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Biomedical subjects

J Novacek

Publications and source records attributed to J Novacek.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Recognition of warning signs: a consideration for cost-effective treatment of severe mental illness.

Warning signs of decompensation, also known as prodromal symptoms, and problems related to poor recognition of warning signs were examined in a sample of 370 adult outpatients with severe mental illness. Clinicians' ratings, client interviews, and eight months of client service records revealed that poor recognition of warning signs was a prevalent problem in this population and was related to poorer treatment outcomes and greater use of the most expensive types of services. Poor recognition was more likely to improve when it was specifically treated than when not treated. Improvement in recognition was related to better outcomes and lower costs. Results suggest the need for patients' recognition of warning signs to receive standardized assessment, treatment, and monitoring.

Adult↗

A model for evaluating intensive outpatient behavioral health care programs.

OBJECTIVE: This study proposes a model with five criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of intensive outpatient behavioral health care programs and applies this model to a brief partial hospital-crisis stabilization program. The five criteria are client selection, program attendance, service utilization and focus of treatment, client improvement, and cost-effectiveness. METHODS: The program evaluation model was tested with a sample of 285 adults with severe mental illness who were admitted for or were receiving outpatient treatment at a state-funded community mental health center. Evaluation data included pre- and postprogram ratings by clinical staff of clients' symptoms, level of functioning, and treatment readiness; current and retrospective reports of clients' symptoms based on interviews with clients; and clients' service and financial records. Clients and clinicians also provided data about the problems addressed during treatment sessions. RESULTS: Program dropouts used significant facility resources before dropping out. Clients who participated in the partial hospital-crisis stabilization program showed reduced symptoms, improved daily functioning, and improved treatment readiness. Clients who showed more improvement cost less to treat. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation model produced the information necessary for demonstrating program effectiveness. The results support the belief that clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are positively related.

Adult↗

Narcissism and the use of fantasy.

This study examined the relationship between narcissism and the use of daydreams and fantasy in samples of 129 and 193 subjects. In sample 1, it was found that (1) narcissistic individuals experience achievement, heroic, sexual, hostile, self-revelation, and future-oriented daydreams; and (2) these six types of daydreams represent a coherent "narcissistic" fantasy style. In sample 2, narcissistic individuals who were experiencing higher levels of daily stress report using more self-admiration, power and revenge, and suffering fantasies to cope with stress. The narcissistic theme of entitlement is uniquely related to narcissistic fantasy and the narcissists' use of sustaining fantasies to cope with stress. Results are consistent with clinical literature on the narcissistic personality.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Narcissism, self-esteem, and defensive self-enhancement.

This study investigates the relationships among narcissism, self-esteem, and defensive self-enhancement in samples of 60, 84, 300, and 57 subjects. Using various self-report indices of these constructs we found that (a) defensive self-enhancement is composed of two orthogonal components: grandiosity and social desirability; (b) grandiosity and social desirability independently predict self-esteem and may represent distinct confounds in the measurement of self-esteem, (c) narcissism is positively related to grandiose self-enhancement (as opposed to social desirability), (d) narcissism is positively associated with both defensive and nondefensive self-esteem, and (e) authority, self-sufficiency, and vanity are the narcissistic elements most indicative of nondefensive self-esteem. The results are consistent with several theories that postulate a two-component model for self-esteem regulation and personality development.

Adult↗

An MMPI description of the narcissistic personality.

This study developed a Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory (MMPI) description of the narcissistic personality in a nonclinical population. The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) and the MMPI were administered to two samples of 57 and 173 subjects. A correlational analysis produced a cross-validated positive relationship between narcissism and MMPI mania (Ma) and cross-validated negative relationships between narcissism and MMPI depression (D), psychasthenia (Pt), social introversion (Si), anxiety (A), repression (R), and ego control (Ec). A correlational analysis of the 7-factor components of the NPI (Authority, Exhibitionism, Superiority, Vanity, Exploitativeness, Entitlement, and Self-Sufficiency) and the MMPI validity, clinical, commonly scored, and content scales suggests that the seven NPI components reflect different levels of psychological maladjustment. Narcissistic Entitlement and Exploitativeness reflect the most maladjustment, whereas narcissistic Authority reflects the least maladjustment. In addition, a profile analysis of the high NPI scorers suggest that a 98/89 MMPI profile with an elevated F score is most representative of the narcissistic personality in nonclinical samples.

Adolescent↗

Age differences in stress and coping processes.

The dramatic increase in the numbers of people who are living into old age has been accompanied by a growing interest among psychologists and health care professionals in their sources of stress and how they cope with them. Despite this interest, little is known about normative stress and coping patterns and the ways in which these patterns differ in older and younger people. This study, which draws on stress and coping theory, compares younger and older community-dwelling adults in daily hassles and eight kinds of coping. Two interpretations of age differences are evaluated: a developmental interpretation, which says that there are inherent, stage-related changes in the ways people cope as they age, and a contextual interpretation, which says that age differences in coping result from changes in what people must cope with. The findings indicate that there are clear age differences in hassles and coping. Overall, the findings tend to support the developmental interpretation, although the contextual interpretation also applies.

Activities of Daily Living↗