Profile of the membership of the Society for Personality Assessment: comparisons between 1987 and 1990

In this study, we report the findings of a 1990 survey of the membership of the Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) and compare these results with a similar survey conducted in 1987. A four-page questionnaire was sent to approximately 1,800 SPA members; 900 surveys were returned, for a 50% response rate. Information was obtained on professional activities, occupational setting, theoretical orientation, and various demographic characteristics. Clinical practice was reported as the primary professional activity of the vast majority of SPA members; more than 40% of the 1990 sample indicated private practice as their primary job setting, compared to 35% in I987. A larger proportion of SPA members are also now working in private/clinical practice, medical centers, and outpatient community clinics than in 1987. Although a psychodynamic-psychoanalytic orientation continues to be the dominant theoretical perspective of SPA members, the proportion of members with a cognitive-behavioral orientation has increased substantially since 1987. We concluded that SPA members are now more involved in clinical practice, and that the SPA has become more ecumenical in theoretical perspective as the membership has more than doubled over the past 3 years.     

Comparing market orientation culture of businesses and schools of business: an extension and refinement

This study extends previous work concerning the market orientation culture within specialty businesses and schools of business. Specifically, member schools of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International are separated into public and private universities. Data were collected via a mailed survey to business schools holding membership. 106 public school deans and 35 private school deans responded, for a 23% response rate. Input from the deans was sought on their perceptions of the market orientation culture within the schools. Respondents' perceptions, rated on a 7-point scale, measured four dimensions of market orientation: customer orientation, competitor orientation, organizational coordination, and overall market orientation. Data for specialty businesses were drawn from a previous study. Comparison testing between the public and private business schools' deans and business managers was conducted. Analysis indicated perceived market orientation was significantly higher for deans of private business schools than public business schools. Compared with business managers, private school deans were statistically different on only one of the four dimensions, whereas public business school deans' scores were significantly different from those of business managers on all four. Compared with each other, business school deans were statistically different on three dimensions, with private school deans reporting greater market orientation.     

Child psychotherapy with looked after and adopted children: a UK national survey of the profession

Relatively little empirical data is available about the range of work undertaken by child psychotherapists in the UK; however, previous surveys have shown high levels of complexity amongst children referred to child psychotherapists and an increasing proportion of work with children in foster or adoptive placements. Aims: We sought to examine child psychotherapists’ working practices with looked after and adopted children (LAAC), including the types of activities undertaken and their views on this work. Method: An online survey was designed to elicit this information from the members of the Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP), the regulatory body for child psychotherapists in the UK. The survey included a number of categorical and open-ended questions, which were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings: 215 responses were received (24.5% of the eligible ACP membership). The vast majority of the sample were working with LAAC in some context (87.9%). Respondents were conducting a range of work: the most frequently conducted activities were assessment (83.7%), direct psychotherapy (82.3%), work with foster carers and adoptive parents (80.9%) and consultation with the professional network (76.7%). Thematic analysis of qualitative data suggested the complexity of problems amongst the children attending psychotherapy, as well as the perceived need for long-term work with these children. Many respondents placed emphasis on the importance of working with the professional network around the child, including foster carers and adoptive parents, despite feeling that this was often an under-resourced area of child and adolescent mental health services. The implications of the survey for practice and future research are discussed.     

Questioning the “Slippery Slope”: Ethical Beliefs and Behaviors of Private Office-Based and Church-Based Therapists

Counselors and other mental health professionals whose primary office is in a church building often face unique challenges in maintaining appropriate client-therapist boundaries. A sample of 497 Christian counselors responded to an 88-item survey of their ethical beliefs and behaviors. Of the respondents, 148 reported a church as their primary work setting and 162 reported a private office as their primary work setting. Survey results were factor analyzed, then church-based therapists were compared with private office-based therapists regarding their views of ethical behaviors. Although church-based therapists take greater liberties with multiple-role relationships than private office-based therapists, they appear similar with regard to other ethical beliefs and behaviors. Results suggest that church-based therapists who take liberties in nonsexual multiple-role relationships are no more likely than other therapists to violate other ethical standards.     

Psychotherapy with compulsively striving professional women 1: Introducing the patient group

In this paper I develop a profile of compulsively striving professional women with whom I have found myself working in private psychotherapy practice. I put them into a developmental, systemic and cultural context, and suggest a theoretical perspective. In a subsequent article (‘Clinical issues’) I shall describe the challenge they present from a clinical point of view and how these difficulties might be addressed in individual psychotherapy.     

The Australian Psychology Workforce 1: A national profile of psychologists in practice

Existing workforce data on Australian psychologists are limited and data that exist are problematic. An online survey instrument was developed to profile psychologists including demographics and work characteristics including setting, role, service location and client type. A total of 11,897 completed the survey (response rate 48%) and a subset of these (N = 9,330) who held full registration were included in the current investigation. Participant demographics show a high (75%) proportion of females in the workforce which is particularly evident in the younger age range. Participation in the workforce was high (68%), with main psychology jobs spread relatively equally between the public and private sectors. Over a quarter of participants held a second psychology position, with the majority of second jobs being in private practice. For both first and second jobs the largest proportion spend their time providing counselling and mental health interventions one‐to‐one to adults. One quarter provide services in non‐metropolitan regions, a higher rate than previously reported. Specific population groups such as culturally and linguistically diverse and indigenous clients were prominent in workloads. This study provides a comprehensive profile and provides a rich data source for further exploration of the characteristics of specific groups within the workforce.     

Psychodiagnostic test usage: a survey of the society for personality assessment

The present survey investigated psychodiagnostic test usage and practices of the Society for Personality Assessment. A brief questionnaire was forwarded to 400 SPA members and 206 responded for a 51.5% rate of return. Projective techniques found popular in previous surveys of Division 12 were the major assessment instruments utilized by SPA members. Exner's comprehensive system was the preferred mode of Rorschach analysis, followed by the Klopfer and Beck systems. The Wechsler Scales and the MMPI were frequently included in conducting a psychological battery. Personality assessment was mainly utilized for diagnostic purposes and as an indicator for type of therapy.     

Effort in the face of difference: Feeling like a non‐prototypical group member motivates effort

Three studies examined the relationship between individuals' perceived “prototypicality” in a group, their subsequent self‐presentation goals, and individual effort in that group. Consistent with the finding that feelings of marginal ingroup membership status elicit a desire to seek stronger social connections within ingroups, we predicted that non‐prototypical group members will have more salient self‐presentation goals than prototypical members, and as such will exert more individual effort to exhibit the value of their membership to the group. Correlational Study 1 confirmed that non‐prototypical group members may be more likely than prototypical members to volunteer for activities that would benefit their group. Two experimental studies were then conducted to test the causal influence of feelings of prototypicality while also identifying theoretically relevant moderating conditions of perceived task efficacy (Study 2) and public versus private task performance (Study 3). These findings suggest that effortful performance in groups is partly motivated by the desire to foster social ties. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

特殊教育师范生感知班级氛围对学习投入的影响:专业认同的中介作用与未来取向的调节作用

探讨特殊教育师范生感知班级氛围与学习投入的关系,考察专业认同在两者之间的中介作用,以及未来取向的调节作用。采用学生感知班级氛围量表、学习投入量表、大学生专业认同量表和未来取向问卷对582名特殊教育师范生进行调查。结果发现：（1）特殊教育师范生感知班级氛围对学习投入具有正向预测作用;（2）专业认同在感知班级氛围与学习投入的关系中起着重要的中介作用;（3）未来取向显著调节特殊教育师范生感知班级氛围对学习投入的直接路径,也调节中介效应的后半段即特殊教育师范生专业认同对学习投入的影响。本研究结果丰富了特殊教育职前教育理论,对提升特殊教育师范生培养质量具有实践意义。     

Be It Ever So Humble...: The Controversial Issue of Psychotherapy Groups in the Home Office Setting

Group leaders who have home offices may be disclosing more about their personal lives than they consciously intend. While the home office may be convenient and financially advantageous for the leader, this disclosure can be problematic for both the group therapist and group members. It may provide more information about the leader than some members want to know or are able to metabolize. And although poor boundary maintenance can occur in a professional office setting as well, the leakage in the home office is inevitable. The potential pitfalls seem to be at least threefold: over-stimulation, gaslighting, and the emperor's new clothes effect. These hazards exist independently of the leader's training, competence, or ethics. This paper examines the impact of the home office setting on group treatment. Leaders who practice from the home need to be ever-vigilant of untoward treatment reactions that are related to the setting itself. The article provides vignettes that illustrate the benefits and liabilities of the home office.     

Innovation by a family medical practice to provide infant mental health services

The authors suggest that infant mental health principles have practical applicability to the daily lives of families with babies, and they offer one approach to making such application in a private practice. It is suggested that combining psychiatry, family medicine, psychology and nursing may make for a particularly well integrated team that has greater capability than each of its members has alone. Finally, thoughts are offered about the usefulness of research in a private setting, and the economic viability of this kind of practice is discussed.     

Stress and coping in the practice of family therapy: a British survey

A sample of 171 members of the Association for Family Therapy (UK) was surveyed and data obtained on their general level of experienced stress, the sources and levels of experienced stresses they encountered in their practica, and the professional and private coping strategies they used to mitigate the effects of these stressors. The results indicate that stress can be experienced in all practice contexts, with important factors in its overall configuration being personal/professional worth and agency expectation. Family therapists appear to prefer coping strategies of a more social nature and there is an ambivalent attitude towards'therapy for therapists'.     

Prohibiting Versus Discouraging: Exploring Mental Health Organizations Varied Stances on Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE)

Research has shown that sexual orientation change efforts results in more mental health damages than positive outcomes; yet a recent study found that 19.4% of mental health practitioners believe it is ethical to practice sexual orientation change efforts. The purpose of this paper is to highlight existing literature on sexual orientation change efforts, showcase mental health professional organization's stances on ethically prohibiting versus discouraging sexual orientation change efforts, and propose suggestions and learning objectives to mental health organizations. By doing so, we hope all mental health professional organizations enforce a clear ethical code against the practice of sexual orientation change efforts.     

Prejudice and discrimination within the school psychology profession: Survey results from the committee on prejudice and discrimination,Division of School Psychology,American Psychological Association

The committee on prejudice and discrimination, Division of School Psychology, American Psychological Association, conducted a survey in order to determine whether school psychologists have (a) experienced any prejudice and/or discrimination with respect to ethnicity, gender, age, and sexual orientation in salary schedule (in primary employment and in consultative employment), in tenure status, and in publication and grant productivity rate (number of articles published in professional journals, whether they have reviewed articles for journals, amount of typical research grant received); and (b) engaged in legal and/or legislative activity around any existing prejudice or discrimination. A total of 850 surveys were sent to a random sample of approximately 2,500 members of Division 16, American Psychological Association, and the total return was 52%, with 41.2% usuable responses. The results do not in themselves indicate bias with respect to ethnicity, gender, age, or sexual orientation. The findings do, however, indicate the need for further study regarding possible prejudice and discrimination.     

Differences in responses to Web and paper surveys among school professionals

This experiment investigated the effects of survey administration mode (Web vs. paper and pencil) and survey length (short or long) on the responses of a large sample of primary and secondary school professionals in the U.S. The 812 participants in this study were part of an initial random sample of 1,000 individuals representing 5.81% of the membership of a national professional organization. The participants were randomly assigned to each of the four treatment conditions. Results indicated (1) substantially lower response rates for Web surveys than for same-length paper surveys; (2) a higher response rate for short surveys than for long surveys with paper, but not Web, questionnaires; and (3) a younger age for Web respondents, as compared with their paper counterparts. In light of prior research, we suggest that paper-and-pencil methods be used for surveying professionals in primary and secondary school settings.     

The growth of school psychology in the last decade

With reference to the first question, it seems that school psychology as a profession is growing much more rapidly than membership in Division 16 of APA would indicate. While the Division is growing, it is not growing in proportion to the number of practitioners in the field.

Factors that seem to be positively related to the rapid expansion of school psychological services are: financial support from the state level; training programs in the colleges and universities; special certification requirements and the designation of school psychology as a specific profession; and increasing demand for services in rural as well as the urban areas. The school psychologist, by virtue of his training and professional competence, is apparently meeting an important need in the educational system. The general tenor of the response to this survey is that the growth of school psychological services will continue.     

The Gap Between Science and Practice: How Therapists Make Their Clinical Decisions

Recent surveys have found that many patients are not receiving empirically supported treatments and that therapists may not update their knowledge of research. Studies have found that therapists prefer to use their clinical experience rather than research findings to improve their practice, although cognitive behavioral (CB) practitioners have been found to use research more frequently than therapists of other theoretical orientations. The organization in which therapists work has been shown to impact attitudes toward working practices, but studies have not examined whether workplace requirements to use research affect therapists’ practice. Studies to date have mainly been conducted in North America. These findings may not be generalizable to the United Kingdom where there is a National Health Service (NHS), which requires the use of empirically supported treatments. The first part of this study aimed to investigate which factors were influential in therapists’ choice of theoretical orientation and to see whether CB practitioners differed from other therapists in the factors that influenced their choice of theoretical orientation. The second part tested whether therapists’ theoretical orientation or their workplace influenced the frequency with which they used research in their clinical decision-making. The final part investigated whether being a CB practitioner or working in the NHS was associated with having a favorable attitude toward research. An online survey was sent to 4,144 psychological therapists in England; 736 therapists responded (18.5%). Therapists reported that research had little influence over their choice of theoretical orientation and clinical decision-making compared to other factors, specifically clinical experience and supervision. CB practitioners and NHS therapists, regardless of their orientation, were significantly more likely to use research than other therapists and were more likely to have a positive attitude toward research.     

Differentiating explanations of attitude-consistent behavior: the role of perspectives and mode of perspective taking

We examined whether participants could differentiate between explanations of attitude-consistent behavior related to EU membership given from two perspectives (EU supporter and EU opponent) by means of three perspective taking modes (the explainer's own perspective, imagined in-group members' perspective, and imagined out-group members' perspective). Participants were presented with explanations provided from different perspectives and perspective taking modes, and they were asked to judge the extent to which they agreed with each explanation, to guess the attitude of the provider of each explanation, and to rate the quality of each explanation in various respects. Participants could not differentiate between explanations given by in-group members and out-group members who imagined the same perspective. They responded more favorably to explanations given from own perspective than from the imagined perspectives. The results suggest that there exists a shared understanding about how both sides should explain attitude-consistent behavior, but this understanding is measurably different from the actual explanations.     

Repulsion or attraction? Group membership and assumed attitude similarity

Three studies investigated group membership effects on similarity-attraction and dissimilarity-repulsion. Membership in an in-group versus out-group was expected to create initially different levels of assumed attitude similarity. In 3 studies, ratings made after participants learned about the target's attitudes were compared with initial attraction based only on knowing target's group membership. Group membership was based on political affiliation in Study 1 and on sexual orientation in Study 2. Study 3 crossed political affiliation with target's obnoxiousness. Attitude dissimilarity produced stronger repulsion effects for in-group than for out-group members in all studies. Attitude similarity produced greater increments in attraction for political out-group members but not for targets with a stigmatic sexual orientation or personality characteristic.