Sylvie Bourdet-Loubère

Subjective quality of life in children with intellectual impairment-how can it be assessed?

Melanie White-Koning* BA MSc, Research Associate, National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), U558; Catherine Arnaud MD, Associate Professor, Université Paul Sabatier; Sylvie Bourdet-Loubère PhD, Clinical Psychologist; Hélène Bazex PhD, Research Associate, INSERM, U558, Toulouse, France. Allan Colver MD, Reader in Community Child Health, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Hélène Grandjean MD, Research Director, INSERM, U558, Toulouse, France on behalf of the SPARCLE Collaborative Group

Validation of the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire and Peritraumatic Distress Inventory in school-aged victims of road traffic accidents

BACKGROUND Although the reliable and valid Peritraumatic Distress Inventory (PDI-C) and Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire (PDEQ) are useful for identifying adults at risk of developing acute and chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they have not been validated in school-aged children and their predictive values remain unknown in this population. This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the children versions of these two measures (PDI-C and PDEQ-C) in a sample of French-speaking school-children. METHODS One-hundred and thirty-three consecutive victims of road traffic accidents, aged 8-15 years, were recruited into this longitudinal study via the emergency room. The peritraumatic reactions were assessed at baseline and PTSD symptoms were assessed 1 month later. RESULTS Cronbachs alpha coefficients were 0.8 and 0.77 for the PDI-C and PDEQ-C, respectively. The 1-month test-retest correlation coefficient (n=33) was 0.77 for both measures. The PDI-C demonstrated a two-factor structure while the PDEQ-C displayed a one-factor structure. As with adults, the two measures were intercorrelated (r=0.52) and correlated with subsequent PTSD symptoms and diagnosis (r=0.21-0.56; P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The children versions of the PDI and PDEQ are reliable and valid in children.

The Instruction set of Questionnaires can Affect the Structure of the Data: Application to Self-Rated State Anxiety

The present study tested the assumption that self-ratings, such as those used for measuring state anxiety, do not measure a one-dimensional transcendent entity but involve decisions based on a multi-dimensional judgment. Two groups of subjects were presented with a balanced nine-item state anxiety questionnaire. Each group received a different set of instructions (a standard set and an altered instruction set suggesting unidimensionality of the questions in the questionnaire). It was hypothesized that this change in instructions would impact the structure of the data. The impact of the instructions was detectable at the level of the observed correlation between the negative and positive composites, Cohens (1988) q=−0.27

Compréhension de l'acte suicidaire chez des jeunes homosexuels

. A multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed that positive and negative wording factors correlated more strongly when unidimensionality was suggested than when standard instructions were used, q=−0.54. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Premiers éléments pour une étude psychométrique de la fixation-régression avec la McGill Object Relations Scale

Cet article resume une etude qualitative portant sur les liens entre homosexualite et suicide chez des jeunes homosexuels de sexe masculin. L’etude a ete realisee aupres de deux jeunes rencontres en milieu associatif. Nous avons pu reperer que l’acte suicidaire masquait d’anciens traumas peu integres, venant s’inscrire dans un environnement precoce peu etayant. L’agir suicidaire viendrait soulager, dans ces deux cas, une impasse psychique non elaborable autrement et pourrait avoir valeur de reamenagement psychique, permettant par la suite a ces jeunes d’assumer une identite homosexuelle.

Symptoms of traumatic stress in mothers of children victims of a motor vehicle accident.

Resume Cette etude examine le developpement psychosexuel d’un echantillon de 60 sujets condamnes pour crime contre les personnes et presentant un trouble borderline de la personnalite. Les stades du developpement psychosexuel sont etudies a l’aide de la McGill Object Relations Scale (Dymetrysym et al., 1997). La structure des correlations entre les scores aux 6 stades de developpement est analysee selon un modele de depliage (unfolding model). Les resultats supportent l’hypothese d’une organisation temporelle des stades le long d’une seule dimension latente, avec une exception notable concernant le stade anal, ce qui corrobore la forte probabilite d’une fixation-regression a ce stade, liee a la particularite clinique des sujets d’etude.