Goal-directed measures to prevent doping and drug abuse in sports requires empirical data. In this connection, a cross-sectional analysis was carried out in 2004. The purpose of the study, on the one hand, was to register reliable data of the current situation in Thuringia, and, on the other hand it was to give information on possible interventional steps with scientific support. Within three months, 2319 adolescents from 16 Thuringian schools (5 regular schools, 4 secondary schools, 3 sport schools and 4 vocational schools) were surveyed. Three hundred and forty-six (15.1 %) students out of 2287 students (26 students without a statement) indicated use of prohibited substances from the WADA list in the previous year: 16 (0.7 %) anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), 10 (0.4 %) growth hormones, 56 (2.4 %) stimulants, 305 (13.2 %) cannabis, 2 (0.1 %) diuretics, 52 (2.2 %) cocaine/heroin and 6 (0.3 %) erythropoeitin. Moreover, nonathletes (N = 490) reported a substance use that was approximately 5.0 % higher than that of recreational athletes (N = 1254) and nearly three times higher than that of competitive athletes (497). All three groups (nonathletes, recreational athletes and competitive athletes) performed poorly on a knowledge test regarding doping in general with an average below 60 % in each case. Another main aspect of the study was to determine factors influencing substance use in sports. Besides the doping specific knowledge (beta = 0.06, p < 0.05), age contributed (beta = 0.09, p < 0.05), as well as anti-doping attitude (beta = -0.34, p < 0.05), to the resulting variance. Gender, however, played no role. The findings of the study point towards the need for improvement of specific knowledge of doping among students and that their attitude towards doping must be altered. The goal in this case is to test the effectiveness of appropriate scientific intervention.

The study describes an application of the Inter-Session-Questionnaire (ISF) related to inpatient group psychotherapy. The instrument should be tested with the extension of differentiating intersession experiences related to the person of the therapist as well as the group. In a cross sectional study performed in 13 different hospitals, 702 patients were assessed. These patients were treated in rehab hospitals, acute hospitals as well as special hospitals providing treatment for eating disorders. The sample should be relatively representative for psychosomatic and psychotherapeutic hospitals in Germany. Besides the type of the hospital, we also analysed the influence of group characteristics (size of group, type of group and number of completed sessions) as well as the patients' sex. Surprisingly, there were almost no marked differences of inter-session-experiences related to the the therapist or the group. The profiles of the item judgements of the ISF were similar to those reported for outpatient and day treatment samples. Inter-session-experiences differed in part according to our expectation depending on the variables mentioned above which suggests to use the ISF in specific studies dealing with the process and outcome of inpatient group psychotherapy as well as the differentiation of relevant subgroups.

Comparison of Different Surgical Methods: The cardinal question of this prospective longitudinal study was whether different surgical methods of hysterectomy correlate with differences in adaptation and in respect of psychological as well as sexual consequences. A total of 83 patients were investigated immediately prior to surgery as well as 6 weeks later. 61 resp. 58 patients participated in follow-up investigations 6 months and 1 year following surgery. Total hysterectomy was performed vaginally in 16 females, abdominally in 22 patients. 23 patients underwent subtotal C.I.S.H. hysterectomy. 23 females indicated for myoma enucleation formed another group of this study. Besides several psychological variables of potential influence such as personality characteristics, coping, sexual attitudes and partner satisfaction, the study covered psychological as well as physical complaints, life satisfaction and differential characteristics of sexual experiences and behaviour longitudinally. The results indicate that single subgroups differ from each other in several respects. There were no indications of different psychological as well as sexual consequences depending on the surgical method. These findings support the view that consequences of hysterectomies are more likely to be predicted on the basis of psychological traits that existed before the operation, rather than from a medico-technical point of view.