Psychiatrists’ motives for compulsory care of patients with borderline personality disorder – a questionnaire study

Introduction Borderline personality disorder patients are often subjected to inpatient compulsory care due to suicidal behaviour. However, inpatient care is usually advised against as it can have detrimental effects, including increased suicidality. Aim To investigate what motives psychiatrists have for treating borderline personality disorder patients under compulsory care. Materials and Methods A questionnaire survey was distributed to all psychiatrists and registrars in psychiatry working at mental health emergency units or inpatient wards in Sweden. The questionnaire contained questions with fixed response alternatives, with room for comments, about the respondents’ motives for practising compulsory care of borderline personality disorder patients. The responses were analysed quantitatively with descriptive statistics, and comments were analysed with qualitative descriptive content analysis. Results The psychiatrists’ views were divided on when it was justified to treat borderline personality disorder patients under compulsory care, as were their views on borderline personality disorder patients’ decision competence. When there was an assessed risk of harm, 53% were positive to compulsory care of decision-competent borderline personality disorder patients and another 31% because they considered the patients to be decision incompetent in such situations. Adding the risk of harm caused many respondents to alter their assessment of the patient from decision competent to decision incompetent. Conclusion The large variations in doctors’ opinions indicate that the care of borderline personality disorder patients is arbitrary. Further, the assessed risk of harm increases the use of compulsory care, even though such care is advised against in clinical guidelines, has questionable legal support, and could lead to an increased suicide risk over time.

Concerns in the Norwegian Population during the Initial Lockdown Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although concern affects one’s welfare or happiness, few studies to date have focused on peoples’ concerns during the initial COVID-19 lockdown. The aim of the study was to explore concerns in the Norwegian populations according to gender and age, and identify which concerns were most prominent during the lockdown. A population-based cross-sectional online survey using snowball-sampling strategies was conducted, to which 4527 adults (≥18 years) responded. Questions related to concerns had response alternatives yes or no. In addition, they were asked which concern was most prominent. Nearly all the 4527 respondents (92%) reported that they were concerned: 60.9% were generally concerned about the pandemic, 83.9% were concerned about family and friends, 21.8% had financial concerns, and 25.3% expected financial loss. More women were concerned about family and friends than males, (85.2% vs. 76.2%, p < 0.001), whereas more men expected financial loss (30.4% vs. 24.4%y, p = 0.001). Younger adults (<50 years) had more financial concerns than older adults (25.9% vs. 10.5%, p < 0.001). Being concerned about family and friends was the most prominent concern and was associated with; lower age (OR 0.79), female gender (OR 1.59), and being next of kin (2.42). The most prominent concern for adults 70 years or older was being infected by COVID-19. In conclusion, women and younger individuals were most concerned. While adults under 70 years of age were most concerned about family and friends and adults 70 years or older were most concerned about being infected by COVID-19.

Testing ActiveYou II: Applying Cognitive Interviews in Improving Item Quality and Applicability of a Web-Based, Self-Report Instrument on Participation in Children with Disabilities

Background: Children and youth with disabilities participate less in leisure activities than their nondisabled peers. Increasing participation is a primary goal of rehabilitation interventions. However, valid measures that include the individual’s perspectives and facilitating and hindering factors for participation are lacking in the Norwegian setting. In this study, ActiveYou II, a self-report, web-based instrument under development, was tested to obtain item quality and applicability. Methods: Nine children with disabilities participated in cognitive interviews, testing a first set of ActiveYou II items. The verbal probe method for cognitive interviews was applied. Results: The children’s comprehension and responses through cognitive interviews improved the applicability and item quality of ActiveYou II. Item adjustments were made to the wording of the questions and response alternatives, and the number of response alternatives were decreased where appropriate. Conclusions: The use of cognitive interviews with children before performing further psychometric testing has been very useful in the development process of ActiveYou II. Adjustments of the questions and response alternatives were made accordingly.

The Eyes Chico, They Never Lie – Using Eye-Tracking to Examine Faking on the Conditional Reasoning Test for Aggression

To better understand the process of responding to the Conditional Reasoning Test for Aggression (CRT-A) and its implication for the test's use in personnel selection, we conducted two lab studies in which we compared test scores and eye movements of participants responding honestly and faking the test. Study 1 results showed that, although participants might try to respond differently to the CRT-A while faking, it remains an indirect and unfakeable measure as long as the test's purpose is undisclosed. Study 2 showed that revealing the true purpose of the CRT-A diminishes the test's indirect nature so the test becomes fakeable, solving it requires less attention and participants direct their eyes more to response alternatives congruent with the presentational demands.

Comparison of Parametric and Non-Parametric Methods to Analyse the Data Gathered by a Likert-Type Scale

The aim of this chapter is to reveal whether the results of the analysis of the data obtained using Likert type scales (LTSs) with parametric and non-parametric methods in different response alternative (DRA) numbers will differ in terms of statistical significance. In this respect, the data were obtained from 271 university students with CETSCALE prepared using LTS in five different response alternatives (DRAs). The data were analysed using the one sample t test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. Significant findings of the study in the analysis of the data obtained using midpoint LTSs and with the normal distribution with both parametric and non-parametric methods couldn't be found. Similarly, the data obtained by four response alternative numbers with the normal distribution were analysed by both methods, and the significant findings were revealed. However, the results of the data obtained by six and eight response alternative numbers with parametric methods were found to be statistically significant while their analysis by non-parametric methods did not reveal significant findings.

Types of intelligence in engineers of the Norte de Santander Department-Colombia

The research aimed to analyze citizen perceptions in public servers in Norte de Santander, the associated model showed as a relevant factor the type of intelligence of the engineers, the transparency and ethics of the engineers who are engineers public server; the article identifies the types of intelligence of servers in Norte de Santander. From a qualitative approach, interview result categories were determined and from a non-experimental factorial type design, two questionnaire type instruments were used, conformed by Likert type response alternatives, whose validity is high with kappa index of 0.78 obtained through the evaluation of experts and a reliability with Cronbach alpha of 0.85; applied to public servers in the metropolitan area of Cúcuta, Ocaña, Patios, Sardinata, Cacota. Results allow to identify five types of intelligence in the engineers, with characteristics determined in an average level, with a high level in emotional intelligence. It is concluded that emotional intelligence, ethical intelligence, social intelligence, cognitive-rational intelligence and creative intelligence stand out in engineers in Norte de Santander, associated with coaching characteristics and conflict resolution.

Revisiting the Effect of Varying the Number of Response Alternatives in Clinical Assessment: Evidence From Measuring ADHD Symptoms

This study illustrated the effect of varying the number of response alternatives in clinical assessment using a within-participant, repeated-measures approach. Participants reported the presence of current attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms using both a binary and a polytomous (4-point) rating scale across two counterbalanced administrations of the Current Symptoms Scale (CSS). Psychometric properties of the CSS were examined using (a) self-reported binary, (b) self-reported 4-point ratings obtained from each administration of the CSS, and (c) artificially dichotomized responses derived from observed 4-point ratings. Under the same ordinal factor analysis model, results indicated that the number of response alternatives affected item parameter estimates, standard errors, goodness of fit indices, individuals’ test scores, and reliability of the test scores. With fewer response alternatives, the precision of the measurement decreased, and the power of using the goodness-of-fit indices to detect model misfit decreased. These findings add to recent research advocating for the inclusion of a large number of response alternatives in the development of clinical assessments and further suggest that researchers should be cautious about reducing the number of response categories in data analysis.

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Preconception Health Knowledge Questionnaire

Purpose: To develop and psychometrically test a comprehensive measure of preconception health knowledge. Design: Cross-sectional survey, in May and June, 2019. Setting: Alberta, Ontario, and Québec, Canada. Sample: One thousand seven hundred seventy-seven women and men with ≥1 children born in the last 5 years or planning a pregnancy in the next 5 years. Measures: Using prior literature and input from public health nurses and physicians, the Preconception Health Knowledge Questionnaire (PHKQ) was developed and comprised 25 multiple choice questions on reproductive history, sexual health, infectious diseases, chronic medical conditions, mental health, medications, immunizations, lifestyle behaviors, psychosocial stressors, and environmental exposures. Analysis: Psychometric testing was undertaken to evaluate item difficulty, discrimination, quality of response alternatives, internal consistency, and construct validity. Results: Participants had a mean total score of 15.8/25 (SD = 3.9); women and men had mean total scores of 16.2 (SD = 3.6) and 13.8 (SD = 4.7), respectively. Most items were neither too difficult nor too easy, discriminated well between participants with high and low knowledge, and had appropriate response alternatives. High internal consistency (KR-20 = 0.87) and construct validity, shown via significant correlations with education level and previous preconception care receipt, were demonstrated. Conclusion: The PHKQ is a reliable and valid tool for measuring preconception health knowledge and may be useful in identification of high-risk groups in need of preconception health education and evaluation of preconception health interventions.

Validation of a Wireless Bluetooth Photoplethysmography Sensor Used on the Earlobe for Monitoring Heart Rate Variability Features during a Stress-Inducing Mental Task in Healthy Individuals

Heart rate variability (HRV), using electrocardiography (ECG), has gained popularity as a biomarker of the stress response. Alternatives to HRV monitoring, like photoplethysmography (PPG), are being explored as cheaper and unobtrusive non-invasive technologies. We report a new wireless PPG sensor that was tested in detecting changes in HRV, elicited by a mentally stressful task, and to determine if its signal can be used as a surrogate of ECG for HRV analysis. Data were collected simultaneously from volunteers using a PPG and ECG sensor, during a resting and a mentally stressful task. HRV metrics were extracted from these signals and compared to determine the agreement between them and to determine if any changes occurred in the metrics due to the stressful task. For both tasks, a moderate/good agreement was found in the mean interbeat intervals, SDNN, LF, and SD2, and a poor agreement for the pNN50, RMSSD|SD1, and HF metrics. The majority of the tested HRV metrics obtained from the PPG signal showed a significant decrease caused by the mental task. The disagreement found between specific HRV features imposes caution when comparing metrics from different technologies. Nevertheless, the tested sensor was successful at detecting changes in the HRV caused by a mental stressor.

Sequential conflict resolution under multiple concurrent conflicts: An ERP study

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether responding to multiple concurrent conflicts results in a simultaneous or sequential conflict resolution. To this end, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) in a paradigm combining a Stroop and a flanker task. In this paradigm, participants were asked to respond to the color of the central letter while ignoring the meaning of the word (Stroop task) and the color of the flanking letters (flanker task). Trials were either incongruent (i.e., inducing a conflict between two response alternatives) or congruent (i.e., inducing no response conflict) in both tasks, or incongruent in one task and congruent in the other task. The behavioral results showed a smaller Stroop congruency effect (i.e., a smaller difference between Stroop incongruent and congruent trials) for flanker incongruent than for flanker congruent trials, replicating previous findings. The ERP results showed that an early ERP component (i.e., P2) was associated with the resolution of the flanker conflict, whereas a later component (i.e., N450) was associated with the resolution of the Stroop conflict. Together, these findings emphasize a sequential organization of conflict resolution processes in the brain which is adaptive when facing multiple concurrent conflicts.