Luca Bensi

The factorial structure of the outcome questionnaire-45: a study with an Italian sample

In this article, the authors study the factorial structure of the Italian translation of the Outcome Questionnaire 45 (OQ-45) in a sample of college students (n = 522) and psychiatric outpatients (n = 301). The relative goodness of fit of six competing models of the OQ-45 was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Specifically, the study examined the relative fit of the most frequently presented models in the literature and three alternative models. Results of the CFA provided support for the four factor bi-level solution, suggesting that the OQ-45 is a multidimensional instrument that contains one general factor and multiple unique subscale factors.

The Enhanced Cognitive Interview: A study on the efficacy of shortened variants and single techniques

The superiority of the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI) over standard police interview protocols has been strongly supported. Recently, some authors have underlined the need to develop shorter versions of the ECI appealing for time-critical situations. There is some evidence that disregarding change order and change perspectives techniques could yield a brief but still efficient version of ECI. The present study aimed to examine some shortened versions of the ECI in comparison with the full ECI. One hundred participants watched a video of a crime and were interviewed with one of the five interviewing procedure: complete ECI, three shortened ECIs, and Structured Interview. Full ECI elicited a greater amount of correct information compared to the other interviews, with the exception of the shortened version that omitted change order and change perspectives techniques. Theoretical and applicative implications are discussed.

Individual differences and reasoning: A study on personality traits

Personality can play a crucial role in how people reason and decide. Identifying individual differences related to how we actively gather information and use evidence could lead to a better comprehension and predictability of human reasoning. Recent findings have shown that some personality traits are related to similar decision-making patterns showed by people with mental disorders. We performed research with the aim to investigate delusion-proneness, obsessive-like personality, anxiety (trait and state), and reasoning styles in individuals from the general population. We introduced personality trait and state anxiety scores in a regression model to explore specific associations with: (1) amount of data-gathered prior to making a decision; and (2) the use of confirmatory and disconfirmatory evidence. Results showed that all our independent variables were positively or negatively associated with the amount of data collected in order to make simple probabilistic decisions. Anxiety and obsessiveness were the only predictors of the weight attributed to evidence in favour or against a hypothesis. Findings were discussed in relation to theoretical assumptions, predictions, and clinical implications. Personality traits can predict peculiar ways to reason and decide that, in turn, could be involved to some extent in the formation and/or maintenance of psychological disorders.

The Outcome Questionnaire 45.2. Italian validation of an instrument for the assessment of phychological treatments

AIMS The Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2; Lambert et al., 2004) was designed to measure important areas of functioning (symptoms, interpersonal problems and social role functioning) that are of central interest in mental health. The cross-cultural validity of the OQ-45.2 in the Italian population has been examined by comparing the psychometric properties and equivalence in factor structure and normative scores of the Italian OQ with the original American version. METHOD Data were collected at university (N = 461), in community (N = 61) and in three mental health care organisations (N = 301). RESULTS Results showed that the psychometric properties of the Italian OQ were adequate and similar to the original instrument. The CFA supported the multidimentional construct system of the instrument. Furthermore, normative scores were different for the Italian and American samples and this resulted in different cutoff scores for estimating clinically significant change in the Italian population. CONCLUSIONS The Italian version of the OQ-45.2 appears promising as a measure of general psychological distress, and it could be used to measure the psychotherapy outcome in routine clinical practice.

Individual differences in the Enhanced Cognitive Interview: the role of imagery

The aim was to explore the role of imagery in the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI). The use of imagery was specifically introduced in the ECI and it is reasonable that some mixed results on specific mnemonics could be due to individual differences in the use of imagery ability. Eighty participants performed a questionnaire (Verbalizer–Visualizer Questionnaire) to measure their imagery abilities and watched a short film. Successively, participants were informed that they would be interviewed the next day as witnesses of the event they viewed earlier. Each participant was randomly allocated to one of the two interview conditions: ECI or Structured Interview (SI). Results showed that: (1) ECI elicited more correct information, specifically for action and environmental details, than SI; (2) mental image users (visualizers) recalled more correct information than verbal users (verbalizers) apart from type of interview used without increased confabulation and incorrect information. Results are discussed on the basis of the recent research on imagery individual differences for each ECI techniques.

The trauma symptom inventory: Italian validation of an instrument for the assessment of post-traumatic symptoms.

AIM The trauma symptom inventory (TSI; Briere, 1995) is a useful instrument for the assessment of post-traumatic and common trauma-related mental health symptoms. The purpose of the study was to validate the Italian version of the original TSI. METHODS Participants from non-clinical (n = 285), clinical (n = 110) and post-traumatic (n = 30) samples completed the TSI as part of a battery that included self-report measures of trauma exposure [MMPI-2 PK scale and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R)] and of psychological symptoms [brief symptom inventory (BSI) and symptom questionnaire (SQ)]. TSI validity scales were compared with MMPI-2 validity scales in order to assess convergent validity. RESULTS The TSI Italian version showed adequate internal consistency reliability and a good convergent validity. Discriminant function analysis indicates a classification accuracy of TSI scales of 90% for true-positive and 91.4% for true-negative post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases. A revised three-factor structural model, which demonstrated an adequate and the best fit for the data, was proposed. CONCLUSIONS The study extended the generalization and validity of TSI and provided some suggestions for eventually revisiting factorial structure of the questionnaire.

Integration information in the judicial field: adding versus averaging models

Abstract In the course of a trial, the main task that every judge or juror has to face concerns the evaluation of various pieces of evidence from a variety of different sources, with the aim of integrating such data into a single, final verdict. Algebraic models have tried to explain and predict decisional paths by identifying formal, mathematical combinatory rules. The aim of the present research was to test two main integration information models, namely adding and averaging, when combining items of judicial evidence. In the first study, we investigated how the probability of guilt varied as a function of the value of the pieces of evidence and information presented, in legal and not legal professional samples. In the second study, we analysed combinatory rules with more complex and realistic experimental material. Results indicated that participants summed the values of pieces of evidence in a linear fashion when they had to provide estimates of guilt. We found evidence of an adding rule among both legal and not legal professionals as well as in simple and more complex judicial cases, thus providing even stronger support for the use and the generalization of a summative model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.