FEATURE

Two New Books From Baystate Authors

No Good Deed—Lewis Cohen, MD

Dr. Lewis Cohen’s book, No Good Deed, being published in March by Harper Collins, centers around the case of two Baystate renal nurses accused of murder by a nursing assistant in 2001. Both were eventually exonerated—and all 3 staff members returned to work at Baystate.

The book tells the stories of the nurses and their accuser within the larger context of end of life decisions, and the collision between palliative care and the counter-philosophy that holds life is sacred in a way that is not diminished by illness or disability, and that quality of life should not figure into medical decisions that may accelerate death. According to Cohen, it was the universality and timeliness of the subject that prompted him to write No Good Deed for the general public—his first for this audience.

Most of Cohen's academic career, much of it in collaboration with his Baystate colleague Dr. Michael Germain, has focused on the decision to stop dialysis. Observing that nurses are at the bedside of dying patients, he interviewed them in an effort to understand their experiences. After learning of the 2001 case, he was motivated to contact other nurses and doctors around the country who had been similarly accused. Although some of them had been criminally charged, found guilty and incarcerated, each was eventually found to be innocent. He says, “The book is a way to try and make sense of all these stories.”

As he was researching this book, Cohen was impressed by the way Baystate Medical Center dealt with this controversial situation, saying, “I am Baystate Medical Center’s biggest fan. I saw the institution's fairness and generosity to all involved.” In addition, he was personally gratified by the help and support he got from the medical center and his Consultation Psychiatry Service colleagues during this project.

Dr. Cohen will be discussing No Good Deed at Psychiatry Grand Rounds on April 6, 2010 at 8:30 am. Information about local readings can be found on the publisher's website. No Good Deed will be available in the Health Sciences Library for sale and for loan.

Demystifying Factor Analysis—Garry Welch, PhD

Garry Welch PhD, Director of Behavioral Medicine Research, and his former university professor in New Zealand, Frank Walkey PhD, have collaborated on Demystifying Factor Analysis: How it Works and How To Use It, published in February 2010 by Xlibris. Factor analysis, useful in medicine, education, psychology and other data-driven areas of research, is a statistical technique designed to explore patterns of correlation between variables of interest and uncover underlying explanatory variables that can strengthen measurement strategies in research and be conceptually valuable.

According to Dr. Welch, there has been a lot of controversy about how to do factor analysis. He claims that because traditional approaches to factor analysis have tended to yield statistically elegant but unreliable results, “it is sometimes viewed as a mixture of science and witchcraft. But it’s more straightforward than that.”

Dr. Walkey had developed an approach to factor analysis based on the seminal work of Raymond Cattell that emphasized replicability of factor solutions, and had even written a draft of a book. Welch acquired a draft copy as one of Walkey’s doctoral students and has used the approach in his research since. Twenty years later, Walkey's approach remains highly salient, yet had not been clearly explained and promoted to the research community. Welch approached Walkey about finishing the book and subsequently wrote a first and last chapter to frame the issues from a current perspective. Welch has also created an online tool, called FACTOREP, to complement the book and provide a means for researchers to examine replicability issues in factor analysis using their own data.

Welch believes that Demystifying Factor Analysis differs from other books on this topic by its conversational tone, clear language, and the use of the replicability strategy. “This is Frank's lifework—it's wonderful that it will finally be published and disseminated."

Demystifying Factor Analysis will be available for loan in the Health Sciences Library.