Rapid Assessment for Psychopathology in a College Health Clinic: Utility of College Student Specific Questions

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the utility and unique benefits of employing the College Health Questionnaire (CHQ) in a college health care setting. The CHQ is a newly designed measure to assess psychosocial issues commonly problematic among college students. Participants: One hundred nine patients participated in the study during their medical appointments. Methods: Participants completed the study questionnaires (CHQ and Patient Health Questionnaire) in the waiting room. Their provider had the opportunity to use the responses in treatment decision making. Results: A majority (66.1%) endorsed at least one CHQ item. Patients who indicated traditional mental health problems were more likely to be prescribed psychotropic medications, whereas patients who endorsed psychosocial issues commonly problematic among college students were more likely to be referred for behavioral treatment. Conclusions: Screening for behavioral problems in college primary care settings without the use of college-related questions would result in missing numerous important psychosocial problems.     

On the recovery of intra- and interblock information in n-ary designs

This note presents an extension of Q-method of analysis for binary designs given by Rao (1956) to n-ary balanced and partially balanced block designs. Here a linked n-ary block (LNB) design is defined as the dual of balanced n-ary (BN) design. Having a note on Yates’ (1939, 1940) method of P-analysis, we further extend the expressions for binary linked block (LB) designs given by Rao (1956) to linked n-ary block (LNB) designs which admit easy estimation of parameters for these type of all n-ary designs.     

Asymptotic equivalence of the harrell-davis median estimator and the sample median

This paper presents an asymptotic equivalence result with a sharp rate of convergence forthe sample median and the Harrell-Davis median estimator. The consequences of this result are discussed.     

When Precaution Creates Misunderstandings: The Unintended Effects of Precautionary Information on Perceived Risks,the EMF Case

In the past decade, growing public concern about novel technologies with uncertain potential long‐term impacts on the environment and human health has moved risk policies toward a more precautionary approach. Focusing on mobile telephony, the effects of precautionary information on risk perception were analyzed. A pooled multinational experimental study based on a 5 × 2 × 2 factorial design was conducted in nine countries. The first factor refers to whether or not information on different types of precautionary measures was present, the second factor to the framing of the precautionary information, and the third factor to the order in which cell phones and base stations were rated by the study participants. The data analysis on the country level indicates different effects. The main hypothesis that informing about precautionary measures results in increased risk perceptions found only partial support in the data. The effects are weaker, both in terms of the effect size and the frequency of significant effects, across the various precautionary information formats used in the experiment. Nevertheless, our findings do not support the assumption that informing people about implemented precautionary measures will decrease public concerns.     

TMR: An Automated System for Managing Revenue

Abstract

The Total Medical Record (TMR) system used by the Division of University Health Services at Duke University is an integrated medical and management information system. One module supports the financial needs of the division. To facilitate managerial performance, TMR automatically prints insurance claims, refund statements, revenue summary data, service utilization, itemized visit statements, monthly patient bills, dunning letters, and has a host of unique features that aid management with controlling the private fees generated by the University Health Services. In addition, the servicing of prepaid programs is accommodated, and the splitting of charges between prepaid and fee-for-service programs occurs automatically.     

Book reviews and books received

Abstract

In the field of stress research it is often assumed that social support as well as coping behaviour contributes to feelings of health and well-being. However, until now it has not been altogether clear whether a main-effect model or a buffer model was the more appropriate for explaining the role of these factors in response to stressful situations. In this paper, a research project is described in which both the direct and indirect effects of social support and coping were studied in the work situation of nurses. The results offer more support for a main-effect model than for a buffer or moderating-effect model, especially with regard to the coping strategies ‘active problem-solving’ and ‘palliative behaviour’. However, some moderating effects on nurses‘ reactions to their work situation were found for social support and for ‘comforting cognitions’ as a coping strategy.     

Social interactions and the salience of social identity

We explore the effect of identity salience on behaviour in a simple social interaction. Specifically, we compare ultimatum bargaining across three treatments: priming subjects with a shared identity, priming subjects with an identity distinct from those with whom they will interact, and priming subjects with no particular identity. We find that subjects are most cooperative in the identity-priming treatment and least cooperative in the distinctiveness-priming treatment. Similarly, subjects reveal the highest demands in the identity-priming treatment and the lowest demands in the distinctiveness-priming treatment. We discuss the implications of these results with respect to the literature on organizational identity.