The paper describes a multicentre study of the psychometric properties of the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task in a sample of 230 Italian children aged 4 to 8 years. The task's internal consistency and inter-rater reliability were investigated; in addition, multiple discriminant analysis was used to explore the contribution of individual coding system scale scores to overall categorical attachment classification. The instrument showed acceptable psychometric properties, especially with respect to Disorganization and Coherence scales. However, our results also suggest that some subscales of the coding system could be modified in order to improve reliability. The implications of our results for future research and further test validation are discussed.
The Circle of Security Parenting (COS-P) is an early attachment based intervention that can be used with groups, dyads, and individuals. Created in the USA and now used in many countries, COS-P is a visually based approach that demonstrates its central principles through videos of parent/child interactions. The core purpose of the COS-P is to provide an opportunity for caregivers to reflect on their child's needs and on the challenges each parent faces in meeting those needs. Even though there is a wide range of clinical settings in which child/parent attachment is an important component of assessment there is limited empirical data on when and how attachment based interventions are appropriate for specific clinical profiles and contexts. The aim of this paper is to present a clinical application of COS-P in order to explore and reflect on some specific therapeutic tasks where it works and on some clinical indicators and contexts appropriate for its application. A single case study of a father, “M.” (43 years old) in conflict for the custody of his 5 years old daughter is reported. The Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP), the Parenting Stress Index, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and the Parental Alliance Measure, were administered pre- and post-intervention. The clinical significance analysis method revealed that numerous changes occurred in the father. The AAP showed improvements in the level of agency of self. M. made gains in his capacity to use internal resources and to increase his agency of self. M. was classified as recovered in his perception of the child's functioning and as improved in his parenting stress and parenting alliance with the mother. Considerations on specific contexts and clinical indicators for the application of COS-P are proposed.
Assessing Interpersonal Motivations in Transcripts (AIMIT) is a coding system aiming to systematically detect the activity of interpersonal motivational systems (IMS) in the therapeutic dialogue. An inter- and intra-rater reliability study has been conducted. Sixteen video-recorded psychotherapy sessions were selected and transcribed according to the AIMIT criteria. Sessions relate to 16 patients with an Axis II diagnosis, with a mean Global Assessment of Functioning of 51. For the intra-rater reliability evaluation, five sessions have been selected and assigned to five independent coders who where asked to make a first evaluation, and then a second independent one 14 days later. For the inter-rater reliability study, the sessions coded by the therapist-coder were jointly revised with another coder and finally classified as gold standard. The 16 standard sessions were sent to other evaluators for the independent coding. The agreement (κ) was estimated according to the following parameters for each coding unit: evaluation units supported by the 'codable' activation of one or more IMS; motivational interaction with reference to the ongoing relation between patient and therapist; an interaction between the patient and another person reported/narrated by the patient; detection of specific IMS: attachment (At), caregiving (CG), rank (Ra), sexuality (Se), peer cooperation (PC); and transitions from one IMS to another were also scored. The intra-rater agreement was evaluated through the parameters 'cod', 'At', 'CG', 'Ra', 'Se' and 'PC' described above. A total of 2443 coding units were analysed. For the nine parameters on which the agreement was calculated, eight ['coded (Cod)', 'ongoing relation (Rel)', 'narrated relation (Nar)', 'At', 'CG', 'Ra', 'Se' and 'PC'] have κ values comprised between 0.62 (CG) and 0.81 (Cod) and were therefore satisfactory. The scoring of 'transitions' showed agreement values slightly below desired cut-off (0.56). Intra-rater reliability was very good (κ values for Cod = 0.90; κ for all IMS = 0.78). Data seem to support the validity of the AIMIT method in terms of reliability, and encourage to further implementation of the AIMIT approach.
The conjugate L-HSA-DOXO could improve the potential of DOXO in the treatment of all HCCs, including the poorly differentiated tumors that are the common forms in the advanced disease for which an effective chemotherapy is particularly needed.
- In this work we describe two evaluation methods (PIGA and AIMIT) we used in analysis of interactions between adolescents and their own parents. In our opinion it's very important in Adolescence to take in account and analyze how interpersonal motivational systems can define the parent-adolescent interactions to understand what kind of situation can improve and subtain the adoescent's development. Key Words: Attachment; Interpersonal Motivational Systems; Evaluation Instruments; Psychoterapy; Parents training.
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