Judges' views of child sexual abuse: Evaluating beliefs against research findings in a Finnish sample

Beliefs impact our decision‐making and different professionals have been shown to have beliefs about child sexual abuse (CSA) that do not coincide with scientific findings. In the present study, judges' beliefs regarding CSA were explored. Finnish judges (N = 104) answered a questionnaire about CSA related issues as well as questions regarding their professional experience of CSA cases. The judges held both correct and incorrect beliefs; while their CSA prevalence estimates were rather well in line with research findings, half of the participants estimated that no professionals use suggestive methods when interviewing children and more than 40% thought suggestive methods can be useful when trying to get a child to tell about real events. Judges correctly assumed symptoms cannot be used to assess a CSA case, however, the majority thought play observations were appropriate means for evaluating such suspicions. Experience seemed to lead to more confidence in their own expertise but not in an actual increase in knowledge, namely, judges thought themselves more expert when more experienced although their expertise as measured by the questionnaire did not improve. Overall, the judges had both correct and erroneous beliefs but while experience did not improve the situation, gaining information about CSA did. More research about the beliefs of judges and how such beliefs impact legal decision‐making is needed.     

A psychometric evaluation of the Icelandic version of the WHO‐5

The psychometric properties of the Icelandic version of the World Health Organization five wellbeing index (WHO‐5) were evaluated using two samples, a randomly selected sample (N = 3,896) from the Icelandic National Registry and a convenience sample of primary care patients (N = 126). The factor structure of the scale was tested with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The correlation between the WHO‐5 and other measures of depression and anxiety were calculated to assess the scale's convergent and divergent validity. The discriminant validity of the WHO‐5 was explored with a receiver operating analysis compared to the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. The CFA indicated that the factor structure of the WHO‐5 was one‐dimensional and factorial invariant between groups. The internal reliability of the WHO‐5 was adequate and the convergent, divergent and discriminant validity of the WHO‐5 was supported. It is concluded that the psychometric properties of the Icelandic version of the WHO‐5 are satisfactory.     

Framing of Decisions: Effect on Active and Passive Risk Avoidance

Decision makers intending to avoid risk in a decision situation can choose a less risky alternative (passive risk avoidance) or intervene actively in an alternative applying a risk‐defusing action (active risk avoidance). In Experiment 1 (64 participants), we compared active and passive risk defusing in two framing conditions. In the negative frame, in the uncertain alternative, a change to the worse was possible; in the positive frame, a change to an improvement was possible. Each participant decided in both framing conditions. As expected, active risk avoidance behavior for preventing a negative outcome (i.e., in the negative frame) was more likely than for promoting a positive one (i.e., in the positive frame). If decision makers did not or could not actively defuse the risk, they chose in correspondence to the classical pattern: risk avoidance in the positive frame and risk seeking in the negative one. We replicated the latter result in a second experiment (32 participants). The classical framing pattern in passive risk avoidance in both experiments is remarkable, because participants were not presented or did not search for exact probabilities. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ambulante Psychotherapie der Substanzstörungen

Background

The revision of the psychotherapy guidelines in 2011 broadened the options for treating substance use disorders (SUD) in outpatient psychotherapy (OP).

Aim

The aims of this study were to answer the following questions: how frequently are SUDs treated in OP? What opinions do psychotherapists (PT) hold concerning the new treatment possibilities?

Material and methods

In this study the frequency of OP for patients with SUD, e.g. harmful use and abuse of as well as dependence on psychotropic substances according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10), by private practice PTs as well as their attitude towards the treatment of patients with these diagnoses were investigated. Private practice PTs in five states in East Germany were asked to participate in a postal survey.

Results

Of the 1,382 PTs contacted, 229 (16.6 %) participated in the study. Of the respondents 94.3 % had treated at least one patient with SUD (4-week prevalence including nicotine dependence). These rates ranged from 3.1 % to 26.6 % depending on the substance and diagnosis (SUD as primary reason for treatment). The highest rates of strong affirmation for OP of approximately 20?% were found for disorders related to alcohol, tobacco and medication.

Conclusion

Most PTs treated at least one patient with SUD in OP. However, this particular type of treatment offer should be further extended. Information about the options of treating SUD in OP should be further disseminated and conducting such treatment should be supported by (e.g.) therapist training.     

Staring us in the face? An embodied theory of innate face preference

Human expertise in face perception grows over development, but even within minutes of birth, infants exhibit an extraordinary sensitivity to face‐like stimuli. The dominant theory accounts for innate face detection by proposing that the neonate brain contains an innate face detection device, dubbed ‘Conspec’. Newborn face preference has been promoted as some of the strongest evidence for innate knowledge, and forms a canonical stage for the modern form of the nature–nurture debate in psychology. Interpretation of newborn face preference results has concentrated on monocular stimulus properties, with little mention or focused investigation of potential binocular involvement. However, the question of whether and how newborns integrate the binocular visual streams bears directly on the generation of observable visual preferences. In this theoretical paper, we employ a synthetic approach utilizing robotic and computational models to draw together the threads of binocular integration and face preference in newborns, and demonstrate cases where the former may explain the latter. We suggest that a system‐level view considering the binocular embodiment of newborn vision may offer a mutually satisfying resolution to some long‐running arguments in the polarizing debate surrounding the existence and causal structure of newborns' ‘innate knowledge’ of faces.     

When the Educated Leave the East: Romanian and Hungarian Skilled Immigration to the USA

In this study, we use quantitative and qualitative data to analyze how historical events shaped skilled emigration and integration of two Eastern European groups into the USA. Some of these migrants lost all interest in their country of origin and seek to fully assimilate to the new society. Others developed a new type of identity, as global citizens rather than of a particular country. They are willing to learn and understand the new society, but at the same time, they keep in touch with the home country. These two fundamental avenues of skilled migrant integration are related to individual characteristics as well as structural forces, and may highlight potential subsequent moves, addressing the global circulation of skilled international migrants.     

A graphical user interface for infant ERP analysis

Recording of event-related potentials (ERPs) is one of the best-suited technologies for examining brain function in human infants. Yet the existing software packages are not optimized for the unique requirements of analyzing artifact-prone ERP data from infants. We developed a new graphical user interface that enables an efficient implementation of a two-stage approach to the analysis of infant ERPs. In the first stage, video records of infant behavior are synchronized with ERPs at the level of individual trials to reject epochs with noncompliant behavior and other artifacts. In the second stage, the interface calls MATLAB and EEGLAB (Delorme & Makeig, Journal of Neuroscience Methods 134(1):9–21, 2004) functions for further preprocessing of the ERP signal itself (i.e., filtering, artifact removal, interpolation, and rereferencing). Finally, methods are included for data visualization and analysis by using bootstrapped group averages. Analyses of simulated and real EEG data demonstrated that the proposed approach can be effectively used to establish task compliance, remove various types of artifacts, and perform representative visualizations and statistical comparisons of ERPs. The interface is available for download from http://www.uta.fi/med/icl/methods/eeg.html in a format that is widely applicable to ERP studies with special populations and open for further editing by users.     

Qualifizierung und Qualitätskontrolle in der forensischen Psychiatrie – die aktuelle Situation in der Schweiz

The practice of civil expert opinions in Switzerland is in a period of upheaval due to fundamental alterations regarding the legal foundations which were implemented on 1 January 2013. The new civil code displaces the authority to order measures which restrict people’s liberty based on an endangerment to themselves or third parties from a lay institution to a newly created expert committee. Moreover, patient’s rights are greatly enhanced. The subsequent consequences for expert opinion activities are not yet appraisable. The development in the practice of insurance legal expert opinion is influenced by new legal measures which aim at reducing the growing number of new disability retirements most notably due to psychiatric disorders. In contrast to the civil area there are already clearly defined standards for the insurance legal area which were established by the Swiss Society of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in 2012. The legal foundations as well as the practice of expert opinions in the context of the Swiss civil and insurance law are comparable with the German situation but there are still some important differences related to the content and terminology. This paper outlines the current situation and recent developments in Switzerland as well as pointing out differences in comparison to Germany.     

What Motivational and Awareness Variables are Associated with Adolescents’ Intentions to Go to Bed Earlier?

The aim of the study was to test the motivation and awareness variables of the I-change model as predictors of adolescent intention to go to bed earlier. Questionnaires regarding sleep related motivational and awareness variables were administered to 127 sleep restricted (determined by actigraphy) high school students (12–17 years old). The motivational variables positive attitudes towards sleep and parents setting wake time predicted higher intentions to go bed earlier. The awareness variable sleep related cues to action also predicted higher intentions to advance bedtime. Positive attitudes towards sleep partially mediated the effect of sleep related cues to action on intention to advance bedtime. Future sleep promotion programs should train adolescents to detect cues to go to bed earlier to increase their intentions to go to bed earlier. Adolescents should be assisted to develop positive attitudes towards sleep as to enhance their autonomous motivation to advance their bedtime.     

Public Engagements with Health and Medicine

This introduction to the special issue on “Medicine, Health, and Publics” argues that a rhetorical understanding of publics offers conceptual, methodological, and practical benefits to health and medical humanities scholars.