1,720,970 research outputs found
Clinical psychology in school and educational settings: Emerging trends
Full text linkBackground: First clinical services in psychology have been established for educational purposes when Witmer founded its Psychological Clinic. Over the years, the educational dimension played a significant role in the development of new evaluation methods and intervention strategies for the pursuit of positive mental health. The present review aims to capture developments that have been considered emerging applications of clinical psychology in school and educational settings. Methods: We conducted a search of the literature on Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science. The following search terms were used and combined: "clinical", "psychology", "educational", and "school". Results: A total of 18 research articles were included and analyzed in the current review. A number of studies showed that school-based positive psychology interventions were effective not only in reducing symptoms of psychological distress (somatization, depression, and anxiety) but also in increasing levels of positive mental health (a sense of individual growth, self-esteem, self-efficacy and optimism). As to studies on evaluation methods, the WHO-5 and the psychological well-being subscale from the Kellner Symptom Questionnaire were found to be clinically valid self-rating scales for the assessment of positive mental health in children and adolescents. Conclusion: Studies demonstrated that promoting positive mental health is more beneficial in the long term than simply treating symptoms of psychological distress. In clinical psychology, time has come to move from a traditional psychopathology-based perspective to a positive clinical approach to be used for innovative interventions and assessment strategies in school and educational settings
Charlson Comorbidity Index: A Critical Review of Clinimetric Properties
Full text linkThe present critical review was conducted to evaluate the clinimetric properties of the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), an assessment tool designed specifically to predict long-term mortality, with regard to its reliability, concurrent validity, sensitivity, incremental and predictive validity. The original version of the CCI has been adapted for use with different sources of data, ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes. The inter-rater reliability of the CCI was found to be excellent, with extremely high agreement between self-report and medical charts. The CCI has also been shown either to have concurrent validity with a number of other prognostic scales or to result in concordant predictions. Importantly, the clinimetric sensitivity of the CCI has been demonstrated in a variety of medical conditions, with stepwise increases in the CCI associated with stepwise increases in mortality. The CCI is also characterized by the clinimetric property of incremental validity, whereby adding the CCI to other measures increases the overall predictive accuracy. It has been shown to predict long-term mortality in different clinical populations, including medical, surgical, intensive care unit (ICU), trauma, and cancer patients. It may also predict in-hospital mortality, although in some instances, such as ICU or trauma patients, the CCI did not perform as well as other instruments designed specifically for that purpose. The CCI thus appears to be clinically useful not only to provide a valid assessment of the patient’s unique clinical situation, but also to demarcate major diagnostic and prognostic differences among subgroups of patients sharing the same medical diagnosis
The Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression: A critical review of clinimetric properties of different versions
Full text linkThe format of the original Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) was unstructured: only general instructions were provided for rating individual items. Over the years, a number of modified versions of the HAM-D have been proposed. They differ not only in the number of items, but also in modalities of administration. Structured versions, including item definitions, anchor points and semi-structured or structured interview questions, were developed. This comprehensive review was conducted to examine the clinimetric properties of the different versions of the HAM-D. The aim was to identify the HAM-D versions that best display the clinimetric properties of reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change. The search was conducted on MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed, and yielded a total of 35,473 citations, but only the most representative studies were included. The structured versions of the HAM-D were found to display the highest inter-rater and test-retest reliability. The Clinical Interview for Depression and the 6-item HAM-D showed the highest sensitivity in differentiating active treatment from placebo. The findings indicate that the HAM-D is a valid and sensitive clinimetric index, which should not be discarded in view of obsolete and not clinically relevant psychometric criteria. The HAM-D, however, requires an informed use: unstructured forms should be avoided and the type of HAM-D version that is selected should be specified in the registration of the study protocol and in the methods of the trial
The clinical link between type D personality and diabetes
Full text linkIntroduction: Type D personality consists of a mixture of high levels of negative affectivity and social inhibition, resulting in a stable tendency to experience negative emotions, by inhibiting the expression of these emotions. We have reanalyzed the clinically relevant studies examining the role of this personality profile in diabetes, by providing a qualitative synthesis of the data. In this regard, the aim of this study is to provide a systematic review by evaluating the clinical link between Type D personality and diabetes.
Method: When focusing on PRISMA guidelines, we have performed a comprehensive research of the literature on PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, ISI Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar by using search terms as "distressed personality" OR (i.e., Boolean operator) "Type D personality" combined with the Boolean "AND" operator with "diabetes."
Results: A total of seven research studies were identified and included in the review. Type D was found to be more prevalent in diabetes patients than controls. As regards the specific association with diabetes variables, Type D personality is a significant predictor of both poor medication adherence and unhealthy behaviors, by predicting negative mental health consequences also (i.e., depressed mood, anhedonia, and anxiety).
Conclusion: Our review emphasized for the first time that Type D personality affects clinical factors in patients with diabetes by provoking adverse outcomes. The core implication of the study comprises the clinical relevance to detect, from a clinimetric point of view, Type D personality in diabetes in order to prevent potentially negative clinical outcomes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The concept of psychological distress and its assessment: A clinimetric analysis of the SCL-90-R.
Full text linkMany studies have been conducted on psychological distress but the question of how to conceptualize and assess this phenomenon still remains a controversial issue. Clinimetrics, the science of clinical measurements, may pave the ground for a substantial revision of the clinical conceptualization and assessment of this construct. A Rasch analysis was performed to evaluate whether the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and its subscales were valid indices of underlying dimensions of psychological distress. Based on the clinimetric validation of the SCL-90-R, as well as on a critical review of the available literature, a concept analysis of psychological distress was performed. The SCL-90-R total score misfitted the Rasch model but it was found to have a Person Separation Reliability Index of 0.94. Model fit was achieved after the exclusion of six misfitting items. Paired t tests indicated that all the subscales of the SCL-90-R were unidimensional. Psychological distress was defined as a subjective, unifying, dimensional, and transdiagnostic construct consisting in a unique experience of discomfort, which may involve a sense of demoralization, the experience of feeling broken or mental pain, a sense of anguish, symptoms of somatization and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), feelings of anger, self-perceived lack of control, and self-criticism. Our findings also showed that the SCL-90-R could reliably differentiate healthy stress from psychological distress, and identify individuals at risk of psychiatric disorders. The total score of the 84-item version of the SCL-90-R may be used as an overall indicator of psychological distress. The subscales are recommended to assess the severity of specific symptomatic manifestations of psychological distress
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Negative affectivity predicts lower quality of life and metabolic control in type 2 diabetes patients: A structural equation modeling approach
Full text linkIntroduction: It is essential to consider the clinical assessment of psychological aspects in patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM), in order to prevent potentially adverse self-management care behaviors leading to diabetes-related complications, including declining levels of Quality of Life (QoL) and negative metabolic control. Purpose: In the framework of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the specific aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of distressed personality factors as Negative Affectivity (NA) and Social Inhibition (SI) on diabetes-related clinical variables (i.e., QoL and glycemic control). Methods: The total sample consists of a clinical sample, including 159 outpatients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), and a control group composed of 102 healthy respondents. All participants completed the following self- rating scales: The Type D Scale (DS14) and the World Health Organization QoL Scale (WHOQOLBREF). Furthermore, the participants of the clinical group were assessed for HbA1c, disease duration, and BMI. The observed covariates were BMI, gender, and disease duration, while HbA1c was considered an observed variable. Results: SEM analysis revealed significant differences between groups in regards to the latent construct of NA and the Environmental dimension of QoL. For the clinical sample, SEM showed that NA had a negative impact on both QoL dimensions and metabolic control. Conclusions: Clinical interventions aiming to improve medication adherence in patients with T2DM should include the psychological evaluation of Type D Personality traits, by focusing especially on its component of NA as a significant risk factor leading to negative health outcomes
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