Stress inoculation for reduction of burnout: A conservation of resources approach

We evaluated the efficacy of two programs designed to reduce stress among nurses by increasing their coping resources. The interventions were based on principles of Stress Inoculation Training and Conservation of Reources stress theory. A dual resource intervention targeted the enhancement of both social support and mastery resources. A single resource intervention targeted the enhancement of only mastery resources. Both interventions were contrasted to a no intervention control condition. Participants in the dual resource intervention experienced significant enhancements in social support and mastery compared to the no intervention control. The social support enhancement persisted through a five-week follow-up. Participants in the dual resource intervention with low initial levels of social support or mastery experienced significant reductions in psychological distress. Participants in the single resource intervention experienced a slight enhancement in mastery compared to the no intervention control. Implications for stress theory and the design of stress reduction programs are discussed.     

Reducing AIDS-related stigma in developing countries: the importance of theory- and evidence-based interventions

In many developing countries persons living with HIV and AIDS experience strong stigma and discrimination, and AIDS-related stigma has an enormous negative impact on their social relationships, access to resources, and psychological well being. Moreover, AIDS-related stigma hampers HIV-related health promotion, including voluntary HIV counselling and testing. In this article, we will argue that programs to reduce AIDS-related stigma are most likely to be effective if these programs are based upon thorough needs assessments, theory- and evidence-based intervention strategies and collaborative planning. A protocol for health promotion programs design is outlined. Furthermore, psychosocial correlates of AIDS-related stigma in developing countries, social-psychological theories that might be useful in designing intervention strategies to reduce stigmatisation and successful elements of previous interventions aimed at stigma reduction are discussed. It is concluded that psychological theory does provide guidelines for the development of stigma-reducing intervention programs, but that such programs can only be effective when based upon context-specific needs assessment and collaborative planning.     

Insights from a deradicalization program in Indonesian prisons: The potential benefits of psychological intervention prior to ideological discussion

Discussions that are based on religious understanding and aimed at reducing terrorists' hostility have been used as a central part of terrorist deradicalization programs in many countries where acts of Islamic terrorism are prevalent. Currently, various psychological approaches such as presenting social support and providing counseling sessions are being applied alongside religious discussions. Observers of these programs have reported benefits and positive responses to the psychological approaches, but there is still a lack of empirical evidence confirming this. In the current study, we examine the effects of two psychological interventions—emotional expression training and cognitive flexibility training—in predicting detainees’ acceptance of the idea of democratic life. We investigated the observational records taken during the psychological interventions and religious discussions. Results showed no main effect of emotional expression and cognitive flexibility in predicting one’s acceptance of democratic civil life, but there was a significant interaction between the two predictors. Among those who scored high in cognitive flexibility, detainees who scored also high in emotional expression were significantly more agreeable towards the state’s sovereignty over belief in an Islamic caliphate during religious discussions. Our findings suggest that psychological interventions do indeed offer benefits for detainees’ deradicalization programs.     

The Roles of Perceived Identity Compatibility and Social Support for Women in a Single-Sex STEM Program at a Co-educational University

Single-sex programs have been implemented in a variety of educational settings to help promote greater engagement of women in STEM fields. However, the mechanisms through which single-sex programs increase women??s engagement in STEM fields are unclear. Drawing from research in social and health psychology, we examined two theoretically-guided predictors of women??s sense of belonging in their STEM majors and belonging at the university: perceived identity compatibility between being a woman and being in a STEM field, and perceived social support. Participants were 65 racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse women enrolled in a single-sex STEM program at a co-educational university in Northeastern United States. Participants completed online surveys before the start of their first year of college, and again at the beginning of their second year of college. Findings from multiple regression analyses support hypotheses that across STEM women??s first or transitional year of college, perceived identity compatibility, perceived support from close others, and perceived support from the single-sex program for STEM women were each independently associated with greater sense of belonging in their major. Additionally, perceived identity compatibility and perceived support from the single-sex program were associated with greater sense of belonging at the university. These findings suggest that perceived support from sources such as single-sex programs and perceived compatibility between one??s field and being female may sustain women pursuing training in nontraditional fields such as STEM. Continued investigation of these factors may elucidate the impact of single-sex programs and inform interventions to increase the retention of women in STEM.     

Child-oriented family therapy in China: A cross-cultural application of integrative family therapy targeting children aged 4–10

This article describes child-oriented family therapy (COF), a family therapy approach to early psychological and behavioral problems that is widely applied in northern Europe and has been adopted by countries with different cultures, such as Germany and China. This article explains the theoretical background, setting, characteristics, development and effective factors of this method and explores relevant research. In addition, the application of this method in China and reflections on its applicability to families in different cultures are presented. A clinical case is provided to illustrate the core therapeutic principles of COF. Since the application of COF interventions to families with children in Asian cultures remains understudied, the widespread availability of COF and adaptation to local conditions could facilitate training and research achievements in this field.     

Therapeutisches Gruppenprogramm für Stalking-Opfer

Stalking victims show a high level of psychological disturbance and frequently need professional help. Thus, stalking must be considered as a serious issue in the field of psychosocial care. However, specific intervention programs to support stalking victims are not available. This paper reports on a pilot project that offers therapeutic help to stalking victims via a structured outpatient group therapy approach. The program aims at setting up appropriate behavior patterns concerning contact with the stalker, strengthening the victims’ self-efficacy and developing coping strategies for stalking-related stress situations. To investigate the effectiveness of the group program, an evaluation study has been conducted using self-report inventories, interview data and biological parameters. Preliminary results from 4 completed groups with 13 participants, indicating that the approach is highly effective, are reported. The potential of the group approach to improve psychosocial care provision for stalking victims is discussed. The need to integrate psychotherapeutic approaches into a multi-professional support system for stalking victims, comprising legal counsel, police measures and psychosocial interventions, is emphasized.     

Evidence-based practice in stuttering: Some questions to consider

A recent forum in JFD (28/3, 2003) evaluated the status of evidence-based practice in fluency disorders, and offered recommendations for improvement. This article re-evaluates the level of support available for some popular approaches to stuttering therapy and questions the relative value placed on some types of programs endorsed by the forum. Evidence-based practice is discussed within the context of emerging concerns over its application to non-medical interventions and suggestions are made for grounding fluency interventions by reference to empirically supported principles of change. A popular, evidence-based intervention for stuttering in young children (the Lidcombe program) is evaluated within the suggested parameters. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: After reading this article, the reader will be able to: (1) evaluate the status of evidence-based practice in fluency disorders; (2) list concerns about the impact of narrow interpretation of EBP on research and practice in the field of fluency disorders and other non-medical domains; (3) articulate the role of theory and basic research in selecting among and evaluating therapy approach options.     

中国健康城市建设的进展及理论思考

中国健康城市的建设走过了探索和实质性发展两个阶段.它以健康促进的理念为指导,以"健康社会、健康环境、健康人群"为主线,成为了当前开展健康促进的典范.健康城市能呈现实质且快速发展的势头,政府主导是其重要的特点.它既符合中国社会文化背景和现状,也是以"上游策略"来解决全人群健康问题创新性举措.中国健康城市推行的深远意义在于,它为当前公共卫生体系建设赋予了先进的内涵,与世界卫生组织倡导的"健康促进曼谷宪章"的核心精神是完全相符的,成为了引领中国公共卫生汇入国际现代公共卫生运动的领头兵.但是,它的茁壮成长仍需要有远见的政治家的呵护和支持.     

Development of a Family-based Program to Reduce Risk and Promote Resilience Among Families Affected by Maternal Depression: Theoretical Basis and Program Description

Depression is a family matter. It not only diminishes the quality-of-life of the depressed person, but also strains the resources of the family unit and increases the children's risk of developing significant problems that start early and persist into adulthood. Although treatment of a parent's depression is critical, many families also need professional intervention to reduce children's risk. This article reviews the evidence on needs of these families and shows that the theoretical and clinical evidence exists to support the design of interventions for families affected by maternal depression. A preventive intervention developed from this foundation is described, the Keeping Families Strong (KFS) program, that is designed to promote resilience and reduce the risk for psychological disorders in children of parents with depression. The pilot study on the KFS program, conducted in adult mental health outpatient settings, is described. Families participate in 10 meetings 90 min each, with a group for parents and for children (10 years and older) conducted concurrently. The program structure and content are described, the challenges of implementing a family preventive intervention in actual clinical settings are discussed, and a case example is provided, as well as preliminary outcome data on ten families. In sum, we provide a strong rationale for the potential of preventive interventions for families affected by maternal depression.     

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.     

Reducing work/home conflicts in employed couples: A proposed program to balance job and family demands

Work/home conflict is a dominant stress for workers in industrialized countries, particularly in dual-employment families. Interindividual (husband/wife) and interrole (work/home) conflicts in such families are a unique source of stress and adversely affect family and marital relationships as well as performance at work. Neither family therapy nor the stress literature have reported any interventions directed specifically at reducing work/home conflicts in employed couples or parents, although many workplaces today offer stress prevention programs aimed at individual workers. This paper discusses the underlying theoretical rationale for a marital enhancement intervention currently being developed for prevention of distress associated with work/home conflicts. The program combines marital enrichment and training principles with stress management techniques and aims at reinforcing shared coping resources. It focuses on four main variables associated with interpersonal processes: unrealistic expectations based on irrational beliefs, social undermining, shared decision control, and social support.     

Strategic Interventions in Hospital Transitions

This paper describes two different strategic interventions designed to provide emotional and practical support to employees during downsizing in two large urban hospitals. The first program was hospital-wide and developed by a team of human resource professionals. The second program was smaller in scale and designed for a single hospital department. Both programs were initiated to minimize the negative impact of job loss and to address the concerns and heighten the morale of remaining employees.     

Comprehensive School Counseling Programs: A Review for Policymakers and Practitioners

This article describes components of effective school counseling programs that have emerged from 30 years of empirical research and professional standards. Results are summarized in seven sections: core principles of school counseling programs, program resources, program interventions, program evaluation, program renewal, written policies, and program climate.     

Development,Implementation, and Evaluation of anAthlete-Informed Mental Skills Training Program for EliteYouth Tennis Players

Informed by athletes’ psychological needs, the current qualitative study developed, implemented, and evaluated a 15-month mental skills training (MST) program for elite youth athletes. The MST was divided into 3 phases that included a 9-month preintervention, a 2-month intervention, and a 4-month evaluation phase. The intervention consisted of 3 interactive workshops that were delivered to 11 competitive British youth tennis players (8–15?years of age) and their coach (age 34). The intervention was informed by data that were collected throughout a 9-month preintervention phase including longitudinal observations, field notes, and semistructured interviews. The intervention was evaluated over 4 months through observations, field notes, athlete-workshop data, and a semistructured interview with the coach. Results reinforced the value of the longitudinal preintervention phase by highlighting that the establishment of rapport between the researcher and athletes enhanced the meaningfulness and content of the MST program. In addition, an increase in athletes’ use and regulation of psychological skills and characteristics (PSCs) was identified as a result of athletes’ improved understanding of psychological skills (i.e., self-talk, imagery, performance routines) and characteristics (i.e., focus, emotional control, PSCs). Finally, the MST program fostered a shared subject-specific language between athletes and their coach, enhancing the openness and frequency with which PSCs were talked about. Practical guidelines for future sport psychology interventions with youth athletes and their coaches are provided.

Lay Summary: A 15-month mental skills training program was conducted with youth tennis players to enhance their ability to regulate their focus and emotional control. Practical guidelines for future interventions with youth athletes and their coaches are provided.     

Ethical,legal and societal considerations on Zika virus epidemics complications in scaling-up prevention and control strategies

Much of the fear and uncertainty around Zika epidemics stem from potential association between Zika virus (ZIKV) complications on infected pregnant women and risk of their babies being born with microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities. However, much remains unknown about its mode of transmission, diagnosis and long-term pathogenesis. Worries of these unknowns necessitate the need for effective and efficient psychosocial programs and medical-legal strategies to alleviate and mitigate ZIKV related burdens. In this light, local and global efforts in maintaining fundamental health principles of moral, medical and legal decision-making policies, and interventions to preserve and promote individual and collectiveHuman Rights, autonomy, protection of the most vulnerable, equity, dignity, integrity and beneficence that should not be confused and relegated by compassionate humanitarian assistance and support. This paper explores the potential medical and ethical-legal implications of ZIKV epidemics emergency response packages and strategies alongside optimizing reproductive and mental health policies, programs and best practice measures. Further long-term cross-borders operational research is required in elucidating Zika-related population-based epidemiology, ethical-medical and societal implications in guiding evidence-based local and global ZIKV maternal-child health complications related approaches and interventions. Core programs and interventions including future Zika safe and effective vaccines for global Zika immunization program in most vulnerable and affected countries and worldwide should be prioritized.     

心理实验程序设计的模式化方法

心理实验程序设计是指将心理学的研究计划或设想转变成计算机可识别的程序的过程,是心理学研究中的一个重要环节。本文提出了心理实验程序设计的一套模式化方法——12345理论,即一个过程,两种类型,三大原则,四种模式,五个要素。12345理论具有较强的指导性和操作性,能够为心理学研究人员设计实验程序提供理论和方法指导,对心理实验程序设计体系的规范化或标准化的建立作出了有益的探讨。     

Psychosoziale Interventionen bei Patientinnen mit Brustkrebs

Breast cancer patients are subject not only to physical strain but also to substantial psychological and social stress as well as major threats and challenges.The paper presented gives an overview of the research status on psychosocial interventions to support patients in their coping endeavours.Psychosocial basic care of women with breast cancer is performed by the physicians treating oncologically and includes information fitting patients' information needs,and responding to their emotional stress.Evaluated training and educational programs are available for physicians to enhance their psychosocial competence.Psychosocial basic care is completed by psychoeducational interventions.In 20–30% of women with breast cancer, there is a need for a special psychotherapeutic treatment.Especially, supportive and cognitive-behavioral therapies in an individual or a group setting contribute to a reduction of anxiety and depression. Even anticipated side-effects of somatic treatments can be diminished by psychotherapy. Research in the field supports that there is a need for broad integration of psychosocial interventions into disease management programs for women suffering from breast cancer.     

A review of teen-tot programs: comprehensive clinical care for young parents and their children

Comprehensive clinical programs for teenage mothers and their children, also known as teen-tot programs, have been a promising intervention to improve outcomes of teenage childbearing and parenting. However, much remains unknown regarding the efficacy of such programs. We reviewed four published evaluations of programs that provided medical care, counseling, contraception, guidance for parenting, and assistance with staying in school. The evaluations reported moderate success in preventing repeat pregnancies, helping teen mothers continue their education, and improving teen and infant health over 6 to 18 months. However, the evaluations had limitations that may have reduced or accentuated observed effectiveness. Teen-tot programs will continue to face the challenges of sustaining adequate long-term interventions and evaluations, and reducing the high attrition rate among program participants. It is concluded that increased support and funding for teen-tot programs and more complete evaluations are warranted.     

Interventions for Family Members and Carers of Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder: A Systematic Review

Carers of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) experience high levels of distress. Several studies have been carried out on interventions designed to decrease their burden. However, the evidence from these studies has not been summarized. The objective of this work is to explore the clinical utility of interventions developed for family members of patients with BPD. A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines (registration number CRD42018107318), including psychological interventions focused on relatives of patients with BPD. The following databases were used: PsycINFO, PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science. Two independent researchers reviewed the studies to determine whether the eligibility criteria were met. A total of 2,303 abstracts were identified. After duplicates had been removed, 1,746 studies were screened. Finally, 433 full‐text articles were reviewed, yielding 11 studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria. Results show that these interventions with different clinical formats and settings are effective. The quality of the included studies varies, and the empirical support for these programs is still preliminary. The results help to establish a general framework for interventions specifically developed for family members of patients with BPD, but additional efforts should be made to improve the methodological quality of this field of research and more solidly determine the utility of these interventions. Given the paucity of data so far, this information may open up new lines of research to improve the effectiveness of future programs for carers of patients with BPD and help to reduce their burden.     

Sozial-emotionales Lernen mit FAUSTLOS

Maltreatment, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect during childhood contribute to the development of psychic and somatic disorders. Therefore interventions against violence are necessary to support psychological health. The development of social-emotional competences became an elementary part of psychosocial prevention programs. Children with good capacities in problem solving are less at risk to show violent behaviour in difficult emotional conflicts, because they don’t tend to stabilize and compensate their self esteem in these situations. Relevant core dimensions concerning psychological development can be taught systematically in social- emotional learning lessons. Teachers in kindergardens and schools are presenting the series of lessons. A growing number of studies in this field show good effects. In Germany FAUSTLOS has been developed as an evaluated and systematically constructed tool for preventing aggressive behaviour in children visiting kindergardens and elementary schools. During these programs 28 lessons are presented in kindergardens and 51 lessons in elementary schools. Follow-up studies with FAUSTLOS show significant changes in emotional competences and prosocial developments in children.