Barbara Saravo - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Barbara Saravo

Research paper thumbnail of Collaboration expertise in health care - Mapping the mosaic of shared work experience, transactive memory system and performance

In all domains teams knowledge of the others team members’ expertise is of high importance and ha... more In all domains teams knowledge of the others team members’ expertise is of high importance and has been named transactive memory system (TMS). Especially in healthcare, where teams are often formed ad-hoc and the performance directly reflects patients’ wellbeing, the relationship between TMS, shared collaborative experience and performance needs to be examined. This study examines this relationship in the context of nursing. Knowledge about the teammate’s domains of expertise should only have a performance-critical impact in tasks innate to the own profession, while general collaboration tasks should not benefit from a strong TMS. 52 nurses of which about half had working experience together filled out a TMS questionnaire. Two groups of dyads (with and without prior shared work experience) performed one task of their own profession and one domain-general task. The results could show that performance in the working-domain specific task was higher in the group with shared experience t...

Research paper thumbnail of Beside the Geriatric Depression Scale: the WHO-Five Well-being Index as a valid screening tool for depression in nursing homes

International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

Objective The aim of the study was to compare criterion validities of the WHO-Five Well-being Ind... more Objective The aim of the study was to compare criterion validities of the WHO-Five Well-being Index (WHO-5) and the Geriatric Depression Scale 15-item version (GDS-15) and 4-item version (GDS-4) as screening instruments for depression in nursing home residents. Methods Data from 92 residents aged 65-97years without severe cognitive impairment (Mini Mental State Examination 15) were analysed. Criterion validities of the WHO-5, the GDS-15 and the GDS-4 were assessed against diagnoses of major and minor depression provided by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Subanalyses were performed for major and minor depression. Areas under the receiver operating curve (AUCs) as well as sensitivities and specificities at optimal cut-off points were computed. ResultsPrevalence of depressive disorder was 28.3%. The AUC value of the WHO-5 (0.90) was similar to that of the GDS-15 (0.82). Sensitivity of the WHO-5 (0.92) at its optimal cut-off of 12 was significantly higher than that of the ...

Research paper thumbnail of Improving early detection of childhood depression in mental health care: The Children׳s Depression Screener (ChilD-S)

Psychiatry Research, 2014

Diagnosing childhood depression can pose a challenge, even for mental health specialists. Screeni... more Diagnosing childhood depression can pose a challenge, even for mental health specialists. Screening tools can aid clinicians within the initial step of the diagnostic process. For the first time, the Children׳s Depression Screener (ChilD-S) is validated in a mental health setting as a novel field of application beyond the previously examined pediatric setting. Based on a structured interview, DSM-IV-TR diagnoses of depression were made for 79 psychiatric patients aged 9-12, serving as the gold standard for validation. For assessing criterion validity, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated. Point prevalence of major depression and dysthymia was 28%. Diagnostic accuracy in terms of the area under the ROC curve was high (0.97). At the optimal cut-off point ≥12 according to the Youden׳s index, sensitivity was 0.91 and specificity was 0.81. The findings suggest that the ChilD-S is not only a valid screening instrument for childhood depression in pediatric care but also in mental health settings. As a brief tool it can easily be implemented into daily clinical practice of mental health professionals facilitating the diagnostic process, especially in case of comorbid depression.

Research paper thumbnail of Is the Children's Depression Inventory Short version a valid screening tool in pediatric care? A comparison to its full-length version

Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2012

This is the first study to validate and to compare the Children&a... more This is the first study to validate and to compare the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and its short version (CDI:S) as screening tools for medically ill children. A sample of 406 pediatric hospital patients, aged 9 to 12 years (56.2% male, 77.1% inpatients), completed the German CDI. Criterion validity of the 26-item CDI and the 10-item CDI:S was calculated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. DSM-IV diagnoses of depression based on the structured diagnostic interview for mental disorders in children and adolescents (Kinder-DIPS) served as the reference standard. Areas under the ROC curves as well as sensitivities and specificities for the optimal cutoffs were compared for both versions. Diagnoses of major or minor depression were established for 7.4% of the children. Areas under the curve for the 26-item CDI (87.7%) and the 10-item CDI:S (88.2%) were comparable. For the CDI, the cutoff≥12 yielded the best balance between sensitivity (83.3%) and specificity (82.7%). At the optimal cutoff≥3, the CDI:S resulted in a high sensitivity of 93.3% and a specificity of 70.7%. Thus, the CDI:S proved to be as sensitive as the CDI, but was less specific than the full-length version. Both the CDI and the CDI:S are valid screening instruments for depression in medically ill children. The sensitive and brief CDI:S is a promising tool in time-pressed settings such as pediatric care, but has to be followed by a thorough diagnostic assessment to rule out false positive cases.

Research paper thumbnail of Beside the Geriatric Depression Scale: the WHO-Five Well-being Index as a valid screening tool for depression in nursing homes

International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2013

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare criterion validities of the WHO-Five Well-being In... more Objective: The aim of the study was to compare criterion validities of the WHO-Five Well-being Index (WHO-5) and the Geriatric Depression Scale 15-item version (GDS-15) and 4-item version (GDS-4) as screening instruments for depression in nursing home residents. Methods: Data from 92 residents aged 65-97 years without severe cognitive impairment (Mini Mental State Examination ≥15) were analysed. Criterion validities of the WHO-5, the GDS-15 and the GDS-4 were assessed against diagnoses of major and minor depression provided by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Subanalyses were performed for major and minor depression. Areas under the receiver operating curve (AUCs) as well as sensitivities and specificities at optimal cut-off points were computed. Results: Prevalence of depressive disorder was 28.3%. The AUC value of the WHO-5 (0.90) was similar to that of the GDS-15 (0.82). Sensitivity of the WHO-5 (0.92) at its optimal cut-off of ≤12 was significantly higher than that of the GDS-15 (0.69) at its optimal cut-off of ≥7. The WHO-5 was equally sensitive for the subgroups of major and minor depression (0.92), whereas the GDS-15 was sensitive only for major depression (0.85), but not for minor depression (0.54). For specificity, there was no significant difference between WHO-5 (0.79) and GDS-15 (0.88), but both instruments outperformed the GDS-4 (0.53). Conclusions: The WHO-5 demonstrated high sensitivity for major and minor depression. Being shorter than the GDS-15 and superior to the GDS-4, the WHO-5 is a promising screening tool that could help physicians improve low recognition rates of depression in nursing home residents.

Research paper thumbnail of Sources of parental stress, dysfunctional parenting, children's behaviour problems and buffering conditions in dual-earner families

Family Science, 2012

Based on a multinational sample of 1802 dual-earner families with at least one child between the ... more Based on a multinational sample of 1802 dual-earner families with at least one child between the ages of 3 and 5, this study investigated whether the link between family-related stress and/or work stress and problematic child behaviour were mediated by parental overreaction or moderated by a family-friendly work environment. Results revealed that family-related stress and work stress were related to

Research paper thumbnail of 856 – Early detection of depression in children and adolescents: the new children's depression screener (child-s) and the depression screener for teenagers (desteen)

European Psychiatry, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of The Depression Screener for Teenagers (DesTeen): A valid instrument for early detection of adolescent depression in mental health care

Comprehensive Psychiatry, 2014

Objective: Diagnosis of comorbid depressive disorder is challenging, even in mental health care. ... more Objective: Diagnosis of comorbid depressive disorder is challenging, even in mental health care. Screening instruments could be economic tools in indicating depression. For the first time, the current study investigates the validity of the newly developed Depression Screener for Teenagers (DesTeen) and its abbreviated five-item form DesTeen-a in a mental health setting. Methods: A total of 88 patients aged 13-16 years were recruited in institutions specialized in child and adolescent psychiatry, psychotherapy or psychosomatic medicine. DSM-IV-TR diagnoses of major depression or dysthymia based on a structured diagnostic interview served as the gold standard for validation. For assessing the criterion validity of the DesTeen and the DesTeen-a, areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were calculated. Specificity and sensitivity were computed for optimal cut-off scores according to the Youden Index. Results: Point prevalence of depression was 27.3%. Diagnostic accuracy of the DesTeen was high (AUC = .94). Using a cut-off score of ≥18, sensitivity was .96 and specificity was .86. The DesTeen-a showed no loss in validity (AUC = .94). At a cut-off point of ≥6, sensitivity remained excellent (.96), while specificity was slightly lower (.80). Limitations: The limited representativeness and the small sample size restrict the generalizability of the findings. Conclusions: The DesTeen and its abbreviated version are valid instruments to screen for adolescent depression in mental health care. Since structured interviews to diagnose comorbid mental disorders are rarely applied, the DesTeen and the DesTeen-a can support mental health specialists in making the diagnostic process more efficient, thus facilitating effective treatment planning.

Research paper thumbnail of Towards a measurement of internalization of collaboration scripts in the medical context - results of a pilot study

GMS Zeitschrift für medizinische Ausbildung, 2015

Collaboration as a key qualification in medical education and everyday routine in clinical care c... more Collaboration as a key qualification in medical education and everyday routine in clinical care can substantially contribute to improving patient safety. Internal collaboration scripts are conceptualized as organized - yet adaptive - knowledge that can be used in specific situations in professional everyday life. This study examines the level of internalization of collaboration scripts in medicine. Internalization is understood as fast retrieval of script information. The goals of the current study were the assessment of collaborative information, which is part of collaboration scripts, and the development of a methodology for measuring the level of internalization of collaboration scripts in medicine. For the contrastive comparison of internal collaboration scripts, 20 collaborative novices (medical students in their final year) and 20 collaborative experts (physicians with specialist degrees in internal medicine or anesthesiology) were included in the study. Eight typical medical ...

Research paper thumbnail of Collaboration expertise in health care - Mapping the mosaic of shared work experience, transactive memory system and performance

In all domains teams knowledge of the others team members’ expertise is of high importance and ha... more In all domains teams knowledge of the others team members’ expertise is of high importance and has been named transactive memory system (TMS). Especially in healthcare, where teams are often formed ad-hoc and the performance directly reflects patients’ wellbeing, the relationship between TMS, shared collaborative experience and performance needs to be examined. This study examines this relationship in the context of nursing. Knowledge about the teammate’s domains of expertise should only have a performance-critical impact in tasks innate to the own profession, while general collaboration tasks should not benefit from a strong TMS. 52 nurses of which about half had working experience together filled out a TMS questionnaire. Two groups of dyads (with and without prior shared work experience) performed one task of their own profession and one domain-general task. The results could show that performance in the working-domain specific task was higher in the group with shared experience t...

Research paper thumbnail of Beside the Geriatric Depression Scale: the WHO-Five Well-being Index as a valid screening tool for depression in nursing homes

International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

Objective The aim of the study was to compare criterion validities of the WHO-Five Well-being Ind... more Objective The aim of the study was to compare criterion validities of the WHO-Five Well-being Index (WHO-5) and the Geriatric Depression Scale 15-item version (GDS-15) and 4-item version (GDS-4) as screening instruments for depression in nursing home residents. Methods Data from 92 residents aged 65-97years without severe cognitive impairment (Mini Mental State Examination 15) were analysed. Criterion validities of the WHO-5, the GDS-15 and the GDS-4 were assessed against diagnoses of major and minor depression provided by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Subanalyses were performed for major and minor depression. Areas under the receiver operating curve (AUCs) as well as sensitivities and specificities at optimal cut-off points were computed. ResultsPrevalence of depressive disorder was 28.3%. The AUC value of the WHO-5 (0.90) was similar to that of the GDS-15 (0.82). Sensitivity of the WHO-5 (0.92) at its optimal cut-off of 12 was significantly higher than that of the ...

Research paper thumbnail of Improving early detection of childhood depression in mental health care: The Children׳s Depression Screener (ChilD-S)

Psychiatry Research, 2014

Diagnosing childhood depression can pose a challenge, even for mental health specialists. Screeni... more Diagnosing childhood depression can pose a challenge, even for mental health specialists. Screening tools can aid clinicians within the initial step of the diagnostic process. For the first time, the Children׳s Depression Screener (ChilD-S) is validated in a mental health setting as a novel field of application beyond the previously examined pediatric setting. Based on a structured interview, DSM-IV-TR diagnoses of depression were made for 79 psychiatric patients aged 9-12, serving as the gold standard for validation. For assessing criterion validity, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated. Point prevalence of major depression and dysthymia was 28%. Diagnostic accuracy in terms of the area under the ROC curve was high (0.97). At the optimal cut-off point ≥12 according to the Youden׳s index, sensitivity was 0.91 and specificity was 0.81. The findings suggest that the ChilD-S is not only a valid screening instrument for childhood depression in pediatric care but also in mental health settings. As a brief tool it can easily be implemented into daily clinical practice of mental health professionals facilitating the diagnostic process, especially in case of comorbid depression.

Research paper thumbnail of Is the Children's Depression Inventory Short version a valid screening tool in pediatric care? A comparison to its full-length version

Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2012

This is the first study to validate and to compare the Children&a... more This is the first study to validate and to compare the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and its short version (CDI:S) as screening tools for medically ill children. A sample of 406 pediatric hospital patients, aged 9 to 12 years (56.2% male, 77.1% inpatients), completed the German CDI. Criterion validity of the 26-item CDI and the 10-item CDI:S was calculated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. DSM-IV diagnoses of depression based on the structured diagnostic interview for mental disorders in children and adolescents (Kinder-DIPS) served as the reference standard. Areas under the ROC curves as well as sensitivities and specificities for the optimal cutoffs were compared for both versions. Diagnoses of major or minor depression were established for 7.4% of the children. Areas under the curve for the 26-item CDI (87.7%) and the 10-item CDI:S (88.2%) were comparable. For the CDI, the cutoff≥12 yielded the best balance between sensitivity (83.3%) and specificity (82.7%). At the optimal cutoff≥3, the CDI:S resulted in a high sensitivity of 93.3% and a specificity of 70.7%. Thus, the CDI:S proved to be as sensitive as the CDI, but was less specific than the full-length version. Both the CDI and the CDI:S are valid screening instruments for depression in medically ill children. The sensitive and brief CDI:S is a promising tool in time-pressed settings such as pediatric care, but has to be followed by a thorough diagnostic assessment to rule out false positive cases.

Research paper thumbnail of Beside the Geriatric Depression Scale: the WHO-Five Well-being Index as a valid screening tool for depression in nursing homes

International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2013

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare criterion validities of the WHO-Five Well-being In... more Objective: The aim of the study was to compare criterion validities of the WHO-Five Well-being Index (WHO-5) and the Geriatric Depression Scale 15-item version (GDS-15) and 4-item version (GDS-4) as screening instruments for depression in nursing home residents. Methods: Data from 92 residents aged 65-97 years without severe cognitive impairment (Mini Mental State Examination ≥15) were analysed. Criterion validities of the WHO-5, the GDS-15 and the GDS-4 were assessed against diagnoses of major and minor depression provided by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Subanalyses were performed for major and minor depression. Areas under the receiver operating curve (AUCs) as well as sensitivities and specificities at optimal cut-off points were computed. Results: Prevalence of depressive disorder was 28.3%. The AUC value of the WHO-5 (0.90) was similar to that of the GDS-15 (0.82). Sensitivity of the WHO-5 (0.92) at its optimal cut-off of ≤12 was significantly higher than that of the GDS-15 (0.69) at its optimal cut-off of ≥7. The WHO-5 was equally sensitive for the subgroups of major and minor depression (0.92), whereas the GDS-15 was sensitive only for major depression (0.85), but not for minor depression (0.54). For specificity, there was no significant difference between WHO-5 (0.79) and GDS-15 (0.88), but both instruments outperformed the GDS-4 (0.53). Conclusions: The WHO-5 demonstrated high sensitivity for major and minor depression. Being shorter than the GDS-15 and superior to the GDS-4, the WHO-5 is a promising screening tool that could help physicians improve low recognition rates of depression in nursing home residents.

Research paper thumbnail of Sources of parental stress, dysfunctional parenting, children's behaviour problems and buffering conditions in dual-earner families

Family Science, 2012

Based on a multinational sample of 1802 dual-earner families with at least one child between the ... more Based on a multinational sample of 1802 dual-earner families with at least one child between the ages of 3 and 5, this study investigated whether the link between family-related stress and/or work stress and problematic child behaviour were mediated by parental overreaction or moderated by a family-friendly work environment. Results revealed that family-related stress and work stress were related to

Research paper thumbnail of 856 – Early detection of depression in children and adolescents: the new children's depression screener (child-s) and the depression screener for teenagers (desteen)

European Psychiatry, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of The Depression Screener for Teenagers (DesTeen): A valid instrument for early detection of adolescent depression in mental health care

Comprehensive Psychiatry, 2014

Objective: Diagnosis of comorbid depressive disorder is challenging, even in mental health care. ... more Objective: Diagnosis of comorbid depressive disorder is challenging, even in mental health care. Screening instruments could be economic tools in indicating depression. For the first time, the current study investigates the validity of the newly developed Depression Screener for Teenagers (DesTeen) and its abbreviated five-item form DesTeen-a in a mental health setting. Methods: A total of 88 patients aged 13-16 years were recruited in institutions specialized in child and adolescent psychiatry, psychotherapy or psychosomatic medicine. DSM-IV-TR diagnoses of major depression or dysthymia based on a structured diagnostic interview served as the gold standard for validation. For assessing the criterion validity of the DesTeen and the DesTeen-a, areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were calculated. Specificity and sensitivity were computed for optimal cut-off scores according to the Youden Index. Results: Point prevalence of depression was 27.3%. Diagnostic accuracy of the DesTeen was high (AUC = .94). Using a cut-off score of ≥18, sensitivity was .96 and specificity was .86. The DesTeen-a showed no loss in validity (AUC = .94). At a cut-off point of ≥6, sensitivity remained excellent (.96), while specificity was slightly lower (.80). Limitations: The limited representativeness and the small sample size restrict the generalizability of the findings. Conclusions: The DesTeen and its abbreviated version are valid instruments to screen for adolescent depression in mental health care. Since structured interviews to diagnose comorbid mental disorders are rarely applied, the DesTeen and the DesTeen-a can support mental health specialists in making the diagnostic process more efficient, thus facilitating effective treatment planning.

Research paper thumbnail of Towards a measurement of internalization of collaboration scripts in the medical context - results of a pilot study

GMS Zeitschrift für medizinische Ausbildung, 2015

Collaboration as a key qualification in medical education and everyday routine in clinical care c... more Collaboration as a key qualification in medical education and everyday routine in clinical care can substantially contribute to improving patient safety. Internal collaboration scripts are conceptualized as organized - yet adaptive - knowledge that can be used in specific situations in professional everyday life. This study examines the level of internalization of collaboration scripts in medicine. Internalization is understood as fast retrieval of script information. The goals of the current study were the assessment of collaborative information, which is part of collaboration scripts, and the development of a methodology for measuring the level of internalization of collaboration scripts in medicine. For the contrastive comparison of internal collaboration scripts, 20 collaborative novices (medical students in their final year) and 20 collaborative experts (physicians with specialist degrees in internal medicine or anesthesiology) were included in the study. Eight typical medical ...