Self concepts in adjusted and maladjusted hospital patients.

Abstract

Difficulties in the development of satisfactory measures of adjustment level characterize part of the criterion problem faced by researchers investigating therapeutic processes. This paper is concerned with one aspect of the utility of the Q technique as a measure of adjustment.The comparison of self and ideal sorts has received much recent attention. Typically, the correlation between S's Q sorts for his concepts of "self" and "ideal self" is used as an index of adjustment level. A low or negative correlation is assumed to indicate an unsatisfactory level of adjustment, and changes in the magnitude of correlation from before to after therapy are thus assumed to reflect changes in level of adjustment.Dymond (2, p. 84) has pointed out that the procedure may be invalid due to the contamination of posttherapy sorts by the therapist's expressions of satisfaction with the patient's progress. Contamination of the therapist's ratings of success in treatment, often used as criteria, may also occur as a function of invalid "well-adjusted" self-references on the part of the patient.

Self-concept changes of depressive patients in general hospital treatment.

“…428]." Although Chase (1957) found lower self-esteem in paranoids, compared to normals, there are other studies which suggest that paranoid schizophrenics tend to show relatively high Real Self-Ideal Self-congruence (Friedman, 1955;Hillson, 1957;Rogers, A., 1958).…”

An evaluation of the efficacy of brief-contact therapy with hospitalized psychiatric patients.

“…Self-concept adjustment is an index of the degree to which the person's description is similar to that of adjusted, presumably normal individuals. This method was developed by Chase (1957), who found that maladjusted persons do perceive themselves differently than do adjusted individuals. This measure utilizes the Q-sort technique, comparing a person's self-sort with a normal standard.…”

Measurement of the self concept: A critique of the literature.

“…The Q sort is very adaptable and has been used as a research technique in the exploration of self concept with various groups. These have included juvenile delinquents (Balester, 1956); hospital patients (Chase, 1957); junior high school boys in group counseling (Caplan, 1957); university student leaders (SnoxelL 19. '53); and students from broken homes (Miller, 1958).…”