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Sanctification of Parenting Scale Revised

Two scales measure perspectives on the sacredness of parenting (Murray-Swank et al., 2006) and two others look at spirituality and pregnancy (Mahoney et al., 2009).  The authors advise researchers that they may change the word "baby" to other child age labels depending on the age of the children in their study. Thus, researchers may use labels of "toddler," "child," or "teen" in place of "baby." Spirituality Although the authors use the word God , the instructions invite participants to use their own word for the deity. Following is a copy of the instructions. Notice the different term for the scale's name. Revised Manifestation of God in Parenting Directions: Some of the following questions use the word "God." Different people use different terms for God, such as "Higher Power," "Divine Spirit," "Spiritual Force," "Holy Spirit," "Yahweh," "Allah,", &qu

Why Counselor's Tests Are Not Reliable

The reason counselor's tests are not reliable is that reliability is a property of scores not tests.  This isn't a matter of semantics. Think about it this way. Give all the students in one school an achievement test. The test items don't change so they appear stable, consistent, and reliable. However, when publishers report reliability values, they calculate the reliability statistics based on scores. Scores vary from one administration to another. If you ever took a test twice and got a different score, you know what I mean. Individuals change from day to day. And we change from year to year. Also, even a representative sample of students for a nation can be different each year. Everytime we calculate a reliability statistic, the statistic is slightly different. Reliability values vary with the sample. Reliability values also vary with the method used for calculation. You can get high reliability values using  coefficient alpha  with scores from a one-time

Measuring Guilt and Shame with the GASP (Guilt and Shame Scale)

Taya Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University has made the Guilt and Shame Proneness Scale (GASP) available online. Here’s what Dr. Cohen said about the scale in 2011. I’ll include a link to the full scale below. The Guilt and Shame Proneness scale (GASP) measures individual differences in the propensity to experience guilt and shame across a range of personal transgressions. The GASP contains four four ‐ item subscales: Guilt ‐ Negative ‐ Behavior ‐ Evaluation (Guilt ‐ NBE), Guilt ‐ Repair, Shame ‐ Negative ‐ Self ‐ Evaluation (Shame ‐ NSE), and Shame ‐ Withdraw. Each item on the GASP is rated on a 7-point scale from 1 = very unlikely to 7 = very likely. Here’s an example of an item from the GASP scale. _____ 1. After realizing you have received too much change at a store, you decide to keep it because the salesclerk doesn't notice. What is the likelihood that you would feel uncomfortable about keeping the money? Information about reliability, validity, a

Measuring Shame and Self-Conscious Emotions TOSCA

Psychologists assess shame as one of a few measures of self-conscious emotions. In addition to shame, the list includes embarrassment, guilt, humiliation, and pride. As with many measures of person characteristics, there are measures of traits or dispositions and measures of states.  State shame is a temporary emotion such as a state of shame following a specific act that has been made public. Trait shame is a durable condition, which means a person experiences shame for a period of time in multiple settings. The classic measure of shame is the TOSCA (Test of Self-Conscious Affect. The TOSCA, developed by June P. Tangney , is now in its third edition and includes versions for adolescents (TOSCA-A) and children (TOSCA-C; Tangney & Dearing, 2002). People taking the TOSCA read a scenario and provide a response.  The TOSCA-3 is a 16-item scale. The responses reflect different ways to respond to a situation, which yield six dimensions of shame:  1. shame-proneness 2. g

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist and DSM-5 (PCL-5)

The PCL-5 is a 20-item self-report checklist of symptoms that can help clinicians screen patients for PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). The scale can assist in making a diagnosis and in monitoring change during and after treatment. The VA site suggests the scale can be completed in 5-10 minutes. The scores range from 0 to 80. The items are organized according to DSM-5 clusters. Scale availability link Weathers, F.W., Litz, B.T., Keane, T.M., Palmieri, P.A., Marx, B.P., & Schnurr, P.P. (2013). The PTSD Checklist for  DSM-5  (PCL-5). Scale available from the National Center for PTSD at  www.ptsd.va.gov . Web link detail:  https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/assessment/adult-sr/ptsd-checklist.asp Resource Link:  A – Z Test Index Applied Statistics for Counselors:   Buy on Amazon References (PCL-5) Blevins, C. A., Weathers, F. W., Davis, M. T., Witte, T. K., & Domino, J. L. (2015). The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for  DSM-5  

Charting Death and Thinking about Epidemics

What are the leading causes of death in the United States? Based on what you have read or learned from news sources, what did you expect to see in the top five? If you thought of one that is missing, perhaps it is in the top 10. Still, when you look at the numbers, you may be surprised to learn how few people die in a given year, given the size of the US population. My point in this post is that we ought to examine total data instead of being guided by the headlines of news stories and misleading charts when we want to understand a health or social condition. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the five leading causes of death in 2017 were heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke. The report includes more causes, but I chose the top five based on the deaths per 100,000 U.S. standard population. When you add the numbers for the five causes, you find the top five causes of death accounted for 445 peo

7 Tips for Writing Better Survey Items

So many people are creating surveys in schools, government agencies, and major corporations. Some are better than others. Here are seven tips. 1  Stay focused on your goal.  Avoid asking everything you can think of on a subject. Unfortunately, I've been on project teams that would not heed this advice. Participants get frustrated and leave surveys incomplete. 2  Ask only one question at a time. Have someone look at your items to see if they are confused about what you are asking. 3  Use easy-to-understand language. Know your audience and how they use language. Again, ask a few people to check your wording. 4  Write well. Some participants will drop out of your survey when they identify misspelled words, common punctuation errors, and problems of grammar. 5  Cover all possible answers. If you aren't sure you have listed every option, then add an "other" option with a place to write in another response. This may lessen the frustration of participants