The mental health of asbestos-exposed subjects with pleural abnormalities

Purpose: To examine the effect of knowledge of radiographic abnormalities on the mental health of asbestos-exposed people with and without pleural abnormalities. Methods: Subjects were former asbestos mine and mill workers and residents of the mining town who had participated in an annual health review program. Pleural abnormalities (pleural plaques, diffuse pleural thickening and asbestosis) were determined from plain chest X-rays. All Participants completed a questionnaire on mental health status (SF-12) and locus of control (LOC). Results: There were no significant differences between asbestos-exposed people with and without radiographic abnormalities for either the SF-12 mental health score or LOC. However, the asbestos-exposed cohorts had lower mental health scores compared with a random sample of the local population. Conclusion: The presence of pleural abnormalities did not further affect the mental health of asbestos-exposed people beyond a decrement associated with exposure per se

The Techniques for Overcoming Depression Questionnaire: Mokken Scale Analysis, Reliability, and Concurrent Validity in Depressed Cardiac Patients

The Techniques for Overcoming Depression (TOD) questionnaire assesses the frequency with which patients being treated for depression use cognitive-behavioral techniques in daily life. This study examined its latent structure, reliability and concurrent validity in depressed cardiac patients. The TOD was administered at the initial and final treatment sessions in three trials of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) (n = 260) for depression in cardiac patients. Mokken scaling was used to determine its dimensionality. The TOD is unidimensional in depressed cardiac patients, both at the initial evaluation (H = .46) and the end of treatment (H = .47). It is sensitive to change and the total score correlates with therapist ratings of the patient’s socialization to CBT (r = .40, p < .05), homework adherence (r = .36, p < .05), and use of cognitive-behavioral techniques (r = .51, p < .01). TOD scores were associated with post-treatment depression scores in two of the trials (p < .01 in both analyses). The TOD is a unidimensional, reliable, valid, and clinically informative measure of self-reported use of cognitive-behavioral techniques for overcoming depression in cardiac patients. Studies of the TOD in other depressed patient populations are needed. © 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York