Module 4—Communication Training (Sessions 10–12)

This chapter introduces the Communication Training Module, which is aimed at improving communication patterns amongst family members in ways that prioritize their values and culture. The chapter reviews the role of communication in mental health, communication deviance within schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and notable cultural differences in communication styles. The communication module is then introduced, including key components of communication (i.e., the three Cs: clear, concise, and confirming what you hear) and guidelines for facilitating roleplays. Clinicians are instructed on how to discuss communication and culture with their clients and how to introduce multiple communication strategies through homework assignments and worksheets. Strategies such as expressing positive feelings, attentive listening, making positive requests for change, and expressing negative feelings about a specific behavior are included. A case illustration about two Black mothers and their son with schizophrenia demonstrates the process.

Prediction of Telecom Churn using Comparative Analysis of Three Classifiers of Artificial Neural Network

The purpose of this study is to evaluate existing individual neural network-based classifiers to compare performance measurements to improve the accuracy of deviance predictions. The data sets used in this white paper are related to communication deviance and are available to IBM Watson Analytics in the IBM community. This study uses three classifiers from ANN and a split validation operator from one data set to predict the departure of communications services. Apply different classification techniques to different classifiers to achieve the following accuracy with 75.63% for deep running, 77.63% for perceptron, and 77.95% for autoMLP. With a limited set of features, including the information of customer, this study compares ANN's classifiers to derive the best performance model. In particular, the study shows that telecom service companies with practical implications to manage potential departures and improve revenue.

Mapping early environment using communication deviance: A longitudinal study of maternal sensitivity toward 6-month-old children

Communication deviance (CD) reflects features of the content or manner of a person's speech that may confuse the listener and inhibit the establishment of a shared focus of attention. The construct was developed in the context of the study of familial risks for psychosis based on hypotheses regarding its effects during childhood. It is not known whether parental CD is associated with nonverbal parental behaviors that may be important in early development. This study explored the association between CD in a cohort of mothers (n = 287) at 32 weeks gestation and maternal sensitivity with infants at 29 weeks in a standard play procedure. Maternal CD predicted lower overall maternal sensitivity (B = –.385; p < .001), and the effect was somewhat greater for sensitivity to infant distress (B = –.514; p < .001) than for sensitivity to nondistress (B = –.311; p < .01). After controlling for maternal age, IQ and depression, and for socioeconomic deprivation, the associations with overall sensitivity and sensitivity to distress remained significant. The findings provide new pointers to intergenerational transmission of vulnerability involving processes implicated in both verbal and nonverbal parental behaviors.

Mapping early environment using communication deviance: A longitudinal study of maternal sensitivity towards 6-month-old children

The current study explored the association between communication deviance (CD) in a cohort of mothers (n= 287) at 32 weeks gestation and maternal sensitivity (MS) to the infant’s cues during playful interaction at 6 months into the post-natal period. CD during the antenatal period was a significant predictor of lower MS during play (B= -0.385; p< .001). The relationship remained significant when maternal age, IQ and index of multiple deprivation (IMD) were accounted for. Further analyses revealed that CD was a significant predictor of MS in the context of infant distress (B= -0.514; p< .001) but less so in the context of non-distress (B= -0.311; p< .01). Results suggest that CD may index a complex cross-modal process affecting mother-child interactions.

How is family interaction analysed as a risk factor for schizophrenia? A cross-method comparison

In this paper, we compare two methodological approaches – Conversation Analysis (CA) and the Communication Deviance (CD) Scale – in detecting confusing family interaction, which is considered one of the risk factors for schizophrenia. CA is a method for identifying and describing actions in interaction, whereas the CD Scale presents the criteria for identifying communication defects in the field of schizophrenia research. Our aim is to determine whether the approaches resonate with and could complement each other in analysing the same interactional data – i.e., a total of 10.5 hours of audio-recorded Finnish family interaction in a psychological test in which the participants negotiate on mutual Rorschach inkblot interpretations. The data include 585 proposals by the family members. Here we focus on three types of proposal sequences (140 in all) where a proposal is not followed by an acceptance or a rejection. We have earlier shown that from the CA perspective, the family members orient to the discontinuity of these sequences by pursuing an explicit response to a proposal, but very rarely make the ‘problematic’ nature of the interaction visible to each other or the analyst. In the present paper, we will show that the CD Scale finds communication defects in the sequences under analysis but that the defects do not primarily involve the discontinuity of the sequence. Thus CA and the CD Scale look at interaction from different perspectives and disagree on what is considered an interactional problem.

Association of parental Communication Deviance with offspring's psychiatric and thought disorders. A systematic review and meta-analysis

Elevated number of parental Communication Deviance (CD) has been connected with psychiatric and thought disorders in their offspring. However, no earlier systematic efforts have been made to review this issue. The aim of this study was to survey the existing literature systematically and perform a meta-analysis of this association. A literature search for published and unpublished observational studies on the association of parental Communication Deviance with psychopathology in the offspring was conducted. Multiple electronic databases were searched (from 1960 to 2012) and the reference lists of the resulting publications were scanned. The findings were pooled using random effect meta-analysis. A total of 19 relevant papers were found and accessed. The results showed that a high level of parental CD is associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in the offspring. A large overall effect size (0.79) was found in the meta-analysis. No meta-analysis could be performed on the association of parental CD with an offspring's thought disorders, but the results suggest that such an association may exist. Parental Communication Deviance is associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in the offspring. High parental CD could be treated as an indicator of a risk of developing a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, at least among high-risk groups.