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Methodological Variation (methodological + variation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Psychology	50%

Selected Abstracts

A systematic review of structured group interventions with mentally disordered offenders

CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2006
Edward A.S. Duncan
Background,Over the last 15 years, rehabilitation of offenders has been rigorously researched, resulting in new knowledge and understanding about factors decreasing recidivism amongst them. Typically, such interventions have been based on cognitive behavioural therapy. However, until recently, little research had been carried out on the rehabilitation of offenders with mental disorder. The authors present the first systematic review of the efficacy of structured group interventions with mentally disordered offenders. Aim,To evaluate structured group interventions with mentally disordered offenders through systematic review of the evidence for their efficacy and effectiveness. Methods,A standardized search strategy, with complementary methods of data retrieval to ensure a high degree of recall, was employed. Meta-analysis was not undertaken due to sample heterogeneity and lack of comparable data. Instead, effect sizes were calculated on all papers with sufficient data. Pooled effect sizes were calculated for groups of interventions with a similar focus. Results,Twenty studies were retrieved that fitted the inclusion criteria. It was possible to categorize these, predominantly British, studies into four main themes: problem-solving; anger/aggression management; self-harm; and other. The mean pooled effect sizes for the first two groups were suggestive of a moderate to high effect, but methodological variation means that these findings should still be treated as preliminary. Discussion and conclusions,Calculated effect sizes give optimism for the efficacy of structured group interventions with mentally disordered offenders. It is important now that more rigorous and consistent research methods be applied, even in secure hospital environments. Some suggestions towards achieving this are offered, drawing from the work to date, inclusive of the need for agreement on common outcome measures and development of networks to improve sample sizes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

A systematic review of prevalence studies of dementia in Parkinson's disease

MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 10 2005
Dag Aarsland MD
Abstract Substantial variation in the prevalence of dementia in Parkinson's disease (PDD) has been reported. The aim of this study was to review systematically and critically previous studies of the prevalence of PDD using PubMed to search the literature. Studies focusing on PD and PDD, as well as those examining on the epidemiology of dementia subtypes, were included. Predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria were used and the quality of the studies included was rated. Articles were included if: (1) the proportion of PDD among patients with either PD or dementia was reported in an original study; (2) patients had been subjected to prospective clinical examination; and (3) strategies to include all subjects with either PD or dementia within the community or hospital clinics within a geographical area were employed. Twelve studies of the prevalence of PD or PDD (1,767 patients included) and 24 prevalence studies of dementia subtypes (4,711 patients included) met the inclusion criteria. In the PD/PDD studies, the proportion (mean and 95% confidence interval) with PDD in PD was 24.5% (17.4,31.5). There were significant methodological variations between studies and in the four studies that matched the quality criteria most closely, the rate of PDD was 31.1% (20.1,42.1). The prevalence of PDD was estimated as 0.5% in subjects 65 years or older. The percentage of PDD among those with dementia was 3.6% (3.1,4.1), with an estimated prevalence of PDD of 0.2% in subjects aged 65 years or older. Despite methodological variation, this systematic review suggests that 24 to 31% of PD patients have dementia, and that 3 to 4% of the dementia in the population would be due to PDD. The estimated prevalence of PDD in the general population aged 65 years and over is 0.2 to 0.5%. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society [source]

Lexical Studies of Indigenous Personality Factors: Premises, Products, and Prospects

JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 6 2001
Gerard Saucier
The rationale for lexical studies rests on the assumption that the most meaningful personality attributes tend to become encoded in language as single-word descriptors. We articulate some key premises of the lexical approach and then review a number of studies that have been conducted examining the factor structure of personality descriptors extracted from dictionaries. We compare lexical studies in English and 12 other languages, with attention to delineating consistencies between the structures found in diverse languages. Our review suggests that the Anglo-Germanic Big Five is reproduced better in some languages than in others. We propose some organizing rules for lexical factor structures that may be more generalizable than the contemporary Big-Five model. And, we propose several candidate structural models that should be compared with the Big Five in future studies, including structures with one, two, and three very broad factors, an alternative five-factor structure identified in Italian and Hungarian studies, and a seven-factor structure represented in Hebrew and Philippine studies. We recommend that in future studies more attention be paid to middle-level personality constructs and to examining the effects of methodological variations on the resulting factor structures. [source]