Sibling Conflict Resolution Skills: Assessment and Training

Sibling conflict can rise to the level of a clinical problem. In Phase 1 a lengthy behavioral role-play analog sampling child reactions to normal sibling conflicts was successfully shortened. In Phase 2 normal children who lacked sibling conflict resolution skills were randomly assigned to a Training or Measurement Only condition. Training consisted of five clinic sessions focusing on verbal reasoning, assertiveness, and acceptance skills. Trained children outperformed Measurement Only children on the shortened role-play test. Parents of trained children, but not untrained children, perceived improved social competence in the home. The project provides an empirical foundation for future research with aggressive siblings.     

Training Alcoholics in Telephone Skills for Contacting Potential Employers

In this study of unemployed alcoholics, the authors found that telephone skills for contacting potential employers can be taught in a standard program of alcohol treatment.     

Integrative Therapy and Training: A Commentary

The authors in this series present innovative training programs in integrative psychotherapy. Although they approach integration from different starting points, they converge in their emphasis on principle-based thinking as it applies to understanding the process of change and the selection of interventions. What is not made as clear is how to conceptualize clients' problems from this principle-based level of abstraction. In this paper, the strategy of pattern identification is discussed as one approach. Together, these approaches to training teach clinicians to think at a level of abstraction that provides a structure for integrating theory and technique from a constantly evolving knowledge base so that a wide variety of clinical problems can be addressed.     

The Effect of Mental Practice and Goal Setting as a Transfer of Training Intervention on Supervisors' Self-efficacy and Communication Skills: An Exploratory Study

Mental practice, where goal setting was either implicit or explicit, was investigated in a pulp and paper mill as a post-training intervention with regard to self-efficacy and the transfer of newly taught communication skills to the work setting. Six months after the supervisors had been trained, a 2×2 ANCOVA showed that self-efficacy was significantly higher for the supervisors who engaged in either mental practice or in mental practice combined with goal setting than for those in the goal setting only or control conditions. Self-efficacy correlated significantly with goal commitment and communication skills on the job. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that the supervisor's imagery skills moderated the effect of mental practice on self-efficacy. Both the supervisors in the mental practice and in the goal setting and mental practice conditions were observed by peers to have improved their communication behaviour on the job. No change in communication behaviour was observed on the part of supervisors who set goals but did not engage in mental practice or were assigned to the control group.     

医患沟通技能训练与考核模式的探索

我国医学生医患沟通技能培养一直是医学教育的薄弱环节,缺乏客观、公正、标准的沟通技能考核方法.分析案例或案例讨论、课堂情景模拟、门急诊导医、病房陪护、应用标准化病人与标准化家属进行医学生医患沟通能力的培训及考核,对提高医学生沟通能力大有裨益.     

Improving Generalization of Academic Skills: Commentary on the Special Issue

Behavior analysts have long been interested in developing and promoting the use of effective generalization strategies for behavioral interventions. Perhaps because research on academic performance has lagged behind in the field of applied behavior analysis, far less research on this topic has been conducted for academic performance problems. The purpose of this article is to comment on the six reports of experimental studies that make up this special issue. The methods investigated by the authors in this special issue are innovative and raise many intriguing questions that should fuel further research and development of strategies for improving generalized academic skills. The article concludes with thoughts about what we know as a field, and what has yet to be examined through future research.     

Adolescent Self-Esteem and Cognitive Skills Training: A School-Based Intervention

We developed and evaluated a school-based psychosocial prevention program for adolescents, focusing on self-esteem, negative cognitive processes, and peer isolation. Fifty-one tenth-grade students between the ages of 13–16 were recruited and randomly allocated to one of three groups; Social Cognitive Training group (SCT), Attention Placebo Comparison Group (APC) and a Waitlist Control group (WL). A pre-post design using two types of measures: specific measures of the target skills (self-esteem, self-statements) and impact measures (quality of peer relationships, acceptability of intervention for adolescents and teachers) evaluated the effectiveness and social validity of the intervention. Multivariate Analyses of Variance showed significant improvements on measures of target skills for the SCT group in contrast to the comparison conditions on reported self-esteem, and self statements, however mixed results were found on the impact measures. While the SCT group was rated as highly acceptable and useful by both adolescents and teachers, student self report ratings of quality of peer relationships showed little change across the study period. We discussed our findings in terms of the effectiveness of group based cognitive interventions in developing adolescent self-esteem and social competence, and the ecological validity of implementing programs within naturalistic settings.     

Behavioral Assessment in DBT: Commentary on the Special Series

Behavioral assessment is woven into the fabric of DBT. The articles of this special series beautifully illustrate this point by describing the relevance and application of behavioral assessment principles in several DBT contexts: creating a case formulation; assessing suicidal behavior; client use of DBT skills; and within family or couple interventions. This commentary highlights themes common to the papers and discusses assessment as it relates to several core concepts in DBT: behaviorism, acceptance, dialectics, and the assumptions about treatment. We identify several dialectical tensions that practitioners must balance when using behavioral assessment strategies. Suggestions for clinical practice are provided.     

Coping Skills Training: A Systematic Approach to Stress Management Counseling

This article reviews coping theory and attribution theory to present a systematic approach to stress management counseling. It shows how to teach stress coping skills.     

Relationship Skills Training in Schools: Some Fieldwork Observations

The importance of training in relationship skills is emphasised. Following a review of the British and American literature on relationship skills training in schools, a year-long relationship skills course with a group of Australian secondary-school students of low academic achievement is described. The course had mixed success. Issues and problems pertaining to the course and to doing this kind of work in schools are discussed. These issues include: theoretical assumptions, content of course, size of group, composition of group, training methods, facilitating motivation and participation, and assessment. Though its difficulty should not be underestimated, relationship skills training in schools represents an exciting challenge.     

Step by Step: Avoiding Spiritual Bypass in 12‐Step Work

With spirituality as a cornerstone, 12‐step groups serve a vital role in the recovery community. It is important for counselors to be mindful, however, of the potential for clients to be in spiritual bypass, which likely will undermine the recovery process.