Understanding Adult Participant and Parent Empowerment Prior to Evaluation in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network

The burden of living with an undiagnosed condition is high and includes physical and emotional suffering, frustrations, and uncertainty. For patients and families experiencing these stressors, higher levels of empowerment may be associated with better outcomes. Thus, it is important to understand the experiences of patients with undiagnosed conditions and their families affected by undiagnosed conditions in order to identify strategies for fostering empowerment. In this study, we used the Genetic Counseling Outcome Scale (GCOS-24) to assess levels of empowerment and support group participation in 35 adult participants and 67 parents of child participants in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) prior to their UDN in-person evaluation. Our results revealed significantly lower empowerment scores on the GCOS-24 in adult participants compared to parents of child participants [t(100)?=???3.01, p?=?0.003, average difference?=???11.12, 95% CI (??3.78, ??18.46)] and no significant association between support group participation and empowerment scores. The majority of participants (84.3%, 86/102) are not currently participating in any support groups, and participation rates were not significantly different for adult participants and parents of child participants (11.4 vs. 19.7%, respectively, FE p?=?0.40). Open-ended responses provided additional insight into support group participation, the challenges of living with undiagnosed conditions, and positive coping strategies. Future research will evaluate the extent to which empowerment scores change as participation in the UDN unfolds.     

Developing a Culturally Appropriate Depression Prevention Program: Opportunities and Challenges

This paper describes the experiences of the first author and his colleagues in the development and implementation of a depression prevention program that specifically targets Latina mothers. Building on the earlier papers that highlight the underutilization of mental health services by Latinos in general, this paper will make the case that the situation is particularly concerning with regards to depression. In addition to the fact that depression is a highly prevalent disorder among Latino adults, the potential consequences for children of parents with depression are significant. Thus, the underutilization of formal mental health services by Latinos makes depression a critical public health problem that calls for creative solutions. One possible solution is the careful development and implementation of prevention programs. Depression prevention programs have some advantages over formal mental health treatment in that they can be offered at a relatively low cost, can be packaged in ways that make them less stigmatizing, and if effective, can reduce the incidence of cases that develop into clinical depression.This paper will describe the process of developing a novel depression prevention program, with a particular focus on the attention paid to cultural sensitivity. We describe the complexity inherent in defining cultural sensitivity and illustrate in concrete ways its implementation in the development and evaluation of the prevention program. In addition, we explore some of the challenges that emerge when attempting to balance the creation of a program that is culturally sensitive with the demands of rigorous quantitative evaluation.     

Höhen- und Zeitmaße der psychogalvanischen Reaktion

Zusammenfassung Höhen- und Zeitwerte psychogalvanischer Reaktionen, die auf Grund verschieden starker und verschieden langer akustischer Reizung entstanden waren, wurden miteinander verglichen. Stärke und Dauer der Reizung fanden stets ihren Ausdruck in der Höhe der Reaktion, in einigen Fällen auch in deren Dauer. Sofern überhaupt kontrollierte Unterschiede zwischen ihnen auftraten, standen die Zeitwerte in positiver Beziehung zu den Reaktionshöhen. Es scheint demnach nicht statthaft zu sein, Höhe und Dauer der psychogalvanischen Reaktion als voneinander unabhängige Variable zu betrachten; damit fehlt eine wesentliche Voraussetzung für eine Verbindung beider Meßgrößen zu einem Flächenbzw. Integralmaß.Herr Prof. Rausch hat zu dieser Arbeit wertvolle Anregungen gegeben; die Verfasser möchten ihm auch an dieser Stelle herzlich dafür danken.Man fragt sich natürlich, ob sich bei der durchschnittlich geringen Kovariation von Ausgangswert und Zeitwerten der psychogalvanischen Reaktion die Mühe einer Transformation lohnt. In der Tat dürfte häufig der Fehler, den man begeht, wenn man auf eine Korrektur verzichtet, kaum ins Gewicht fallen. Die Höhe der Korrelation scheint jedoch auch von der Beschaffenheit der Versuchsbedingungen abzuhängen und — wie es sich vor allem in Tabelle 10 andeutet — mit der Länge der gemessenen Zeiten anzuwachsen. Je affektiver die Vpn also reagieren, desto ernsthafter wird man sich mit der Frage zu befassen haben, ob die Zeitwerte der Keaktion von der Höhe der jeweiligen Ausgangswiderstände unabhängig gemacht werden müssen.     

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Replication Note

There is a small body of literature linking attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and its symptoms to entrepreneurial manifestations. Some studies take a subclinical perspective by studying the presence of symptoms, while other studies take a clinical perspective by studying the formal diagnosis of ADHD. The entrepreneurial manifestations examined range from entrepreneurial intention to the choice to become self-employed and from entrepreneurial orientation (EO) to entrepreneurial success. Despite its prominence in the entrepreneurship literature, to date only one study tested for a link with EO. The present study aims to replicate the relationship between ADHD symptoms and EO using a large data set of French small business owners. We do so by discriminating between the two dimensions of ADHD, namely attention-deficit and hyperactivity, as well as the three dimensions of EO, namely innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking. We do not find a link between ADHD and EO, although we do find a positive link between ADHD and the risk-taking subdimension of EO. Hyperactivity symptoms are positively related to EO, which is mainly driven by the subdimensions proactiveness and risk-taking. We do not find a link between attention-deficit symptoms and EO, though there is a negative link between attention-deficit and proactiveness.     

POOR WOMEN ARE STILL SHUT OUT OF MAINSTREAM PSYCHOLOGY

Based on the limited number of abstracts accessed on PsycLit between 1984 and 1991 that included poor women, Reid (1993) concluded that such women were essentially "shut up" and "shut out" of mainstream psychological research and theory. The authors conducted a follow-up analysis for the years 1991 through 1997 to determine whether significant change had taken place. In addition, they looked at the inclusion of poor women in research in the areas of sexuality and reproductive health. Results of the analysis suggest that poor women remain marginalized in our discipline's discourse.