The Measurement Group
Knowledge Base on HIV/AIDS Care: Cooperative Agreement
Client Psychological Distress Knowledge Items

Psychological Distress

• Distress 01: Levels in Four Programs
  Final.
  Clients with HIV tend to experience clinically significant psychological distress. This Knowledge Item compares the levels of psychological distress to common epidemiological survey results and finds relatively high rates. 

• Distress 02: Changes Over Time
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows that levels of psychological distress among women are significantly decreased as a function of participation in psychosocial supports programs for women with HIV/AIDS.

• Distress 03: Dimensions of Psychological Distress
  Final.
  The scale used to measure psychological distress tends to measure one dimension of general distress (or to be unifactorial). This Knowledge Item presents a statistical test of the hypothesis that all of the items measure general psychological distress in a consistent way for patients with HIV/AIDS. 

• Distress 04: Reliability of Distress General Measure
  Final.
  The scale used to measure psychological distress measures general distress with relatively high reliability. This Knowledge Item presents an internal consistency analysis (coefficient alpha) of the items on the scale. 

• Distress 05: Changes Over Time Related to Total Service Episodes
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows that levels of psychological distress among women are significantly decreased as a function of the amount of participation in psychosocial supports programs for women with HIV/AIDS.

• Distress 06: Changes Over Time Related to Types of Services Received
  Preliminary result.
  This Knowledge Item shows that levels of psychological distress among women are significantly decreased as a function of the types of participation in psychosocial supports programs for women with HIV/AIDS.

• Distress 07: Test-Retest Reliability for Client CES-D Score
  Final. 
  This Knowledge Item shows that the general measure of psychological distress has a high degree of temporal reliability for women with HIV/AIDS.

• Distress 08: Models of the Relationship of Total Distress to Need and Vulnerability Factors
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows that the relationship of the total measure of psychological distress to need and vulnerability factors.

• Distress 09: Relationship of Total Distress to the Number of Need and Vulnerability Factors
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows that the relationship of the total measure of psychological distress to the number of need and vulnerability factors of the individual. 

• Distress 10: Trends in Psychological Distress Over the Course of the Treatment Episode Part I–Graphical Analysis
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item exams the repeated scores of the program participants on the Psychological Distress Assessment using a CES-D score formed as a composite of eight items.

• Distress 11: Trends in Psychological Distress Over the Course of the Treatment Episode Part II–Nonparametric Tests Showing Change
  Final. 
  This Knowledge Item presents a graphical analysis of changes in psychological distress during the treatment episode. Total distress appears to stay about the same for clients that stay in the programs long enough for multiple assessments to occur. 

• Distress 12: Trends in Psychological Distress Over the Course of the Treatment Episode Part III–General Linear Models Showing Change
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item presents a graphical analysis of changes in psychological distress during the treatment episode. Total distress appears to stay about the same for clients that stay in the programs long enough for multiple assessments to occur.

• Distress 13: Trends in Psychological Distress Over the Course of the Treatment Episode Part IV–More Complex General Linear Models Showing Differential Change for Groups Formed by Needs and Vulnerabilities
  Final. 
  This Knowledge Item presents an analysis of changes in psychological distress during the treatment episode. Controlling for the client's level of service need and vulnerability, total distress decreases overall for clients that stay in the programs long enough for multiple assessments to occur. 

• Distress 14: Trends in Psychological Distress Over the Course of the Treatment Episode Part V–Simple Hierarchical Linear Models Showing Simple Change
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item presents a graphical analysis of changes in psychological distress during the treatment episode. Total distress appears to stay about the same for clients that stay in the programs long enough for multiple assessments to occur. 

• Distress 15: Trends in Psychological Distress Over the Course of the Treatment Episode Part VI–More Complex Hierarchical Linear Models Showing Differential Change for Groups Formed by Needs and Vulnerabilities
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item presents a graphical analysis of changes in psychological distress during the treatment episode. Total distress appears to stay about the same for clients that stay in the programs long enough for multiple assessments to occur. 

• Distress 16: Maximum Change Outcome in Distress and Psychosocial Service History
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows the relationship between outcomes in the reduction of psychological distress and patterns of psychosocial services, where success is defined in terms of at least one occasion in which there was improvement.

• Distress 17: Trends in Psychological Distress Over the Course of the Treatment Episode Part VIII–When is Maximum Change Achieved and What Factors are Related to Maximum Change
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item examines the ratio of the highest degree from freedom from psychological distress (or good mental functioning) to the baseline level.

• Distress 18: Length of Time Maintained at the Same or Decreased Psychological Distress Level
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows that more than half of the individuals with HIV/AIDS may be maintained at the same or higher level of psychological functioning for a period of time approaching the maximum in our evaluation study, of about three years.

• Distress 19: Trends in Psychological Distress Over the Course of the Treatment Episode Part X–Relationship of Time Maintained at the Same or and Improved Level of Psychological Distress to Person and Treatment Factors
  In progress.

• Distress 20: Test-Retest Reliability in Psychological Distress Over the Course of the Treatment Episode
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows that using data on up to six repeated measurements of the CES-D, it was found that there is fairly substantial temporal (test-retest) reliability for the total score in a sample of HIV/AIDS patients. 

• Distress 21: Psychometric Properties of the Full 20-Item CES-D in a Group of HIV/AIDS Patients
  Final.
  For archival purposes, this Knowledge Item shows selected psychometric analyses on the commonly used 20-item CES-D measure of psychological distress in a group of 286 HIV/AIDS patients. The 8-item short version is embedded in this longer instrument.

• Distress 22: Degree of Change in Psychological Distress by Project I
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows the degree of change in psychological distress over time by individual project.

• Distress 23: Degree of Change in Psychological Distress by Project II
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows the degree of change in psychological distress over time by individual project.

• Distress 25: Maximum Change Outcome in Distress and Psychosocial Service History
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows the relationship between outcomes in the reduction of psychological distress and patterns of psychosocial services, where success is defined in terms of at least one occasion in which there was improvement.

• Distress 26: Slope Change Outcome for Distress and Psychosocial Service History
  Final.
  This Knowledge Item shows the relationship between outcomes in the reduction of psychological distress and patterns of psychosocial services where success is defined in terms of a sustained trend toward improvement.