Preventing and responding to complaints of sexual harassment in an academic health center: a 10-year review from the Medical University of South Carolina.

There is a high incidence of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in academic health center (AHC) settings according to multiple surveys of medical students. Therefore, it is incumbent on AHCs to develop programs both to educate faculty, residents, and students and to handle complaints of possible episodes of sexual harassment or gender discrimination. Despite the apparent high prevalence of gender discrimination and sexual harassment, and the importance of handling complaints of gender discrimination and sexual harassment in a prompt, consistent, and rational manner, there are few descriptions of programs that address those concerns in AHCs.

Participant reactions to survey research in the general population after terrorist attacks.

There remains concern that survey research after a disaster can precipitate or exacerbate distress among study participants. The authors surveyed 5,774 persons in three random-digit-dial telephone surveys of the general population of New York City conducted 1-2 months, 4-5 months, and 6-9 months after the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Overall, 746 (12.

Assault, psychiatric diagnoses, and sociodemographic variables in relation to help-seeking behavior in a national sample of women.

Using a national probability household sample of 4,008 women, we estimated the prevalence and correlates of formal and informal help seeking. One-year prevalences of formal help seeking (e.g.

Utility of the trauma symptom inventory's atypical response scale in detecting malingered post-traumatic stress disorder.

The authors examined the Trauma Symptom Inventory's (TSI) ability to discriminate 88 student post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) simulators screened for genuine PTSD from 48 clinical PTSD-diagnosed outpatients. Results demonstrated between-group differences on several TSI clinical scales and the Atypical Response (ATR) validity scale. Discriminant function analysis using ATR revealed 75% correct patient classification but only 48% correct simulator classification, with an overall correct classification rate of 59% (positive predictive power [PPP] = .

Is disclosure of childhood rape associated with mental health outcome? Results from the National Women's Study.

Clinicians often assert that disclosure of childhood rape is beneficial to victims because it sets the occasion for protective action and can bring them into contact with professionals trained to address rape-related mental health needs. Consistent with this is the hypothesis that victims of childhood rape who disclose their victimization soon after it occurs are at lower risk for later psychosocial difficulties relative to those who delay disclosure or never disclose. We explored this issue with a nationally representative sample of 3,220 adult women; 288 (8.

Violence and risk of PTSD, major depression, substance abuse/dependence, and comorbidity: results from the National Survey of Adolescents.

With a national household probability sample of 4,023 telephone-interviewed adolescents ages 12-17, this study provides prevalence, comorbidity, and risk-factor data for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive episode (MDE), and substance abuse/dependence (SA/D). Roughly 16% of boys and 19% of girls met criteria for at least 1 diagnosis. Six-month PTSD prevalence was 3.