Arch Gen Psychiat
-
The adequacy of subjects' informed consent to research is the focus of an important public and professional debate. The potential impairment of decisional capacity in persons with schizophrenia is central to the discussions. This study ascertains the decisional capacity for informed consent in schizophrenic research subjects, to determine if reduced capacity relates to specific aspects of psychopathologic features and to test the hypothesis that reduced capacity can be remediated with an educational informed consent process. ⋯ Many persons with schizophrenia may be challenged by the cognitive demands of an informed consent process for research participation. In many cases, their reduced capacity can be compensated by a more intensive educational intervention as part of the informed consent process.
-
Historical Article
Children's well-being 11 years after the Chornobyl catastrophe.
The psychological effects of technological disasters have rarely been studied in children. This study assessed the aftermath of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster in children evacuated to Kyiv from the contaminated zone surrounding the nuclear power facility. ⋯ Given the multiple stressful experiences to which evacuee families were exposed, the small differences in the children's self-reports suggest that there are protective factors in the lives of these children. The trauma experienced by the mothers was reflected in their perceptions of their children's well-being, particularly somatic symptoms, but was not transmitted to the children themselves.