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Biomedical subjects

R D Goldney

Publications and source records attributed to R D Goldney.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Psychological correlates of the level of alcohol consumption in young adults.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the psychological condition of young adults who drank no alcohol, moderate, or excessive amounts of alcohol. DESIGN: Subjects from a longitudinal study of the school-to-work transition supplied information by postal questionnaire, and others matched for age were interviewed. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of adults of average age 24 years. The 483 in the longitudinal study had been students at 12 metropolitan high schools in 1980, and had been followed annually from then until 1988; the 111 who were interviewed were mature-aged university students. Sex ratios and the proportion employed were similar in the two samples. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The General Health Questionnaire was used to measure psychological disturbance in both samples, and alcohol consumption was measured by self-report in terms of number of glasses of beer, wine, spirits and fortified wine taken during the preceding week. RESULTS: Higher levels of disturbance were shown by men who drank excessively in the first study, and who abstained from alcohol in the second study. The latter result was related to the poorer health of abstainers. Women showed no psychological differences according to level of alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The inconsistent results for men in the two studies suggest that research methodology influences results in ways that are important for researchers in this field to take into account. The lack of disturbance in moderate drinkers of both samples indicates the social acceptability of responsible alcohol consumption in Australia, and supports efforts to educate the public and their medical advisors so that well-informed decisions can be made about alcohol use.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Suicidal ideation: its enduring nature and associated morbidity.

A longitudinal study between 1980 and 1988 of school leavers entering adulthood examined suicidal ideation 4 and 8 years after an initial battery of psychological tests. The report of suicidal ideation during their lives was significantly associated with measures of depression, self-esteem and locus of control 8 years previously. It was also associated with those measures as well as anomie, hopelessness and scores on the General Health Questionnaire 4 years previously. These associations were not as strong for subjects whose suicidal ideation had been present in the most recent 6 months, or for those who acknowledged having attempted suicide. No fewer than 40% of subjects who acknowledged suicidal ideation when examined in 1984 denied ever having had suicidal ideation during their lives when re-examined in 1988. This raises doubts about the validity of such studies. Although these findings provide data that confirm the enduring nature of suicidal ideation and its continuing morbidity, they do not give confidence that any screening of schoolchildren could actually predict those who will attempt suicide. Such studies cannot replace full clinical assessment of individual suicidal subjects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

The stability of attributional style and its relation to psychological distress.

A group of yound adults completed the Attributional Style Questionnaire and measures of depressive affect and hopelessness on two occasions separated by a time interval of three years. Attributional style was demonstrated to be relatively stable over this time period, and was correlated with the measures of psychological well-being. Specifically, those who scored highest on depressive affect and hopelessness attributed good outcomes more externally and less stably, and attributed bad outcomes to relatively more stable and global causes. In contrast to the hopelessness model of depression, however, multiple regression analyses showed that depressive attributions were not antecedent to increased psychological distress; nor were they a consequence. Furthermore, negative life-events did not contribute to the prediction. It was concluded that the data are most consonant with Brewin's (1985) symptom model, in which depressive attributions are a concomitant or symptom of depression but have no causal impact on the onset or course of the disorder.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Naming of patients by therapists.

A self-report questionnaire to elicit the patients' preferences for how they were to be addressed was given to 102 in-patients. Of 94 replies, 90 asked to be called by their first name.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Psychological concomitants of tobacco and alcohol use in young Australian adults.

Nineteen-year-old subjects in an Australian community sample (N = 1028) reported their tobacco and alcohol use of the previous week, and 598 of them gave similar information 3 years later. The paper examines the demographic (sex, ethnic background, and occupational status) and psychological characteristics (hopelessness, self-esteem, locus of control, and social alienation) of tobacco and alcohol users and nonusers at the ages of 19 and 22, and also of subjects who started or stopped consumption of these drugs over the three year period. Smoking at 22, and particularly having started to smoke between 19 and 22, seems to be associated with feelings of demoralization and social alienation, as is relatively heavy drinking. Moderate drinking of alcohol is however normative for the well-adjusted and socially well-integrated young adult in this culture. The findings imply a need for rather different health-promotion messages related to tobacco and to alcohol.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

A factor analytic study of clinical competence in undergraduate psychiatry.

This study used factor analysis to define the components of clinical competence of medical students during their undergraduate psychiatric training. Four factors were defined; factor 1 related to cognitive and psychological problem-solving; factor 2 tapped the interpersonal and observational skills students showed with patients; factor 3 was characterized by knowledge in the examination setting, and factor 4 related to students' capacity to demonstrate their ability in an interpersonal setting. These are similar to the component skills of clinical competence demonstrated by students in other areas of the medical curriculum. They also correspond to the skills which Walton (1986) has suggested should be focused upon in undergraduate psychiatric education.

Clinical Clerkship↗
PubMed1989

Suicidal ideation in a young adult population.

Depending on the manner in which the data were interpreted, as many as 17.5% of women and 20.2% of men, or as few as 3.0% of women and 3.3% of men in a young Australian adult population reported some degree of suicidal ideation in the few weeks prior to testing. Using a suicidal ideation score derived from the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), 11.7% of men and 9.7% women could be considered to have suicidal ideation. These findings and the diversity of results from other studies emphasize the need for standardized methods of assessment of suicidal ideation. The GHQ could be usefully employed for this purpose, particularly as it is widely used and further analysis of existing data could provide valuable comparisons.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Suicide: the role of the media.

Studies addressing the issue of media reporting of suicide and subsequent suicide are reviewed. The majority demonstrate a statistically significant association between the amount of such reporting and ensuing increases in suicide. Restraint is clearly indicated. The media could assist by publicising alternative coping mechanisms, rather than "normalizing" suicidal behaviour by reporting it.

Humans↗
PubMed1989

The General Health Questionnaire: reliability and validity for Australian youth.

General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) results are given for a large (N = 1013) sample of South Australian young people (average age 19.6 years), to compare the usefulness of the 12-, 28-, and 30-item forms of the GHQ. Internal reliabilities are generally adequate and the Likert scoring method produces significant correlations with psychological measures such as self-esteem. The case-prevalence rate using the binary scoring method was comparable with other studies, but misclassification rates were unacceptably high when DSM-III Axis I diagnosis was used as the criterion for the presence of any psychiatric disorder.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Attitudes towards psychiatric hospitalisation: a comparison of involuntary and voluntary patients.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the attitudes towards hospitalisation of both voluntary and involuntary patients admitted to a state psychiatric hospital. METHOD: Interviews of 100 patients admitted consecutively between September 1983 and June 1984. RESULTS: Although patients who were involuntarily admitted initially reported unfavourable attitudes, subsequent to admission they had similar opinions regarding their hospitalisation to those of voluntary patients. This "consumer survey" lends some confidence to the view that compulsory detention and admission is not irrevocably perceived as punitive by patients. These results provide further data which counter the sometimes extreme advocates of the view that compulsory admission and treatment of patients with psychiatric illness is never acceptable.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

A comparison of patients in private and public psychiatric facilities.

OBJECTIVE: To compare hospitalised patients in private and public facilities. METHOD: Retrospective medical record review of 100 patients admitted consecutively to both a private psychiatric hospital and a public facility in South Australia in January, 1985. RESULTS: There is a paucity of data about privately treated patients with psychiatric illness. Although several studies have suggested that patients treated in private are similar to those seen at public facilities, thus challenging some of the myths about private practice, a recent Australian study emphasised the differences between private and publicly treated hospitalised patients. The present comparison of hospitalised patients in private and public hospitals, whilst demonstrating some differences, was more marked by the similarities in clinical features. The relevance of the different results, the manner in which they may be interpreted, and the implications for administrative decisions which may affect patients with psychiatric illness are discussed.

Adult↗