Assessing the attitude of veterans toward a smoking cessation program in a hospital setting.

110 male patients in a V. A. Hospital were surveyed in regard to their smoking behavior, attitudes toward smoking, and their willingness to participate in a treatment program designed to eliminate smoking. Some of the more important findings were that 68% of the patient population smoked as compared to 50% for the ggeneral male population. Only 57% of the smokers felt that smoking was harmful to their health. Many of the smokers (60%) had tried to stop smoking but were unsuccessful. 58% of the smokers stated that they would participate in a smoking treatment program. The results of this survey are interpreted to indicate the need for hospital and institutional treatment programs for elimination of smoking.     

Multidimensional reaction to therapeutic touch in a hospital setting.

A field experiment focused on some implication of interpersonal touch not explored in earlier research. Conceptually, the research included measuring the effects of touch over a relatively long time frame, for a broad range of response dimensions, and in a nonreactive setting characterized by dependency. On an applied level, the research studied the value of touch as a concomitant of nurse-patient interactions. Specifically, a 2 (touch vs. no touch) X 2 (male vs. female) between-subjects design assessed the effects of nurses touching patients, during preoperative teaching, on patient affective, evaluative, behavioral, and physiological responses. Results indicated that female subjects in the touch condition experienced more favorable affective, behavioral, and physiological reactions than a no-touch control group. In contrast, males in the touch condition reacted more negatively than control subjects on these dimensions.     

Interpreting social-sexual behavior in a work setting

The influx of women into the work force, especially into nontraditional jobs, has facilitated interest in the topic of sexual harassment and, more generally, sexuality at work. Survey research data show disagreement about the interpretation of interactions between the sexes at work. This study was designed to learn more about the way people interpret ambiguous, but potentially sexual, interactions between the sexes in a work setting. Respondents were asked to evaluate a vignette depicting such an interaction. The vignettes were composed so that three dimensions were manipulated: the sex of the initiator of the behavior, the status of the initiator relative to the target, and the type of behavior. These manipulated dimensions, along with the sex of the respondent, were used as variables to examine the respondent's interpretation of the vignettes. Four-way ANOVAs showed that the independent variables were related to the evaluation of the relationship between the initiator and the target, the evaluation of the behavior, the appropriateness of the behavior, and the likelihood of the behavior. Men interpreted the vignettes more positively than did women. Incidents initiated by women were viewed more positively. Those initiated by persons with higher status than the target were seen less positively. Respondents, especially women, considered incidents that included touching to be negative. This was especially so when the touching was combined with a comment on work, and this effect was exacerbated when the behavior was initiated by a male and/or higher status person.     

Fearful Saints: Comforting friends in a hospital setting

The article examines the role of courage in breaking barriers which prevent friends unfamiliar with the health care industry from providing the needed support to sustain a friend during critical illness. “Fearful Saints” offers ways of understanding the complex issues which distance friends during illness. Close friends feel compelled to enter the world of suffering, but must first confront the terrifying images of illness. By examining Henri Nouwen'sThe Wounded Healer, and the story of Jesus asking his disciple Peter to wait with him in the garden, the concept of extending compassionate understanding during times of adversity becomes manageable. Although miracle potions may not be accessible, the reader learns to identify the role of comforter as one who will not permit an afflicted friend to travel through the experience alone.     

Dimensions of perceptions of social-sexual behavior in a work setting

Although sexual harassment has become an important and controversial topic in social science research in recent years, little research has been done regarding the factors involved in the perception of a single ambiguous social-sexual incident. Furthering the analysis of Gutek, Morasch, and Cohen (1983), factor analytic, cluster analytic, and multidimensional scaling techniques were supplied to a set of 19 questions which were used to evaluate some ambiguous vignettes that could have been considered instances of sexual harassment. These analyses yielded four major clusters: (1) variables relating to the interpersonal relationship between the individuals in the vignette, (2) personal aspects of the incident, (3) questions relating specifically to sexual harassment, and (4) questions regarding the likelihood of the incident. Questions about sexual and harassing aspects of the incident were less central to its evaluation by college students than were those about the incident's personal qualities and about the relationship between the two people.The first author would like to thank Dr. Lawrence Hubert, Department of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, for his inspiration and help with these analyses. The authors would like to thank Bruce Morasch and Paul Phillips for their help in the collection and preliminary analyses of these data. This research was in part assisted by support from the National Institute of Mental Health, Grant USPHS-MH-32606-01, to the second author.     

Assessment of the efficacy of a peer mentoring program in a university setting

In the present study, the efficacy of a formal mentoring program applied to fourth and fifth year students of the Psychology Faculty of the Complutense University is assessed. In this program, fifth-year students took on the role of mentors and fourth-year students, the role of mentees. To assess the efficacy, the group of mentors was compared with a group of non-mentors and the group of mentees with a group of non-mentees, before and after the program, taking into account the variables related to career development function (knowledge acquired of the academic setting and satisfaction with the career of Psychology) and the psychosocial function (self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and involvement). The results show a statistically significant increase in the knowledge acquired about the academic setting as a consequence of the program, both in the group of mentors and in the group of mentees. Moreover, the mentors achieved a better average grade in the subjects of the specialty of Work Psychology. There were no statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in satisfaction with the career of Psychology, or in self-concept, self-esteem, or self-efficacy.     

Self-evaluation by adolescents in a psychiatric hospital school token program

Nine adolescent boys with a history of high rates of disruptive classroom behavior were selected from a psychiatric hospital school and placed in a remedial reading class after school in which various factors in a token reinforcement program involving self-evaluation were investigated. The effects of self-evaluation, in the form of a rating the students gave themselves about the appropriateness of their classroom behavior, were first assessed. While the students' ratings of their own behavior correlated highly with the teacher's ratings and evaluations made by independent observers, the self-evaluations did not lead to a reduction in disruptive behavior. A token reinforcement program, in which the teacher rated the students' level of appropriate behavior and in which the students traded earned rating points for prizes, clearly led to a reduction of disruptive behavior. When the students were given the opportunity to evaluate their own behavior and to receive rewards in exchange for the evaluation, they returned to their former rates of disruptive behavior.     

Use of an ecologically based program for teaching motor skills in a naturalistic setting to individuals with disabilities

The purpose of this action study was to apply an ecological program for teaching motor skills to individuals with disabilities in naturalistic settings. The program was developed based on an ecological survey. Participants were 22 individuals with disabilities, ages 7 to 26 years in the Fall of 1998 and 18 individuals with disabilities, ages 7 to 24 in the Winter of 1999. In each semester, a participant received one or two 50-min, training session(s) per week for 10 weeks. The number of steps in a motor-activity task performed correctly by a participant was measured in the first and last sessions in each semester. The magnitude of increase in the motor performance by participants and answers to questions in a short survey by participants' parents were used to describe the group performance. Analysis showed group performance of targeted motor skills could be improved using this ecological program in this local learning lab for special physical education.     

A systematic program to enhance clinician group skills in an inpatient psychiatric hospital

This article describes the collaborative effort of a team of discipline directors, administrators, and academicians to create a systematic program to enhance the group competencies of a large clinical staff working at a state hospital. The effects of the program were tested by a quasi-experimental field study. Quantitative measures of group process provided limited support for program effectiveness. Stronger support came from qualitative inquiry. The development and effectiveness of the program is examined within a larger context of group programs housed in large health care organizations.     

Return to Hegel

This article argues that Hegel read Lacan. Put less paradoxically, it claims that situating Hegel within a Lacanian paradigm results in an understanding of the future as still open and of history as not ended. Absolute knowing, on this model, is the recognition of the way in which history has developed, not a claim that it can advance no further. The article aims to persuade those who might otherwise dismiss Hegel – for example, persons au courant with poststructuralism – that he still can make a decisive contribution to current debates.     

AIDS and ARC: Pastoral issues in the hospital setting

Eight areas of fear for persons with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and its related conditions are explored: change and stress, uncertainty and the unknown, waiting, the fear of symptoms, fear of contagion, abandonment, dependency and spiritual distress. Some particular issues of sub-populations with HIV infection are detailed. Suggestions for helpful pastoral responses to the common concerns and anxieties of patients and their loved ones are offered.     

Evaluation of a social skills program based on social learning theory, implemented in a school setting

Using a sample of 647 Canadian children in kindergarten to Grade 3 (325 boys, 322 girls), the present study evaluated the perceived effectiveness of Skillstreaming (McGinnis & Goldstein, 2003), a widely known social skills program implemented to target the development of four skill sets, i.e., listening, following directions, problem-solving, and knowing when to tell. Results indicated significant postprogram improvements in all skills as well as in ratings of overall prosociality obtained from both classroom teachers and mental health staff, with medium to large effect sizes obtained from teachers' and mental health professionals' ratings, respectively. Additional analyses yielded significant but weak moderator effects of grade and preprogram prosocial functioning for teacher ratings but no consistent moderator effects for children's sex or school location (i.e., urban versus rural) regardless of rater.