Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale

Reliability and validity of a depression rating scale for schizophrenics

The Calgary Depression Scale (CDS) is a nine item structured interview scale, in which each item has a four point measure, each point anchored by descriptors. The scale has been specifically developed to assess depression in schizophrenics. This article describes the testing of the reliability and validity of the CDS. The scale is assessed and compared to three established measures, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and a depression measure derived from the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the CDS is unidimensional, measuring the same construct in both in- and outpatients. The scale has high internal consistency, significant strong correlations with scores on the Hamilton, Beck and BPRS depression measures, and the presence of a major depressive episode. All items of the CDS significantly discriminate between the presence and absence of a major depressive episode. It is concluded that the CDS is a parsimonious reliable scale which is suitable for assessing depression across both the acute and residual stages of schizophrenia.

Specificity of the Calgary Depression Scale for schizophrenics

This study sought to determine the specificity of the Calgary Depression Scale (CDS), a depression rating scale for schizophrenics. The specificity is the degree to which the scale assesses depression rather than negative or extrapyramidal symptoms. Subjects were 100 outpatients (OP) and 50 inpatients (IP) meeting DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia. Negative symptoms were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS); extrapyramidal symptoms were assessed with the Simpson Angus Scale (SA) and depression with the CDS. Results were that the CDS showed no correlation with SA, but weak (0.33) statistically significant correlations with the PANSS negative symptom score in inpatients but not outpatients. Confirmatory factor analysis using Lisrel 6.0 showed that the model hypothesizing specificity of depression, negative symptoms and extrapyramidal symptoms, was significant, with a goodness of fit index of 0.89 and a root mean square residual of 0.07. It is concluded that the CDS achieves a useful degree of separation between measures of depression, negative and extrapyramidal symptoms in subjects with schizophrenia, when combined with the other measures used in this study.

Sexual scripts and AIDS prevention: Variations in adherence to safer‐sex guidelines by heterosexual adolescents

The central problem addressed in this paper is whether and how unmarried late adolescents are incorporating Safer‐Sex Guidelines into their sexual practices. A two‐stage stratified sample of 1,000 French and English students attending seven Montreal colleges was surveyed in the fall of 1988. LISREL analysis was used to test an expanded version of Becks Health Belief Model predicting compliance with Safer‐Sex Guidelines. Findings indicate that history of prior sexual conduct and sexual scripts together with use of oral contraceptives are the predominant influences on condom use and perception of susceptibility to HIV infection. Young adults are scripting condoms as contraceptives and relying on their believed ability to avoid coitus with infected partners as their major preventive mechanism.

The cast-6: development of a short-form of the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test.

The 30-item Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) is shortened to a 6-item scale (CAST-6) using Principal Components Analysis of CAST responses for three distinct samples: outpatient substance abusers, outpatient psychiatric patients, and medical students. The face validity, internal consistency, and discriminatory ability of the CAST-6 are examined. The CAST-6 is judged to compare favorably with the full CAST and to provide a more efficient way to identify adult children of alcoholics.

Social Construction of HIV Transmission and Prevention Among Heterosexual Young Adults

The social construction of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) transmission and prevention is explored using data obtained from 25 in-depth interviews conducted with French- and English-speaking college students, aged 17-22 years old, in Montreal. The content of common sense knowledge, its relationship to scientifically based safer-sex guidelines, and the strategies used by young adults to construct their reality of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) transmission and prevention are described. A single rule of HIV protection predominated for these young adults: protection through selection of uninfected partners. The implementation of this rule varied based on gender and sexual experience. The gender based rules and roles reflect a continuing double standard with respect to sexual activity which result in differences in mens and womens ability to protect themselves and in the content of constructed safer-sex strategies. Implications of these findings for educational policy are discussed.

Rating Depression in Schizophrenia: A Comparison of a Self-report and an Observer Report Scale

Prior research has indicated ari inconsistent agreement between self-report and observer report of depression in schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of agreement between a self-report measure of depression and a structured interview. Both outpatients (N=100) and inpatients (N=50) with schizophrenia were assssed using the Beck Depression Inventory and a structured interview scale, the Calgary depression Scale. Scores were convergent. However, a sizable proportion of inpatients had difficulty completing the self-report instrument. It is concluded that depressed affect can be assessed in schizophrenics by both self-report and structured interview, but the Beck Depression Inventory poses difficulties in use with inpatients.

Alternative cut-point scores for the CAST-6

Alternative cut-point scores for the CAST-6, a shortened version of the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test, are examined in three samples: outpatient substance abusers, outpatient psychiatric patients, and medical students. Hit rates for identification are maximized with a lower cut-point for medical students and a higher cut-point for a sample of individuals seeking outpatient treatment for substance abuse. Either cut-point yields equivalent results in an outpatient psychiatric sample.