ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine a comprehensive inpatient treatment program designed for adult survivors of childhood abuse with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). METHOD: One hundred and thirty-two formerly abused individuals completed clinician-administered and self-administered measures of PTSD symptomatology at admission and discharge. All participants experienced a range of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse as children prior to the age of 17. Approximately one-third of these individuals also completed measures at 3-months postdischarge and 1-year postdischarge. Data were collected using a clinician-administered PTSD measure and self-administered PTSD measure at admission and discharge. On admission, all participants met criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that the program was effective in reducing symptoms from admission to discharge. Additionally, treatment gains were maintained at 1-year postdischarge. CONCLUSION: The findings of this investigation suggest that the current intensive inpatient group treatment program appears to reduce PTSD symptoms effectively for a sample of adult survivors of abuse.
Subject(s)
Child Abuse/psychology , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/etiology , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/therapy , Survivors/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Comprehensive Health Care/methods , Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , Female , Hospitalization , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Psychotherapy, Group/methods , Self-Assessment , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Researchers examining the effectiveness of an elaboration strategy (answering 'why') for learning new information have been concerned with the familiarity of the materials and how that affects learning. It may be, however, that both how information is organised and familiarity impact on the potency of the strategy. AIMS: We examined the influence of presentation structures (i.e., organisation of information) on the effectiveness of an elaboration strategy. SAMPLES: All participants were undergraduates (78 females, 67 males) enrolled in a first-year psychology course. Fifteen students participated in Experiment One, 42 students in Experiment Two, and 88 students in Experiment Three. METHODS: In Experiment One, preference for conceptual organisation was assessed. In Experiments Two and Three, students answered 'why' questions when different presentation structures were used. RESULTS: Students' preferred method of organisation did not match the imposed structure found in past research, suggesting that students may have been restricted in their ability to process the information distinctively. Students who were presented with the information in a random order achieved the largest memory scores. CONCLUSIONS: When students have to reconstruct as well as encode the information, these added task demands provide an added benefit for learning.
