Uncovering personality structure with the Inventory of Personality Organization: An exploration of factor structure with a Portuguese sample

IntroductionThe Inventory of Personality Organization (IPO) is a self-report measure intended to assess the severity of personality disturbance according to Otto F. Kernberg's model.ObjectiveTo study factor structure and psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of IPO (IPO-Pt).MethodTwo independent samples of 586 individuals each were used for exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Different models were compared in terms of reliability and validity.ResultsA three-factor solution resulted, comprising dimensions labeled as Instability of Self, Instability of Others, and Psychosis. Internal consistency and temporal stability yielded acceptable to excellent results. Correlations with measures of self-concept coherence, emotion dysregulation, psychoticism, symptom severity, and personality disturbance were as expected, and sensitivity to clinical status was confirmed.ConclusionIPO-Pt shows encouraging psychometric qualities and its latent structure resonates with important aspects of Kernberg's model, previous findings, and the DSM-5 level of personality functioning scale.     

Development of clinical vignettes to assess healthcare decision-making capacity in elderly with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

IntroductionCognitive impairment can constrict healthcare decision-making capacity, as it affects the ability to understand, appreciate, and reason with information, as well as communication abilities. Therefore, decision-making capacity of elders with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease should be carefully assessed when patients are asked to make decisions regarding their health. Vignettes are particularly relevant to assess healthcare decision capacity, since they can come close to real life situations and improve statistical reliability of capacity assessment instruments.ObjectiveThis paper describes the construction and development process of three hypothetical vignettes, to be included in a new Portuguese assessment tool of healthcare decision-making capacity (CAI-Health).MethodFor vignettes’ development, examples from other assessment tools were first reviewed to summarize their text length, language complexity and health information contained. Most prevalent causes of mortality and morbidity in Portuguese elders were then identified, in order to select the health issues to include in CAI-Health’ vignettes. Seven vignettes were developed, and three were selected to be included in CAI-Health. After vignette's selection, these were reviewed by three experienced medical experts, during a focus group.ConclusionVignettes final version include cases of increased complexity, presenting situations of mild cognitive impairment, lung tumor and knee arthrosis.     

The Black Foe: Being Towards Death1

The ontology of death is universal, hence archetypal. Nowhere do we witness any organic creature escape its talons. Analytical psychology has had an intimate relationship to death for the simple fact that it contemplates the soul, the numinous, and an afterlife. From Hegel to Heidegger, Freud and Jung, death was an existential force that sustained and transformed life, the positive significance of the negative. Rather than merely a destructive phenomenon, death informs Being, the power of nothingness that dialectically drives life. In this paper, I will introduce the notion of what I call the omega principle, the psychological orientation and trajectory of our being towards death, which we may say is a universal preoccupation and recapitulation of the collective unconscious that subsumes our personal relation to death, an eternal return of the objective psyche constellated as esse in anima.     

Adapting Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up for infants and young children with intellectual disabilities and developmental delays in South Africa: Reflections and recommendations from local stakeholders

Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) is an intervention targeted at enhancing the socioemotional and regulatory functioning of at-risk infants. However, to use the ABC for infants/toddlers with intellectual disabilities/developmental delays (ID/DD) and in novel cultural contexts, such as South Africa, adaptations may be required. This study aimed, therefore, to explore the opinions of clinical experts and perceptions of caregivers regarding the use of ABC for children with ID/DD in South Africa. It also sought to incorporate the experiences of families of children with ID/DD who received, and intervenors who delivered, ABC in its first implementation in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 participants. Thematic analysis explicated 12 main themes: Intervention Strengths, Points of Concern, and Recommendations (Experts); Focus on Caregiver-child Relationship, and Intervention Targets and Duration (Caregivers); Benefits of ABC, and Cultural Considerations (ABC Recipients); Focused and Targeted, Value of Feedback, Supportive Supervision, Working Alliance, and Challenges Experienced (ABC Intervenors). Practice and training recommendations include psychoeducation for parents and training for intervenors that is ID/DD-specific, expanding supervision capacity, building intervenors’ cultural/linguistic sensitivity and competence, accessing referral networks, including local Community Health Workers as intervenors, and greater flexibility in how the sessions are organized.     

Pilot test of a measure to assess clients’ perceptions of their home visitors

Home visiting services for caregivers of infants and young children have been found to be an effective method for promoting child development. Unfortunately, such services suffer from high rates of attrition, suggesting the need to identify factors related to client retention in services. Research has indicated that the client-provider relationship is an important predictor of client retention in home visiting services; however, measures to assess this relationship are limited. This study reports on a pilot test of the Client Perceptions of Home Visitors Questionnaire, developed to assess home visiting clients’ perceptions of their relationship with their home visitor. The measure was completed by 39 diverse home visiting clients during pregnancy in a midwestern town in the United States. The scale was found to have good internal consistency. Validity analyses found that the scale was positively associated with client satisfaction with services and perceived provider cultural sensitivity. The scale was also positively associated with retention in services at an 8-month follow-up. Additional research should examine the measure's psychometrics with larger samples.     

“I'm prepared for this moment”: The role of mindfulness in the psychosocial health of women of color

This study utilized a phenomenological approach to explore how women of color (N = 7) engage in mindfulness practices to improve their psychosocial well-being, specifically as it relates to identity development and belongingness. Five themes emerged: awareness of mind–body connection, resilience in the face of discrimination, empathic perspective-taking, awareness of internalized biases, and global sense of belonging. Implications for counselors and future research are discussed.     

The effect of message framing and the nature of the targeted illness on individuals’ intention to participate in clinical trials

IntroductionClinical trials are considered as the most useful methods to evaluate the efficacy of new medical treatments, but the participation of healthy individuals is often too small, which limits the statistical power of the trial and hence its effectiveness.ObjectiveThe goal of the present research is to assess, for the first time, the effects of message framing (gain versus loss) and of the nature of the illness targeted by a clinical trial (highly- versus mildly-contagious) on individuals’ intention to enter it.MethodsThe experimental manipulation is carried out within a scenario promoting a clinical trial, in a 2 (framing: gain vs loss) × 2 (nature of the illness: highly- vs mildly-contagious) between-participants design. After reading the scenario, participants were asked to rate their intention to enter the trial and their perception of its utility.ResultsStatistical analyses validated a causal model explaining that a gain-framed message describing a highly-contagious illness increases the perception of the utility of the clinical trial, which in turn enhances the intention to participate.ConclusionThe discussion mainly focuses on the contributions of these findings at a theoretical level, considering the limits and potential of their possible application.     

Longitudinal Associations among Parental Acceptance,Familism Values,and Sibling Intimacy in Mexican‐Origin Families

Prospective associations among parent – adolescent acceptance and familism values in early and middle adolescence and sibling intimacy in late adolescence and young adulthood were assessed in 246 Mexican‐origin families. Older sibling gender and sibling gender constellation were investigated as moderators of these associations. Sibling intimacy was stable over time and younger siblings with older sisters reported higher levels of sibling intimacy than those with older brothers. As predicted, stronger familism values were associated with greater sibling intimacy, but this link was evident only for older sisters and for girl‐girl dyads. The links from mother‐ and father‐acceptance to sibling intimacy also depended on the gender constellation of the sibling dyad: Higher levels of maternal warmth were associated with greater sibling intimacy for older sisters and girl‐girl sibling pairs but higher levels of paternal warmth were linked to greater sibling intimacy only for older siblings in mixed‐gender sibling dyads. Findings are consistent with prior research on the role of gender in family relationships but extend this work to encompass the effects of both parents' and siblings' gender, as well as the role of sociocultural values in parents' socialization influences.