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Personal Constructs (personal + construct)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Knowing , in Medicine

JOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 5 2008
Joachim P. Sturmberg MBBS DORACOG MFM PhD FRACGP
Abstract In this paper we argue that knowledge in health care is a multidimensional dynamic construct, in contrast to the prevailing idea of knowledge being an objective state. Polanyi demonstrated that knowledge is personal, that knowledge is discovered, and that knowledge has explicit and tacit dimensions. Complex adaptive systems science views knowledge simultaneously as a thing and a flow, constructed as well as in constant flux. The Cynefin framework is one model to help our understanding of knowledge as a personal construct achieved through sense making. Specific knowledge aspects temporarily reside in either one of four domains , the known, knowable, complex or chaotic, but new knowledge can only be created by challenging the known by moving it in and looping it through the other domains. Medical knowledge is simultaneously explicit and implicit with certain aspects already well known and easily transferable, and others that are not yet fully known and must still be learned. At the same time certain knowledge aspects are predominantly concerned with content, whereas others deal with context. Though in clinical care we may operate predominately in one knowledge domain, we also will operate some of the time in the others. Medical knowledge is inherently uncertain, and we require a context-driven flexible approach to knowledge discovery and application, in clinical practice as well as in health service planning. [source]

Making sense with offenders: personal constructs, therapy and change.

CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue S1 2001
By Julia Houston.
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Individual quality of life in schizophrenic patients , description and applicability of GRIDQoL in a computer-based version

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 3 2001
Vibeke Noerholm
Abstract The measurement of individual quality of life in patients with schizophrenia has been limited to clinician-rated instruments. The repertory grid is a clinician-assisted method to measure individual quality of life that has been found to be more sensitive than questionnaires in a clinical trial with patients with anxiety. In this pilot study the applicability of the GRIDQoL repertory grid method was evaluated in patients with schizophrenia. Free personal constructs were elicited at the first visit using the GRIDQoL technique, a semi-structured interview technique whereby the clinician helps the patient to develop his or her personal quality of life scale. The fixed psychological constructs were based on the PCASEE index. The results showed that the PCASEE index was adequate with respect to the fixed GRIDQoL constructs. The free constructs were illustrated for a selected patient, including the factor scores as outcome measures. In total 73% of the patients, who fulfilled the inclusion criteria, were willing and able to test their quality of life. The results of this pilot study support further development of the GRIDQoL module for schizophrenic patients. Copyright © 2001 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source]

Determinants of mail-survey response: Survey design factors and respondent factors

PSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 3 2002
James G. Helgeson
With the use of a hierarchy-of-effects model, the decision to complete a mail survey was modeled as a process moving through several stages. A set of variables thought to influence the survey-completion decision process was examined. These variables include survey design factors, which were manipulated by the researchers, and respondent factors, such as attitudinal and personal constructs. Based on the research findings, the hierarchy-of-effects model is an appropriate way to model the mail-survey-response process. The data indicate that among the survey design factors included in the study, the monetary incentive had the most effect on the decision process, with a pervasive impact throughout the process. Importantly, respondent factors such as attitude toward research were of critical importance in moving respondents through the survey-response process. Research into the response-rate phenomenon is likely to benefit by considering how both survey design and respondent factors affect specific stages of the response process and enhance participation in surveys. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]