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SLES THEORY AND PSYCHOMETRICS DESIGN THEORY AND PSYCHOMETRICS OF THE STRESSFUL LIFE EXPERIENCES SCREENING (SLES)
Abstract
The Stressful Life Events Screening, or SLES, is a screening that collects information on 20 stressful life events that may precede traumatic stress. There are two versions, the short form that asks if you have experienced the event and the long form which asks participants if they have experienced the event and if they have, it asks participants to estimate how stressful was it at the time of the event and at the time of completing the screening. The screening was used successfully in longitudinal research to track changes in feelings about exposure to an event compared with simply experiencing the event. There is a free manual available, also at ResearchGate.net. The screening is available in English and Spanish.
... In contrast, this study found that counselors with more ACEs were more likely to experience less CS. This difference may be a result of this study utilizing the ACE Study Questionnaire (Felitti et al., 1998) whereas McKim and Smith-Adcock (2014) used Stamm's (2008) Stressful Life Experiences -Short Form to assess for experiences that may have happened in adulthood or to someone outside of the family. Developmentally, painful childhood experiences may be harder to process, which may in turn produce further-reaching negative outcomes. ...
Despite an emphasis on self-care to avoid burnout and increase compassion satisfaction within the counseling profession, there is a dearth of research on the developmental experiences of counselors that may increase the likelihood of burnout. We examined the impact of mental health counselors' (N = 140) experiences of adverse childhood experiences and positive childhood experiences on their present rates of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. We used a cross-sectional, non-experimental correlational design and reported descriptive statistics as well as results of multiple regression models. Results indicated significant relationships among counselors' rates of adverse childhood experiences, positive childhood experiences, and compassion satisfaction and burnout. We include implications for the use of both the adverse and positive childhood experiences assessments in the training of counseling students and supervisees.
This book is unique compared to other reference texts on assessment instruments in at least 5 ways: (1) reviews are largely written by the authors of the actual instruments, giving the reader a sense of the author's thinking about the instrument; (2) instruments reviewed often include information not previously published, allowing the reader to see what is current and what may be coming in the future; (3) each review included bibliographies of both published and unpublished papers about the instrument; (4) instruments are classified according to many characteristics, including their psychometric maturity, applicability across race, sex, ethnicity, rural/urban, languages, suitability for various age groups, types of data yielded, diagnosis, theoretical perspectives, and other characteristics; and (5) information about locating the measures and the author or contact person. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article presents a conceptual and empirical reply to the study by Schroeder and Costa (1984) that reported relations between stressful life events and physical illness are artifacts of contamination in the events measure by neurotic, subjective, and physical health influences. The present study considers potential conceptual exaggerations that (a) only retrospective studies have shown a stress–illness relation, (b) self-report measures of stressful events are virtually useless, (c) anything is better than self-report illness measures, and (d) frustration stimulated the development of models of resistance to illness. Schroeder and Costa's concern that subjective and physical status items may be present on stress measures appears exaggerated given current research approaches, and their concern about the role of neuroticism is unclear. By using two different samples and two different sets of stress items, our study provides evidence that items uncontaminated by subjectivism, physical status, and neuroticism do indeed correlate with concurrent and prospective illness. These results are at variance with the findings of Schroeder and Costa and are discussed in terms of underlying assumptions about measurement common in psychology that bear reconsideration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This book purports to be a guide to the study, treatment and postwar care of those neurotic disturbances which are incidental to war. The greatest stress in this work falls on the discussion of those principles of psychopathology necessary to make these neuroses intelligible and to furnish a rational basis for therapy. This was regarded as the prime objective, for without this knowledge no intelligent program for treatment, prophylaxis, and postwar care can be formulated. In addition, an attempt is made to discuss the forensic aspects of the traumatic neuroses, since so many of them become government charges for a long postwar period. Treatment is discussed at length only in connection with several chronic cases which terminated successfully. This is in no way to be construed as indicating that therapy in these chronic cases is universally successful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is alleged to be associated with high rates of concurrent psychological disorders. This paper considers the available literature regarding comorbidity in PTSD and reviews in detail the findings to date. This critical evaluation includes studies of clinical samples, veterans community surveys, and population surveys. It also presents new data drawn from 50 PTSD cases assessed at the Boston PTSD Center using a comprehensive, multidimensional diagnostic procedure. The data firmly support the notion that PTSD, regardless of the nature of the trauma, is associated with high rates of other major psychological disorders including substance abuse, major depression, and personality disorders. Despite these findings the issue of cause and effect surrounding comorbidity remains open at this time. More research is needed to determine if exposure to extreme stressors in fact produces the broad spectrum of psychopathology suggested by individuals with PTSD or whether individuals with intrinsic vulnerability are more likely to develop PTSD when exposed to extreme stressors. Implications of the findings from this review are discussed with respect to concepts in diagnosis and comorbidity.