No abstract

Rationale, aims, and objectives: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) endeavour to incorporate the best available research evidence together with the clinically informed opinions of leading experts in order to guide clinical practice when dealing with a given condition. There has been increased interest in CPGs that are evidence based and that promote best practice, a central component of which is incorporating the best available research predicated on strong study designs. Despite this soaring interest, there remains heterogeneity in the methodological quality of many CPGs, which may have an effect on the quality of services that clinicians offer. In light of this, this study examined the quality of the methodology used to develop two CPGs of the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA). Method: The CPA's guidelines for the management of anxiety disorders (2006) and for the treatment of depressive disorders (2001) were assessed by trained raters using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II Instrument scale.Results: The blind ratings of three trained raters demonstrated that the anxiety and depression CPGs had a number of strengths and important weaknesses.Conclusion: Implications for the development of future CPGs on anxiety and depression, including recommendations to improve guideline quality in psychiatry in particular, are discussed.

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The present study aimed to investigate the possible relation between reported video game play (i.e., violent, aggressive driving, and prosocial types) and four outcomes of social behaviour: hostile attribution bias, aggression, aggressive driving tendencies, and empathy. A sample of 136 university students (67 males and 69 females), age 17 to 58 (M = 20.66), completed various self-report measures. Data were analyzed both in terms of the whole sample and separately according to participant sex. The results provide partial evidence that there are links between violent games and aggressive attitudes (i.e., physical, but not relational, aggression); aggressive driving games and aggressive driving tendencies/punitive attitudes toward a convicted driver; violent games and hostile attribution bias; and violent games and lower empathy ratings. No support was found for the link between prosocial games and higher empathy. Future research directions for research on video games effects are outlined.

The present study aimed to investigate the possible relation between reported video game play (i.e., violent, aggressive driving, and prosocial types) and four outcomes of social behaviour: hostile attribution bias, aggression, aggressive driving tendencies, and empathy. A sample of 136 university students (67 males and 69 females), age 17 to 58 (M = 20.66), completed various self-report measures. Data were analyzed both in terms of the whole sample and separately according to participant sex. The results provide partial evidence that there are links between violent games and aggressive attitudes (i.e., physical, but not relational, aggression); aggressive driving games and aggressive driving tendencies/punitive attitudes toward a convicted driver; violent games and hostile attribution bias; and violent games and lower empathy ratings. No support was found for the link between prosocial games and higher empathy. Future research directions for research on video games effects are outlined.