Results indicate that VetChange is effective in reducing drinking and PTSD symptoms in OIF/OEF veterans. Further studies of VetChange are needed to assess web-based recruitment and retention methods and to determine VetChange's effectiveness in demographic and clinical sub-populations of returning veterans.

Emerging methodological research suggests that the World Wide Web (“Web”) is an appropriate venue for survey data collection, and a promising area for delivering behavioral intervention. However, the use of the Web for research raises concerns regarding sample validity, particularly when the Web is used for recruitment and enrollment. The purpose of this paper is to describe the challenges experienced in two different Web-based studies in which participant misrepresentation threatened sample validity: a survey study and an online intervention study. The lessons learned from these experiences generated three types of strategies researchers can use to reduce the likelihood of participant misrepresentation for eligibility in Web-based research. Examples of procedural/design strategies, technical/software strategies and data analytic strategies are provided along with the methodological strengths and limitations of specific strategies. The discussion includes a series of considerations to guide researchers in the selection of strategies that may be most appropriate given the aims, resources and target population of their studies.

. Clinical diagnoses in young offspring from eastern Que´bec multigenerational families densely affected by schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.Objective: The follow-up since 1989 of a large sample of multigenerational families of eastern Que´bec that are densely affected by schizophrenia (SZ) or bipolar disorder (BP) has permitted to look at the rates of DSM diagnoses in the young offspring of a SZ parent (HRSZ) and of a BP parent (HRBP) who had an extremely loaded family history. Method: The sample (average age of 17.5, SD 4.5) consisted of 54 highrisk offspring (HR) having one parent affected by a DSM-IV SZ or BP. The parents descended from 21 multigenerational families that constitute a quasi-total sample of such kindred in eastern Que´bec. The HRs were administered a lifetime best estimate DSM-IV diagnosis. Results: We observed that the rates, the diversity of diagnoses, the high comorbidity, the severity and the age of onset of the clinical diagnoses tended to be similar with those already reported in the offspring of affected parents with a low familial loading. Although the sample size was small, HRSZ and HRBP also tended to show similarities in their clinical status. Conclusion: Overall, taking into account methodological limitations, the observation early in life of some shared characteristics among HRSZ and HRBP in terms of non-psychotic diagnosis may be congruent with the accumulating evidence that several phenotypic features are shared in adulthood by the two major psychoses. Significant outcomes• Offspring at high genetic risk of major psychosis displayed early in life non-psychotic DSM disorders warranting a consultation.• Various and highly comorbid disorders were observable in these offspring at extreme genetic risk.• HRSZ and HRBP showed similarities in their clinical status. Limitations• Normal control group from the general population was absent.• Small sample size may have prevented detection of differences between HRSZ and HRBP.• Caution is required before generalizing findings to the offspring of an ill parent from the general population.Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 (DSM-5) reformulated Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) based partially on research showing there were four main factors that underlie the symptoms of the disorder. The primary aim of this study was to examine the temporal stability of the DSM-5 factors as measured by the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5; Weathers et al., 2010). Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the structure of DSM-5 PTSD, and temporal stability over three time points was examined to determine if the measure reflects a consistent construct over time. Our sample was 507 combat-exposed veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who enrolled in an online intervention for problem drinking and combat-related stress (masked for review). We administered the PCL-5 at baseline, 8-week post intervention, and 3-month follow-up assessments. The DSM-5 model provided an adequate fit to the data at baseline. Tests of equality of form and equality of factor loadings demonstrated stability of the factor structure over time, indicating temporal stability. This study confirms the results of previous research supporting the DSM-5 model of PTSD symptoms (Elhai et al., 2012; Miller et al., 2012). This is the first study to demonstrate the temporal stability of the PCL-5, indicating its use in longitudinal studies will measure the same construct over time.

When it is not necessary or not possible to gather detailed drinking data, the QDS produces reliable brief summary measures of drinking for problem drinkers. Generalization to nonclinical samples awaits further research.

No abstract

The current review summarizes and critically evaluates the existing literature to shed light on two key questions: (a) the impact of trauma exposure on alcohol use (and vice versa; the impact of alcohol use on risk for trauma exposure) in women, and (b) the nature of PTSD-alcohol misuse comorbidity in women. The secondary aim was to explore moderators or mechanisms of action. Findings suggest that sexual trauma may be especially relevant to alcohol misuse in women. Crosssectional data generally support PTSD-alcohol misuse associations; however, findings from prospective studies are mixed. Significantly less is known about moderators/mediators of these relations, with the majority of work focused on emotional and motivational processes. Limitations, future directions, and clinical implications are discussed.

The nosology of major psychoses is challenged by the findings that schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BP) share several neurobiological, neuropsychological and clinical phenotypic characteristics. Moreover, several vulnerability loci or genes may be common to the two DSM disorders. We previously reported, in a sample of 21 kindreds (sample 1), a genome-wide suggestive linkage in 13q13 -q14 with a common locus (CL) phenotype that crossed the diagnostic boundaries by combining SZ, BP and schizoaffective disorders. Our objectives were to test phenotype specificity in a separate sample (sample 2) of 27 kindreds from Eastern Quebec and to also analyze the combined sample of 48 kindreds (1274 family members). We performed nonparametric and parametric analyses and tested as phenotypes: SZ alone, BP alone, and a CL phenotype. We replicated in sample 2 our initial finding with CL with a maximum NPL pair score of 3.36 at D13S1272 (44 Mb), only 2.1 Mb telomeric to our previous maximum result. In the combined sample, the peak with CL was at marker D13S1297 (42.1 Mb) with a NPL pair score reaching 5.21, exceeding that obtained in each sample and indicating consistency across the two samples. Our data suggest a susceptibility locus in 13q13-q14 that is shared by schizophrenia and mood disorder. That locus would be additional to another well documented and more distal 13q locus where the G72/G30 gene is mapped.