Book Reviews

John T. Haworth Work, Leisure and Well-being Owen Hargie The Handbook of Communication Skills Richard Lepsinger and Anntoinette D. Lucia The Art and Science of 360° Feedback Kevin Murphy Individual differences and behavior in organizations     

Life Circumstances and Personal Resources as Predictors of the Ten-Year Course of Depression

A 10-year naturalistic study of 313 patients who entered treatment for unipolar depression and a community comparison group of 284 nondepressed adults was conducted. We compared life stressors, social resources, personal resources, and coping among patients who were remitted (N = 76), partially remitted (N = 146), or nonremitted (N = 91). Compared with the controls and the remitted patients, the partially remitted and nonremitted patients consistently experienced more life stressors and fewer social resources, were less easygoing, and relied more on avoidance coping. A less easygoing disposition, fewer close relationships, and more reliance on avoidance coping were associated with higher odds of experiencing a course of partial remission or nonremission. In addition, more depressive symptoms and medical conditions predicted nonremission.     

The Program Environment Scale: Assessing Client Perceptions of Community-Based Programs for the Severely Mentally Ill

The Program Environment Scale (PES) was developed for use with clients of community-based programs for the severely mentally ill. It is intended to fill the gap in available tools for assessing clients' perceptions of program functioning as it affects their quality of life in a program. Formal pretests were conducted with 121 clients at 12 randomly selected programs near Washington, DC. The final field test used a revised form (29 domains; 129 items) with 221 clients in 22 programs selected randomly throughout the U.S., including Clubhouse, day treatment, psychosocial rehabilitation, and social club programs. Twenty-three subscales met at least five of eight psychometric criteria for internal consistency and discriminant validity. A 24th subscale was retained because of its substantive importance. Successful subscales cover program atmosphere and interactions (program cares about me, energy level, friendliness, openness, staff-client and client-client respect, reasonable rules, availability of positive physical contact, protection from bad touch, staff investment in their jobs, and confidentiality), client empowerment/staff-client equality (program and treatment empowerment, egalitarian space use), and service components (support for paid work, work importance, emergency access, family activities, housing, public benefits, community activities, medications, substance abuse, and continuity). Subscale validity is indicated by associations of specific service offerings with scores on scales measuring client perceptions of those services, and by an ability to differentiate among program models (i.e., Clubhouses, day treatment programs, and psychosocial rehabilitation programs look different from each other). Subscale scores were not influenced by client characteristics (gender, race, age, diagnosis, number of hospitalizations, length of time in program). The final scale has 97 items and takes about 25 minutes to complete. The PES succeeds in measuring different aspects of programs as clients perceive them. In the programs we visited, directors felt the PES covers the important things they want to know about how clients perceive their program. The PES should become a useful tool both for researchers interested in how client responses to programs may influence their therapeutic outcomes, and for practitioners interested in improving their clients' program experiences and/or increasing convergence of staff and client views of their program.     

Methylphenidate Does Not Modify the Impact of Response Frequency or Stimulus Sequence on Performance and Event-Related Potentials of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Twenty-six children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) participated in a double-blind trial consisting of 2 consecutive weeks each of placebo and methylphenidate (M = 26.92 mg/day = 0.78 mg/kg/day). As expected, stimulant therapy resulted in moderate weight loss, increased somatic complaints, and teacher and parent reports of reduced inattentiveness, aggression, and oppositionality. In both phases of the trial, patients were tested in a choice reaction time task assessing two aspects of the task that presumably affect response selection: response frequency (ratio of targets/nontargets = 25/75 vs. 50/50) and stimulus sequence (alternations vs. repetitions). Both manipulations yielded expected results on performance and event-related potentials (ERPs). Stimulant treatment increased accuracy and speed among younger children and curtailed variability of reaction time for the sample as a whole. However, methylphenidate did not affect ERPs. In combination, the results imply that the enhancement of performance by methylphenidate does not involve the demands of response selection examined in this study.     

“Nothing About Me, Without Me”: Participatory Action Research with Self-Help/Mutual Aid Organizations for Psychiatric Consumer/Survivors

Participatory action research with self-help/mutual aid organizations for psychiatric consumer/survivors is reviewed. We begin by tracing the origins of and defining both participatory action research and self-help/mutual aid. In so doing, the degree of correspondence between the assumptions/values of participatory action research and those of self-help/mutual aid for psychiatric consumer/survivors is examined. We argue that participatory action research and self-help/mutual aid share four values in common: (a) empowerment, (b) supportive relationships, (c) social change, and (d) learning as an ongoing process. Next, selected examples of participatory action research with psychiatric consumer/survivor-controlled self-help/mutual aid organizations which illustrate these shared values are provided. We conclude with recommendations of how the key values can be promoted in both the methodological and substantive aspects of future participatory action research with self-help/mutual aid organizations for psychiatric consumer/survivors.     

Reproductive Genetic Counseling to Asian-Pacific and Latin American Immigrants

Latin and Asian-Pacific immigrants are the fastest growing new-comer groups in the U.S. contributing to 85% of immigration totals. New immigrants experience multiple barriers to accessing genetic counseling resulting from cultural, linguistic, financial, and educational factors as well as having unique perceptions on health, illness, reproduction, and life as a whole. In addition, new immigrants lack familiarity with Western medical practices as well as genetic risk and available interventions. We provided perinatal genetic services to 2430 clients, mostly new immigrants of Latin and Asian-Pacific descent over a period of 6 years. Counseling aides sharing the clients' cultural backgrounds were employed. A study assessing the efficacy of cross-cultural education regarding advanced maternal age risk and amniocentesis was implemented and linked to a database containing demographic and clinical information. Practical observations relating to cultural beliefs in the two groups relevant to perinatal genetic counseling were made.     

The Timing of Conscious Experience: A Critical Review and Reinterpretation of Libet''s Research

An extended examination of Libet's works led to a comprehensive reinterpretation of his results. According to this reinterpretation, the Minimum Train Duration of electrical brain stimulation should be considered as the time needed to create a brain stimulus efficient for producing conscious sensation and not as a basis for inferring the latency for conscious sensation of peripheral origin. Latency for conscious sensation with brain stimulation may occurafterthe Minimum Train Duration. Backward masking with cortical stimuli suggests a 125–300 ms minimum value for the latency for conscious sensation of threshold skin stimuli. Backward enhancement is not suitable for inferring this latency. For determining temporal relations between stimuli that correspond to subjects' reports, theendof cerebral Minimum Train Duration should be used as reference, rather than its onset. Results of coupling peripheral and cortical stimuli are explained by a latency after the cortical Minimum Train Duration, having roughly the same duration as the latency for supraliminal skin stimuli. Results of coupling peripheral stimuli and stimuli to medial lemniscus (LM) are explained by a shorter LM latency and/or a longer peripheral latency. This interpretation suggests a 230 ms minimum value for the latency for conscious sensation of somatosensory near-threshold stimuli. The backward referral hypothesis, as formulated by Libet, should not be retained. Long readiness potentials preceding spontaneous conscious or nonconscious movements suggest that both kinds of movement are nonconsciously initiated. The validity of Libet's measures of W and M moments (Libet et al., 1983a) is questionable due to problems involving latencies, training, and introspective distinction of W and M. Veto of intended actions may be initially nonconscious but dependent on conscious awareness.     

Empirical bayes estimates of domain scores under binomial and hypergeometric distributions for test scores

We introduce two simple empirical approximate Bayes estimators (EABEs)— and —for estimating domain scores under binomial and hypergeometric distributions, respectively. Both EABEs (derived from corresponding marginal distributions of observed test scorex without relying on knowledge of prior domain score distributions) have been proven to hold -asymptotic optimality in Robbins' sense of convergence in mean. We found that, where and are the monotonized versions of and under Van Houwelingen's monotonization method, respectively, the convergence rate of the overall expected loss of Bayes risk in either or depends on test length, sample size, and ratio of test length to size of domain items. In terms of conditional Bayes risk, and outperform their maximum likelihood counterparts over the middle range of domain scales. In terms of mean-squared error, we also found that: (a) given a unimodal prior distribution of domain scores, performs better than both and a linear EBE of the beta-binomial model when domain item size is small or when test items reflect a high degree of heterogeneity; (b) performs as well as when prior distribution is bimodal and test items are homogeneous; and (c) the linear EBE is extremely robust when a large pool of homogeneous items plus a unimodal prior distribution exists.The authors are indebted to both anonymous reviewers, especially Reviewer 2, and the Editor for their invaluable comments and suggestions. Thanks are also due to Yuan-Chin Chang and Chin-Fu Hsiao for their help with our simulation and programming work.