Carlyle H. Folkins

Effects of Physical Training on Mood.

Thirty-six adult men at high risk of coronary artery disease were assigned to either an exercise or no exercise (control) group. Improvements in physical fitness were accompanied by improvements on two mood measures, anxiety and depression. No change was found on measures of adjustment, self-confidence and body image.

THE ROLE OF COGNITIVE LEVEL AND SIBLING ILLNESS IN CHILDREN'S CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF ILLNESS

Levels of illness conceptualization were studied among children with diabetic siblings. Results revealed a significant association between pretested Piagetian level of cognitive development and illness conceptualization. Children with ill siblings, especially those at the formal operational level, demonstrated lower conceptualization levels than did children with healthy siblings.

The Effects of Congenital Heart Disease on Cognitive Development, Illness Causality Concepts, and Vulnerability.

This study suggests that childhood cardiac illness has a depressive impact on the attainment of conservation tasks, but does not affect illness causality conceptualization. The group of twelve ill children studied appeared to feel somewhat more vulnerable to illness in general, especially when projecting to adult health status, than did a matched group of healthy children.

Biofeedback, Brief Psychotherapy and Tension Headache

SYNOPSIS

Physical environment and job satisfaction in a community mental health center

Relocation of professional staff in a community mental health center provided a setting in which to evaluate the effects of physical environment on job satisfaction. Two mental health teams moved from an old, drab central clinic building to new satellite clinics while a third team remained in the old building. Relocated staff reported significant increase in satisfaction with physical surroundings as compared to staff that did not move. Furthermore, satisfaction with physical surroundings had some impact on overall satisfaction ratings. Physical surroundings in a community mental health center may be a mediating variable for staff morale and effectiveness.

RELATIONSHIP OF BODY-IMAGE TO NEGATIVE EMOTIONAL ATTITUDES

A mean body-image score based on 50 ratings was obtained from 113 male and 135 female undergraduates. These were correlated with scores on the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist. Moderate values were obtained. Though womens ratings varied more than mens, the ratings were not statistically significantly different.

DISCIPLINE STEREOTYPING AND EVALUATIVE ATTITUDES AMONG COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER STAFF

The Adjective Check List was administered to psychiatrists, psychiatric social workers, and clinical psychologists on the staff of a university-operated community mental health center, to measure attitudes toward five mental health disciplines. Adjective stereotypes and evaluative attitudes were highly positive, although social workers tended to be more negative toward psychiatrists than toward the other disciplines. Cognitive and dynamic factors are examined in an attempt to understand discipline differences in stereotyping and evaluative attitudes.

Peer rating by a community mental health team: a positive approach to accountability.

A peer rating system was devised in response to a request from members of a community mental health team for a positive method of self-evaluation. Team members rated each other three times at one month intervals. Reliability was high, and factor analysis generated two major dimensions--positive regard and competence--assessed by the rating instrument. Validity data are discussed, and applications of the method suggested.

Internal-External Control and Headache Response to Biofeedback and Psychotherapy

This study was undertaken to determine the comparative validity of two competing hypotheses derived from different conceptualizations of internal versus external control. On the basis of the premise that this dimension is merely a belief on the periphery of personality, it was predicted that headache patients who felt that they could exert some influence over their own health would become more involved in and hence derive more benefit from both psychotherapy and biofeedback than their counterparts who did not believe that their own efforts could affect their health status. Following the assumption that locus of control is a manifestation of an underlying need, however, it was predicted that externally oriented headache patients would respond more favorable to the structure provided by biofeedback than would their internally oriented counterparts, whereas internals would fare better than externals in the relatively less directive arena of psychotherapy. Although the results were mixed, they tend on balance to offer differential support for the interaction hypothesis and hence for the formulation of locus of control as a reflection of an underlying need rather than as a superficial belief.