Do childhood callous-unemotional traits drive change in parenting practices?

This study examined the relationship between callous-unemotional (CU) traits and parenting practices over time in a mixed-sex community cohort (N = 1,008; 52.6% boys), aged 3 to 10 years (M = 6.5, SD = 1.

Clinical indicators for routine use in the evaluation of early psychosis intervention: development, training support and inter-rater reliability.

Aim: Clinical practice improvement carried out in a quality assurance framework relies on routinely collected data using clinical indicators. Herein we describe the development, minimum training requirements, and inter-rater agreement of indicators that were used in an Australian multi-site evaluation of the effectiveness of early psychosis (EP) teams.

Methods: Surveys of clinician opinion and face-to-face consensus-building meetings were used to select and conceptually define indicators.

Appraising evidence for intervention effectiveness in early psychosis: conceptual framework and review of evaluation approaches.

The literature that is relevant to evaluation of treatment effectiveness is large, scattered and difficult to assemble for appraisal. This scoping review first develops a conceptual framework to help organize the field, and second, uses the framework to appraise early psychosis intervention (EPI) studies. Literature searches were used to identify representative study designs, which were then sorted according to evaluation approach.

Learning to 'talk the talk: the relationship of psychopathic traits to deficits in empathy across childhood.

Background: Psychopathy is characterised by profound deficits in the human tendency to feel and care about what other people feel, often known as 'affective empathy'. On the other hand, the psychopath often has intact 'cognitive' empathy skills, that is, he is able to describe what and why other people feel, even if he does not share or care about those feelings. Despite a rapidly advancing neuroscience of empathy, little is known about the developmental underpinnings of this psychopathic disconnect between affective and cognitive empathy.

A measure of cognitive and affective empathy in children using parent ratings.

The construct of "empathy" embodies a number of characteristics necessary for psychological health in children. Surprisingly, most research has been based solely on children and adolescent report and observational measures despite evidence that multi-informant assessment is fundamental to the accurate measurement of such constructs. We present research documenting the development and validation of a brief parent-report measure of child empathy targeted at the formative years for the development of empathic skills, through to adolescence.

A naturalistic comparison of two right unilateral electroconvulsive therapy dosing protocols: 2-3X seizure threshold versus fixed high-dose.

The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes associated with two differing right unilateral (RUL) electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) dosing protocols: 2-3X seizure threshold (2-3X ST) and fixed high dose (FHD) at 353 mC. A retrospective chart review was performed to compare patient outcomes during the implementation of two different dosing protocols: 2-3X ST from October 2000 to May 2001 and FHD from June 2001 to February 2002. A total of 56 patients received ECT under the 2-3X ST protocol, and 46 received ECT under the FHD protocol.

"GP Psych Opinion": evaluation of a psychiatric consultation service.

Objective: To evaluate a hospital-based psychiatric consultation service for patients referred by general practitioners (GPs), and the effect on its use of a focused marketing strategy aimed at GPs.

Design And Setting: Postal survey of GPs in the catchment area (inner north Brisbane, Queensland), September to November 2003; and assessment of referrals, March to August 2003.

Main Outcome Measures: Patient referrals, satisfaction among GPs who had referred, and awareness and opinions of the service among GPs who had not referred, compared with results of a similar survey conducted before marketing.