Objective: The aims were (a) to test the effectiveness of a nurse-led cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program to assist adjustment in the early stages of multiple sclerosis (MS) and (b) to determine moderators of treatment including baseline distress, social support (SS), and treatment preference. Method: Ninety-four ambulatory people with MS…

Objective: This study evaluated the effectiveness of couple relationship education in assisting couples to sustain relationship functioning and parenting sensitivity, and whether benefits were moderated by risk of maladjustment in the transition to parenthood ("risk"). Method: Two hundred fifty couples expecting their first child were assessed on…

Objective: Decisions about the composition of personality assessment in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (5th ed.; DSM-V) will be heavily influenced by the clinical utility of candidate constructs. In this study, we addressed 1 aspect of clinical utility by testing the incremental validity of 5-factor model (FFM)…

The effects of therapists' and patients' moods on therapist empathy, warmth, and genuineness were studied in an intensive design. It was concluded that the therapist feelings preceding the facilitative therapy hour'' were not the same for high- and low-facilitative therapists. The use of the intensive design in psychotherapy processs research was…

Surgery patients (N=24) were randomly assigned either to a stress inoculation intervention or to a standard hospital instructions control. The results demonstrated the utility of stress inoculation training in providing surgical patients with a self-regulation technique to reduce their experiences of anxiety and pain and to improve their…

Administered year and month versions of the Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview (PERI). Found mean values and variances of scale scores consistently larger for the year than for the month time frame for all 14 symptom scales, and the covariance pattern different for four scales. Neither version was consistently better in distinguishing…

Used a model of individual response to catastrophic events to analyze data from survivors of the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire of 1977. The most predictable symptoms at 1 year were associated with stress disorders. Overall, up to 45 percent of outcome variance 1-year postfire could be explained by individuals' experiences surrounding the fire.…

Explored the posttreatment phase of unipolar depression in a 12-month follow-up of 424 depressed persons who received treatment and a comparable follow-up of demographically matched, nondepressed controls. Patients whose symptoms remitted reported improvement in other aspects of their adjustment as well as in personal resources such as self-esteem…

Compared psychological and academic adjustment in 260 adopted and nonadopted children from 6-11 years old. Results indicated that adopted children were rated higher in psychological and school-related behavior problems, and lower in social competence and school achievement, than were nonadopted children, although most adopted children appear to be…

Addressed the effect of continued familial conflict on adolescents' (N=217) adjustment and self-concept. Results indicated that high conflict produces lower self-esteem, greater anxiety, and less feeling of control regardless of whether or not family dissolution occurred. (LLL)

Empirically evaluated the efficacy of treating combat-related disorders by imaginally presenting the aversive events surrounding the trauma. Treated a Vietnam veteran for anxiety-related symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Reduction of anxiety through imaginal exposure to the aversive events led to marked improvement in overall adjustment.…

Compared the effectiveness of live versus videotape delivery of a behavioral treatment package for enuresis. Outcome was superior for the live delivery. Pretreatment measures of family and child psychosocial adjustment failed to predict treatment response. Film delivery resulted in higher confidence in children of their parents, but lower…

Describes the development of a 20-item measure of irrational belief that asks only about irrational belief and not about anxiety reactions. Two studies of the scale produced evidence that it has good internal consistency and good test retest reliability. Three additional studies of the scale found evidence of validity. (Author/NB)

Evaluated the emotional consequences of using wish-fulfilling fantasy (palliative) and information-seeking (instrumental) coping strategies among patients (N=151) faced with chronic illness. Results showed information-seeking to have positive effects on adjustment and wish-fulfilling fantasy to have deleterious consequences. (LLL)

Found that 64% of 50 children aged 7-12 years with sickle cell disease had parent-reported behavior problem. Internalizing types of behavior problems and diagnoses were most frequent. Maternal anxiety accounted for 16-33% of variance in mother-reported internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, respectively, and child pain-coping…