Estimating WAIS IQ of neuropsychiatric patients at three educational levels

Development of the body checking questionnaire: a self-report measure of body checking behaviors

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to develop a brief self-report inventory to assess body checking behaviors.

METHOD

Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the 23-item Body Checking Questionnaire (BCQ) was developed. The BCQ measures the global construct of body checking behaviors with three correlated subfactors that assess checking related to overall appearance, checking of specific body parts, and idiosyncratic checking rituals.

RESULTS

The BCQ was found to have good test-retest reliability (.94) and the subfactors had good internal consistency (.88, .92, and .83). The measure correlated highly with other measures of negative body image and eating disorders, demonstrating its concurrent validity. Additionally, the BCQ was found to differentiate normal controls and eating disorder patients, as well as nonclinical participants scoring high and low on a measure of concern with body size and dieting.

DISCUSSION

Due to the potential role of ritualistic body checking in the maintenance of body dissatisfaction by directing excessive attention to body shape/weight, the BCQ may prove to be a useful clinical tool in the assessment and treatment of eating disorder patients.

Comparison of the Shipley Institute of Living Scale and WAIS-R IO scores for a sample of public sector psychiatric inpatients

This study examined the use of the Shipley Institute of Living Scale as a screening device in an intellectually low functioning psychiatric population of 40 inpatients. Shipley IQ scores were significantly correlated .72 with Full Scale WAIS-R IQ scores. There was no significant difference between the mean IQ scores generated from the two measures. These findings suggest that the Shipley scale may be used in this population despite a caution by the test's publisher that the test should not be used in assessing intellectual functioning in individuals with borderline or lower intelligence.

Dynamic Assessment

This article describes the dynamic assessment model, an alternative approach to the diagnostic assessment of young children. This model is adaptable for use by all members of the multidisciplinary team. Specific adaptation as a diagnostic measure for speech-language pathologists working with preschool Latino children has been successful in differentiating language differences from language deficiencies. The article describes the research and offers two case illustrations to demonstrate application of this adaptation.