[Predictors of successful transfer to everyday live of a relaxation method acquired in psychosomatic rehabilitation]. / Prädiktoren des Alltagstransfers eines stationär erlernten Entspannungstrainings.

AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of the present study was to identify factors at the beginning and at the end of an inpatient psychosomatic rehabilitation predicting the successful transfer of Progressive Relaxation (PR) according to Jacobson three months after the stay. METHODS: Eighty patients in a psychosomatic rehabilitation centre were studied in the beginning (T1), at discharge (T2) and three months after discharge (T3). Every patient participated in courses on PR. To evaluate the course, parts of the "Diagnostisches und evaluatives Instrumentarium für Entspannungstraining und Entspannungstherapie" were used. Transfer was defined as successful if patients practised PR at least once a week three months after their stay. Potential predictors were: diagnosis, age, symptoms, previous experiences, and motives at T1 and frequency of practising, adequateness of group size and change of symptoms at T2. Stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors. RESULTS: Three months after the course 52,5% of the patients were able to transfer PR successfully into their daily lives. 68,8% of cases had been correctly classified by logistic regression through: participation motive "positive thoughts" (T1) and "frequency of practising PR outside the course" (T2). CONSEQUENCES: Intrinsic participation motives and practising independently are significant predictors of long-term transfer of PR. This indicates the necessity of discussing motives at the beginning as well as frequency of practising during the PR course. It would be particularly interesting to know whether specific encouraging of motivation would improve the transfer to everyday life.

[Optimizing the learning process in short-term autogenic training by practice protocols]. / Optimierung des Lernprozesses beim Autogenen Training bei kurzer Kurslaufzeit durch Ubungsprotokolle.

The results of two studies are presented, in which the question was investigated, whether the learning process of autogenic training (AT) in short group programs can be improved by the use of a self-control technique (records for the AT-exercises realized without the group at home). Study I refers to 24 university students, who learned AT within their psychology education; Study II refers to 28 adults, who learned AT within a psychosocial community service for adults. Within control-group designs evaluative and follow-up data were gathered before, during, at the end, and 4 months after the AT-treatment. The data refer to psychosomatic complaints (SSP, ATSYM), depression (BDI), relaxation capacity and wellbeing (VFE) as well as subjective valuations of AT and the frequency of AT-exercising. The results of both studies show that the basal AT-exercises can be learned in short group programs (6 meetings within 6 weeks). The self-control technique promotes the learning process at short as well as at longer sight. Implications of the results for the realization of introductions to AT in out- and in-patient group treatment are discussed.

[Locus of control of depressive patients in a cross-cultural comparison]. / Kontrollüberzeugungen Depressiver im transkulturellen Vergleich.

On the background of social-cognitive theories and transcultural aspects of depression relationships between generalized locus of control orientations and indicators of depression were analyzed in clinical samples from Egypt and West Germany. Data were collected in samples of 50 Egypt and 45 German inpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD, DSM-III) as well as in control samples of 50 Egyptian and German inpatients with acute medical diseases. Besides the "Beck Depression Inventory" (BDI) and the Hopelessness-Scale (H-Scale) the IPC-Scales were used, measuring internality, powerful others control and chance control in generalized control orientations. Results are: (1) Depressive inpatients are more depressive, more hopeless, more external, and less internal than patients with medical diseases; (2) While the Egyptian patients reach in general a markedly higher level in depression (BDI) than the patients in the German samples, a similar difference in the H-Scale was only observed for the depressive samples; (3) The Egyptian patients show distinctly higher scores in powerful others and chance control; (4) Discriminant analysis shows, that about 60% can be classified to the correct disease- and nationality-group by using the IPC-Scores; (5) There are some cultural specifica in the correlative patterns of the studied variables. It is concluded, that the results confirm on a general level the transcultural validity of cognitive approaches to depression. But it is noted as well, that cultural specificia in the structure of the cognitive orientations underlying depression require some differentiations of the constructs of such approaches.

Text recall in adulthood: the roles of text imagery and orienting tasks.

Three experiments were conducted to investigate dual-code theory and the levels-of-processing approach in discourse processing. Three concrete and three abstract tests were constructed to be equivalent in the degree to which they were perceived as concrete vs. abstract. All experiments presented concrete and abstract texts under three orienting tasks. Results of the first experiment showed main effects for both text concreteness and orienting tasks and an interaction that can be described by the lack of a difference between the recall rates for the concrete and the abstract texts under the intentional-learning condition. In the second experiment, longer texts were used and a second trial was introduced. The interaction was not replicated. There were main effects for concreteness, orienting tasks, and trials. The third experiment replicated Experiment 2 with subjects in their late 40s and over 70. Main effects were obtained as before. Age interacted with both orienting task and concreteness, indicating that older adults gain less than middle-aged adults from intentional-learning instructions and benefit less from highly concrete texts. The discussion focuses on the relation of Materials and Subjects as factors to dual-code theory and levels of processing approach.

[Verification of control in alcoholism research. Review of the literature and theoretical relations]. / Kontrollüberzeugungen in der Alkoholismusforschung. Literaturüberblick und theoretische Bezüge.

After a literature review about 45 studies on control orientations in alcoholism research, which focus literature from 1977 to 1986, the theoretical background of these studies is discussed. In contrast to the earlier findings, which were founded upon onedimensional measures of generalized locus of control, the results of recent studies, which use multidimensional or domain-specific measures of control orientations, show consistently, (1) that alcoholics before and at the beginning of a treatment have low internality, higher powerful others externality, and especially high chance control orientations, (2) that control orientations have a special diagnostic value for alcoholics, (3) that internality increases during inpatient treatments, and (4) that control orientations measured before or at the beginning of a treatment are comparatively good predictors of treatment effects (treatment dropouts, abstinence, relapse). There are too first empirical hints for the indicative value of control orientations for special treatment programs. Besides the hypothesis of loss of control in drinking and the approach of social-cognitive learning theory to alcoholism a developmental, action-theoretical founded model of drug abuse is described, which can not only integrate recent results on control orientations in alcoholism research but also opens perspectives for a more systematic, theory-based research.

[Clinical perception and recovery in myocardial infarct patients at a rehabilitation clinic]. / Klinikwahrnehmung und Genesung von Herzinfarktpatienten in einer Rehabilitationsklinik.

The relationships between various indicators of (1) subjective perception of clinic environment, (2) subjective state of health and perceived health changes during rehabilitation, (3) clinical ratings (physician's ratings of health status and its changes), (4) medical-diagnostic laboratory data, and (5) patient history, were studied in a sample of 144 myocardial infarction patients who participated in a four- to six-week early rehabilitation programme. Canonical correlation analyses point to intricate, statistically significant interrelationships among subjective perceptions of treatment environment and subjective health status changes, physician's ratings and laboratory findings, as well as subjective perceptions of treatment environment and patient history. All other combinations of variables did not reveal statistically significant canonical correlations. The findings show that subjective perception of the treatment environment is an important psychosocial variable relevant to subjective well-being of myocardial infarction patients and their subjective recovery during rehabilitation.

Generalized expectations of alcoholics: multidimensional locus of control, hopelessness, and machiavellianism.

Compared five aspects of generalized expectations (internality, powerful others external control orientation, change control orientation, hopelessness, and machiavellianism) of alcoholics and nonalcoholics. Ss tested were 56 nonalcoholics and 50 alcoholics just starting a treatment (middle socioeconomic class). Data analysis was done by a multivariate analysis of variance. The two samples differed in their generalized expectations. Alcoholics were, on the average, more external in powerful others control orientations, more external in chance control orientations, more hopeless, and more machiavellianistic than the nonalcoholics. The results support the findings of alcoholics' relative externality in locus of control of reinforcement and refer to the relevance of generalized expectations for the treatment of alcoholism.