Traditional treatment for schizophrenia addresses behaviors that are present in excess (positive symptoms) but neglects behaviors that are absent (negative symptoms). This leaves individuals unprepared for living in a "least restrictive setting" and results in recurring placements in community settings, an increase in symptoms, and consequent return to treatment and stabilization in an inpatient psychiatric facility. Within an institutional cycle design with nine cohort groups of individuals, this study used archival data from a facility that prepares individuals for community placement to investigate the efficacy of a treatment approach designed to reduce both positive and negative symptomology and decrease use of inpatient psychiatric facilities. The results indicate small effects on positive and negative symptomology but substantial reductions in the use of inpatient psychiatric facilities.

This study examined the effects of publicly modeling the HIV testing procedure on testing rates at a university health center. Thirteen models, demographically similar to the university student population, modeled the HIV counseling and testing procedure at a campus student center. The intervention was employed twice during the fall semester. HIV testing rates for that semester were compared to the two previous fall semesters. Results showed that HIV testing rates during the semester of intervention were not significantly higher than previous semesters. Results did not demonstrate a marked increase in the number of tests administered within 2 weeks following each modeling intervention. Modeling was not an effective means to increasing utilization of HIV testing centers on this university campus.

While research has been conducted concerning the general public's attitudes toward mental illness, no work has been done specifically with the business community. I tested an intervention designed to increase the likelihood of the hiring of the mentally ill by San Joaquin Valley business community members. A pretest-posttest-control group design was used in which the treatment group received a presentation based on Rokeach's Value Self-Confrontation method. As hypothesized, the treatment group changed its values toward greater acceptance of mental illness. However, results of a test designed to measure likelihood of hiring the mentally ill revealed that the treatment group felt no differently about hiring persons with a mental illness than they did before the intervention. In addition, these results did not differ significantly from those of a control group that was not exposed to the self-confrontation method.

This investigation examined the effects of stimulus complexity on the verbal behavior of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and a control group of nondiagnosed individuals. The participants were 20 adults with schizophrenia and 20 nonschizophrenic adults that were matched on age and education. Each participant vocally responded to nine stimuli displayed on a computer screen, with three stimuli at each of three levels of complexity. Each experimental session was recorded on video, as well as on cassette tape. Contextually inappropriate responses were tallied by using a partial interval recording system, and were analyzed by counting the number of intervals in which a contextually inappropriate response occurred. A 2 x 3 x 3 factorial design was used to determine differences in responding between the two groups across the type of picture and level of complexity. Overall, the results indicated that there was not a significant difference between the responses of the schizophrenic individuals when compared to the nondiagnosed individuals.

Lovaas' model of comprehensive discrete trial therapy for children with autism has been at the center of much controversy and criticism due to its use of negative verbal feedback. However, there is no empirical evidence as to the consequences of removing negative feedback. Thirty children were randomly assigned to two groups, one which received discrete trial therapy with negative feedback and one which did not. Measures of the cumulative number of object labels learned, the number of trials required for the children to reach criterion for each object label, and the number of maladaptive behaviors displayed were compared between groups. Results showed a trend towards negative feedback increasing the number of labels learned ( F = 2.94, p = .10), no significant results for the number of trials to reach criterion, and a significant decrease in the number of maladaptive behaviors ( F = 5.32, p = .03) when children were given negative feedback. Thus, while some practitioners may still have reservations about the use of negative feedback, the results of this study may indicate that discrete trial therapy for children with autism is not as effective without it.

Research shows that individuals who have been diagnosed with a major mental illness have an increased difficulty learning new information when compared to individuals with no diagnosed mental illness. There is little research on effective teaching methods for individuals with a mental illness; therefore, this paper will attempt to explore this neglected, yet very important area of research. This review will briefly describe the correlation between a mental illness and cognitive functioning, and will then examine the literature on two different teaching methods, “direct instruction” and precision teaching. The proposed study will compare the effectiveness of these two different teaching methods (by looking at how many questions the participants can answer correctly and how much time is taken to complete the questions) in teaching courtroom competency to individuals with a mental illness.

In the current study, the utility of paired-stimulus preference assessment in identifying stimulus preferences was evaluated with adults with schizophrenia. In addition, the effects of two establishing operations (i.e., deprivation, satiation) on stimulus selection during paired-stimulus preference assessment were evaluated. Specifically, paired-stimulus preference assessments were conducted across conditions of (a) control, in which participants were given free access to premeasured portions of each of four stimuli prior to the preference assessment at five scheduled times; (b) deprivation, in which participants were given free access to premeasured portions of three of the four stimuli at five scheduled times and were deprived of one of the four stimuli for 48 hr prior to the preference assessment; and (c) satiation, in which participants were given no access to three of the four stimuli at five scheduled times and were free access to one of the four stimuli for 15 min prior to the preference assessment. The paired-stimulus preference assessment resulted in preference hierarchies for 3 of the 4 participants and identified two highly preferred stimuli for 1 of the 4 participants. Overall, across participants, deprivation resulted in increased selection of stimuli, and satiation resulted in decreased selection of stimuli, relative to control. However, some variation across stimuli and participants occurred in each condition. The implications of the current findings are discussed.

Although previous research has examined the role of social information processing patterns, attributions, and expectations in aggressive adolescents, there is a lack of studies examining self-dialogue in this population. Eighty male and female adolescents, half of them aggressive and the other half nonaggressive, were given the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) method to examine their thoughts “in the moment”. The Stait-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2) was utilized as a measure of anger experience and aggression. ATSS anger, aggressive intent, and hostile attribution verbalizations and STAXI-2 scales were correlated using Pearson's r to examine concurrent validity. Results revealed that males compared to females expressed significantly more aggressive intent on the ATSS. Results also indicated that aggressive compared to nonaggressive adolescents expressed significantly more anger and aggressive intent in their self-dialogue on the ATSS. Results from the STAXI-2 indicated that aggressive adolescents scored higher than nonaggressive adolescents on the state and trait anger, anger expression-out, and the anger expression index scales of the STAXI-2, but scored lower on the anger control-in and out scales of the STAXI-2. These results indicate that not only do aggressive adolescents describe experiencing and expressing more frequent feelings of anger and frustration than nonaggressive adolescents, but they also report making fewer attempts at controlling their anger and aggression when angered. This has implications for treatment because if aggressive/hostile thoughts mediate aggressive behavior, we should be able to reduce aggressive behavior by altering the thinking that underlies it.

Health care for the mentally disabled is often hindered by the inability of patients to identify and communicate their health problems to their health care professional. This study assessed the effectiveness of a nurse-patient communication skills training program for mentally disabled individuals. Forty-two participants who received a regular decanote shot (an injected anti-psychotic medication released over time) were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. The treatment consisted of three 90-min skills training sessions on symptom monitoring, medication management, and communication skills. Assessments were conducted at an injection appointment pretreatment, posttreatment, and at follow-up. Participants were assessed by pencil-and-paper test on the acquisition of symptom monitoring and medication management skills. In addition, patients were observed in an audio-recorded interaction with their nurse. Results identified that communication training was effective in increasing the participation of patients during a nurse's visit at posttest and at up to a 1-month follow-up. Explanation of results and recommendations for improvements for future studies are discussed.

An individual's friendship networks are relationships that assist in coping with life's challenges on a daily basis. Individuals failing to receive nurturing and reinforcement from their networks can have their mental health jeopardized. Within the chronic mentally ill, these failures have been found to result in higher re-admission rates into inpatient care. It is important to have opportunities to establish social networks that could assist with daily life struggles, and prevent decompensation requiring hospitalization. This study's purpose was to implement social skills training to promote social skill development, leisure skill development, and foster development of a social network. Participants were selected by whose score fell below the median (N = 49) of Mortweet's Perceived Social Support Questionnaire (1991). Training lasted for 10 weeks with a pre/posttest control group with pre-existing groups experimental design. Despite not having any significant training effects revealed in data, I believe training was successful based on self-reports and observations of participants getting involved in activities since completion of training (bowling league, school, attending day programs, finding a job). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)