Measuring Program Outcome

The Progress Evaluation Scales (PES) provide an efficient measuring devicefor evaluating current functioning, setting treatment goals, and assessing change over time in clinically relevant aspects of personal, social, and community adjustment. The PES can be completed by patients, significant others, and therapists, making it possible to obtain various points of view of the outcome of mental health services. This article describes the seven domains measured by the PES and the underlying dimensions they were designed to tap, and presents the generalizability, validity, and usefulness of the scales as applied to an adult mental health center population.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67322/2/10.1177_0193841X8100500402.pd

The impact of self-efficacy, alexithymia and multiple traumas on posttraumatic stress disorder and psychiatric co-morbidity following epileptic seizures: A moderated mediation analysis

This study investigated the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychiatric co-morbidity following epileptic seizure, whether alexithymia mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and psychiatric outcomes, and whether the mediational effect was moderated by the severity of PTSD from other traumas. Seventy-one (M=31, F=40) people with a diagnosis of epilepsy recruited from support groups in the United Kingdom completed the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale. They were compared with 71 people (M=29, F=42) without epilepsy. For people with epilepsy, 51% and 22% met the diagnostic criteria for post-epileptic seizure PTSD and for PTSD following one other traumatic life event respectively. For the control group, 24% met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD following other traumatic life events. The epilepsy group reported significantly more anxiety and depression than the control. Partial least squares (PLS) analysis showed that self-efficacy was significantly correlated with alexithymia, post-epileptic seizure PTSD and psychiatric co-morbidity. Alexithymia was also significantly correlated with post-epileptic seizure PTSD and psychiatric co-morbidity. Mediation analyses confirmed that alexithymia mediated the path between self-efficacy and post-epileptic seizure PTSD and psychiatric co-morbidity. Moderated mediation also confirmed that self-efficacy and PTSD from one other trauma moderated the effect of alexithymia on outcomes. To conclude, people can develop posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and psychiatric co-morbidity following epileptic seizure. These psychiatric outcomes are closely linked with their belief in personal competence to deal with stressful situations and regulate their own functioning, to process rather than defend against distressing emotions, and with the degree of PTSD from other traumas. © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd

An objective instrument for measuring defense mechanisms.

measure the relative intensity of usage of five major groups of defenses, is described. The inventory consists of 10 brief stories, two per conflict area, followed by four questions regarding S's actual behavior, fantasy behavior, thoughts, and feelings in the situations described. Five responses typifying the five defenses (i.e., hostility-out, projection, principalization, turning-against-self, and reversal) are provided for each question, from which S selects the one most representative and the one least representative of his reaction. Reliability, validity, and normative studies are presented, all indicating that this inventory has many potential uses as a clinical and research instrument. Increased preoccupation with the theory of ego processes during the last few decades has led to greater concentration on operational definition, classification, and measurement of various ego functions. Recently, several in-vestigators (e.g., Haan, 1963; Kroeber, 1963) have made progress in differentiating and assessing defensive and adaptive ego function-ing. However, there is still much need for ob-jective studies in this area. This preliminary report on the construction and validation of a new instrument designed specifically for the measurement of five general defense mecha-nisms should be, therefore, of considerable interest to researchers and clinicians. Many defense mechanisms have been identi-fied, some with rather tenuous differences. This multiplicity has led to attempts to achieve a more parsimonious classificatio