Tag: Lynette Danley

Systematic Review of Mental Illness Measures and Diagnosis in the United States

Presenter(s): Megan Olivera

Faculty Mentor(s): Lynette Danley

Oral Session 2 SW

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic review of current psychological assessments used primary in the United States intended to address mental illness symptomology or bring about a mental illness diagnosis for patients. Measures included in this study to assess mental illness symptomology or bring about a mental illness diagnosis by clinicians include the Mood Disorder Scale (MDQ), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Hamiliton Depression Rating Scale(HAM-D), Hamiliton Anxiety Scale( HAM-A), and the Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale(BSDA). This review will have specific attention paid to language used in addressing mental disorders or symptomatology, the structure of said assessments and research, and their design. Effectiveness levels, potential harms, and benefits of the most common mental illness assessments commonly used will be discussed and explored in regard to the language used on said assessments. Implications of these findings will provide evidence for where current assessments used by mental health experts may be lacking in. This information will be useful to not only professionals wanting to reinvent how we screen for mental illness, but also informative for individuals who likely will at some point come across one of these assessments.

Preserving Childhood Through Enhanced Prevention Measures: Investigating predatory language patterns throughout the grooming process to prevent sex crimes against children – a study on prevention and harm reduction.

Presenter(s): Ashleigh Martins

Faculty Mentor(s): Lynette Danley

Data Story 3 CLN

Child abuse may occur in several ways, and in various environments. This project will look specifically at Child Sex Abuse (CSA) cases that were initiated and have taken place in-person only. Cases that began in an online environment but transitioned to face-to-face, or are based only online, have different components which will be investigated in future work. For this project, we propose the use of existing data: previously recorded forensic interviews performed at Child Advocacy Centers. We intend to utilize forensic interviews to determine whether there may be common speech patterns and behaviors that occur early in the grooming process of CSA. The research question we ask is: Are there earlier indicators of abuse than our current understanding? Forensic interviews are conducted by experts with special training in a specific environment. They are 1) video recorded, and, 2) done in a manner which elicits information from the interviewee, without contaminating the story with suggestions or any “leading” from the interviewer. Through the strategic use of these interviews, data is readily available and would be as free from interview errors as possible (i.e. interviewer opinions or suggestions) — and without further imposition upon survivors of having to do additional interviewing — while illuminating predatory behavior. The potential implications of this work are far-reaching. If new patterns are discovered, prevention measures would be updated accordingly, and information disseminated to communities. If existing patterns are confirmed, we would have stronger evidence to support current prevention measures.