Factor structure and measurement invariance of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) in cancer patients

Background/Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess psychometric properties of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18), evaluate the measurement invariance with respect to sex, age, and tumor location, and to analyze associations between social support and sociodemographic and clinical variables among individuals with resected, non-advanced cancer. Method: A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to explore the dimensionality of the scale and test invariance across sex, age, and tumor localization in a prospective, multicenter cohort of 877 patients who completed the BSI-18 and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Results: The results show that 3-factor and 1-factor measurement models provided a good fit to the data; however, a three-factor, second-order model was deemed more appropriate and parsimonious in this population. Alpha coefficients ranged between .75 and .88. Test of measurement invariance showed strong invariance results for sex, age, and tumor location; strong invariance over time was likewise assumed. Less perceived social support appears to correlate with all BSI factors. Conclusions: The study confirmed the tridimensional structure of the BSI-18 and invariance across age, sex, and tumor localization. We recommend using this instrument to measure anxiety, depression, and somatization in epidemiological research and clinical practice.     

Is there a future for investigative hypnosis?

Since its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, hypnosis as an investigative procedure has declined in popularity such that many experts now consider it to be more a liability than a useful forensic tool. Indeed, in the US, a majority of the states follow a per se exclusion rule, prohibiting any memories retrieved during or after hypnosis from being introduced into evidence. In this paper, factors contributing to the demise of investigative hypnosis are re-examined. It is concluded that a per se exclusion rule is overly inclusive, but it is advisable for investigators to avoid using hypnosis when other, less contentious alternatives, such as the cognitive interview, are available. Nevertheless, it often goes unrecognised that a more positive legacy of investigative hypnosis is very present in modern investigative interviewing best practice; moreover, there may still be procedures employed in hypnotic interviewing that have yet to be exploited. For example, recent research indicates that, when divorced from the context of hypnosis, brief techniques such as focused breathing, and eye closure, can enhance memory. As memory enhancement with these techniques is achieved without the increase in false positive errors familiar to more traditional hypnosis techniques, evidence from such procedures should be acceptable to the courts. The potential role of hypnosis as a tool to reverse the effects of misinformation is also considered. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

催眠定义探新：以恍惚为特色的深度沟通

综述催眠发展史上主要催眠观点,归纳其激活、意境、灵活、具身及整合等基本特征,继而提出催眠是一种以恍惚为特色的深度沟通的新定义,认为催眠本质上是一种沟通,恍惚是其特色,深度与恍惚相结合有助于界定催眠。未来应加强与认知神经科学、精神分析以及中国传统文化等的融合研究。     

The Children's Social Vulnerability Questionnaire (CSVQ): Validation,relationship with psychosocial functioning,and age-related differences

Background/Objective: Social vulnerability refers to difficulties detecting potentially harmful interpersonal situations. Although it is an important predictor of psychosocial and interpersonal difficulties in clinical samples, research investigating this construct is scarce. We aimed to (a) develop a brief measure for assessing social vulnerability in typically developing children, the Children's Social Vulnerability Questionnaire (CSVQ) (b) examine the relationship between social vulnerability and psychosocial functioning, (c) explore age-related differences, and (d) explore levels of social vulnerability amongst children with clinical needs. Method: Data were gathered on two samples. Participants were parents (n = 790) of elementary school-aged children (3-12 years), and parents and teachers of a second sample (n = 96). Results: Results provide strong reliability and validity evidence. Social vulnerability showed moderate relationships with emotional and behavioural problems, and only a weak relationship with social skills. Parents perceived greater social vulnerability in younger than older children, and amongst children with clinical needs. Parents’ and teachers’ scores were correlated. Conclusions: Social vulnerability is not simply a lack of social skill; rather, it is a valuable construct for understanding psychosocial risk, especially for young and clinical samples of children.     

Validity evidence of the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale-Short Form among depressed smokers

Background/Objective

A measure of Behavioral Activation (BA) is highly recommended when evaluating BA treatment effects for smokers with depression. Recently, a short version of the Behavioral Activation for Depression scale (BADS-SF) has been developed as a means of assessing changes in activation and avoidance patterns. To date there is no validated version of this questionnaire in Spanish. This study sought to adapt the BADS-SF to a Spanish population of depressed smokers. Method A sample of 169 smokers (72.2% female) with elevated depressive symptomatology completed the BADS-SF. Results A bi-factorial structure was obtained: Activation and Avoidance. Results indicated an acceptable internal consistency for both the Activation (ω = .85) and the Avoidance subscales (ω =.70). Overall, convergent validity was obtained with Activation and Avoidance subscales being related to other depression-related measures such as depressive symptomatology (Activation r = ?.29; Avoidance r = .35), environmental reward (Activation r = .40; Avoidance r = ?.41) and, nicotine dependence (Avoidance r = .23). This latter variable was the only one not showing a statistically significant association with the Activation factor (r = ?.12). Conclusions The Spanish BADS-SF can be considered as a reliable and valid instrument when assessing behavioral activation among clinically depressed smokers.     

Sustained attentional and disattentional abilities and arousability: Factor analysis and relationships to hypnotic susceptibility

The neurophysiologically separate dimensions of deeply focused, sustained attention and arousability are shown to be differentially related to hypnotic susceptibility. University undergraduates, 98 men and 112 women, were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility; the Group Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C); and questionnaires that assessed attentional abilities (Differential Attentional Processes Inventory (DAPI), Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS)), Extraversion (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire), strength of the nervous system (Strelau Temperament Scale (STS)), augmenting-reducing (Vando Reducer-Augmenter Scale (RAS)), and emotionality (Affect Intensity Measure (AIM)). Women were significantly higher on TAS, DAPI dual attention physical-cognitive scale, and AIM; men were significantly higher on TAS and STI Strength of Excitation Scale. Separate factor analyses for men and women separately yielded fairly similar four-factor solutions. The first major factor, defined by DAPI Moderately Focused Attention and Dual Attention scales, represented moderately sustained attention in a complex environment with limited interference from competing stimuli. The extremely involved and focused attention factor, defined by the TAS and DAPI Extremely Focused Attention Scale, had hypnotic susceptibility loaded more strongly for men than women. The arousability factor was defined by EPQ Extraversion, STI Mobility of Nervous System (MNS) scale, and RAS. The neo-Pavlovian nervous system processes factor was defined by the STI Strength of Excitation and Strength of Inhibition scales; the STI MNS scale also loaded on this factor for men. Only for women were introverts more hypnotizable than extraverts. Results support H. J. Crawford and J. H. Gruzelier's (1992) in E. Fromm and M. Nash (Eds.) Contemporary Perspectives in Hypnosis Research (pp. 227–266) New York: Guildford Press) neurophysiological model of hypnosis that proposes that highly hypnotizable persons have a more efficient fronto-limbic sustained attentional and disattentional system.     

The Application of Facilitated Imagery to Marital Counseling

SUMMARY

The purpose of this study was to assess whether facilitated imagery is a successful technique for improving both marital satisfaction and individual psychological functioning. Twenty marital couples were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: Both received three sessions of structured marital enrichment and one also received three facilitated imagery sessions. Posttests were given at one month and four months following treatment. Subjects exposed to facilitated imagery showed significantly greater improvement on some scales of marital satisfaction and individual psychological functioning, and these improvements persisted at the four-month posttest. In posttest interviews, subjects reported the primary benefit was insight into themselves and their spouses.

A series of 2x(3) repeated measure analyses of variance were used to detect changes for husbands and wives. Subjects exposed to facilitated imagery reported significantly greater improvement than enrichment-only subjects on some scales of marital satisfaction and individual psychological functioning. In addition, improvements persisted at the four-month posttest for the enrichment-plus-imagery subjects, but declined for the enrichment-only subjects. In interviews, the majority of imagery subjects reported that the process had been helpful to them both personally and relationally. Subjectively they reported gaining insight into themselves or their spouse as the primary benefit obtained from the imagery work.     

Validation of the Internet and Social Networking Experiences Questionnaire in Spanish adolescents

The aim of this paper is to validate the Internet Related Experiences Questionnaire (IREQ) with a sample of 525 participants from Compulsory Secondary Education, considering the possible addiction to the internet from both interpersonal and intrapersonal dimensions. Besides, associations between CERI scores and several variables such as sex, age as well as selfesteem were analyzed. Results show a good fit of the questionnaire through a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), where the interpersonal factor explains a higher percentage of the variance at the expense of the intrapersonal factor. Statistically significant differences between IREQ scores and age and a lineal positive association between self-esteem and possible interpersonal addiction to the internet were found. The possibility of these results to be affected by the social use of the Internet and the generalization in young people's lives is discussed. Moreover, the need of designing and implementing prevention programs for a healthy use of the internet is discussed.     

Maladaptive personality traits in adolescence: Psychometric properties of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+

The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+ (PDQ-4+) is a self-report used for the assessment of personality disorder traits, however, its psychometric characteristics have yet to be tested in community samples of adolescents. The main goal was to analyze the psychometric properties of the PDQ-4+ scores in a large sample of non-clinical adolescents (N = 1,443; M = 15.9 years; SD = 1.2). The PDQ-4+ scores showed adequate psychometric properties. Reliability of the subscales, incorporating a Likert-type 5-point response format, ranged from .62 to .85. The study of the internal structure at item level revealed that the PDQ-4+ subscales were essentially one-dimensional. Analysis of the internal structure at the subscale level by means of exploratory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling yielded a possible three-dimensional solution. The PDQ-4+ subscales correlated moderately with emotional and behavioural variables measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The results have clear implications for the understanding of maladaptive personality traits in adolescents.     

A behavioral medicine intervention as an adjunctive treatment for HIV-related illness

Abstract

This investigation assessed the efficacy of a behavioral medicine intervention in the adjunctive treatment of symptomatic HIV seropositive men. Twenty-six, well coping, seropositive gay males were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a waiting list control group. The treatment group received eight weeks of training in thermal biofeedback, guided imagery and hypnosis Significant results (p < 0.05) indicated that HIV-related symptoms (fever, fatigue, pain, headache, nausea and insomnia) decreased and that vigor and hardiness increased. No significant changes were found in absolute numbers of CD4 cells, tension-anxiety or depression.