No abstract

Content analysis of verbal communications is a technique by which psychologists can assess the transitory psychological states of their research participants. This article presents a history of the use of this technique in psychology, then describes the development of content analysis scales, including an example of a scale in construction. The variety of verbal communications to which content analysis is applicable is also considered. Issues of reliability and validity were considered in a survey of the literature on a sample of 10 relatively well-developed content analysis scales. Some of the theoretical and practical advantages of the technique over other methods of assessment of psychological states were also examined, as well as some of its problems and limitations. The article provides information about available content analysis scales. Applications of content analysis in personality, developmental, and social psychology are considered, together with others in clinical, community, and health psychology. The scoring of content analysis scales by computer is also discussed, as is their contribution to an ethical relationship between researcher and research participant. This review concludes with an evaluation of the viability of content analysis as an aid in psychological research.

A comparison of the grief responses of spousal caregivers who cared for their demented partners at home with those who provided ongoing nursing home care, together with an examination of gender differences, is reported here. Four psychological states of grief were examined: anxiety, sadness, anger, and guilt. Sixty spousal caregivers participated in the study: thirty husbands and thirty wives, with equal numbers of home and nursing home caregivers. Content analysis scales were scored to assess the four psychological states. A self-rating, adjective mood scale was also used as a secondary measure of those states. A personal construct model of spousal caregivers' bereavement for their demented partners was developed and provided the two hypotheses about differences in grieving. As predicted, nursing home caregivers expressed significantly higher levels of sadness and guilt than home caregivers. Against prediction, home caregivers expressed significantly more anger than nursing home caregivers. Home caregiving wives were found to be the most angry cohort. Also, as predicted, caregiving wives expressed significantly higher levels of anxiety, sadness, and anger than caregiving husbands. The results of the content analysis scales were confirmed by the secondary measure, but the former measure proved more powerful for detecting statistically significant differences. The inclusion of severity of the patients' dementia, and the spiritually and age of the spousal caregivers as covariates in the statistical analyses showed place of care and gender of caregiver to remain the most powerful predictors of the four psychological states of grief.

The work of such psychologists as Kelly, McReynolds, Epstein, and Lazarus suggested the need for a measure of cognitive anxiety and provided a definition of that construct. A method of content analysis of verbal samples was devised and found to have adequate interjudge reliability. Normative data for five groups of subjects were provided. The validity of the measure as representative of a reaction to being unable to anticipate and integrate experience meaningfully was demonstrated in (a) the higher scores of groups of subjects who were currently coping with new experiences than those who were not, (b) the significant correlation of its scores with a state rather than trait anxiety measures, (c) the variability of its scores over time as observed in a generalizeability study, and (d) the higher scores of subjects when they were dealing with experiences for which meaningful anticipation was relatively difficult.

Personal construct theory has provided a model of psychosocial functioning in the elderly. This model analyzes the changing events construed by the elderly, the content of their constructs, the forms of their construing, and the outcomes of these changes for them. Personal construct theory has also provided a model of psychotherapy, describing the roles of the client and therapist, as well as the therapeutic relationship between them. This model has identified the major therapeutic movements that can occur for elderly clients. The two models and the therapeutic movements are illustrated here in a case study.