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Biomedical subjects

F N Watts

Publications and source records attributed to F N Watts.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Description and measurement of concentration problems in depressed patients.

Depressed patients commonly complain of concentration problems, yet these have seldom been the focus of systematic investigation. A structured interview about concentration problems was administered to a group of relatively severely depressed patients. Problems in reading and watching television were the most common, and were highly correlated with each other. Direct report of the number of concentration lapses on a reading task was the most generally satisfactory task-performance correlate of complaints of reading/TV concentration problems. Evidence both from this task and from the interview suggests that depressive concentration problems may often be due to 'mind-wandering'. The correlations with concentration problems with the severity and endogeneity of depression and with state anxiety were generally similar.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Relationships between spider constructs in phobics.

An index of tight construing was derived from a Kelly grid in which the elements were spiders. This index, the coefficient of concordance, corresponds to the average correlation between constructs. Concordance was significantly higher in spider phobics than controls, in line with the hypothesis that emotional disorders are associated with higher correlations between symptom-related constructs (i.e. 'tight' construing). Desensitization, though it reduced phobic anxiety, had no effect on concordance.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Fear and time estimation.

It has been claimed that fear shortens time-estimates. Contrary to this view, 35 spider-phobic subjects give longer estimates of a short interval spent observing a spider than 18 non-phobic controls. The phobics' estimates are also more variable.

Discrimination Learning↗
PubMed1983

Strategies of clinical listening.

Some of the problems that confront the clinician in seeking to comprehend patients' accounts of their problems are discussed. It must be anticipated that these will be systematically deficient, both because of limitations in patients' awareness and because of the effects of the communication situations. Several strategies of listening that are available: (a) attention to patients' exact language, (b) heuristic strategies, (c) selective tuning, (d) relating information to emerging formulations and (e) 'evenly suspended attention' are discussed. the importance of the scientific investigation of clinical listening is emphasized, so that sound methods of training in listening can be developed.

Attention↗
PubMed1980

Clinical judgement and clinical training.

The literature indicates that clinical judgement may sometimes be adversely affected by clinical training. It is suggested that this reflects qualitative changes in the modes of clinical listening, modes of inference, and relative weights given to stereotypic and individual information. A theoretical discussion of this issue focuses mainly on the hypothesis that training leads to relatively high-risk strategies of judgement, and on the construct validity of analytic and non-analytic judgement. It is suggested that clinical training needs to give separate attention to the use of objective 'low-risk' and of more intuitive styles of clinical judgement, and to consider the judicious combination of these. Practical approaches to both kinds of training are discussed.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1978

A study of work behaviour in a psychiatric rehabilitation unit.

A rating scale developed by Griffiths (1973) was used to assess four separate areas of the work behaviour of patients in a psychiatric rehabilitation unit. Assessments were made at an early and a late stage of rehabilitation. The ability of ratings on this scale to predict resettlement was confirmed in a prospective study. The scale was also used to provide information about four separate areas of work behaviour. Social relationships provided the strongest predictor of resettlement in employment, response to supervision and enthusiasm predicted only in psychotic patients; task competence failed to predict. Changes in work behaviour during rehabilitation, and the relationships between self-reported attitudes and work behaviour were also examined.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Social deviance in a day hospital.

A search was made of records available for 65 nonpsychotic patients referred to a psychiatric day hospital. Assessments were made of whether they had shown various specified types of deviant social conduct, such detailed objective surveys of social conduct being regarded as superior to the use of concepts such as "psychopathic personality". The correlational structures of the areas of deviance produced four factors, i.e. deviant family roles, poor social integration, violence, and a more heterogeneous antisocial behaviour factor. The relationship was examined between areas of deviance and indices of the course and outcome of day hospital admission. The prognostic significance of social deviance was different for men and women; for example, only men showed a correlation between the number of areas of social deviance and the outcome of day hospital admissions. Violence and poor social integration showed no relation to outcome at all. It is suggested that there is no basis for excluding such patients from day hospitals on the assumption that they are less likely to be helped than other non-psychotic patients.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗
PubMed1977

Previous occupational stability as a predictor of employment after psychiatric rehabilitation.

Several indices of occupational stability are discussed and the importance of controlling for age in assessing occupational stability emphasized. The ability of 6 indices to predict the stable resettlement of psychiatric patients at work after a course of rehabilitation was examined. Though mean job length was a significant predictor, indices based on change of occupation rather than change of job were more successful. Stable resettlement at work was related to how much time people had spent in long jobs but not to how little time they had spent in short jobs. The amount of unemployment during the 2 years before hospital admission predicted return to work immediately after discharge, but did not predict stable resettlement at work.

Age Factors↗