''Questionable practices'' in Maxine Aston's Work

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Evaluation of Maxine Aston's Claims

Claim:

“Based on my academic research I wrote my first book, 'The Other Half of Asperger Syndrome' published in 2001”

Aston, Maxine Retrieved June 29, 2009, from About Maxine Aston Web site: http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/aboutme/
Critique:

1) Maxine Aston is:

Not affiliated with any academic institution
Has never been a faculty member
Has never received IRB approval
Has never received a Grant
Has not published a single research report
Has not been published in any peer-reviewed or research journal
The only two articles she has ever published are
Aston, Maxine (2005).Growing up in an Asperger Family. Counselling Children and Young People, Available at http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/published/ ... Family.pdf Type of Article: Opinion piece/Case Study

IS THIS JOURNAL SCHOLARLY?

The journal Counselling Children and Young People is based in Great Britain. It is published by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and has been in existence since 2005. I have looked at the articles available online and at the web page hosting the journal. While some of the articles appear to be based on scholarly research, I do not see any instructions for authors on the web page. This is where you would expect to find out if the articles are peer reviewed. According to Worldcat, the major union catalog for libraries, the journal is not held by any libraries in the United States. It is held by both Oxford and Cambridge universities in the UK. The journal is not listed in Ulrichs web, the largest periodicals directory. This may be because it is relatively new.

So, in this case, while we usually find the answers to this in Worldcat and Ulrichs Web, (both linked at the NU library home page) we will probably have to contact the publisher directly.


2. Aston, M.2003. Asperger’s syndrome in a counselling room. Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal, vol. 14, no. 5, p. 10-12.
http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/published/ ... g_Room.pdf
IS THIS JOURNAL SCHOLARLY?
According to ebscohost.com and CINAHL:

Publication Type: Periodical
Subjects: Allied Health; Psychology & Psychiatry
Minor Subjects: Autistic Disorder -- Diagnosis;
Description: Provodes a forum for debate & exchange of ideas in the evolving counselling & psychotherapy professions.
Publisher URL:http://www.bacp.co.uk
Peer Reviewed: No

2) Did Bsc (Hons) Psychology degree (1999) from Coventry University, UK qualify Maxine Aston to conduct research for her book 'The Other Half of Asperger Syndrome' was published in 2001?

Curriculum for Bsc (Hons) Psychology degree from Coventry University is available at http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/undergraduat ... quirements
Curriculum for MSc. Health Psychology from Coventry University is available at http://www.coventry.ac.uk/cu/external/c ... .pdfMaxine Aston received her MSc. Health Psychology in 2007.

Coventry University Psychology program has been given only a 2 out of 4 grade in the area of Student Achievement.

Claim:

“C.A.D is a very real condition”

Aston, Maxine Retrieved June 29, 2009, from About Maxine Aston Web site: http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/aboutme/
Concerns:

According to Dr. Tony Attwood “The term “Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder” has been coined by Maxine Aston. It is not an official diagnostic category.”

Maxine Aston is the author of Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder. She is disseminating her personal views and presenting them as evidence-based findings. However, she has not published a single research report and her research has not been peer reviewed.

Questions:

The four stages of research are:

Identify (e.g. the proportion of partners of AS individuals who exhibit CADD symptoms)
Describe (e.g. describe the demographics of the couples, co-morbidities of partner’s exhibiting CADD symptoms)
Explain (e.g. there is a statistically significant relationship between two variables such as AS individual’s empathic quotient (independent variable) and their partners CADD symptoms (dependent variable))
Predict and Control (to show causation e.g. a variable causes CADD)

A qualitative study must be done to Identify and Describe a phenomenon. An “experience of non- Asperger’s individuals in a relationship with someone with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS)” is alleged, and yet no qualitative studies have been published to Identify or describe this phenomenon. Therefore, there is no evidence in the literature that this phenomenon exists. The variables (CADD symptoms, having an AS partner, being emotionally deprived) have not been identified. There is no evidence of an association or correlation between the variables. And yet Maxine Aston alleges causation between a) CADD Symptoms and b) having an Asperger‘s partner/being emotionally deprived, “My research strongly indicates that CADD can develop as a consequence of being in an intimate relationship with an adult with Asperger syndrome or a disorder that produces a low emotional/empathic quotient or Alexithymia.” (Thompson, http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/cassandra/ ... vation.PDF) This goes against basic scientific research principles.



Threats to Validity

Selectivity of Sample: Maxine Aston’s uses a convenience sample of clients who come to her office. Therefore, the data that she collects cannot be generalized to the population of AS adults or AS couples. Maxine Aston has not published the inclusion and exclusion criteria for her subjects.

Testing: the study design has not been published. Is Maxine Aston using a Pre-test and Post-test deign? Is the data that she collects influenced by interviewing the subjects.

Data Collection Instrument

Maxine Aston uses focused interview design. The interviewer is the instrument of data collection. In a research study, the instrument has to be tested for validity and reliability. Who are the interviewers collecting data from Maxine Aston’s clients? Is she asking the clients the same questions? Are the questions open ended or are they leading questions? It is standard to control for interviewer’s bias by having the interviewer record his or hers feelings toward the subjects interviewed. When different interviewers ask the same subject the same questions, are the answers constant , in other words, what is the level of reliability of the instrument. Validity measures how accuretly the instrument assesses the phenomenon that the researcher wants to measure. What is the evidence that the data collection instrument used by Maxine Aston accurately measures the variables that she wants to study. In other words, Maxine Aston’s claimed research findings may be simply measures of the prevailing bias in her research design.

In a qualitative study, the interviewer transcribes the answers that subjects give, and uses computer software to identify Concepts and Common Themes in the findings. Maxine Aston has not said that she records her data. The data is stored in her mind and she uses her brain to find themes in the data.

Maxine Aston uses a theoretical framework that has not been generated by qualitative research studies, it is a product of Maxine Aston and her colleague’s personal opinion.

Given the fact that the research methods, data results, and study design have not been published or peer reviewed, and the numerous threats to validity (researcher bias, lack of controls in the study design, flaws in data collection and data analysis), Maxine Aston’s claims do not measure up to standards of evidence based practice.

Given that Maxine Aston has not obtained IRB approval and has never mentioned obtaining informed consent from her clients to be subjects of her research, Maxin Aston is likely to be in violation of British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy Code of Ethics (http://www.bacp.co.uk/ethical_framework/.)

Claims:

Unfortunately, Maxine Aston’s earlier development of the concept was
misconstrued by AS/autism advocates to mean that AS-individuals caused individual psychiatric disorders in loved ones. (Thompson, http://www.maxineaston.co.uk/cassandra/ ... vation.PDF)

Concerns:

Maxine Aston book of personal opinion, has been cited as if it is a legitimate research publication. The false claim has been disseminated in a professional legal journal.


"However, the chronic stress of living with a spouse with AS can cause the Cassandra Phenomenon or Cassandra Affective Disorder (Attwood, 2004; Rodman, 2003; Singer, 2003; Aston, 2004), which is characterized by a loss of self, the development of panic disorder, anxiety, depression, and even emotional breakdown. It has also been documented to lead to poor immunological status (Aston, 2003) in nonautistic family members. "

(Family Court Review, Volume 43 Issue 4, Pages 582 - 595, Published Online: 5 Oct 2005
http://www.sondur.com/j.1744-1617.2005.00057.x.pdf

No published research study has identified poor immunological status in non-autistic family members.

Is there an actual point or commentary here, or is this just cut and pasted from another source?


M.

Oh sorry you have to read into this to get it.

The point is that a peer-reviewed journal, Family Court Review, published the following statement:

"It has also been documented to lead to poor immunological status (Aston, 2003) in nonautistic family members." I checked the foot notes and it cites Aston's personal opinion for this. There is no research study that has ever looked at immunological status in non-autistic family members. The article was written with the "support" of getting of Karen you know who from FAAS.

Silly woman. Anyone would display the symptoms of so-called "CADD" if they were in a bad relationship.

There's quite a lot more about Maxine that needs exposing.

She has no clinical qualifications AT ALL! All her education has been academic.

She offers a "Aspergers Assessment" which has fooled several people into thinking they've been diagnosed with AS. And charges many, many hundreds of pounds for this service.

Her research questionaires that appear on her website are marketing tools to gain more clients.

After she divorced her autistic husband in the early nineties, she single-mindedly set out to make a great deal of money - something she has achieved with spectacular success.

Her motivation is money and quality "Me" time. She is rehashing the arguments that ender her marriage over and over again with her Cassandra workshops.

She is a monster.

A reminder - this is not a platform to launch attacks on anyone, even if you vehemently disagree with her position and beliefs. One may state how they feel about her actions and her methodologies, but attacks on her personally are not acceptable.


M.

Well, I will comment on Maxine's work later. She is not exactly my cup of tea.

_________________
Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man !

Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

We are criticizing Maxine Aston's statements and not attacking her.

Maxine Aston started practicing as a counselor in 1994, five years before completing her Bachelor's degree. She published her first book in 2001, two years after completing her three year Bachelor's degree in 1999. Her certificates (Relate, C&G, etc) are NOT licenses, but only certificates that signify that she has completed academic coursework. She calls herself a "licensed psychologist" and yet in the UK there is no standard for calling yourself that. Her "license" does not have a number, has not been issued by anybody, and does not have an expiration date, and cannot be revoked. In the UK, you do not need to have an actual license to call yourself a licensed psychologist.

The problem is that people in the scientific community have not
bothered to evaluate her statements, but people in the general
community give her the benefit of the doubt, they believe that she has
research to prove her statement, as she claims, even though the
research method and study design is kept secret and has never been peer
reviewed.

Understood, B_MA - just a precautionary warning before things went a different direction.


M.

Boston_MA, there's a problem with your link to the Asperger Family PDF file on her web page.

I've got a question. If you think there are problems with the peer review of these articles, then has anyone tried sending them to autism experts such as Simon Baron Cohen to get their views on them? Once the articles are critiqued then maybe the publisher or the editor of the journal can be contacted for the articles to be reviewed.

-------------------

Wow, the three AS Relationships books I ordered came in today, and hers is one of them. I take even well licensed and credentialed self-help stuff with a grain of salt though, because they don't know my particular situation as well as I do. I just look for the little bits of insight that I can use, and if there aren't any, well, at least buying the stuff and reading it shows the NTs that I am trying.

I contacted Citizens For Responsible Care and Research and they replied saying they will try to help. Maxine Aston's work has never been evaluated or peer reviewed.

Maxine Aston publishes personal opinions in her books and on her website and calls it "academic research."

Karen Rodman of FAAS, cites Maxine Aston's claims.

Part Time journalist Jim Coogan interviews Rodman, http://archive.capecodonline.com/cctime ... ns/coogan/

Rodman disseminates Maxine Aston's opinions in the Cape Cod Times.

Sheilla Jennings cites Maxine Aston's CADD diagnosis in court.

The Family Court Review (a peer reviewed legal journal) instructs lawyers that "living with a spouse with AS can cause ...loss of self, the development of panic disorder, anxiety, depression, and even emotional breakdown" citing again, guess who... Karen Rodman and Maxine Aston.

So you have a circle of people (a phony researcher, a spokeswoman, and a lawyer) - Aston, Rodman, and Jennings - who are all citing each other - and you have a circle of publications - Jessica Kingsley Publishing, Cape Cod Times, and Family Court Review - in which these three publish under the veil of legitimacy.

They are gaming the system.

“Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder”

Is what I think is silly. I have had depression since we moved here (most of my life) but you don't see me changing the name of my depression to something so feminine sounding as "Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder"

It is soooo obvious what is going on here. A marketing scheme to snare unsuspecting women who feel neglected by their partners.

What about men who feel the same way? Are they going to want such a diagnosis with such a hokey sounding name?

I think she should forget about calling it "Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder", call it depression and say it affects people who are stuck in stressful relationships regardless of the reason they might be stressful.

Maxine Aston is in violation of the APA Code of Ethics, specifically:

5. Advertising and Other Public Statements

5.01 Avoidance of False or Deceptive Statements

b) Psychologists do not make false, deceptive, or fraudulent statements concerning (6) the scientific or clinical basis for, or results or degree of success of, their services; (8) their publications or research findings.

http://www.apa.org/ethics/code2002.html#5