Student Opinion on the Location of Occupational Information on a University Campus

A questionnaire survey revealed student needs, knowledge, and use of occupational information, as well as opinions about the most suitable location of such a resource on the Oregon State University campus. Results indicated that most students did not know where occupational information was available and only a small percentage knew there were occupational files in the Counseling Center and the University library. The great majority (almost 9 out of 10) wanted the University to provide a central occupational library, with most naming the Student Union (40 per cent) or the University library (25 per cent) as the best location. The Counseling Center was mentioned by only 2 per cent of the students.     

Family Therapy Training in Clinical Psychology Programs

In a national questionnaire survey of graduate programs offering the Ph.D. or Psy.D. in clinical psychology, the status of family therapy training was examined. With a 79 per cent response rate (102 programs), the study found that 10 per cent of the nationwide faculty identified themselves as primarily family therapy oriented, 32 per cent of the programs had no family-oriented faculty members, 18 per cent of all psychotherapy courses were family therapy courses, and 21 per cent of the schools had no family therapy course. The ratings of the importance of providing students with family therapy training were found to be unrelated to the number of family therapy courses available but positively correlated with the percentage of family therapy courses within the total curriculum.     

Determining the need for community alternatives to prevent unnecessary admissions to an adult inpatient psychiatric unit

Admissions to an adult psychiatric inpatient unit were monitored for a period of 4 months in order to determine the necessity for those admissions. Staff considered that 34–58 per cent of admissions would have been unnecessary if appropriate alternatives had been available in the community. The study was repeated using a different methodology and 50 per cent of admissions were then considered unnecessary. As these results are based on post-hoc judgements, made with some knowledge of outcome, the conclusions are drawn cautiously. Implications regarding the development of services are considered.     

Memory for medical history: Accuracy of recall

Medical diagnosis often depends on the ability of patients to recall and report their medical history. In this study 104 people kept health diaries for 3 months, recording the incidence, frequency, data, duration, and severity of health events (symptoms, illnesses, injuries, visits to health professionals, and medication). Memory for the events recorded was tested immediately after the diary-keeping period or at 1 month or 3 months later. Effects of age, gender, education, health status, anxiety, and retention interval were observed. With a free recall procedure only 47 per cent of health events were recalled. Following the free recall two different kinds of intervention were compared. Use of a recognition checklist yielded recall of 29 per cent of the forgotten events but with a cognitive interview procedure only 6 per cent of the forgotten items were retrieved.     

Evaluation of the effectiveness of an anti‐bullying programme in primary schools

A nationwide programme to prevent and manage bullying in Irish schools, based on that implemented in Norway in 1996, is currently being developed, and pilot work with a sample of primary schools within a single county of Ireland has been conducted and evaluated (the staff and pupils of 42 primary schools having been involved). A network of professionals (11 teachers) were trained to co‐ordinate the anti‐bullying programme in the schools, subsequent activities involving their training teachers (a total of 197) and parents in three to five schools each. In evaluation, pupils from 22 of the schools completed modified versions of the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire [Olweus, 1989; Whitney and Smith, 1993]. Teachers completed a questionnaire (concerning their knowledge and feelings about bullying [Rigby, 1997]) both before and after the implementation of the anti‐bullying training programme. Significant reductions were found in pupils' reports of having been victimised after the implementation of the programme. Overall, 19.6 per cent fewer children were victimised. There was a reduction of 50.0 per cent amongst those frequently victimised within the last school term, and of 43.0 per cent in reports of having been bullied within the last five school days. A reduction of 17.3 per cent in pupils' reports of having taken part in bullying others was also observed after the implementation of the programme. There were, in particular, significant reductions (69.2 per cent) in reports of frequently bullying others within the last school term, and of 51.8 per cent in reports of having taken part in bullying others within the last five school days. Whilst the programme was shown to reduce the incidence of pupils' involvement in bullying behaviour, the perennial challenge of attempting to increase the levels of pupils' reporting of bullying to teachers and parents remains a challenge for the authors to attend to in the further development of the nationwide anti‐bullying programme. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–14, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Developmental changes in application of the majority rule in group decisions

This study examined age-related changes in the child's application of the principle of majority rule in group decisions. Following a problem posed by Moessinger (1981), we enquired whether children routinely apply the majority rule when the majority consists of a shifting (variable) set of members across decisions, and alternate between majority and minority when the majority and minority is fixed, i.e. consists of the same individuals each time. In Geneva, Moessinger found that 8-year-olds failed to discriminate between fixed and shifting majorities, while most 13-year-olds (75 per cent) did so. An altered replication was conducted in Australia modifying Moessinger's procedure to control for extraneous variables such as ‘set’ and the need for variety in choice. It was found that on the task 7 per cent of 8-year-olds, 20 per cent of 10-year-olds, 32 per cent of 12-year-olds, and 39 per cent of 14-year-olds discriminated on a behavioural criterion between fixed and shifting majorities. Ten per cent of 8-year-olds, 40 per cent of 10-year-olds, 52 per cent of 12-year-olds, and 55 per cent of 14-year-olds made the discrimination on Moessinger's cognitive ‘reason’ criterion. The results show that development of the conceptual distinction between fixed and shifting majorities is gradual and continuous.     

Hypnotic pseudomemories,prehypnotic warnings,and the malleability of suggested memories

This study used Orne's nocturnal events paradigm to test the effects of warning highly hypnotizable participants about the possibility of hypnotic false memories. We found that warnings reduced suggestibility but not false memories during hypnosis. Fewer warned participants (12/32, 38 per cent) than unwarned participants (12/16, 75 per cent) accepted the suggestion to hear a noise that awakened them when they were age-regressed to a night of the previous week. However, an analysis of only those persons who accepted the suggestion during hypnosis showed that the warning had no effect on their posthypnotic pseudomemories: among this group, 75 per cent of warned versus 58 per cent of unwarned persons stated immediately after hypnosis that the noise occurred in reality (i.e., reported a pseudomemory). During a final confidential assessment, 58 per cent of the warned participants who had accepted the noise suggestion reported a pseudomemory, versus 50 per cent of the unwarned participants. Comparing pseudomemory rates across all participants, regardless of whether they passed or failed the noise suggestion, 28 per cent of warned participants versus 44 per cent of unwarned participants reported pseudomemories, a nonsignificant difference. Finally, warned and unwarned participants were equally confident in their false memories. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pathology of inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system--an autopsy analysis 1967-1988

This paper deals with investigations of CNS-inflammations based on 23,338 autopsies in the period from 1967 to 1988. Inflammatory CNS-findings were observed in 210 cases (0.9 per cent). Their etiology was caused bacterially in 66 per cent and viral infections were found in 20 per cent. Additionally multiple sclerosis appeared in 14 per cent of all CNS-inflammations. The meningitis dominated among the bacterial infections and the leukencephalitis and nekrotizing polioencephalitis of Herpes type among the viral inflammations. The histological classification of the nonbacterial inflammations was difficult or impossible in 9 per cent. A clinical diagnosis was established only in 70 per cent of all cases. Especially babies and patients at the age about 60 or 70 were involved.     

Sporadic transient atrioventricular block and slow heart rate in nervous pointer dogs

Two behaviorally distinct strains of pointer dogs, one bred for nervousness (pronounced freezing behavior, withdrawal behavior), the other bred for normal behavior, exhibit prominent differences in their heart rates and incidence of sporadic occurrences of atrioventricular heart block. Of 67 nervous-line dogs, 70 per cent showed second degree AV-block on at least one occasion, and their heart rates averaged 65 beats/min. Only 15 per cent of 52 normal-line dogs displayed AV-block (generally fewer instances per dog) and their heart rates averaged 110 beats/min. Fifth generation nervous-line puppies, two to six weeks old, exhibited occasional AV-block even at heart rates averaging 183 beats/min. The incidence and “severity” increased as the puppies aged. Dogs crossbred from second and third generation parents of the two main lines show intermediate incidences of AV-block and intermediate heart rates. The incidence of AV-block is predominant in females. This is interpreted as a sex-influenced, agedependent, polygenic mode of inheritance. Humoral factors probably account for the sex-influence, and psychological stress probably also plays a role. No sex difference is noted in heart rates.     

The Adjustment of Drug Addicts as Measured by the Sentence Completion Test

The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank was administered to fifty out-patients at a rehabilitation center for narcotic addicts. There were twenty male heroin users, twenty male pill users, and ten female heroin users. Interscorer, intrascorer, and split-half reliabilities were all high. It was found that a cutting score of adjustment of 135 correctly identified 80 per cent of the male heroin users, 90 per cent of the male pill users, and 100 per cent of the female heroin users.     

Exploring the bio-psycho-social

The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) was formed to provide a professional body for all psychotherapists in the UK. It maintains a register of trained practitioners who abide by the ethical standards ratified by UKCP, which includes psychotherapists working in all the modalities recognized by UKCP irrespective of their primary professional training. In the absence of statutory registration, there is no fully representative list of UK psychotherapists, but the UKCP register is probably the nearest thing to it. The UKCP board recognized that a survey of registrants would provide a snapshot of the state of UK psychotherapy, which would be valuable in understanding the contribution of psychotherapists to health services in the UK.

A questionnaire was designed, and sent out to all 4005 practitioners registered by UKCP in December 1997. One thousand three hundred and thirty-one questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 34 per cent. The respondents were representative of all registered psychotherapists in 1998 in those characteristics that are published in the paper register, or that can be inferred from it. The respondents were aged 51 years on average, predominantly white (97 per cent described themselves this way) women (69 per cent) practising in London and the South East of England (55 per cent). All the respondents described themselves as being influenced by psychotherapeutic approaches rooted in psycho-analysis. Ninety-five per cent of respondents had another profession previous to psychotherapy. This was most commonly teaching (27 per cent), social work (22 per cent) or counselling (21 per cent). Only 11 per cent of respondents were psychologists.

The contribution of UKCP registrants to the National Health Service has never previously been estimated. A breakdown of the diaries provided by respondents in this survey suggests that UKCP registrants may contribute as many as 44,760 hours of psychotherapy per week to the British National Health Service and other health sectors. Assuming that a whole-time-equivalent psychotherapist works 37 hours per week, this means that UKCP registrants may provide the equivalent work to health service organizations, both public and private, of more than 1,311 full-time psychotherapists.     

The effect of cueing in a visual signal detection task

In a signal detection task four subjects were presented with stimulus cards, 50% of which contained a capital O in one of the four quadrants. Fifty per cent of these Os were surrounded by a small rectangle. This small rectangle served as a simultaneous cue, indicating the region where the O could appear. The other 50% were surrounded by a big rectangle encompassing the whole field. Fifty per cent of the blank cards contained a small rectangle, the other 50% a big one. Exposure duration was set at 15 and 20 ms. The results indicated that subjects, for whom these exposure durations led to performance exceeding chance level, used the simultaneous cue for reducing the field to be searched, resulting in higher sensitivity (d') in the small rectangle condition. Results were interpreted in terms of increasing efficiency of search as a result of which a higher quality of the icon was available for making decisions about the presence of the O.     

The effects of inhaling a 35 per cent CO2-65 per cent O2 mixture upon anxiety level in neurotic patients

Wolpe has reported the use of a 35 per cent CO₂-65 per cent O₂ mixture to relax patients who cannot otherwise be relaxed sufficiently to allow desensitization. In this investigation, the anxiety-reducing effects of single inhalations of a 35 per cent CO₂-65 per cent O₂ were studied on twelve patients, all of whom had been diagnosed by their doctors as having a high level of anxiety. On the basis of the subjects' ratings, this mixture was more effective than was an equal volume of air which was breathed through the same apparatus as was the experimental mixture. Evidence is offered which suggests that the decrement in anxiety which followed administration of the 35 per cent CO₂-65 per cent O₂ mixture was due to some effect of the gas other than the hyperventilation which it induces.     

Family–oriented treatment for people with alcohol problems in Ireland: a comparison of the effectiveness of residential and community–based programmes

Using a naturalistic design involving consecutive referrals self–selected for family–oriented treatment, forty–two participants from a residential programme and twenty–five participants from a community–based programme were assessed on a range of alcohol–use and psychosocial measures before treatment. A proportion of these cases were assessed after treatment and at six months'follow–up. At six months' follow–up 79 per cent of both the residential and community groups were either abstinent or drinking moderately. However, more members of the residential group (75 per cent) were abstinent at follow–up compared with the community group (36 per cent). In contrast, more members of the community group were moderate drinkers (43 per cent) at follow–up compared with the residential group (4 per cent). At six months' follow–up, compared with the community group, more members of the residential group showed a clinically significant reduction in recent negative consequences of drinking and psychological adjustment problems. Both groups made significant mean gains on indices of alcohol abuse and psychosocial adjustment but there were important intergroup differences. The residential group showed a greater mean reduction in recent negative consequences from drinking but the community group showed a greater mean reduction in the percentage of days' heavy drinking.     

Training family therapy students in conceptual and observation skills relating to the therapeutic alliance: an evaluation

This paper describes a training intervention to develop students' conceptual and observation skills relating to the therapeutic alliance (TA) in family therapy. An evaluation methodology was developed and piloted. The knowledge and observation skills of family therapy students pre‐ and post‐training were assessed in comparison to a non‐intervention group of experienced clinicians. Students' mean scores on the knowledge measure improved significantly from 43 per cent to 74 per cent (p<0.001) and on the observation test from 43 per cent to 65 per cent, although this failed to reach statistical significance (p=0.08). There were no significant changes in the clinicians' scores over the same period. The clinicians' knowledge was higher initially, but the students had caught up after six months. In conclusion, training students in conceptual and observational skills relating to the therapeutic alliance may have a measurable effect. A ‘stepwise’ methodology for demonstrating the relationship between training in TA and outcomes for families is proposed.     

Sociological Studies of Occupations

A bibliography of 796 sociological studies of occupations was collected. Three- to six-page abstracts were prepared of 100 of these for counseling use. These were assigned DOT codes for ready filing in occupational files. 43.2 per cent of the studies were doctoral dissertations. A substantial body of largely untapped information has been made available to counselors. A clearinghouse for further sociological studies of occupations is needed.     

Variability of normal grapho-elements and the assessment of abnormal grapho-elements in the EEG of clinically healthy test persons

The percentage pattern and topical distribution of alpha, beta, theta and delta waves, the occipital voltage level asymmetry of the alpha waves and the frequency of temporal functional disorders were studied in 100 17-year-olds, 273 male test persons of various age and 6,000 healthy persons. The results indicated that 1/4--1/8 of the test section is precentrally taken up by theta waves in the E.E.G. of healthy 17-year-olds. Random sampling on a larger scale shows that left occipital alpha wave domination is just as frequent as on the right; voltage level symmetry occurs only in 13--23 per cent of all cases. Three per cent of the clinically healthy persons showed local temporal E.E.G. anomalies which were on the left in 96 per cent of the cases. Attention is drawn to possible consequences with regard to nomenclature, evaluation and diagnostic assessment.     

Further notes on differences between percentages

In certain problems dealing with percentage differences, it frequently happens that one is interested in a critical value different from zero rather than in the usual hypothesis of no population difference. Moreover, one may be concerned with differences greater than (or less than) a given magnitude, so that only one tail of the distribution of chance values is used. Tables are here presented to facilitate evaluating results of such problems. One per cent and 5 per cent values can be read from the tables, such values corresponding to the more usual 2 per cent and 10 per cent confidence limits.     

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In a national questionnaire survey of clinical psychology internship sites, the status of family therapy training was investigated. With a 65 per cent response rate (182 sites), the study found that 11 per cent of all psychology Ph.D.'s, 9 per cent of all M.S.W.'s and 2 per cent of all M.D.'s on internship faculties considered themselves to be primarily family therapy oriented. Nationwide, 39 per cent of 177 internships indicated that some family therapy training was a requirement of the program; for the remaining 61 per cent, family therapy training was either optional or unavailable entirely. Of the five areas of adult, child, group, and family therapy, and psychodiagnostics, interns were viewed by most programs as being least prepared at the start of the internship to do family therapy. In terms of internship training philosophy, family therapy was rated fourth in overall importance as an essential component of an intern's experience. The family training importance rating was found to be correlated positively with the number of family courses and seminars offered, family supervision received, and family clinical work performed.