Caregiver-reported psychological and behavioural functioning of children with suicidal thoughts and behaviour: A case-control design.

OBJECTIVE: This exploratory project aims to provide an empirical understanding of the caregiver-reported emotional and behavioural functioning of children 12 and under who present to an inpatient psychiatric unit with suicidal ideation and/or attempts. METHOD: A retrospective chart review was conducted, including all patients (n = 573) aged 12 and under admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit between September 2011-December 2015 for suicidal ideation without proximal attempt (n = 155) or a suicide attempt (n = 37). Inpatients without suicidal thoughts and behaviour in the same age range (n = 381) served as a control group. The three groups were compared on a range of variables, including patient history/demographics, caregiver-reported emotional/behavioural functioning, and discharge diagnoses. RESULTS: Children who were admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit following suicide attempts and/or ideation demonstrated clinically significant levels of externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Children with suicidal thoughts and behaviour (STB) were more likely to be female and older than their peers without STB, more likely to report a history of sexual abuse and non-suicidal self-injury, and to be diagnosed with a depressive disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Children with STB differ demographically, symptomatically, and diagnostically from their peers without STB with comparable levels of psychiatric impairment (i.e., necessitating inpatient admission). Results provide provisional information on this concerning group of children, which can be used to aid identification of risk factors, inform treatment, and stimulate future work.

Pediatric medical psychology.

Paediatric medical psychology is a specialised field within clinical health psychology focussed on the behavioural, developmental, and psychological needs of children, adolescents, and families in healthcare contexts. Paediatric medical psychologists address a myriad of problems by employing evidence-based evaluations and interventions in order to support the well-being of paediatric patients and their families. In this paper, we provide an overview of paediatric medical psychology including the education and training required to be a paediatric psychologist followed by common problems addressed by paediatric psychology, the settings paediatric psychologists work in, and the services they provide. Discussion concludes with future application of integrating paediatric psychology throughout the continuum of care to optimise adjustment and health of paediatric patients.

Ratings for emotion film clips.

Film clips are widely utilized to elicit emotion in a variety of research studies. Normative ratings for scenes selected for these purposes support the idea that selected clips correspond to the intended target emotion, but studies reporting normative ratings are limited. Using an ethnically diverse sample of college undergraduates, selected clips were rated for intensity, discreteness, valence, and arousal. Variables hypothesized to affect the perception of stimuli (i.e., gender, race-ethnicity, and familiarity) were also examined. Our analyses generally indicated that males reacted strongly to positively valenced film clips, whereas females reacted more strongly to negatively valenced film clips. Caucasian participants tended to react more strongly to the film clips, and we found some variation by race-ethnicity across target emotions. Finally, familiarity with the films tended to produce higher ratings for positively valenced film clips, and lower ratings for negatively valenced film clips. These findings provide normative ratings for a useful set of film clips for the study of emotion, and they underscore factors to be considered in research that utilizes scenes from film for emotion elicitation.