Improving the Social-Behavioral Adjustment of Adolescents: The Effectiveness of a Social Skills Group Intervention

We evaluated the efficacy of a social skills training intervention designed to improve adolescents’ social, emotional and behavioral adjustment, Social Skills Group Intervention-Adolescent (S.S.GRIN-A). Seventy-four adolescents (ages 13–16 years) and their parents were randomly assigned to either the treatment group (N = 40) or a wait-list control group (N = 34). Adolescents in the treatment and control groups were compared on global self-concept, social self-efficacy, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems pre- and post-intervention. Youth in the treatment group demonstrated enhanced global self-concept, increased social self-efficacy, and decreased internalizing problems as compared to youth in the control group. No differences in externalizing behavior were found. We discuss the effectiveness of S.S.GRIN-A as a general program designed for addressing a range of adjustment issues and social skill deficits in adolescents.     

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.     

Effectiveness of cognitive behavioural group therapy for social phobia in a community clinic: a benchmarking study

This study used a benchmarking strategy to investigate the transportability of cognitive behavioural group therapy (CBGT) for social phobia to a community mental health clinic. The influence of common exclusion criteria on effect sizes was also examined. Patients (N=153) attended seven 4-h sessions of CBGT, which resulted in significant reductions in symptoms of social anxiety and depression. Effect sizes compared favourably to previous efficacy and effectiveness studies of both group and individual treatment. More than half of the treatment completers achieved reliable change. One-third achieved clinically significant change (CSC) on the Social Phobia Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory, but fewer achieved CSC on the Social Interaction and Anxiety Scale. Restricting the sample on the basis of depression symptoms, age above or below 50 years, comorbidity, alcohol problems, or student status did not significantly moderate effect sizes for social anxiety. It is concluded that CBGT is effective within community mental health clinics.     

The Impact of Childcare and Parent-Child Interactions on School Readiness and Social Skills Development for Low-Income African American Children

Low-income and African American children are at increased risk for school readiness deficits in terms of both cognitive and social development. This study examined the roles of childcare involvement and parent-child interaction quality on the development of school readiness and social skills among a low-income, minority sample of kindergarten children. Findings provide mixed evidence on the role of childcare exposure, with early entry into childcare predicting higher levels of social skills ratings and increased time per week in such settings predicting lower levels of social skills development. Childcare exposure had positive, although trend-level, relationships with other readiness-related outcomes after accounting for demographic characteristics of children and their families. Parent-child interactions characterized as structured and responsive to the child's needs and emotions were positively related to school readiness, social skills, and receptive communication skills development after accounting for demographic characteristics and childcare exposure. Implications for preventive intervention program development and the role of school psychologists in the areas of consultation and intervention are discussed.     

A Teacher-Consultation Approach to Social Skills Training for Pre-Kindergarten Children: Treatment Model and Short-Term Outcome Effects

This study evaluated the post-treatment outcome effects of a classroom-based social skills program for pre-kindergarten children, using a teacher-consultation model. The pre-K RECAP (Reaching Educators, Children, and Parents) program is a semi-structured, cognitive-behavioral skills training program that provides teachers with in-classroom consultation on program implementation and classroom-wide behavior management. Data on children's social skills and behavior problems were collected from parents and teachers at pre- and post-treatment, for 149 children aged 4–5 years (of whom 56% were girls). Significant treatment effects were found for teacher but not parent reports, with treatment group children improving significantly more than comparison group children in their teacher-rated social skills and internalizing and externalizing problems. These results provide some preliminary support for the efficacy of the program on children's social skills and behavior problems, and for a teacher-consultation model for training teachers to implement school-based mental health programs.     

An Evaluation of a Helping Skills Training Program for Intern Psychometrists

This study reports on the effectiveness of a helping skills training program for intern psychometrists. A randomized pretest–posttest comparison group design was used to evaluate the training program. Participants (N = 22; 82% = female, and Afrikaans-speaking = 95%) were selected from the psychometrist-in-training program from a tertiary institution. Three helping skills development measuring instruments were administered before and after the training program. Data were quantitatively analysed to examine training effects on empathy, respect and genuineness, as well as the participants’ ability to respond to content and personalise meaning. At the conclusion of the training, participants appeared to have evidently developed a heightened sense of purpose in life.     

Fundamental Movement Skills and Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Peer Comparisons and Stimulant Effects

The purpose of this study was to compare the fundamental movement skills of 22 children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), from 6 to 12 years of age, to gender- and age-matched peers without ADHD and assess the effects of stimulant medication on the movement skill performance of the children with ADHD. Repeated measures analyses revealed significant skill differences between children with and without ADHD (p ≤ 0.001). Results from the stimulant medication trials indicated no significant effect of medication on the movement skill patterns of children with ADHD. It is concluded that children with ADHD may be at risk for developmental delays in movement skill performance. Potential factors underlying the movement skill difficulties are discussed, with suggestions for future research.     

Social Information Processing Skills in Children with Histories of Heavy Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

Based on caregiver report, children with prenatal alcohol exposure have difficulty with social functioning, but little is known about their social cognition. The current study assessed the social information processing patterns of school-age children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure using a paradigm based on Crick and Dodge’s reformulated six-stage model. Fifty-two children (aged 7–11) with and without heavy prenatal alcohol exposure were tested using a structured interview measure of social information processing involving 18 videotaped vignettes of children in group entry and provocation situations. Alcohol-exposed children displayed maladaptive processing patterns on the goal, response generation, and response evaluation steps in group entry situations, and encoding, attribution, response evaluation, and enactment steps during provocation situations. Children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure also had difficulty on the Test of Problem Solving, and performance correlated with social information processing measures. Such difficulties may lead to problems in social functioning and warrant early intervention.     

学习障碍儿童社会技能缺失成因假说

研究者一直试图探讨学习障碍与社会技能缺失之间的联系,从而揭示导致学习障碍儿童社会技能缺失的原因。这一研究领域出现了四种假说：因果假说、共存假说、相关假说和同病率假说。     

Adaptation of the Children's Friendship Training Program for Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

ABSTRACT

Previous research attests to the marked impairments in social functioning exhibited by children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), suggesting that such children are in need of social skills intervention. Recently, an existing evidence-based manualized behavioral treatment for improving children's friendships was implemented and demonstrated to be effective with children aged 6–12, diagnosed with FASD. In the present report, we describe methods for adapting this behavioral intervention in line with the specific cognitive and behavioral deficits seen in children with FASD and other developmental disabilities to enhance treatment efficacy.     

It Takes Nine Days to Iron a Shirt: The Development of Cognitive Estimation Skills in School Age Children

Data are presented for 315 elementary school-aged children (K–11) who took the Biber Cognitive Estimation Test, a 20-item test with five estimation questions in each of four domains: quantity, time/duration, weight, and distance/length. Performance showed significant development yearly until around the age of nine years, with much slower development subsequently. No gender effects were found. Age and fund of knowledge correlated with overall test performance. Fund of information accounted for a large proportion of the variance in estimation skills for children 8 years and under, but not for children 9 years and older. Since estimation skills require retrieval and manipulation of relevant knowledge and inhibition of impulsive responding and are necessary in many everyday tasks, it was anticipated that this test may provide a useful measure of judgment and estimations and may correlate with other executive skills in school-aged children.     

The Effectiveness of Therapy with Couples Reporting a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse: An Exploratory Study

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the impact of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) on couples therapy. Participants were couples seeking therapy who were screened for CSA prior to therapy. Groups were compared using self-report and therapist-rated measures of individual and relational distress. Results indicate that although therapists report significant differences between CSA couples and couples not reporting abuse at the onset of therapy, those differences do not translate into significant differences in the perceived effectiveness of therapy as measured by change scores on therapist rated levels of distress, questions regarding the effectiveness of therapy, dropout, and length of treatment.     

Effectiveness of an empirically supported treatment for social phobia in the field

This study examined the effectiveness of individual exposure combined with cognitive restructuring for social phobia in a clinical setting as well as the influence of sample restriction criteria on the effect size. Participants were 217 unselected patients with a primary diagnosis of social phobia who were treated by 57 therapists in four outpatient clinics of the Christoph-Dornier-Foundation of Clinical Psychology in Germany. Results 6 weeks after the end of therapy showed highly significant reductions in social phobic fears and avoidance as well as in general anxiety and symptoms of depression. However, patients who dropped out during therapy reported a significantly higher degree of depression. Results did not differ between the four outpatient clinics and are comparable with the average effect-sizes reported by meta-analytic studies of controlled efficacy research, using selected patients. Also, restricting the sample according to the selection criteria often applied in research settings did not result in higher effect sizes for the applied outcome measures. We conclude that individual cognitive behavioural therapy for social phobia can be transported from research settings to the field of mental health.     

Differences in First Graders' School Adjustment: the Role of Classroom Characteristics and Social Structure of the Group

We examined differences among classes in academic and psychosocial aspects of school adjustment. The sample consisted of 1241 6-7-year-olds in 71 classes from 49 schools. Multilevel analyses showed that 83.5% of the variance was at the child level, 10.3% at the class level, and 6.2% at the school level. Thus, for the part of the variance that was not at the child level, differences among classes were more important than differences among schools. To identify relevant class factors, we focused on classroom characteristics and aspects of the social structure in the class such as integration and openness. Classroom and teacher variables were relatively unimportant compared to social structure indices that yielded significant correlation indicators of social interaction and intellectual competence and explained part of their variance at the class level. This suggested that the structure of the social relations contributed to differences among classes in several aspects of school adjustment.     

Transition to the Clinical Doctorate: Attitudes of the Genetic Counseling Training Program Directors in North America

In North America, genetic counseling is an allied health profession where entry level practitioners currently must hold a master’s degree earned from a graduate program accredited by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. This is one of many health care professions that could transition to an entry level clinical doctorate degree. This study explored the attitudes of genetic counseling training program directors toward such a transition. Thirty-one North American program directors were invited to complete an online survey and a follow-up telephone interview. Twenty-one program directors completed the survey and ten directors also completed a follow up phone interview. There was disagreement among the respondents on the issue of transitioning to a clinical doctorate degree (nine in favor, six against and six undecided). Respondents disagreed about whether the transition would lead to higher salaries (six yes, eight no, and seven unsure) or increased professional recognition (eight yes, eight no, and four unsure). Approximately half (n = 10) of directors were not sure if the transition to a clinical doctorate would help or hurt minority recruitment; six thought it would help and four thought it would hurt. However, the majority (n = 13) thought a clinical doctorate would help genetic counselors to obtain faculty positions. If the field transitions to a clinical doctorate, 11 of the directors thought their program would convert, seven were unsure and one thought their program would shut down. Themes identified in interview data included 1) implications for the profession 2) institution-specific considerations and 3) perception of the unknown. Opinions are quite varied at this time regarding the possible transition to the clinical doctorate among genetic counseling training program directors.     

The Effectiveness of Audiovisual Self-Instructional Materials in Teaching Child-Care Skills to Parents with Intellectual Disabilities

Children of parents with intellectual disabilities are at risk for neglectful care due to parenting skill deficiencies. Previous studies have shown that parents with intellectual disabilities can improve child-care skills with intensive behavioral training, but self-instruction has not been explored. We evaluated the efficacy of self-instructional pictorial child-care manuals with and without accompanying audiotaped instruction using a multielement design with 13 parents with intellectual disabilities. The self-instructional materials were effective in teaching 22 of 26 skills to levels seen in parents without intellectual disabilities. Eighty-one percent of the skills maintained over a 1-15 month follow-up period and self-learning effects were replicated when the parents received self-instructional materials for the original no-training control skill. Despite the low literacy skills of the parents, for most of them no advantage was found in adding the audiotape to the illustrations. Three parents only reached criterion after an audiotape was added to the manual alone skill. Consumer satisfaction ratings were uniformly high and those parents who stated a preference, preferred the pictorial manuals without, as opposed to with, the audiotape. These findings suggest that a majority of parents with intellectual disabilities may improve their parenting skills with low cost, low tech, self-instructional materials.     

Clinical Effectiveness of the LE<Superscript>3</Superscript>AN Program: A Military Healthy Lifestyle Program

For several decades, obesity has been a major health concern within the general population of the United States as well as within the unique military population. Unlike the civilian sector, military service requires individuals to meet weight and body fat standards. In order to assist overweight military personnel return to standards, Tripler Army Medical Center initiated the LE³AN Program. LE³AN is a one-week, day-treatment, cognitive-behavioral weight management program coupled with 12 months of weekly follow-up. Baseline data was collected on 387 consecutive participants. Despite physical fitness training and required standards in each military service, the average BMIs for men and women were in the obese range, with male participants’ BMIs significantly higher than women’s (34.3 vs 31.9, p<.005). One year outcome data was collected from 167 participants, i.e. 43.2% of treatment initiators. Among participants who completed treatment, men maintained a 6.56% loss of their initial weight while women maintained a 7.35% loss. Over a quarter, 26.6%, of those who started the program (but did not complete it) maintained at least a 5% weight loss at one year, while 61.6% of treatment completers maintained 5% weight losses. The opinions expressed in this article reflect the views of the authors and not those of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Army.     

The Effectiveness of a REBT Training Program in Increasing the Performance of High School Students in Mathematics

The efficacy of an REBT-based skill training program on the mathematics performance of disadvantaged black eleventh graders enrolled in Upward Bound was examined. Fifty-six students (18 males and 37 females) were randomly assigned to Perception Analysis Training (PAT) or an attention control group (ACG). The two groups met at the same hour each week for eight-weeks. PAT consisted of instruction in the application of RET strategies to the management of emotions that interfere with the development of proficiency in mathematics. ACG group members discussed films pertaining to career and personal development. Pre-test results confirmed a relationship between beliefs and mathematics achievement. Three measures of problematic beliefs concerning mathematics were significantly correlated (p>.01) with high school math grades and performance on the California Achievement Test-Math (CAT). At post-test PAT participants were less committed to self-defeating beliefs regarding mathematics than AGC members. ANCOVAs showed that PAT students made significantly greater pre- to post-test gains in their mathematical performance than control group members. PAT group members out performed AGC subjects in terms of Upward Bound math grades (ES=0.61; p >.0008), high school math grades (ES = 1.09; p>.0001), and scores on the CAT (ES=0.40; p >.02).