Eftychia Volz-Sidiropoulou

Publications (2)2.73 Total impact

• Article: Do subjective measures of attention and memory predict actual performance? Metacognition in older couples.

  Eftychia Volz-Sidiropoulou, Siegfried Gauggel
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  ABSTRACT: Older individuals who recognize their cognitive difficulties are more likely to adjust their everyday life to their actual cognitive functioning, particularly when they are able to estimate their abilities accurately. We assessed self- and spouse-ratings of memory and attention difficulties in everyday life of healthy, older individuals and compared them with the respective test performance. Eighty-four older individuals (women's age, M = 67.4 years, SD = 5.2; men's age, M = 68.5 years, SD = 4.9) completed both the self and the spouse versions of the Attention Deficit Questionnaire and the Everyday Memory Questionnaire and completed two neuropsychological tests. Using the residual score approach, subjective metacognitive measures of memory and attention were created and compared with actual test performance. Significant associations between subjective and objective scores were found only for men and only for episodic memory measures. Men who underreported memory difficulties performed more poorly; men who overreported memory difficulties performed better. Men's recognition performance was best predicted by subjective measures (R² = .25), followed by delayed recall (R² = .14) and forgetting rate (R² = .13). The results indicate gender-specific differences in metacognitive accuracy and predictive validity of subjective ratings.
  Psychology and Aging 09/2011; 27(2):440-50. · 2.73 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Markus Wirtz

  Article: Prevalence and psychopathological characteristics of depression in consecutive otorhinolaryngologic inpatients.

  Thomas Forkmann, Christine Norra, Markus Wirtz, Thomas Vehren, Eftychia Volz-Sidiropoulou, Martin Westhofen, Siegfried Gauggel, Maren Boecker
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  ABSTRACT: High prevalence of depression has been reported in otorhinolaryngologic patients (ORL). However, studies using a semi-structured interview to determine the prevalence of depression in ORL are lacking. Therefore the present study sought to determine the depression prevalence in ORL applying a semi-structured diagnostic interview and to further characterize the pathopsychological and demographic characteristics of depression in these patients. One-hundred inpatients of the otorhinolaryngologic department of a German university hospital participated voluntarily (age M = 38.8 years, SD = 13.9; 38.0% female). Depression was assessed using a clinical interview in which the International Diagnostic Checklist for depression (IDCL) was applied. Patients completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) which constitutes three composite scores and nine symptom scales and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Multivariate analyses of variance, correlations and effect sizes were conducted. A prevalence of depression of 21.0% was determined, 38.0% of the depressed patients were female. Depressed patients showed higher scores on the BSI-scales "interpersonal sensitivity", "depression", "anxiety", "phobic anxiety" and "psychoticism" with medium effect sizes. High prevalence of depression was found which is in accordance with results of prior studies. Depressed patients showed higher psychological distress as compared to non-depressed patients. The results call for carrying on in engaging in depression research and routine depression screening in ORL.
  BMC Ear Nose and Throat Disorders 08/2011; 11:7.