Treating Elders With Compulsive Hoarding: A Pilot Program

Hoarding among elderly clients can have serious health and safety consequences, including death. Because medications and standard behavioral treatments have yielded limited benefits for people with serious hoarding problems, we employed a specialized cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) based on Frost and colleagues' model of hoarding problems. Of 11 elderly clients who met screening criteria for hoarding at a community mental health center, 6 completed an average of 35 sessions of therapy administered by a B.A.-level therapist trained and supervised in CBT methods. Treatment consisted of weekly home visits that included motivational interviewing, organizing and decision-making skills, cognitive therapy regarding hoarding and related beliefs, and practice sorting, discarding, and not acquiring. Modest improvement was evident in ratings of clutter, risky situations in the home, and functioning. Clients were generally satisfied with treatment. Challenges in treating hoarding in elderly clients include health and safety risks as well as reduced physical capacity that required problem-solving strategies.     

AIDS Stigma and Contact With Persons With AIDS: Effects of Direct and Vicarious Contact.1

This paper examines the relationship between AIDS-related stigma and (a) direct, personal contact with people with AIDS (PWAs), and (b) vicarious contact—through mass media—with a public figure with AIDS or HIV. Data are presented from a 2-wave national telephone survey with a probability sample of US. adults (ns = 538 at Wave 1; 382 at Wave 2) and an oversample of Black Americans (ns = 607 and 420, respectively). Direct contact with a PWA was associated with less support for coercive AIDS policies, less blame for PWAs, and less avoidance of PWAs. Vicarious contact–operationalized as the self-reported impact of Earvin “Magic” Johnson's disclosure of his HIV infection–appeared to have its greatest impact among respondents who previously had manifested high levels of stigma. In that group, levels of stigma diminished somewhat to the extent that respondents reported having been strongly influenced by Johnson's announcement.     

Children's Pets and Adults' Self-Concepts

Self-concepts of adults were related to the age when they had their first pet. The Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS) (Fitts, 1965) Total Positive self-concept scores were higher if subjects were under 6 years or over 10 years old than if they were between 6 and 10 years old when they had their first pet. Similar results were found for the TSCS Physical and Social subscales. Whereas gender effects were also found, no significant pet ownership or other childhood Companion Animal Bonding Scale (Poresky, Hendrix, Mosier, & Samuelson, 1987) effects were found.     

中学生异性同伴交往的结构与类型研究

在文献、开放式问卷和访谈的基础上,编制了中学生异性同伴交往量表.对1,300名中学生进行了测试.结果表明,该量表具有良好的信度和效度;中学生异性同伴交往是由主动性、困扰性,礼节性、策略性和广泛性等五个因素组成;中学生异性同伴交往有策略型、疏远型、中间型和开放型等四种类型.     

Structured Experiences With the Educational Growth Group

A five-step model is presented for conducting groups that enhance students' knowledge, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills. Differences between the educational growth group (EGG) model and other forms of group work are outlined. The goals and potential benefits for counselors are listed, along with examples of counselors' applications of the model. Counselors are urged to experiment with the EGG model, to adapt it to their work environments, and to report their results.     

Late Adolescents' Experiences With and Attitudes Toward Videogames1

A total of 229 late adolescents (a large majority 15 to 19 years of age) completed a questionnaire that assesses a broad range of videogame-relevant experiences, preferences, and attitudes. Videogame playing was found to be a more popular, and a more highly regarded, activity among males than females. Gender differences were also found in participants' ratings of their motivations for playing videogames, their evaluations of particular characteristics of videogames, and their selection of their “most favorite” videogame. The differences between frequent and infrequent videogame players appeared to be limited to differences in the extent to which videogame playing is pursued and evaluated as a positive leisure activity, rather than reflecting broad differences in interest or personality. Some relations were found between participants' self-reported personality characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, empathy, conscientiousness, and introversion) and their attitudes toward videogames.     

The Behaviour of Young Children with Social Communication Disorders During Dyadic Interaction with Peers

Children with social communication disorders are known to experience more problematic peer relations than typically-developing children. However, detailed observation of their behaviour and communication during interaction with peers has not previously been undertaken. Micro-analytic observational methods were used to analyse the audio-taped interaction of children (N?=?112) selected from mainstream schools (ages 5–6 years-old) on a computerised dyadic collaborative task. Comparisons were made between children with average-to-high- and low-pragmatic language skill as measured by the Test of Pragmatic Skills. Dyads were composed of an average-to-high-skilled child plus a low-skilled child (32 dyads), or of two average-to-high-skilled children (24 dyads). Consistently with their pragmatic language scores, low-skilled children were more likely to ignore other children’s questions and requests than were average-to-high-skilled children. When average-to-high-skilled children worked with low-skilled children, as opposed to with other average-to-high-skilled children, they showed some sensitivity and adaptation to these children’s difficulties; they used significantly more directives, clarification and provided more information. However, there was a cost in terms of the emotional tone of these interactions; when working with low-skilled children, the average-to-high-skilled children expressed considerably more negative feelings towards their partners than with another average-to-high-skilled child. In conclusion, observation of the interaction of average-to-high- and low-skilled children suggests promise for peer-assisted interventions and specifies which communicative behaviours could be targeted. However, care should be taken to manage the affective climate of these interactions for the benefit of all children involved.     

Adults' perceptions of infant sex and cuteness

Five experiments were conducted to investigate the relationship between infant sex and adults' perceptions of infant physical attractiveness. College students rated the cuteness and/or sex of male and female infants at each of six age levels: 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 months. The results indicated that (a) subjects had little difficulty assigning a sex label to infants, although in some instances the assigned label was incorrect; (b) older infants received higher cuteness ratings than younger infants; (c) cuter infants were more likely to be perceived as female than male; (d) Labeled Males received higher cuteness ratings than Labeled Females, although this effect was stronger for Perceived Males than for Perceived Females; and (e) perceived cuteness influenced perceived sex. Results are interpreted as generally supporting the existence of a sex stereotype related to physical attractiveness.Preparation of this report was supported in part by an NIH 1 T32 MH 14622-01 Institutional National Research Service Award (KAH) and a Biomedical Sciences Research Support Grant (HEF & KAH).     

Experiences Delivering a Marital Intervention for Couples With Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Previous researchers have indicated that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are vulnerable to relationship stress, lower marital satisfaction, and potential relationship dissolution. We describe the experiences of three couples who participated in a 10-week, in-home couples therapy intervention using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). Each couple and their progress through the intervention are described using therapist and supervisor reflections, and qualitative evaluation interviews with the participants after termination. Based on the experiences of the couples, we conclude that couples would benefit from an in-home couples therapy intervention aimed to strengthen their relationships.     

The Nature of Teacher Talk in Early Childhood Classrooms and Its Relationship to Children's Play With Objects and Peers

The nature of teacher talk in early childhood classrooms as well as how such talk is related to children's level of play with objects and peers during free play was examined. The purpose of the study was to determine what levels of teacher talk were related to child functioning. Eighty-nine children (42 girls, 47 boys; age range = 31 through 63 months) enrolled in three early childhood programs participated in the study. Results demonstrated that when teachers are within 3 ft of a child, they do not talk to that child 81% of the time and they talk at high levels 18% of the time. Although previous research suggests that high-level teacher talk should be related to high-level play with objects, the results indicated that high-level teacher talk was related to lower levels of play with objects and unrelated to play with peers on the part of the children.     

知情权与新生儿重症监护病房(NICU)患儿父母的信息交流技巧

在新生儿重症监护病房(neonatal intensive care unit,NICU)中接受治疗的危重新生儿约90%结果良好,而这些患儿的父母100%都在此过程中遭受不同程度的心理创伤.患儿父母及其家人应被充分告知患儿的病情、治疗方案及可能的预后,这是他们拥有的知情权.在临床工作中,怎样运用良好的信息交流技巧让患儿父母充分理解病情、配合治疗又不过分紧张这对患儿的康复比对患儿实施具体的诊疗方案更重要.从患儿父母、医护人员、人文关怀的角度探讨NICU医护人员与患儿父母之间信息交流的技巧.     

Verification of Information Through Direct Experiences With an Industrial Hazard

In this study, differences in feelings of insecurity and ways of coping were assessed between residents of a chemical complex and a control group at a distance of at least 15 km from that complex. The results show that the residents of the industrial area judge the hazards as less threatening and less unacceptable than the control group and report less feelings of insecurity. The residents are less likely to read newspaper articles concerning environmental or industrial hazards and judge these newspaper accounts to be less credible than the control group. No differences were found between the residents of the chemical complex and the control group with regard to another hazard, living in the vicinity of a storage facility for radioactive waste. Our results are mainly explained by social learning theory in which it is assumed that, by a process of verification, the residents of the chemical complex are less affected by the alarming content of mass media reporting and are less negatively biased than people in the control area.     

The Effects of Imagined Versus Actual Contact With a Person With a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

Intergroup contact has been demonstrated to reduce prejudice toward out-groups under the right conditions; however, real contact experiences are often difficult to arrange. Imagined contact may be an alternative. The current study randomly assigned participants to imagine or to have real contact with a person with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Results demonstrated that both imagined and real contact had positive effects on attitudes toward people with schizophrenia, as compared to the effects of imagined and real interactions with an age-matched control person. We discuss the strengths and limitations of imagined contact interventions with an eye toward future research.     

Adults' perception of children's height and reaching capability

This study investigated the influence of some characteristics of the task, the model, and the observer, in the estimation errors of adults while judging children's affordances. One hundred and eighteen adults, divided in 4 height groups, estimated height and vertical reaching capability of 3 girls (3.55-, 4.74- and 7.06-years old), in the presence and in the absence of the model. Constant errors (CE) (estimation-real value), absolute percent errors (APE) (|1 − estimation/real value| × 100), and error tendency (underestimations, right judgments, or overestimations) were calculated. A model and a condition effect were verified on APE. APE for the younger model were greater than for the other models (p < 0.001), and APE in the absence of the model were greater than in her presence (p < 0.05). Generally, adults underestimated height (51.8% of underestimations vs. 32.3% of overestimations) and overestimated reachability (51.3% of overestimations vs. 37.7% of underestimations). The overestimation of reachability was more notorious for the younger model, which might reflect adults' difficulty to consider the specificity of younger children's body proportions. Actually, the overestimation bias may suggest that adults perceive young children as on the basis of adult's geometrical proportions.     

Communication Efficiency in Couples With and Without a Schizophrenic Offspring

A new, experimental method was developed to study language and communication in schizophrenia, employing the device of a map task. Two subjects are given what they believe are identical maps. Subject A is called upon to explain a route to Subject B, whose map has, in fact, an additional street marked on it. Comparing five parent dyads of schizophrenic patients (Group S) with a matched group of five parent dyads of normals (Group N), both groups performed equally well on the training route (for which the maps were identical), but on the experimental route, four out of the five Group S couples were unable to solve the problem. (As a side-light, it was learned subsequently that the fifth Group S couple had previously received some family therapy.) Further qualitative analysis was done on the data. The results have stimulated additional research using this experimental approach.     

Young and Old Adults' Concerns About Morality and Competence

Two experiments were conducted to examine people's sensitivity to person information from the morality domain (relation-oriented) and the competence domain (task & achievement-oriented). In a lexical decision paradigm, the findings from Experiment 1 showed that younger adults were faster to identify person cues (trait words) from the morality than from the competence domain, especially cues that were related to immorality. Experiment 2 compared the responses of younger and older adults. Despite the slower responses of the older adults, the findings indicated that all participants were faster at identifying cues from the morality domain than from the competence domain, with no age interactions. The results from Experiment 2 also suggested that disparate findings in the literature regarding reaction times to morality/competence cues and valence (positive or negative) were a function of word frequency effects. The findings are discussed in terms of people's chronic concern with the moral aspects of others as invariant across the lifespan, given that the morality domain is where interpersonal costs and threats are most likely to be signaled.     

Graduate Students' Experiences in Dealing With Impaired Peer,Compared With Faculty Predictions: An Exploratory Study

In this study, we present data on graduate students' actual experiences in dealing with impaired peers and faculty predictions of how students would deal with such situations. A total of 29 faculty and 73 graduate students responded to a survey of 40 randomly selected clinical psychology training programs. Student respondents were almost universally (95%) aware of peers whom they regarded as impaired in their professional functioning, and half (49%) the sample reported being aware of a peer's ethical impropriety. Faculty overestimated the number of students who said they "did nothing" when confronted with the resulting ethical dilemma and underestimated the degree of conflict and turmoil (i.e., anger, frustration, dismay) that students reported experiencing. Faculty also estimated that students would be more concerned with peer loyalty issues, whereas students indicated that they were strongly motivated by ethical considerations. Ethics curricula ought more thoroughly to address affective concerns through experiential learning vehicles such as faculty modeling, simulation exercises, and small-group discussion.     

Younger and older adolescents' thinking about commitments

One hundred and sixty-three adolescents listed factors they consider or would consider when choosing a career and a romantic partner, and defined "commitment" in an open-ended essay. Male and female ninth graders, twelfth graders, and college juniors, from public and private schools served as subjects. Gender, grade, and type of school differences were found in the types and number of different types of factors listed for the above commitments, but not in the number of factors listed. Conceptions of the nature of commitment became more complex with grade, and differed as a function of gender and of type of school. Females listed more "internal" factors than did males for romantic commitments. Males described commitment more contractually, women more affectively. Older students focused more upon long-term and internal concerns, and defined "commitment" more in terms of cognitive processing and emotional attachment than younger students. Implications for related areas of work are discussed.