Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Training for Therapists: Outcomes,Acceptability, and Impact of Support

The objectives of the present study were to assess the effects of online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) training for therapists on measures of CBT knowledge, skills, confidence, and utilisation; to determine what differences might exist between a group supported by regular telephone contact and an independent group who undertook online training without additional support; and to determine the acceptability of CBT online training among rural and remote mental health professionals. Mental health practitioners were randomly allocated to a supported training group (six sessions of 15‐min support) or an independent group. They undertook a 12‐week online CBT training program. The two groups showed similar gains on an objective test of knowledge of CBT, and on self‐report measures of knowledge, skills, confidence levels, and utilisation of skills. However, the supported training group had a significantly higher program completion rate than the independent group. Participants evaluated the program favourably. The results suggest that online CBT training represents a promising and cost‐effective approach to training the mental health workforce, and may be particularly attractive for those who live in regional, rural, and remote communities. A challenge is to determine the most cost‐effective ways to enhance program completion rates and trainee skills.     

Variable Perception of White Noise in Ambiguous Phonetic Contexts: The Case of /p/ and /f/

The roles of spectro-temporal coherence, lexical status, and word position in the perception of speech in acoustic signals containing a mixture of speech and nonspeech sounds were investigated. Stimuli consisted of nine (non)words in which either white noise was inserted only into the silent interval preceding and/or following the onset of vocalic transitions ambiguous between /p/ and /f/, or in which white noise overlaid the entire utterance. Ten listeners perceived 85% /f/s when noise was inserted only into the silent interval signaling a stop closure, 47% /f/s when noise overlaid the entire (non)words, and 1% in the control condition that contained no noise. Effects of spectro-temporal coherence seemed to have dominated perceptual outcomes, although the lexical status and position of the critical phoneme also appeared to affect responses. The results are explained more adequately by the theory of Auditory Scene Analysis than by the Motor Theory of Speech Perception.     

情景知觉中的信息界定:从主观预期到“惊奇”算法

情景信息加工是情景知觉研究领域内的核心问题。然而,不同的研究者对"情景信息"的界定并不相同。在过去80多年的时间里对情景信息的界定先后经历了研究者主观确定、观察者评估、基于情景物理特征的计算模拟等方法。Itti和Baldi等人通过比较先验概率和后验概率之间的差异,提出了"惊奇"理论。文章介绍了真实情景知觉研究中"惊奇"理论的应用及进展,并指出"惊奇"算法的拓展及界定、情景知觉过程中的注意转换与"惊奇"的关系,以及社会情景知觉中的"惊奇"应用可能是未来相关领域需要进一步探索的问题。     

Improving Delivery Behaviors During Exposure for Pediatric OCD: A Multiple Baseline Training Trial With Community Therapists

This study tested whether a new training tool, the Exposure Guide (EG), improved in-session therapist behaviors (i.e., indicators of quality) that have been associated with youth outcomes in prior clinical trials of exposure therapy. Six therapists at a community mental health agency (CMHA) provided exposure therapy for 8 youth with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design with random assignment to baseline lengths of 6 to 16 weeks, therapists received gold-standard exposure therapy training with weekly consultation (baseline phase) followed by addition of EG training and feedback (intervention phase). The primary outcome was therapist behavior during in-session exposures, observed weekly using a validated coding system. Therapist behavior was evaluated in relation to a priori benchmarks derived from clinical trials. Additional outcomes included training feasibility/acceptability, therapist response to case vignettes and beliefs about exposure, and independent evaluator-rated clinical outcomes. Three therapists reached behavior benchmarks only during the EG (intervention) phase. Two therapists met benchmarks during the baseline phase; one of these subsequently moved away from benchmarks but met them again after starting the EG phase. Across all therapists, the percentage of weeks meeting benchmarks was significantly higher during the EG phase (86.4%) vs. the baseline phase (53.2%). Youth participants experienced significant improvement in OCD symptoms and global illness severity from pre- to posttreatment. Results provide initial evidence that adding the EG to gold-standard training can change in-session therapist behaviors in a CMHA setting.     

A Sensemaking Approach to Ethics Training for Scientists: Preliminary Evidence of Training Effectiveness

In recent years, we have seen a new concern with ethics training for research and development professionals. Although ethics training has become more common, the effectiveness of the training being provided is open to question. In the present effort, a new ethics training course was developed that stresses the importance of the strategies people apply to make sense of ethical problems. The effectiveness of this training was assessed in a sample of 59 doctoral students working in the biological and social sciences using a pre–post design with follow-up and a series of ethical decision-making measures serving as the outcome variable. Results showed not only that this training led to sizable gains in ethical decision making but also that these gains were maintained over time. The implications of these findings for ethics training in the sciences are discussed.     

The Effects of Relaxation and Postural Training on External Perception: Improvement of Visual Acuity, Visual Field, and Hearing Acuity

This study examined the effects of muscular relaxation and postural training on external perception using a visual acuity test, a visual field test, and a hearing acuity test. Eighteen undergraduate students were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent muscular relaxation and postural training. Each subject in this group was administered the tests before and after the training. Each subject in the control group carried out the tests before and after participating in a 30-min conversation with the experimenter. On all three tests, the experimental group improved significantly more than the control group.     

Enhancements to the Behavioral Parent Training Paradigm for Families of Children with ADHD: Review and Future Directions

Behavioral parent training (BPT) is one of the empirically supported psychosocial treatments for ADHD. Over many years and in many studies, BPT has been documented to improve both child ADHD behavior and maladaptive parenting behavior. In some studies, BPT has also been found to result in benefits in additional domains, such as parenting stress and child classroom behavior. However, the BPT literature on children selected as having ADHD lags behind research conducted on BPT for children selected as having oppositional defiant and conduct disorders (ODD and CD, respectively) with regard to examination of factors that may limit treatment attainment, compliance, and outcomes, such as single parenthood, parental psychopathology, and child comorbidity. Because of the high degree of comorbidity between ADHD and ODD/CD, it is difficult to separate the two BPT literatures. The parameters of BPT (e.g.. format and setting), parent factors, and child factors that may contribute to treatment outcomes for families of children with ADHD are reviewed here and recommendations for future BPT research in the area of ADHD are made.     

Honoring and Privileging Personal Experience and Knowledge: Ideas for a Narrative Therapy Approach to the Training and Supervision of New Therapists

This article discusses an approach for the training and supervision of new therapists built around social constructionist and poststructuralist ideas from a narrative therapy perspective. We briefly discuss some of the pitfalls of current training/supervision in marriage and family therapy (MFT) that are deficit based and/or that disproportionately grant privilege to expert knowledge. We articulate this emerging training approach which utilizes the rite of passage metaphor, centers relationalism, and incorporates the honoring and privileging of new therapists' lived experience, knowledges, skills, talents, ideas, morals, personal ethics, values, beliefs. Concrete practices of experience privileging, re-membering, and creating communities of concern are detailed, and illustrative examples from our supervision work are given.     

Issues in Professional Training to Implement Evidence‐based Parenting Programs: The Preferences of Indigenous Practitioners

Indigenous children have elevated risk for poor health, behavioural, emotional, and social outcomes. Significant evidence exists that parenting programs can reduce family risk factors and improve outcomes for children and families; however, mainstream programs have had slower uptake in Indigenous communities than other communities. Culturally sensitive delivery of evidence‐based programs can enhance engagement of parents, yet the development of a workforce to deliver programs to Indigenous parents faces many obstacles. This project seeks to identify professional training processes that enhance Indigenous practitioners’ skills and confidence in delivering an evidence‐based parenting program. A survey of trained parenting practitioners via an online practitioner network assessed their views of the training and post‐training support processes they had experienced. Respondents were 57 Indigenous and 720 non‐Indigenous practitioners from 15 countries. Most training processes were rated equally helpful by Indigenous and non‐Indigenous practitioners. However, several training processes were identified as important for the delivery of culturally competent training, such as tailoring the pace of training and simplifying the language in teaching resources. Practitioners with higher ratings of the helpfulness of peer support following training reported higher program uptake and implementation. Qualitative themes also focused on the helpfulness of program resources, and having a peer support network and mentoring. Increasing access to appropriate, flexibly delivered training and post‐training support for Indigenous professionals will support the development of a skilled workforce with local knowledge and connections, and further increase the reach of evidence‐based services in Indigenous communities.     

Interpersonal Skills Training to Reduce Aggressive and Delinquent Behavior: Limited Evidence and the Need for an Evidence-Based System of Care

The prevention of aggressive and delinquent behavior during childhood and adolescence is one of the highest priorities for public health and crime prevention. The most common approach to preventing or treating these conduct problems has been to provide interpersonal skills training to the affected youth. This paper reviews all randomized controlled trials evaluating interpersonal skills training programs as an intervention to reduce conduct problems. Research shows that such programs have weak empirical support as isolated interventions. An alternative evidence-based system of care is described. Such a system would include behavioral parent training and behavioral classroom-based interventions for young children at risk of developing problems, as well as multisystemic family therapy or multidimensional treatment foster care for chronic delinquents. Within such a network of services, interpersonal skills training could play an important supportive role. Such a system holds the greatest promise for reducing the prevalence of aggressive and delinquent behavior in communities.