The Self- and Other-Blame Scale (SOBS). The background and presentation of a new instrument for measuring blame in families |
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| Authors: | Mohammed Ali Besharat,Ivan Eisler,& Chris Dare |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Previously Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK,;Section of Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, University of London, UK. |
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| Abstract: | This article presents an account of the development and reliability of an observational instrument to measure blame: the Self- and Other-Blame Scale (SOBS). Fifty-one eating disordered patients together with eighty of their relatives were interviewed using a semi-structured family interview. Videotapes were assessed by two independent raters. Inter-rater reliability was good for both dimensions of SOBS: self-blame (SB) and other-blame (OB). One of the aims in developing the instrument was to be able to explore the relationship between self- and other-blame and criticism. Preliminary data are presented showing the distribution of SOBS scores within families rated as high or low on Expressed Emotion (EE). High EE was associated with high levels of self-blame in the parents, but not in the patients. Fathers in high EE families were more blaming of the patient than those in Low EE families but this was not true for mothers' levels of daughter blaming. |
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