What else do you feel you need to know (or, what might be some areas you may ask about in order to determine what is going on and how severe the problem may be)?

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Mr. H, a 61-year-old high school science department head and his wife have stopped by your office at the church concerned about recent events. He is an experienced camper and hiker but became extremely fearful while on a recent hike in the mountains a few months ago. Gradually, over the next few months, he lost interest in all his usual hobbies. Formerly a voracious reader, he stopped reading. He had difficulty doing computations and made gross errors in home financial management. On several occasions he became lost while driving in areas that were formerly familiar to him. He began to write notes to himself so that he would not forget to do errands. Very abruptly, and in uncharacteristic fashion, he decided to retire from work, without discussing his plans with his wife. Intellectual deterioration gradually progressed. He spent most of his day piling miscellaneous objects in one place and then transporting them to another spot in the house. He became stubborn and querulous. Eventually he required assistance in shaving and dressing.

 

 

 

Mr. H sometimes appears disoriented with respect to time of day or location although he is always alert and cooperative. At times he appears to have difficulty naming objects and often cannot recall the names of four or five objects after a 5-minute interval of distraction. On one occasion, he could not remember the names of his college or graduate school or the subject in which he had majored. He could describe his job by title only. His speech is fluent and well articulated, but he has considerable difficulty finding words and uses many long, essentially meaningless phrases. He does simple calculations poorly and has no insight into the nature of his disturbance.

 

 

 

Please respond (short answer is fine) to all of the following questions:

 

 

 

In your diagnosis, please use DSM IV-TR diagnoses when appropriate (found in your powerpoint presentations)

 

 

 

  1. What are the client’s most prominent ‘presenting issues’ (that is, what seems to take priority as being wrong)? 
  2. What else do you feel you need to know (or, what might be some areas you may ask about in order to determine what is going on and how severe the problem may be)? 
  3. What do you think may be your ‘initial diagnosis’ based on the information given in the case study? Why? 
  4. What, if any, psychospiritual factors might be present and maintaining the presenting issue? 
  5. What are possible methods of treatment or referral? 

Discuss any shortcomings/limitations of the study. Try to think of your own (avoid simply rehashing those discussed by the study’s authors)

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Your assignment is to write a critique of both the news article and the scientific journal article on which it is based. To structure your paper, please respond to all of the questions as below. You should include the numbering in your write up. (You may delete the questions)

The paper must be no more than 1000 words in length. Please double space your work and use a 12 pt font.

Describe the study (8 points)

  1. Carefully read the scientific journal article. Briefly explain the experimental design (conditions, manipulations, dependent measures) and results (what did they find?) This description should take approximately one page of text.

Critically evaluate the scientific study (5 points)

  1. Discuss any shortcomings/limitations of the study. Try to think of your own (avoid simply rehashing those discussed by the study’s authors).
  2. Do you think that the study’s authors drew valid conclusions from their results? If so, why?  If not, what would you conclude?

Critically evaluate the news article (8 points)

  1. What (if anything) did the news article do well? Was it accurate? Explain your thinking.
  2. What (if anything) did the news article do poorly? Was it sensationalized? Explain your thinking.
  3. If you were the one writing the news article, what additional detail(s) about the study would have been most helpful to convey to the public? Justify your answer.

Comments on possible follow-up studies (4 points)

  1. What kinds of follow-up studies you would like to see done to gain more insight into the issues at hand? (Note: this should be a more substantial proposal than a simple replication with more subjects.)

Over-length paper (> 1,000 words) -2 points for each 250 words over limit

Post a brief description of the genetic influence and the environmental influence you selected. Then, explain how the environmental influence might positively or negatively affect the development of a fetus with the genetic influence you selected.

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Environmental and Genetic Impact on Fetal Development

Both environmental and genetic influences impact fetal development. Some substances (e.g., folic acid, hormones, etc.) have the biggest influence at sensitive periods during gestation. Early in gestation, when neurological development is at its peak, folic acid is most important. Hormones, such as androgen and estrogen, are necessary for external genital differentiation between 9 and 12 weeks of gestation. Prenatal alcohol exposure, however, can impact fetal growth at any time during gestation. On the other hand, environmental influences such as maternal genetics, nutrition, health, and immunization can have a positive impact on fetal development, mitigating the impact of substances and other negative influences. In addition to environmental influences, you must also consider the impact of genetic influences. Genes determine not only an individual’s physical features at birth—they also contribute to hormonal processes throughout the lifespan. The interaction of environmental influences and genetic influences impacts the development of a fetus.

For this Discussion, you will examine environmental and genetic influences on fetal development.

To prepare for this Discussion:

· Select one genetic influence and one environmental influence on fetal development and think about how these influences might impact each other.

By Day 4

Post a brief description of the genetic influence and the environmental influence you selected. Then, explain how the environmental influence might positively or negatively affect the development of a fetus with the genetic influence you selected. Be specific and provide examples. Use your Learning Resources to support your post. Use proper APA format and citations.

Berk, L. E. (2014). Development through the lifespan (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

  • Chapter 2, “Genetic and      Environmental Foundations” (pp. 44–77)
  • Chapter 3, “Prenatal Development, Birth, and      the Newborn Baby” (pp. 78–117)

Charness, M. E., Riley, E. P., & Sowell, E. R. (2016). Drinking during pregnancy and the developing brain: Is any amount safe? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(2), 80–82. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2015.09.011

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

Entringer, S., Buss, C., & Wadhwa, P. D. (2015). Prenatal stress, development, health and disease risk: A psychobiological perspective—2015 Curt Richter Award Paper. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 62, 366–375. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.08.019

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

Tzouma, V., Grepstad, M., Grimaccia, F., & Kanavos, P. (2015). Clinical, ethical, and socioeconomic considerations for prescription drug use during pregnancy in women suffering from chronic diseases. Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science, 49(6), 947–956. doi:10.1177/2168479015589820

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

Grace, T., Bulsara, M., Robinson, M., & Hands, B. (2015). The impact of maternal gestational stress on motor development in late childhood and adolescence: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 87(1), 211–220.

The Impact of Maternal Gestational Stress on Motor Development in Late Childhood and Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study by Grace, T., Bulsara, M., Robinson, M., & Hands, B., in Child Development, 2015/October. Copyright 2015 by John Wiley & Sons-Journals. Reprinted by permission of John Wiley & Sons-Journals via the Copyright Clearance Center. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tegan_Grace/publication/282873739_The_Impact_of_Maternal_Gestational_Stress_on_Motor_Development_in_Late_Childhood_and_Adolescence_A_Longitudinal_Study/links/56244b7d08ae70315b5db881.pdf

March of Dimes Foundation. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.marchofdimes.org

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). Birth defects. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/index.html

What do you think the hypothesis might be for this study? Is the hypothesis you selected directional or nondirectional? Why did you select a directional or nondirectional hypothesis? 

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Case 1: A certain psychologist was looking for the cause of failure among college students. She took a group of former students who had flunked out and a group of students who had received good grades. She gave both groups a self-esteem test and found that the group that flunked out scored lower on the test than did the group that received good grades. She concluded that low self-esteem is one of the causes of college failure and suggested further that a person with low self-esteem probably expects to fail and exhibits defeatist behavior in college, which eventually leads to failure.

What was the independent variable? What was the dependent variable and how is it measured?

Discuss the study’s design. What kind of design was used? Was this design appropriate? Why or why not?

Was the experimenter justified in her conclusions? Why or why not?

Case 2: In an effort to determine the effects of the drug chlorpromazine on the performance of schizophrenics, two clinical investigators randomly selected 20 acute schizophrenics from a mental hospital population. The patients were asked to order several stimuli along some dimension, such as ordering eight stimuli by weight. There were several tasks of this sort. All subjects first performed the tasks after being injected with a saline solution (Placebo) and then performed the tasks again several hours later after being injected with chlorpromazine. The results indicated that fewer errors were made in the chlorpromazine treatment, which suggested to the investigators that the drug facilitates more adequate cognitive functioning in this type of patient.

 

 

What do you think the hypothesis might be for this study? Is the hypothesis you selected directional or nondirectional? Why did you select a directional or nondirectional hypothesis?

Next, discuss this study’s design. What was the design? Was it appropriate? Why or why not?

 

What was the purpose of random selection in this study?

 

What is the independent variable? What is the dependent variable and how is it measured?

 

Are there possible confounds in this study? If so, how would you control for them?

 

 

Case 3: Recently, an association that represented police in New Jersey complained that the incidence of cancer was unusually high among police officers who used radar guns in tracking the speed of drivers. The association brought suit against the state, claiming that those officers who used these radar guns had an incidence of cancer 18 percent higher than a comparable group of government workers from the state park service who were randomly selected for comparison purposes. The comparison sample and the police officers were matched on educational level, age, gender, and years of service. The sample was large: 283 police officers and 231 park workers.

Was the case justified? Why or why not? (Be sure to support your answer with reference to the strengths and weaknesses of the design, and consider possible confounds.)

 

What kind of study is this? What are the problems associated with this kind of study?

 

How would you improve the study?

 

Please respond to the posts of at least two of your classmates.