A Bifactor Model of Anxiety Sensitivity: Analysis of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the fit of a bifactor model of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3; Taylor et al. Psychological Assessment, 19, 176–188, 2007) as well as to examine measurement invariance of the ASI-3 across gender. Participants were undergraduate students from the University of Cincinnati (n?=?954; 63 % female). Results indicated that the bifactor model was the best fit to the data, and that this model of AS is fully invariant in terms of gender. The current findings suggest that anxiety sensitivity consists of a general factor and three independent group factors (rather than a higher-order factor with three correlated lower-order factors). The ASI-3 subscales from the bifactor model however did not provide incremental predictive utility above and beyond the general AS factor with respect to an external anxiety criterion. Related research and clinical implications are discussed.     

Der Fall Ludwig Tessnow (1872–1939)

The journeyman carpenter Ludwig Tessnow was sentenced to death for four murders by the Greifswald jury court in 1902. The death sentence was upheld during the retrial in 1906 but was later commuted to life imprisonment. According to the unanimous opinion of psychiatric experts Tessnow committed the crimes while in a state of mental incompetence caused by epileptic twilight states. The court, however, ignored this mitigating circumstance in its decision-making process. Seen from a historical perspective, the case is of forensic psychiatric interest because this criminal trial clearly shows the conflicts in competence which arose in the nineteenth century between judges and medical experts when mental competence had to be assessed. It also allows some insight into how mentally ill offenders were dealt with at the beginning of the twentieth century when the influence of public opinion was (and still is) a noteworthy element of prejudgement which was additionally consolidated by the established system of jury courts. The Tessnow case reveals by way of example the usual practice of official consignment of mentally disordered offenders to hospitals at the end of the nineteenth century until the Nazi era. New particulars of the Tessnow findings adequately verified that Tessnow had not been executed in the Greifswald prison as mistakenly believed. It could be proved that Ludwig Tessnow was admitted to the LandesheilanstaltStralsund (state mental hospital in Stralsund) where he became a victim of the Nazi euthanasia program.     

Seeing the unseen: ostracism interventionary behaviour and its impact on employees

This article outlines the development and validation of the ostracism interventionary behaviour (OIB) scale. Based on in-depth interviews with employees, leaders, and content experts in addition to 603 survey respondents from Canada and the United States, 3 dimensions emerged to describe the ways in which leaders confront workplace ostracism-related cues and a measure was created to assess them. These refer to the ability for leaders to foster an inclusive workgroup dynamic and enact effective third-party interpersonal interventions through displays of (1) social awareness, (2) proactivity, and (3) harmony-seeking behaviour. In addition to possessing convergent and discriminant validity, the OIB scale demonstrated criterion-related validity through its relation with perceived workplace ostracism and well-being. Furthermore, evidence supported the scale’s test–retest reliability and predictive validity over and above leader–member exchange. Overall, the measure was found to be both reliable and valid, with important implications for the effective management of instances of ostracism at work.     

Patients’ Views of Treatment-Focused Genetic Testing (TFGT): Some Lessons for the Mainstreaming of <Emphasis Type="Italic">BRCA1</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">BRCA2</Emphasis> Testing

This paper explores patients’ views and experiences of undergoing treatment-focused BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic testing (TFGT), either offered following triaging to clinical genetics (breast cancer) or as part of a mainstreamed care pathway in oncology (ovarian cancer). Drawing on 26 in-depth interviews with patients with breast or ovarian cancer who had undergone TFGT, this retrospective study examines patients’ views of genetic testing at this point in their care pathway, focusing on issues, such as initial response to the offer of testing, motivations for undergoing testing, and views on care pathways. Patients were amenable to the incorporation of TFGT at an early stage in their cancer care irrespective of (any) prior anticipation of having a genetic test or family history. While patients were glad to have been offered TFGT as part of their care, some questioned the logic of the test’s timing in relation to their cancer treatment. Crucially, patients appeared unable to disentangle the treatment role of TFGT from its preventative function for self and other family members, suggesting that some may undergo TFGT to obtain information for others rather than for self.