Context: Despite screening for colorectal cancer, mortality in the United States remains substantial. In northern New England, little is known about predictors of stage at diagnosis, an important determinant of survival and mortality. Purpose: The objective of this study was to identify predictors of late stage at diagnosis for colorectal cancer…

Asserts the importance of psychological and spiritual factors in the treatment of chronic illness. Discusses the inevitably of sickness, old age, and death, as well as the presence of the physician, patience, pain, and hope. Maintains that reflection on these qualities can benefit both the physician and patient. (MJP)

The predictive power of the externalizing and internalizing factors of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) for mental health treatment outcomes was studied. Data were collected over 3 years at a community mental health agency. From the population of intakes at the agency, 789 cases were selected as the unrestricted sample, and 374 of these were…

The development of the Internet offers an entirely new means of providing psychological healthcare and access to psychological information. For mental healthcare consumers who possess the necessary cognitive and computer skills, as well as the access to the proper equipment, the Internet literally opens up a world of treatment possibilities…

This report focuses on the communication that takes place between nurses and patients in a hospital setting. Nurses have for years been accused of talking at patients rather than talking to them. They have also been accused of using a language that patients do not know. The problem is partly a result of individual roles within the medical…

A study investigated the use of qualifiers, words and phrases used to indicate the level of approximation of propositional content or of speaker commitment to the proposition, in an atypical form of medical interview: conversations between physicians and patients on a radio talk show. Qualifiers used were classified as hedges (suggesting…

This study aimed at assessing whether successful therapy outcome is related to positive attitudes towards therapists. Subjects were 93 clients. Those clients who were very satisfied with therapy, as opposed to those who were not very satisfied, described their therapists as warmer, more likable, more active, and more involved. (Author/SE)

The authors tested the discriminative effectiveness of two psychiatric screening instruments for a gerontological population. Results show that while one scale was more correct in identifying the impaired group, the second was more correct in identifying the unimpaired subjects. (SE)

Psychiatrists were asked to diagnose a "patient" presented in a written case summary. The variables of education and income were manipulated to determine the effects of status configurations on psychiatric diagnosis. (Author/NQ)

Article presented an evaluation of Rosenhan's "On Being Sane in Insane Places" (AA 521 951), and the author concluded that a careful examination of the study's methods, results, and conclusion leads to a diagnosis of "logic in remission." (Editor/RK)

The basic assumption behind psychoanalytic psychotherapy is that mental contents that were once warded off come to emerge in the course of a successful treatment. This paper focuses on specific contents which a patient became aware of during a psychoanalytic treatment. (Editor)

Present psychological assessment stems from a philosophy of science that values objectivity but fails to comprehend the existence of the person being evaluated. A humanistic-existential model shifts the focus from omnipotence to encounter and encourages client responsibility. Some pertinent assessment issues are formulated and specific instruments…

The authors present an overview of recent developments and ultimate goals in quality of care assessment, with special reference to the nurse practitioner. A proposed evaluation model is included. (Author)

The Clinical Learning Center resembles the physician's office, but it depends upon volunteer patients who come there primarily to contribute to the educational program while deriving no medical care. (Editor/PG)

In clinical trials, adaptive allocation means that the therapies assigned to the next patient or patients depend on the results obtained thus far in the trial. Although many adaptive allocation procedures have been proposed for clinical trials, few have actually used adaptive assignment, largely because classical frequentist measures of inference…