Research has indicated that the adjustment of psychiatric patients is adversely affected by family criticism. The present study elaborated on this theme by focusing on fifty schizophrenic patients who were formally interviewed, using a standard visual analog scale format, about their perception of family criticism. Two important conceptual distinctions were proposed. The first was the extent to which criticism was perceived as "constructive" or "destructive", and the second was the extent to which the criticism was perceived to be "person directed" or "behavior directed". Regression analyses were performed in order to determine the predictive utility of the various dimensions of criticism on patient outcomes. The results indicate first, that criticism is not always perceived as negative and secondly, patients who perceived high levels of negative criticism (destructive, person directed) had relatively poor outcomes. Those who perceived high levels of positive criticism (constructive, behavior directed) had more positive outcomes. The results therefore indicate that criticism is multidimensional. This awareness of different meanings of criticism may lead to early identification of adjustment difficulties and subsequent interventions to prevent them.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.68214 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | McIntosh Byrne, Donna |
| Contributors | Jean, M. E. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (School of Nursing.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001482449, proquestno: AAIMM94472, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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