The evaluation of family functioning by the family assessment device: a systematic review of studies in adult clinical populations.

A large body of research, documenting the impact of a family's functioning on health outcomes, highlights the importance of introducing the evaluation of patients' family dynamics into clinical judgment. The Family Assessment Device (FAD) is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess specific dimensions of family functioning. This qualitative systematic review, which follows PRISMA guidelines, aimed to identify the FAD's clinimetric properties and to report the incremental utility of its inclusion in clinical settings. A thorough literature search was performed, using both computerized and manual searches, yielding a total of 148 studies that were included in this review. The FAD has been extensively used in a variety of research contexts. In the majority of studies it was able to discriminate between clinical populations and controls and among groups of patients with different illnesses. The FAD also showed good test-retest and concurrent reliability, and modest sensitivity to change after treatment. FAD-dysfunctional family functioning was related to several patient clinical outcomes, including lower recovery rates and adherence to treatment, longer recovery time, poorer quality of life, and increased risk of relapse and drop-out. The present review demonstrates that the FAD is a suitable instrument for the evaluation of family functioning both in clinical and research settings.

[Psychological treatment of female sexual dysfunction: a critical review of the literature]. / Trattamento psicologico delle disfunzioni sessuali femminili: una revisione critica della letteratura.

AIM: Impairment of sexual functioning may have a significant impact on the person's quality of life. Despite the high prevalence of female sexual dysfunctions, it is still not clear what are the effective treatments for these disorders. The aim of this critical review is to provide an update on the efficacy of psychological treatments for female sexual dysfunctions. METHOD: A thorough literature search was performed, using electronic database (PubMed and PsychINFO) and manual searches, selecting articles in English and Italian language published in peer-reviewed journals. Only randomized controlled trials were included. RESULTS: Most of the studies investigated the efficacy of sex therapy using techniques developed by Masters and Johnson and behavioral/ cognitive-behavioral treatment programs. Both approaches were effective for dyspareunia and vaginismus. Cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness based therapy showed significant improvement in hypoactive sexual desire but more research is needed for this disorder. Studies on the efficacy of treatment for orgasmic disorder are scarce and dated and they investigated mainly behavioral programs. CONCLUSION: The low methodological quality of many studies and the paucity of data for the most prevalent female dysfunctions calls for further research on psychological interventions for these disorders, using randomized, controlled designs and larger samples.

[Clinical pharmacopsychology]. / Farmacopsicologia clinica.

The aim of this critical review was to outline emerging trends and perspectives of clinical pharmacopsychology, an area of clinical psychology that is concerned with the psychological effects of medications. The historical development of clinical pharmacopsychology (Kraepelin, Pichot, Kellner, Di Mascio, Shader, Bech) is outlined, with critical review of its most representative expressions and reference to current challenges of clinical research. Clinical pharmacopsychology is concerned with the application of clinimetric methods to the assessment of psychotropic effects of medications (including behavioral toxicity and iatrogenic comorbidity) and the interaction of drugs with specific and non-specific treatment ingredients. Clinical pharmacopsychology offers a unifying framework for the understanding of clinical phenomena in medical and psychiatric settings. Research in this area deserves high priority.

[Italian validation of Multiple Visual Analogue Scales for Bipolarity (MVAS-BP) of Ahearn and Carroll]. / Validazione italiana delle scale visive analogiche multiple per la bipolarità (Multiple Visual Analogue Scales for Bipolarity, MVAS-BP) di Ahearn e Carroll.

AIM: The aim of the present study was to validate the Italian version and to assess the clinimetric properties of Ahearn and Carroll's Visual Analogue Scales for Bipolarity (MVAS-BP), a self-rating questionnaire measuring affective state. METHOD: MVAS-BP consist of 26 items: 1 item assesses overall mood, 2 items anger and 23 items are based on the Carroll model of bipolar disorder (Consummatory Reward, Incentive Reward, Central Pain, Psychomotor Regulation). MVAS-BP have been translated into Italian and administered with Kellner's Symptom Questionnaire (SQ), Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scales (PWB), and Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) to a normative sample of 450 people. The assessment was repeated after one month. Test-retest reliability, means scores, differences according to sociodemographic variables and correlations among the scales of MVAS-BP, SQ, PWB and TPQ were performed in order to assess clinimetric properties. RESULTS: Test-retest coefficients were highly significant. Significant sex differences were found in the scales of consummatory reward, central pain, psychomotor regulation and anger. MVAS-BP scales were significantly related with symptom and well-being scales, but with very low correlation coefficients, and only with one personality dimension, TPQ Harm Avoidance. DISCUSSION: MVAS-BP has been found to possess clinimetric properties and to record specific and different information from those investigated by other questionnaires.