characteristic feature of elderly insomniacs.     

Risk Perception,Worry and Satisfaction Related to Genetic Counseling for Hereditary Cancer

In this multi center study, genetic counseling for hereditary cancer was evaluated by assessing patients’ worry, perceived risk of developing cancer and satisfaction with genetic counseling. An overall aim was to identify characteristics of vulnerable patients in order to customize genetic counseling. In addition, agreement between patients’ and counselors’ scores was measured. A total of 275 Norwegian patients were consecutively recruited, and 213 completed questionnaires before and after genetic counseling. Patients’ perceived risk decreased after the genetic counseling session. There was incongruence between risk perception expressed as a percentage and in words. Patients were significantly less worried after counseling. Higher levels of worry were predicted by low instrumental satisfaction with counseling, high degree of perceived risk of developing cancer and younger age. In conclusion, counselors met the patients’ psychological needs to a satisfactory degree during counseling. However, patients did not fully understand their risk of developing cancer.     

Compositionality and sandbag semantics

It is a common view that radical contextualism about linguistic meaning is incompatible with a compositional explanation of linguistic comprehension. Recently, some philosophers of language have proposed theories of ‘pragmatic’ compositionality challenging this assumption. This paper takes a close look at a prominent proposal of this kind due to François Recanati. The objective is to give a plausible formulation of the view. The major results are threefold. First, a basic distinction that contextualists make between mandatory and optional pragmatic processes needs to be revised. Second, the pragmatic theory can with stand a Davidsonian objection only by rejecting the importance of a distinction between primitive and non-primitive semantic items. Thirdly, however, the theory is now open to a worry about how it should be understood: either the theory consists in a very broad functionalist generalization about communication, which makes it explanatorily inert, or it boils down to a highly particularist view about linguistic meaning. Finally, I argue that Recanati’s notion of ‘occasion meaning’ is problematic and suggest replacing it with the notion of speaker meaning, which is explanatorily more basic.     

‘My Husband is My Key to Paradise.’ Attitudes of Muslims in Indonesia and Norway to Spousal Roles and Wife-Beating

This article explores the influence of religious factors and values held by local societies, when Muslims develop their personal attitudes and perceived religious norms regarding spousal roles and wife-beating. It is based on qualitative interviews with 59 Muslims in Indonesia (N?=?35) and Norway (N?=?24). In addition, relevant Indonesian and Norwegian Muslim literature and web pages are examined. According to most Indonesian respondents, Islamic norms prescribe male leadership and allow the husband to beat a disobedient wife. This was regarded as crucial for the wife’s destiny after death. According to most Norwegian respondents, Islamic norms promote gender equality and oppose wife-beating. The sharp contrast between the perceived religious norms of Indonesian and Norwegian respondents may be caused by dissimilar cultural values in the two countries – values that influenced personal attitudes and thus the horizon of understanding where religion and authoritative text were interpreted. The reasoning of the respondents also sheds light on the importance of specific sacred texts when religious norms were developed individually. From a psychological point of view, the implementation of the egalitarian attitudes represented by numerous respondents may have positive effects for Muslim women living in patriarchal societies.     

Stress,Coping, and Emotions on the World Stage: The Experience of Participating in a Major Soccer Tournament Penalty Shootout

This study was designed to capture the first-hand experiences of stressors, coping, and emotions that elite professional soccer players have during a major soccer penalty shootout. Eight players who each took part in an important European Championships penalty shootout were interviewed. The results showed that the experience of stressors, coping, and emotions changed extensively throughout the event. Moreover, the participants experienced a series of different stressors, some of which were specific to the penalty shootout, and they employed a variety of coping strategies. Anxiety was the most common emotion. Practitioners can use these results to help design valid simulation protocols.     

Stress and happiness among adolescents with varying frequency of physical activity

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate associations between physical activity, stress, and happiness, as well as possible sex and age differences on these variables in a survey of 1,508 adolescent pupils (13 to 18 yr.) in middle Norway. Adolescents who reported they participated in physical activity 2 to 3 times per week or more scored significantly lower on stress and higher on happiness than those who participated in physical activity 1 day per week or less. There was no significant difference on stress and happiness between those being physically active 2 or 3 times a week and those being active almost every day. There was no sex difference in physical activity frequency. Girls had higher mean scores on stress, and boys scored higher on happiness. Adolescents 15 to 16 years old showed higher stress scores than those 17 to 18 years old, but there were no significant differences between the different age groups when looking at happiness and physical activity. A statistically significant two-way interaction of sex by age was found on both stress and happiness.