Igniting the fuse – A study of anger measurement
People express their anger in different ways. Dr Lee Kannis, clinical psychologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast, invites individuals from all walks of life who experience anger to participate in an international study.
We all experience and express anger in different ways. At times, some of us yell or swear and some of us just keep it to ourselves or bottle it up. Some of us may express anger in healthy ways too like talking things over or trying to resolve issues.
Maybe anger is a problem for you or someone you know? You may not be aware that anger features in a broad range of problems assessed and treated by health professionals in a number of settings, but there are only a few measures of anger available. Also, current questionnaires are long for people to complete and expensive to buy for health professionals, which may mean that they do not get used and anger fails to be adequately identified. Consequently, shorter and free measures of anger are needed. If anger can be identified earlier as a maintaining factor of distress, then health professionals will be able to include evidence-based anger interventions in their treatment plans.
Two researchers in Spain (Dr Juan Ramos-Cejudo, Complutense University of Madrid; Dr José Salguero Noguera, University of Malaga) and I want to add to the research on two brief and free measures of anger that have been developed previously by experts in anger. We want to find out if indeed these questionnaires really help in identifying anger earlier in individuals. To do this we need individuals in the general community who experience anger in many ways and of varying levels to help us out by anonymously completing some online anger measures.
Also, we are interested comparing how anger is experienced and expressed in different cultures, so we are conducting this research in both Australia and Spain. We ideally want participants in our study to represent a wide range of people living in Australia and Spain. Often studies use students only but we would like people from all walks of life who experience anger in different ways and at different levels of severity. If you would be interested in helping us then we would ask that you complete an anonymous online questionnaire. This will take about 15-20 minutes of your time. You’ll find the survey on the following link: www.surveymonkey.com/s/darars_aus
Please feel free to forward this research link on to others.
Dr Lee Kannis is a clinical psychologist who coordinates and teaches courses in the Master of Psychology (Clinical) program at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. He qualified at the University of Canterbury with a postgraduate diploma in Clinical Psychology and a Doctorate in Psychology. He recently completed a postgraduate diploma in Cognitive Therapy at the University of Oxford, England. He has worked in a number of clinical settings in New Zealand and in the United Kingdom. In the UK he worked at The Priory, as well as the Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma at the Maudsley Hospital. In New Zealand he divided his time between working at the Anxiety Disorders Unit for the Canterbury District Health Board. His past New Zealand career experience included working for the Department of Corrections Psychological Service.
