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The purpose of the research was to assess the diagnostic efficiency of the Primary Care Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Screen (PC-PTSD) and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL) as clinical screening tools for active duty soldiers recently returned from a combat deployment. A secondary goal was to examine the item-level characteristics of both the PC-PTSD and the PCL. A validation study conducted with a sample of 352 service members showed that both the PC-PTSD and PCL had good diagnostic efficiency. The overall diagnostic efficiency assessed by the area under the curve (AUC) was virtually the same for both the PC-PTSD and PCL. The most efficient cutoff values for the PC-PTSD were either 2 or 3 "yes" responses with the latter favoring specificity. For the PCL, the most efficient cutoff values were between 30 and 34, mirroring recommended PCL cutoff values from some studies in primary care settings. The examination of item characteristics suggested a 4-item PCL with an AUC virtually identical to that of the full PCL. Item analyses also identified that the most discriminate item in both scales pertained to symptoms of avoidance. Implications and limitations are discussed. (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)

The interplay between decision-making and decision-support tools has proven puzzling for many years. One of the most popular decision-support tools, what-if analysis, is no exception. Decades of empirical studies have found positive, negative, and null effects. In this paper, we contrast the marginal-analysis decision-making strategy enabled by what-if with the anchoring and adjustment decision-making strategies prevalent among unaided decision makers. By using an aggregate production planning decision task, we develop a Monte Carlo simulation to model 1000 independent what-if decision-making episodes across a myriad of conditions. Results mirror and explain seemingly contradictory findings across multiple prior experiments. Thus, this paper formalizes a simulation approach that expands the scope of previous findings regarding unaided versus what-if analysis aided decision making and suggests that relative performance is quite sensitive to task conditions. In this light, then, performance effect differences in past research are to be expected. While our analysis involves a single task context, the larger and more important point is that, even within a single task context, performance differences between unaided and aided decision making are emergent. Index Terms--Decision making, decision-support systems (DSSs), simulation.

The purpose of the research was to assess the diagnostic efficiency of the Primary Care Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Screen (PC-PTSD) and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL) as clinical screening tools for active duty soldiers recently returned from a combat deployment. A secondary goal was to examine the item-level characteristics of both the PC-PTSD and the PCL. A validation study conducted with a sample of 352 service members showed that both the PC-PTSD and PCL had good diagnostic efficiency. The overall diagnostic efficiency assessed by the area under the curve (AUC) was virtually the same for both the PC-PTSD and PCL. The most efficient cutoff values for the PC-PTSD were either 2 or 3 'yes' responses with the latter favoring specificity. For the PCL, the most efficient cutoff values were between 30 and 34, mirroring recommended PCL cutoff values from some studies in primary care settings. The examination of item characteristics suggested a 4-item PCL with an AUC virtually identical to that of the full PCL. Item analyses also identified that the most discriminate item in both scales pertained to symptoms of avoidance. Implications and limitations are discussed. Keywords: posttraumatic stress disorder, validation, assessment, military

Interviews with and observations of experienced and inexperienced personnel were conducted to determine their coping strategies before, during, and after their work with the bodies of people who had died violently. Avoidance, denial, and social support from the work group and spouse appeared to facilitate coping. The implications of these findings for therapeutic intervention are discussed.

The psychological responses of two groups of fire fighters were examined following the performance of rescue work. Four types of responses were reported: identification with the victims, feelings of helplessness and guilt, fear of he unknown, and physiological reactions. Stress was found to be mediated by availability of social support, type of leadership, level of training, and use of rituals. Implications of these findings for preventive intervention measures are discussed.

Byline: Kathleen M. Boyer-Wright, Jeffrey E. Kottemann The purpose of this research is to develop and test a parsimonious research model of drivers of e-government. Specifically, we investigate individual and business internet use both as direct antecedents of the availability of online government services and as indirect factors mediated by government development of an information and communications technology (ICT) regulatory environment. Beginning with theoretical motivations provided by the New Institutional Economics, we develop and test our research model using data on 122 countries using 2006 data from the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Information Technology Report (GITR). Our findings indicate that business rather than individual internet usage has greater explanatory value as an antecedent to the availability of e-government services, and that the ICT legal environment mediates both relationships.