The Neuropsychological Symptom Inventory (Dean, 1982) was developed to examine the neuropsychological symptomology presented by patients. It consists of 17 items that assess family/medical history that are responded to on a true/false format. In addition, there are 100 items which assess cognitive, emotional-social, sensory-perceptual, and behavioral symptomology, which are to be responded to on a Likert scale from 1 to 4.The present study investigated the validation of the Neuropsychological Symptom Inventory (NSI) (Dean, 1982). In a series of investigations the construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability of the NSI were examined. Such procedures were considered essential to investigate the utility of the NSI.The subjects numbered 826, for the factor analysis study and the internal consistency analysis, which consisted of college students from introductory psychology classes, and patients seen in both outpatient and inpatient settings. Additionally, there were 132 subjects who participated in the study for test-retest.Utilizing a varimax rotation, a four factor solution was obtained for the NSI, accounting for 47.9 % of the total variance. The results demonstrated high internal consistency for the NSI, with an overall Alpha coefficient of .967. In addition, moderate test-retest estimates were found, ranging from .3365 for Factor 3 to .6223 for Factor 4.These results showed strong psychometric properties for the NSI and suggest its use as a viable alternative to currently available measures. Results are discussed in terms of a need for further refinement of the NSI. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceived anxiety experienced by coronary care nurses working eight- and 12-hour work shifts. It was hypothesized that length of shift work affects the before- and after-shift anxiety for nurses working eight or 12-hour work shifts. Anxiety differences between the eight- and 12-hour work shifts were examined as well as differences between the before- and after-shift anxiety for each length of shift.Thirty-two (32) coronary care nurses from a general medical and surgical hospital in the Midwest volunteered to participate in the research. The sample consisted of all females (18 Registered Nurses, nine Licensed Practical Nurses, three charge nurses, a supervisory nurse, and a rehabilitation nurse). The nurses had voluntarily selected the eight- or 12-hour length of shift work and understood that they would be committed to work that shift for one year. Twelve nurses worked the eight-hour shift; 20 nurses chose the new 12-hour shift.The State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) was used to measure the nurses' before- and after-shift anxiety. Baseline data were collected from the nurses prior to the initiation of the 12-hour shift. The Box-Jenkins Time Series Analysis was used to analyze the daily before- and after-shift anxiety scores and to establish a forecasted trend for both the eight- and 12-hour shifts.The first finding was that the before-shift anxiety scores for the eight-hour workers declined, while the anxiety scores for the 12-hour workers increased, following the implementation of the 12-hour shift. The same trend was forecast for the after-shift anxiety scores. The eight-hour nurses' after-shift anxiety scores declined while the 12-hour nurses' anxiety scores increased. A transfer function was conducted for both the eight-hour and 12-hour before- and after-shift anxiety scores. No predictive trend could be established for the eight-hour anxiety scores; however, the 12-hour after-shift anxiety scores were found to be consistently higher than before-shift anxiety scores. / Department of Educational Psychology

A predominance of symptomology related to neurological dysfunction has been reported for at least some learning disabled (LD) students. This investigation examined the self-reported neuropsychological symptoms of LD and normal students in grades 3 through 12. Determination of group membership based on the childrens' responses to items on the Neuropsychological Symptom Inventory (NSI) was made for all subjects in the study.A discriminant analysis was conducted in order to determine the degree of group separation based on the item responses and which reported symptoms add significantly to that separation. Out of 40 possible items, 19 added to the discriminant function. Prediction of group membership was accomplished with a high degree of accuracy. Nearly 80% of the total population examined were correctly classified according to actual group membership. Of the LD population, 32% were identified as normal but only 16% of the normal population were misdiagnosed as LD. Additionally, nine individual symptoms were identified as reported by a greater percentage of LD students than normals.The results of this investigation suggest that the NSI as a screening instrument may be valuable for some populations. The 80% accuracy rate with the low number of false-positives (16%) is extremely encouraging. Additional research with the NSI to validate the presence of the symptomology reported would add to the already existing data related to the neuropsychological implications related to learning disabilities. / Department of Educational Psychology