The influence of staff nurse perception of leadership style on satisfaction with leadership: a cross-sectional survey of pediatric nurses.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that transformational leadership style promotes nursing excellence. Differences in how supervisees and supervisors perceive the supervisor's leadership style may also be related to satisfaction with leadership. Research demonstrates that satisfaction with leadership is a critical element in the retention of nurses. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate staff nurse and nurse leader perceptions of leadership style. METHODS: 16 supervisors and 179 supervisees completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and a demographic survey. Data were analyzed using parametric statistical techniques. RESULTS: Although staff perceived leaders as employing largely transformative leadership strategies, differences existed in leader-staff congruence in interpretation of leadership style and as related to the role of the leader. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in interpretation of leadership style between supervisors and supervisees were associated with diminished satisfaction with leadership. In addition, those serving in a direct operational role (assistant nurse manager) were viewed as less transformative than leaders who maintained broader administrative responsibilities.

Comparing factor analytic models of the DSM-IV personality disorders.

There is little agreement about the latent factor structure of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) personality disorders (PDs). Factor analytic studies over the past 2 decades have yielded different results, in part reflecting differences in factor analytic technique, the measure used to assess the PDs, and the changing DSM criteria. In this study, we explore the latent factor structure of the DSM (4th ed.; IV) PDs in a sample of 1200 psychiatric outpatients evaluated with the Structured Interview for DSM-IV PDs (B. Pfohl, N. Blum, & M. Zimmerman, 1997). We first evaluated 2 a priori models of the PDs with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reflecting their inherent organization in the DSM-IV: a 3-factor model and a 10-factor model. Fit statistics did not suggest that these models yielded an adequate fit. We then evaluated the latent structure with exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Multiple solutions produced more statistically and theoretically reasonable results, as well as providing clinically useful findings. On the basis of fit statistics and theory, 3 models were evaluated further--the 4-, 5-, and 10-factor models. The 10-factor model, which did not resemble the 10-factor model of the CFA, was determined to be the strongest of all 3 models. Future research should use contemporary methods of evaluating factor analytic results in order to more thoroughly compare various factor solutions.

Assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans by videoconferencing and by face-to-face methods.

We compared videoconferencing and face-to-face (FTF) assessments for veterans seeking a mental health evaluation for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) interview was used in 20 male veterans. There were significant correlations (ranging from 0.74 to 0.92) between the CAPS administered FTF and by videoconferencing on all three subscales, as well as on the total severity score. The confidence intervals for the CAPS scores indicated statistical equivalence between administration FTF and by videoconferencing. The sensitivity of videoconferencing was 0.94 and the specificity was 0.33, compared with FTF assessment. The total and subscale scores suggested that there was a moderate working alliance with both methods. The patients indicated general satisfaction with the videoconferencing method. Most of them indicated that they would prefer to see a clinician FTF, but would utilize videoconferencing if there were distance barriers to services. Overall, the results of the present study support the use of videoconferencing in the assessment of PTSD.

Accuracy of retrospective memory and covariation estimation in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Assessment methods relying on biased or inaccurate retrospective recall may distort knowledge about the nature of disorders and lead to faulty clinical inferences. Despite concerns about the accuracy of retrospective recall in general and in particular with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients, the accuracy of retrospective recall for one's own symptoms assessed in vivo is unknown in this population. This study used a prospective ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodology to create a criterion against which to assess recall accuracy in OCD patients. Although results indicated that patients' retrospective recall of OCD symptoms was fairly accurate, they consistently overestimated the magnitude of OCD symptom covariation with non-OCD facets (e.g., sleep duration, contemporaneous stress level, etc.). Findings suggest that even when recall of OCD symptoms is accurate, patients may be inaccurate in estimating symptom covariation. The findings have implications for the research, case conceptualization, and assessment of OCD, and may extend to other disorders.

Graduate student WAIS-III scoring accuracy is a function of full scale IQ and complexity of examiner tasks.

Research on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) suggests that practicing clinical psychologists and graduate students make item-level scoring errors that affect IQ, index, and subtest scores. Studies have been limited in that Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) and examiner administration, recording, and scoring tasks have not been systematically varied. In this study, graduate student participants score a high (FSIQ = 112) and low (FSIQ = 85) IQ record form in one of two stimulus conditions: digitized film clips (N = 13) or partially completed record forms (N = 11). Results demonstrate that examiners are less accurate in the high IQ condition, and that recording examinee responses from scoring video clips results in more scoring errors. Obtained FSIQs are significantly higher than criterion IQ scores in the high IQ condition (8.46 for video condition, 2.55 for record form condition). Self-reported proficiency in WAIS-III administration and scoring is positively related to number of scoring errors.