Infant positioning: A brief review

The American Academy of Pediatrics (2016a) has made several recommendations regarding the safe positioning of infants by caregivers, including placing infants in a supine position for sleep and in prone for supervised periods of tummy time. However, caregivers may have difficulty adhering with these recommendations. A small, but growing, number of behavior analytic studies have examined these infant safety recommendations and strategies for increasing adherence. This review describes behavior analytic research on infant positioning and provides suggestions for future research.     

Violence brief interventions: A rapid review

Provision of a Violence Brief Intervention (VBI) to young men undergoing treatment for a violent injury may represent a teachable moment for the prevention of future interpersonal violence in Scotland. Prior to intervention design, a rapid review of the research literature was necessary to examine existing programmes. After title and abstract screening, eight distinct VBIs were identified from full texts. Whilst none of the programmes were a perfect match for our intervention goals, they did demonstrate the potential effectiveness of brief interventions for violence prevention at both cognitive and behavioural levels. Key themes of successful interventions included brief motivational interviewing as an effective method of engaging with at-risk participants and encouraging change, the utility of social norms approaches for correcting peer norm misperceptions, the usefulness of working with victims of violence in medical settings (particularly oral and maxillofacial surgeries), the importance of addressing the role of alcohol after violent injury, the advantages of a computer-therapist hybrid model of delivery, and the need for adequate follow-up evaluation as part of a randomised control trial. This information has been used to design a VBI which is currently under evaluation.     

Socialization within day care: A brief review

Studies examining the effects of day care are reviewed. Little evidence was found indicating a negative impact on child development. A number of weaknesses in the day care literature were pointed out, including problems of ecological validity and failure to examine for differential effects. Suggestions for future research are made, among them a “natural history” of day care and studies of children who have experienced trauma.     

The Good Behavior Game: A brief review

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a group contingency that reduces disruption and increases engagement in various contexts. In recent years, researchers have extended the GBG in at least 3 ways: (a) demonstrating its efficacy with novel populations, settings, and behaviors, (b) examining procedural variations that improve contextual fit, and (c) using more comprehensive data collection methods to explore the behavior of individual students and indirect effects. The purpose of the current review is to summarize recent advances, discuss implications of recent studies and potential mechanisms for the general efficacy of the GBG, and suggest future directions.     

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services: A brief review

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services (PDC-HS) is an informant-based tool designed to identify the variables contributing to poor employee performance in human service settings, such as clinics, schools, and residential facilities. Upon completion of the tool, an intervention indicated by PDC-HS results is used to improve employee performance. To date, the PDC-HS has been used in a number of studies. This review describes the existing research on the PDC-HS and provides suggestions for future research.     

Group therapy with Vietnam veterans: A brief review

This paper reviews the benefits and general considerations regarding group therapy with Vietnam veterans. A review of veteran rap groups and traditional therapy groups highlights the similarities and differences between types of groups used to treat this population. The importance of countertransference reactions and the need to consider a variety of treatment approaches is emphasized.     

Precursor behavior and functional analysis: A brief review

Researchers have developed precursor functional analyses to provide an alternative, and presumably safer, format for functional analysis of severe problem behavior. When researchers use functional analysis contingencies for precursor behaviors, it is possible to infer functional characteristics about severe problem behaviors based on patterns of less severe precursor behaviors, permitting practitioners to complete the assessment with less risk to clients, practitioners, or others. The current paper discusses recent advances in the development and validation of precursor identification, and offers suggestions and future directions for investigating and implementing precursor functional analyses. We propose a decision‐making model, in which practitioners integrate procedures to identify precursors into the functional‐analysis process, to expedite the analysis of severe problem behaviors.     

Increasing handwashing in young children: A brief review

Personal hygiene is critical for preventing the spread of infection. One important component of personal hygiene is handwashing. This review summarizes research on behavioral strategies to address handwashing in children, offers areas for additional research, and suggests a treatment package to teach handwashing to young children.     

A brief review of selective mutism literature

Selective mutism is a disorder characterized by a persistent failure to speak in certain social situations. It is typically diagnosed in childhood, and the disorder can last from just a few months to several years in some individuals. Debate surrounds the origins and causes of this disorder. Recent literature suggests that selective mutism may be a form of social phobia. The present article is a brief review of the literature on the etiology, assessment, comorbid diagnoses, and treatment perspectives from several theoretical orientations, including behavioral, family systems, and psychopharmacological.     

Infant mental health: A brief review of a gigantic work

While it can reasonable be said that parents have been the leaders in infant mental health research for much longer, the literature traces our beginnings only to the early decades of this century. Early work focused on the astonishing developmental changes in infants deprived of maternal contact during hospitalization, and early questions arose about the possibility of lifelong psychological disorder resulting from such early deprivation. Later research demonstrated that even though the infants are clearly vulnerable, they are also active and very much a reciprocating part of the attachment process. Most recently we have learned to understand caregiver-infant interaction as a display of both the joys and the conflicts in relationship, and methods of intervention are slowly evolving.     

A brief review of technology-based antecedent training procedures

This brief review summarizes recent research on technology-based antecedent staff training procedures, highlights key methodological components, and concludes with potential directions for future research.     

History,philosophy, and science teaching: A brief review

School science education is currently the subject of much debate. Historians and philosophers of science should play a role in this debate. Since the late nineteenth century there has been a persistent, if minor, tradition arguing for the incorporation of historical and philosophical dimensions in the teaching of school science. With the current crisis in science teaching, there are encouraging signs that more attention is being paid to this tradition. What is required is much greater collaboration between philosophers, historians, and science educators, particularly in the training of teachers.This article is a shortened version of my 1988, A Role for History and Philosophy in Science Teaching, inEducational Philosophy and Theory 20 (2). All references are to the following History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching: A Bibliography.This special number ofSynthese is part of a large international project on the place of history and philosophy in science teaching. Special issues ofEducational Philosophy and Theory, Interchange, andStudies in Philosophy and Education are being produced. An international conference on the subject will be held at Florida State University in November 1989. Details of the journals and the conference can be obtained from the author.The project commenced while the author was on leave at Florida State University in 1987. It began with a gracious invitation from Jaakko Hintikka to guest edit this number, and was furthered with the support and encouragement of David Gruender. I thank them both, and also the Philosophy Department for its hospitality. Special appreciation is due to the nearly 30 authors who have contributed papers to the project. I hope that their efforts will re-open the needed dialogue between historians, philosophers, and science educators.     

Procedural justice and preferential treatment: A brief review and comment

To put Singer’s (1992) work on relative deprivation and responses to preferential treatment in context, studies from a procedural justice perspective are reviewed. That review suggests that the psychological dynamics of preferential treatment are well accounted for by concepts derived from theories of procedural justice. It is thus argued that, to be parsimonious, Singer’s work is best conceptualized in procedural justice rather than relative deprivation terms.     

Development of a brief questionnaire of smoking urges--Spanish

Using 2 different samples of smokers, the authors developed and cross-validated a Spanish, brief version of the Questionnaire of Smoking Urges (QSU; S. T. Tiffany & D. J. Drobes, 1991). The smokers in Study 1 (N = 245) and Study 2 (N = 225) were from the province of Alicante, Spain. In both samples, a 2-factor model provided an excellent fit for a 10-item, all positively worded version of the QSU. Moreover, in both studies each factor uniquely contributed to predict nicotine dependence. Overall, there was clear evidence of construct validity for the multidimensionality of smoking cravings among Spanish smokers.     

Neuroscience of Pavlovian conditioning: a brief review

Current knowledge on the neuronal substrates of Pavlovian conditioning in animals and man is briefly reviewed. First, work on conditioning in aplysia, that has showed amplified pre-synaptic facilitation as the basic mechanism of associative learning, is summarized. Then, two exemplars of associative learning in vertebrates, fear conditioning in rodents and eyelid conditioning in rabbits, are described and research into its neuronal substrates discussed. Research showing the role of the amygdala in fear conditioning and of the cerebellum in eyelid conditioning is reviewed, both at the circuit and cellular plasticity levels. Special attention is given to the parallelism suggested by this research between the neuronal mechanisms of conditioning and the principles of formal learning theory. Finally, recent evidence showing a similar role of the amygdala and of the cerebellum in human Pavlovian conditioning is discussed.     

The unwanted child and mental illness: A brief,selective review

A commonly held belief is that the unwanted child is at risk for emotional disorders. This article teases out the aspects of unregulated fertility that are likely to result in an unwanted child and examines the evidence that suggest their relationship to mental illness.Samuel O. Okpaku, M.D., Ph.D., is in private practice.     

Mental illness and violence: A brief review of research and assessment strategies

Examinations of the relationship between mental disorders and violent behavior can be found throughout history and across cultures. Many examples of the cultural and social construction of dangerousness and mental illness also have appeared during the modern era. This article examines the evolution of thought and research regarding the relationship between mental illness and violence, from studies in the early twentieth century through the more recent MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study. In addition, the article explores the state of knowledge and practices surrounding the assessment and management of violence risk among individuals with mental illness.