Wie können Langzeittherapien mit kürzeren Behandlungen verglichen werden?

Long-term psychotherapy is not recommended in the current guidelines, which are based on the criteria of evidence-based medicine, as there is a lack of confirmation for long-term psychotherapy by efficacy studies. Using the example of psychoanalytic long-term psychotherapy this article describes six dilemmas which impede the realization of efficacy studies for long-term psychotherapy. Finally, basic elements of a study design are proposed, which are considered as being adequate to compare (psychoanalytic) long-term psychotherapy with shorter treatment forms in terms of outcome and cost-effectiveness. The anxiety and personality disorders (APD) study is briefly described as an example of a study realizing the proposed design.     

Accounting and convincing: the effect of two types of justification on the decision process

The effect of two types of justification pressure on the decision process was investigated. Three groups of 15 subjects each had to choose the head of a corrective home for criminal adolescents out of six candidates, who were described on 16 attributes. Two groups worked under justification pressure: subjects in the Accounting group were informed that they had to explain their decision afterwards, subjects in the Convincing group that they had to convince the other members of the executive board to vote for their selected candidate. From the third group, no justification was requested. It was found that justification pressure leads to a distinct increase in the amount of utilized information and to a more elaborate choice process, while the global decision heuristics do not seem to change. The two justification groups did not differ in the amount of information utilized, but the Convincing group employed a more elaborate process. This result shows that justification pressure is one of the task characteristics affecting the decision process, and proves that a latent justification pressure as assumed in some decision theories does not have the same effect as an explicit one. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of prenatal adversity on externalizing behaviors at 24 months of age in a high-risk sample: Maternal sensitivity as a moderator

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of maternal sensitivity on the association between prenatal adversity and externalizing behaviors at 24 months of age in a diverse, high-risk sample. We hypothesized that among children with higher prenatal adversity, high maternal sensitivity would serve as a protective factor. Participants were 247 primarily low-income, diverse dyads. Results indicated a significant interaction effect of maternal sensitivity and prenatal adversity on externalizing problems. The association between prenatal adversity and externalizing behaviors was significant only among children who experienced low prenatal adversity, with higher maternal sensitivity associated with lower externalizing behaviors. These findings indicate that, in the absence of high prenatal risk, responsive and sensitive parenting can buffer children in an otherwise high-risk sample from the development of externalizing behaviors.     

Identifying thriving Workplaces in Hospitals: Work Characteristics and the Applicability of Character Strengths at Work

In most of their work settings, the health and well-being of hospital physicians are at risk. Trends of work intensification and changing laws in the European Union and beyond have heightened the call for taking a closer look at the workplace and training conditions of hospital physicians. This study aims to identify specific work characteristics (such as autonomy, social support, cognitive demands, and skill adequacy), in order to determine conditions for the applicability of individual character strengths at work and in turn for increased work engagement and well-being. We examined our hypotheses based on cross-sectional (N = 173) and longitudinal self-report data (N = 72) of hospital physicians in Austria. The results identified significant indirect effects of skill adequacy, cognitive demands, autonomy, and social support at work – via the applicability of individual character strengths at work – on work engagement and general well-being. Longitudinal analyses additionally confirmed autonomy as a thriving work characteristic for promoting the applicability of individual character strengths over time (time lag: 6 months). This study revealed the value of enabling and preserving the applicability of character strengths in a hospital work setting and focused – for the first time – on its predicting work characteristics. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of securing skill adequacy early in the training of young physicians and encouraging, as well as, sustaining autonomy in their daily work life.

     

INCREASING HANDICAPPED PRESCHOOLERS' PEER SOCIAL INTERACTIONS: CROSS-SETTING AND COMPONENT ANALYSIS

The purposes of our study were: (a) to train a set of observationally determined social behaviors via peer initiation; (b) to determine if effects generalized across classroom settings and to directly intervene if generalization did not occur; and (c) to analyze components of the peer-initiation intervention. After baseline, nonhandicapped preschool children (confederates) were taught to direct social initiations to the three handicapped preschool-aged students. Teachers prompted the confederates to engage the students in social interaction when necessary and rewarded the confederates with tokens. Confederates' initiations to the students resulted in increased frequencies of positive social interaction. There was no generalization to other classroom settings, and the intervention was subsequently implemented in a second and third classroom. Next, the confederates' token reinforcement system was withdrawn, with no apparent deleterious effects on the confederates' or students' social interactions. When teachers substantially reduced their prompts to the confederates, students' social interactions decreased. Finally, reinstatement of teacher prompts resulted in increases in the confederates' social initiations and, consequently, the positive social interactions of the students.     

Sex differences in a simulated classroom economy: Children's beliefs about entrepreneurship

The purposes of this study were (1) to measure sex differences in children's perceptions of entrepreneurship and occupational sex-stereotyping and (2) to assess sex differences in children's risk taking, persistence, and economic success. For 10 weeks 938 children in grades 3–6 participated in Mini-Society, an experience-based economics education instructional program. Child self-report measures and teacher ratings were utilized. Before Mini-Society children reported entrepreneurship to be primarily a male domain. There was less entrepreneurial stereotyping after Mini-Society, especially in favor of girls. Children's occupational sex stereotyping also decreased following Mini-Society. Finally, there were no sex differences in the children's risk taking, persistence, or economic success during the Mini-Society experience.     

Health Promotion,Health Locus of Control,and Health Behavior: Two Field Experiments1

In spite of a sizable body of research on the effects of information promotions on health knowledge and health behavior, relatively little is known about how such efforts affect change (or why they do not). This paper addresses that problem by exploring the particular role that health locus of control (HLC) beliefs play in individual responses to health promotion efforts aimed at encouraging preventive health behaviors. Two field experiments are presented. The first experiment examined the extent to which HLC beliefs are related to differences in individual levels of health knowledge following the distribution of an informational booklet on health. Internals high on health value who received the information booklet demonstrated greater health knowledge three months later than did other subjects, although this difference was greater among men than among women. The second experiment explored how HLC beliefs interact with differently framed “control” messages to promote behavior change in breast self-examination (BSE). HLC beliefs interacted with the control language of the BSE promotional message and a neutral reminder to affect subsequent BSE practice. Together, these studies suggest a more influential role for health locus of control beliefs in shaping responses to health messages than has previously been documented in field settings.     

Early life events as discriminators of socialized and undersocialized delinquents

The relationship between early life events and the socialized and undersocialized dimensions of conduct disorder was investigated. Subjects were 40 incarcerated male delinquents and their mothers. The mothers were administered the Children's Life Events Questionnaire and the Developmental Questionnaire. Youths were administered the Adolescent Parent Relations Scale. The results indicated that the undersocialized delinquents had a greater number of stressful life events during their first 4 years of life than did the socialized delinquents. Discriminant function analysis indicated that stressful life events during the 2nd and 4th years were the most important predictors of membership in the undersocialized group. The discriminant function generated was able to classify 82.5% of the sample correctly. The remaining variables did not significantly discriminate the groups.