A study assessed the feasibility of sequential testing of medical students using standardized patients. Sequential testing passes students who score well on the first segment of the test thus eliminating additional student-standardized patient encounters. Subjects were six classes of Southern Illinois University students (n=404). Results strongly…

In a roundtable discussion, a panel of experts address how physicians can identify active patients for whom exercise poses the risk of serious heart complications, how useful stress tests are, what exercise intensity is best, and what physicians can tell patients about the risks of exercise versus its benefits. (SM)

The usefulness of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) (J. Butcher and others, 1989) for diagnosis and assessment of depression and psychoses was studied with 264 psychiatric inpatients. MMPI-2 profiles were sensitive to group differences, and the derived regression equations were stable and fairly good at classification.…

Discusses a new test of English language proficiency for international medical graduates. The test, the Clinical Skills Assessment, consists of a series of encounters with "standardized patients" who have been trained to portray various medical conditions. (Author/VWL)

Presents a HIV/AIDS preventive counseling protocol developed for use with African American young adults that makes use of hip-hop music. Contends that an increased understanding of the relationships that many African American young adults have with hip-hop music may be used by disease prevention personnel to educate these populations about…

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate 11 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) indicators of response distortion using 343 college students, some of whom simulated malingering or defensive responding, 181 forensic psychiatric patients, and 95 other psychiatric patients. Results show the usefulness…

Reports on the psychometric properties of a new semistructured interview, the Structured Interview for the Five-Factor Model of Personality (T. Trull and T. Widiger, 1997). Data from clinical and nonclinical samples (187 undergraduates and 46 mental health outpatients) support the reliability and validity of the measure's scores. (SLD)

Psychological consequences of presymptomatic DNA-testing for Huntington's disease are reviewed. Both carriers and noncarriers experience emotional reactions after disclosure of their test results; however, no long-term adverse emotional consequences have been revealed. Consequences for the family are discussed. Future research should include…

Medical considerations about testing and possible psychological consequences for the child and family of genetically testing children are discussed. Risks include distress from ambivalent feelings toward testing, preoccupation with disease-related signs, changes in family interactions, the burdening prospect of a future disease, and medicalization…

Clients seek genetic counseling to become informed, make better decisions, and to be reassured. Genetic knowledge, however, involves uncertainty. Genetic information conveyed in 30 counseling sessions was studied for its predictability, controllability and novelty (unexpected findings). The interrelationship of unpredictability, uncontrollability,…

Women (N=46) with ultrasound-diagnosed lethal fetal anomaly in late pregnancy were studied. Psychological instability, general psychological distress, depression, and despair were measured over four years and related to normal versus "neurotic" personality dispositions. Findings are presented; the need for medical intervention, emotional support,…

Studies the effects of a 12-session educational group intervention program for people with generalized chronic musculoskeletal pain. Results reveal that participants came out significantly better than the control group with respect to pain and pain coping, taking care of themselves, life satisfaction, and health care consumption. (Contains 69…

Four validity scales were developed for the Neuropsychology Behavior and Affect Profile using data from clinical and nonclinical samples. A second study, which involved 157 subjects, indicated that combinations of the clinical and validity scales effectively differentiated dissemblers from brain injury patients, even when dissemblers were highly…

The Cognition Rating Form (CRF), a scoring measure for the Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank, was evaluated with 56 adolescent psychiatric patients and 102 high school controls. Concurrent validities and sensitivity rates indicated that the CRF shows promise as a thought sampling scoring measure. (SLD)

Of 13 nursing students in a community nursing clinical project, 7 worked with older adults who received instruction about drug interaction. Compared to the six whose patients did not receive instruction, these students achieved greater knowledge and self-efficacy scores related to drug interaction. (Contains 16 references.) (SK)