The concept of sexual abuse is value-laden in mental health. A prospective study validated stochastic-compartmental modeling to assess mood and sexual health in women with serious mental illnesses (SMI), of which 59% with history of childhood sexual trauma (CST). The relevant data were independently collected by Naira R. Matevosyan during her postdoctoral residency program at Boston University. The two-year program, with a duration from January 14, 2008 to January 13, 2012 was successfully completed and Dr. Matevosyan, the principal investigator, was granted a four-month extension from January 14, 2010 to April 13, 2010 to publish more articles and to add more values to BU scholarship, in addition to what was already published during the program. THE GRANT: A small, competitive, Dudley Allen Sargent grant (IRB #1811) in the total amount of $6,999 , was provided by Boston University Charles River Campus in June 2008. The study was completed in December 2009. The collected data were analysed against different outcome measures and published in four different peer-reviewed articles. Women's participation (surveys,in - depth interviews) was compensated by the petty cash amount of $30 for each entry (with signed receipts), and providers' participation was gratified by books of the staff at "Psych-Rehab" at BU, purchased with this grant money. In total, only a 35.7% of the grant money was used: Total spent money on the project (IRB# 1811) was $2,499.44 (of the total $6,999.99). The remained, unused amount of $ 4,499.56 was returned to the treasury of BU at Charles River campus in December 2009 with the signed receipt. DETAILED EXPENSES: Reimbursement of 67 participants (both surveys and interviews), $30 petty cash per entry - $2,010.00. / Purchase of ten books as tokens of appreciation for telephone interviews with providers - $239.50 (for the ten books). / Postmail expenses (mailed books, and IRB forms) - $88.94./ Interview transcripts -$161.00 (of the total 32 interviews, 26 were transcripted by the project PI- Naira Matevosyan in-kind, and the rest 6 interviews were transcripted by a studio - paid $161.00)./ There was no frindge benefit deduction, because the project personnel consisted of one principal investigator, Dr. NR. Matevosyan, who worked in-kind on this small project. There were no office, conference, or gas expenses./ RESULTS: In this particular analysis, three-level construct interpretable combinations of trauma-narratives are assessed for the likelihood of their functionality in mood and sexual health. CST remains in component associations with the onset and persistence of SMI. Perceived sexual functioning improves with age (0.748), relates positively to interpersonal skills (0.995), and negatively to the relapse of psychotic symptoms (-0.700) and emotional lability (-0.852). Stochastic modeling preserves predictive attributes in small-sample causality studies. At the theory level it potentially illuminates mechanisms by which post-traumatic symptoms are generated; at clinical level it opens possibilities for improving cognitive-behavioral approaches to the recovery-oriented treatment.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/naira_matevosyan/13/