Showing papers by "Cherie Armour published in 2010"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors presented a short screening instrument, based on this research; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - 8 items, which was shown to have good psychometric properties in three independent samples of whiplash patients (n=1710), rape victims (n =305), and disaster victims(n=516), and good test-rest reliability was also shown in a pilot study of young adults from families with alcohol problems.
Abstract: Traumatic events pose great challenges on mental health services in scarcity of specialist trauma clinicians and services. Simple short screening instruments for detecting adverse psychological responses are needed. Several brief screening instruments have been developed. However, some are limited, especially in relation to reflecting the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis. Recently, several studies have challenged pre-existing ideas about PTSD's latent structure. Factor analytic research currently supports two four factor models. One particular model contains a dysphoria factor which has been associated with depression and anxiety. The symptoms in this factor have been hailed as less specific to PTSD. The scope of this article is therefore to present a short screening instrument, based on this research; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - 8 items. The PTSD-8 is shown to have good psychometric properties in three independent samples of whiplash patients (n=1710), rape victims (n=305), and disaster victims (n=516). Good test-rest reliability is also shown in a pilot study of young adults from families with alcohol problems (n=56).
138 citations
TL;DR: The attenuation of dysphoria factor loadings suggests that dysphoria is a non-specific component of PTSD, which concur with previous research findings using different trauma populations but do not reflect the current DSM-IV symptom groupings.
69 citations
15 Sep 2010
TL;DR: Evidence is demonstrated of three discrete classes of attachment styles, which were labelled secure, preoccupied, and fearful, which are in contrast to previous cluster analytic techniques which have identified four and two attachment styles based on the RAAS.
Abstract: Background: Bartholomew (1990) proposed a four category adult attachment model based on Bowlby’s (1973) proposal that attachment is underpinned by an individual’s view of the self and others. Previous cluster analytic techniques have identified four and two attachment styles based on the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS). In addition, attachment styles have been proposed to meditate the association between stressful life events and subsequent psychiatric status. Objective: The current study aimed to empirically test the attachment typology proposed by Collins and Read (1990). Specifically, LPA was used to determine if the proposed four styles can be derived from scores on the dimensions of closeness / dependency and anxiety. In addition, we aimed to test if the resultant attachment styles predicted the severity of psychopathology in response to a whiplash trauma. Method: A large sample of Danish trauma victims (N=1577) participated. A Latent Profile Analysis was conducted, using Mplus 5.1, on scores from the RAAS scale to ascertain if there were underlying homogeneous attachment classes / subgroups. Class membership was used in a series of one-way ANOVA tests to determine if classes were significantly different in terms of mean scores on measures of psychopathology. Results: The three class solution was considered optimal. Class one was termed Fearful (18.6%), Class two Preoccupied (34.5%), and Class three Secure (46.9%). The secure class evidenced significantly lower mean scores on PTSD, depression, and anxiety measures compared to other classes, whereas the fearful class evidenced significantly higher mean scores compared to other classes. Conclusions: The results demonstrated evidence of three discrete classes of attachment styles, which were labelled secure, preoccupied, and fearful. This is in contrast to previous cluster analytic techniques which have identified four and two attachment styles based on the RAAS. In addition, Securely attached individuals display lower levels of psychopathology post whiplash trauma. Keywords: Attachment typology; latent profile analysis; posttraumatic stress disorder; depression; anxiety (Published: 15 December 2011) Citation: European Journal of Psychotraumatology 2011, 2 : 6018 - DOI: 10.3402/ejpt.v2i0.6018 For the abstract or full text in other languages, please see Supplementary files in the column to the right (under Reading Tools).
32 citations
30 Sep 2010
TL;DR: The present findings confirmed the existence of multiple trajectories with regard to PTSD symptomatology in a way that may be useful to clinicians working with this population.
Abstract: The research literature has suggested that longitudinal changes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could be adequately described in terms of one universal trajectory, with individual differences in baseline levels (intercept) and rate of change (slope) being negligible. However, not everyone who has experienced a trauma is diagnosed with PTSD, and symptom severity levels differ between individuals exposed to similar traumas. The current study employed the latent growth mixture modeling technique to test for multiple trajectories using data from a sample of Danish rape victims (N = 255). In addition, the analysis aimed to determine whether a number of explanatory variables could differentiate between the trajectories (age, acute stress disorder [ASD], and perceived social support). Results concluded the existence of two PTSD trajectories. ASD was found to be the only significant predictor of one trajectory characterized by high initial levels of PTSD symptomatology. The present findings confirmed the existence of multiple trajectories with regard to PTSD symptomatology in a way that may be useful to clinicians working with this population.
1 citations
TL;DR: Step-Up as mentioned in this paper is a university-based scheme designed to encourage school children from disadvantaged backgrounds from both sides of the community divide in the north-west of Northern Ireland to study science at university.
Abstract: Step-Up is a university-based scheme designed to encourage school children from disadvantaged backgrounds from both sides of the community divide in the north-west of Northern Ireland to study science at university. The rationale behind the scheme is attributable to the notion that children from disadvantaged backgrounds generally attend secondary school as opposed to grammar school as a result of their 11-plus examination results. The Department of Education reported that throughout Northern Ireland, 11.5% of secondary school pupils’ progress to higher education compared to 74.4% of grammar school pupils. An integral element of the Step-Up programme is its aim to increase levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy in participants in order to facilitate learning, as these have been shown to be positively correlated with academic achievement. A longitudinal study was conducted employing the use of mixed analysis of covariance to examine the changes in these variables in Step-Up pupils compared to non-Step-Up ...
1 citations