Comparing observational software with paper and pencil for time-sampled data: A field test of Interval Manager (INTMAN)

In this article, we describe the Interval Manager (INTMAN) software system for collecting timesampled observational data and present a preliminary application comparing the program with a traditional paper-and-pencil method. INTMAN is a computer-assisted alternative to traditional paper-and-pencil methods for collecting fixed interval time-sampled observational data. The INTMAN data collection software runs on Pocket PC handheld computers and includes a desktop application for Microsoft Windows that is used for data analysis. Standard analysis options include modified frequencies, percent of intervals, conditional probabilities, and kappa agreement matrices and values. INTMAN and a standardized paper-and-pencil method were compared under identical conditions on five dimensions: setup time, duration of data entry, duration of interobserver agreement calculations, accuracy, and cost. Overall, the computer-assisted program was a more efficient and accurate data collection system for time-sampled data than the traditional method.     

Cross-system concordance of personality disorder diagnoses of DSM-IV and diagnostic criteria for research of ICD-10

The aim in this study was to examine the cross-system concordance between the personality disorders (PDs) of DSM-IV and Diagnostic Criteria for Research of ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders, 10th rev. (ICD-10) PD diagnoses were made by a structured interview in a clinical psychiatric sample of 138 individuals. Both categorical and dimensional scores for each PD were established. The frequency of patients with a PD diagnosis on either classification who were also positive on the other varied from 26% for the schizoid PDs to 88% for the histrionic PDs. The chance-corrected agreement (Cohen's kappa) ranged from .37 to .94. The dimensional correlation (Pearson's r) between pairs of PD criteria sets was in the range of .79 to .98. In conclusion, when analyzed categorically, some of the PDs of DSM-IV and ICD-10-DCR were only moderately concordant. The reasons appear to be different criteria formulations and arbitrary thresholds for diagnoses. In contrast to categorical diagnoses, dimensional agreement was high, implicating similar trait-concept definitions. The least concordant pair of PD was antisocial (DSM-IV)-dissocial (ICD-10).     

Long-term school-level effects of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP)

In agreement with two predictions, this somewhat unusual study documented that 70 elementary schools (A-schools) with continued and repeated use of the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire (OBQ) in a four-year follow-up period of 2007–2010, two to eight years after original implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP), had a clearly more favorable long-term development in terms of being-bullied problems, as measured with a completely independent data source, the National Pupil Survey than 102 comparable schools (B-schools) that had not conducted any OBQ-surveys in the same period. The odds of being bullied for students in a Norwegian average elementary school were also almost 40% higher than for students who attended a school with continued use of the OBQ, and very likely, other components of the program. Several alternative explanations of the findings were explored and found wanting. Results suggested that A-schools with continued use had changed their “school culture” for the better with regard to awareness, preparedness and competence in handling and preventing bullying. This form of ‘organizational learning’ has major consequences in that new groups of students will benefit from such a school environment. It was generally concluded – in spite of a highly stable average of the level of bullying problems in Norway – that it is fully possible to substantially reduce such problems not only in one-year evaluations, as has been amply documented before, but also in the long term, up to eight years after original implementation, with a program such as the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program.     

Can this be evil? Evilness seen as intention or drive

This article was originally read as an introductory plenary paper at the German-Nordic Clinical Conference, September 2015 in Berlin. The heading of the conference was ‘On Cruelty and Destructiveness’. The paper takes as its starting point the composite figure of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It discusses the meaning of intentionality, or the lack of a conscious intention of being evil, in comparison to evil deeds caused by uninhibited drive satisfaction. Evilness is put into a social and a psycho-developmental context. Examples of contemporary atrocities are discussed, leading up to a formulation of a multi-factorial explanatory model of evil, taken from Michael Stones book ‘The Anatomy of Evil’.     

The Confluence of Adverse Early Experience and Puberty on the Cortisol Awakening Response

Associations between early deprivation/neglect in the form of institutional care with the cortisol awakening response (CAR) were examined as a function of pubertal status among 12- and 13-year-old post-institutionalized youth. CARs indexed hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical reactivity. Post-institutionalized youth were compared to youth adopted internationally from foster care (adoption control) and to nonadopted youth reared in families comparable in parental education and income to the adoptive families. Post-institutionalized youth exhibited a blunted CAR if they were at earlier but not if they were at later stages of puberty. Similarly, for both groups of internationally adopted youth combined, earlier but not later stages of puberty were associated with more blunted CARs at higher but not lower levels of parent-reported pre-adoption physical and social neglect.     

Parents’ and psychotherapists’ goals prior to psychodynamic child psychotherapy

In order to explore goals of parents and psychotherapists prior to child psychotherapy, the following questions were asked: (1) How are goals for psychotherapy formulated? (2) How can similarities and differences between parents’ and psychotherapists’ goals be understood? Questionnaires regarding psychodynamic child psychotherapies (n = 33) with parallel parental work were analysed using qualitative methodology. The child psychotherapists’ goals were often connected to the intrapsychic and relational development of the child. The parental therapists formulated goals focused on providing support to parents. The parents’ goals, on the other hand, concerned to a great extent giving the child help and to a lesser degree receiving help for themselves. They expressed their expectations concerning the child’s psychological development with a more everyday use of language, often with an emphasis on general psychological wellbeing. The study also indicated that parents had limited knowledge about the therapy’s implementation and framework. Some clinical conclusions could be made. Negotiating goals prior to parental and child psychotherapy can help create realistic expectations and promote a beneficial therapy situation.     

Children in psychodynamic psychotherapy: changes in global functioning

This study was part of the Erica Process and Outcome Study. The aim was to investigate if children's global functioning improves after psychodynamic psychotherapy. Variables that may predict changes in global functioning were examined both statistically and qualitatively, for example, the child's age and gender; diagnosis and comorbidity; treatment variables. The sample consisted of 33 children (five to 10 years of age) who participated in psychodynamic psychotherapy with parallel work with parents. Twenty-nine children had at least one DSM-IV diagnosis, and 15 children had comorbid conditions. At the start of psychotherapy, the most frequent diagnoses were attention disorder and disruptive behaviour. Child psychotherapists rated the children's global functioning using CGAS and HCAM. Large effect sizes were obtained (d = 1.80 and d = 1.98). However, no statistical correlations were found between global functioning and the selected variables. In order to illuminate the complex connection between process and outcome the study was complemented with in-depth case studies where data were taken from questionnaires, completed by the child therapists every third month. Two child therapies were selected: one in which the therapist rated a large change and one in which a small change was rated (CGAS). The analysis showed that important individual change, for example, attainment of formulated goals, was not always reflected in the change rated using the CGAS. Findings suggest that psychodynamic child psychotherapy can be beneficial. However, further research is needed to identify factors that contribute to change in children's global functioning.     

What could have been done (but wasn’t). On the counterfactual status of action in Alva Noë’s theory of perception

Alva Noë’s strategy to solve the puzzle of perceptual presence entirely relies on the principle of presence as access. Unaccessed or unattended parts or details of objects are perceptually present insofar as they are accessible, and they are accessible insofar as one possesses sensorimotor skills that can secure their access. In this paper, I consider several arguments that can be opposed to this claim and that are chiefly related to the modal status of action, i.e. the fact that the action that would secure access to the absent aspects is a possibility, something that can (or maybe could) be done. The main difficulty Noë’s account must face is –as several situations demonstrate– that the action that should be performed for the absent aspects to be actually accessed does not have to be itself available for these aspects to be perceptually present. What matters for the absent aspects to be present is not their de facto (i.e. effective) accessibility, but their de jure accessibility. To overcome those difficulties, I propose to rely on a ternary model of the role of action possibilities in perceptual awareness. This model builds on Husserl’s analysis of the role of perceptual circumstances in perception and connection between sense (Sinn) registering and horizontal intentionality.