Operation ‘cardinal’: The OSS in Manchuria,August 1945

To protect thousands of Allied military prisoners of war, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), China Theater parachuted a small team into Mukden the day after the Japanese surrender. Operating amid a disintegrating security situation, the OSS team's military and diplomatic skills enabled success of its humanitarian mission. Afterward, the team reverted to a secondary mission of intelligence gathering. Witnesses to the beginning of the Cold War in Asia, the team's intelligence reporting revealed the strength of the Chinese Communists in Manchuria, and how in the flush of victory over Japan, the United States was already facing problems with a resurgent Soviet Union whose ambitions were far different from those of America.     

Is it acceptable for a psychiatrist to break confidentiality to prevent spousal violence?

Study questionWhen is it acceptable for a psychiatrist to break confidentiality to protect the wife of a potentially violent patient?Methods153 lay persons, 13 nursing personnel, 10 physicians, and 10 psychologists in France indicated this acceptability in 48 scenarios. The scenarios were all combinations of 5 factors: gravity of threat (death or beating), certainty of mental illness (certain or not), time spent talking with patient (considerable or little), his attitude toward psychotherapy (rejection, indecision, or acceptance), and whether the physician consulted an expert.ResultsLay people favored breaking confidentiality more than did nursing personnel or psychologists. Consulting an expert had greatest impact. Lay participants were composed of groups that found breaking confidentiality “always acceptable” (22 participants), “depending on many circumstances” (106), requiring “consultation with an expert” (31), and “never acceptable” (27).ConclusionLay people in France are influenced by situational factors when deciding if a psychiatrist should break confidentiality to protect a patient's wife.     

Comparison of the MMPI-2 and Niederhoffer Cynicism Scales for a Sample of police academy trainees

This study compared the Niederhoffer Cynicism Scale, as a less costly alternative, to the MMPI-2 measure of cynicism. Data were collected on both scales from a sample of male and female police academy trainees to compare reliability and construct validity. Subgroup analyses by race and sex yielded comparable Cronbach alpha estimates for minority (.71) and majority (.83) males to MMPI-2 norms. The Niederhoffer reliability values were marginally smaller (.73 to .77) but within the acceptable range. Construct validity correlations between both scales were significant for minority and majority males. However, sample size was too small for both minority and majority females groups to use appropriate statistical techniques to determine reliability or validity. Continued use of the Niederhoffer is recommended for minority and majority males. Author's Note: This paper was presented at the 44^th Annual Meeting of the Western Social Science Association in Albuquerque, NM, in April of 2002.