Early detection of ultra high risk for psychosis in a Norwegian catchment area: The two year follow-up of the prevention of psychosis study

Objectives: Most individuals experience a relatively long period of sub-clinical psychotic like symptoms, known as the ultra high risk (UHR) or at risk mental states (ARMS), prior to a first episode of psychosis. Approximately 95% of individuals who will later develop psychosis are not referred to specialized clinical services and assessed during the UHR phase. The study aimed to investigate whether a systematic early detection program, modeled after the successful early detection of psychosis program TIPS, would improve the detection of help-seeking UHR individuals. The secondary aim was to examine the rates and predictors of conversion to psychosis after 2 years. Method: The overall study design was a prospective (2012–2018), follow- up study of individuals fulfilling UHR inclusion criteria as assessed by the structural interview for prodromal syndromes (SIPS). Help-seeking UHR individuals were recruited through systematic early detection strategies in a Norwegian catchment area and treated in the public mental health services. Results: In the study period 141 UHR help-seeking individuals were identified. This averages an incidence of 7 per 100,000 people per year. The baseline assessment was completed by 99 of these and the 2 year psychosis conversion rate was 20%. A linear mixed-model regression analysis found that the significant predictors of conversion were the course of positive (0.038) and negative symptoms (0.017). Age was also a significant predictor and showed an interaction with female gender ( \u3c 0.000). Conclusion: We managed to detect a proportion of UHR individuals in the upper range of the expected prediction by the population statistics and further case enrichment would improve this rate. Negative symptoms were significant predictors. As a risk factor for adverse functional outcomes and social marginalization, this could offer opportunities for earlier psychosocial intervention

Introducing Multicultural Competency Development in Counselor Education Screening

As gatekeepers to the profession, counselor educators maintain a responsibility of selecting and training future counselors who possess skills necessary to becoming effective counselors. Typical methods of screening may not reveal personal qualities such as interpersonal style, attitude, self-awareness, and disposition. This paper provides a description of an innovative screening procedure that integrates an introduction of multicultural awareness and competence to assess personal qualities of candidates. Emergent themes from student feedback included reflections on feelings and reflections on process, and implications for counselor educators are given

Human work as context for development of object oriented modelling techniques

Computer systems are increasingly being used for communication and coordination of work, while object-oriented modelling techniques aim at modelling the problem domain of the computer system. Current techniques have been developed with respect to easy implementation, while we argue that further development of the modelling techniques should also be based on knowledge about human work in organisations. We outline a learning cycle of modelling technique and point to where such knowledge should be included. We have carried out two alternative approaches to development of object oriented techniques based on these ideas, and we outline these development processes. One approach is based on semiotic concepts, the other is based on activity theory