Corrected Feedback: A Procedure to Enhance Recall of Informed Consent to Research among Substance Abusing Offenders

This study examined the efficacy of corrected feedback for improving consent recall throughout the course of an ongoing longitudinal study. Participants (N = 135) were randomly assigned to either a corrected feedback or a no-feedback control condition. Participants completed a consent quiz 2-weeks after consenting to the host study and at months 1, 2, and 3. The corrected feedback group received corrections to erroneous responses and the no-feedback control group did not. The feedback group displayed significantly greater recall overall and in specific content areas (i.e., procedures, protections, risks/benefits). Results support the use of corrected feedback for improving consent recall.     

Corrected Feedback: A Procedure to Enhance Recall of Informed Consent to Research Among Substance Abusing Offenders

This study examined the efficacy of corrected feedback for improving consent recall throughout the course of an ongoing longitudinal study. Participants (N = 135) were randomly assigned to either a corrected feedback or a no-feedback control condition. Participants completed a consent quiz 2 weeks after consenting to the host study and at months 1, 2, and 3. The corrected feedback group received corrections to erroneous responses and the no-feedback control group did not. The feedback group displayed significantly greater recall overall and in specific content areas (i.e., procedures, protections, risks/benefits). Results support the use of corrected feedback for improving consent recall.     

Parents and divorce: Identifying the support network for decisions about custody

Abstract

The social support network of divorcing parents has been identified as an important factor in postdivorce adjustment. The present study examined the social resources accessed by parents regarding issues of custody and visitation. Parents' evaluation of and interest in participating in four types of custody-related interventions (workshops, mediation, professional evaluation, and arbitration) were also examined. The findings and their implications for clinical practice suggest some major shifts in the provision of services for divorcing families.     

Development and validation of the Malingering Discriminant Function Index for the MMPI-2

The predictive capacity of the MMPI-2 (Butcher et al., 2001) "fake-bad" validity scales (F, FB, and FP) is diminished when respondents have knowledge (i.e., coached) about the operating characteristics of these scales. In this investigation, we endeavored to develop a MMPI-2 fake bad validity index that would be less vulnerable to validity-scale knowledge. Applying discriminant function procedures, we derived a set of weighted Clinical and Content scales that reliably distinguished large samples of validity-scale coached undergraduate research participants instructed to feign mental illness (n = 534) from psychiatric patient samples (n = 590). We subsequently validated this Malingering Discriminant Function Index (M-DFI) in independent samples of research participants (n = 230) and patients (n = 300) and showed relatively less attenuation in predictive capacity compared with F, FB, and FP across uncoached and validity scale coached feigning conditions.     

A Self-Support System for Single Parents

This article discusses a self-support system as one approach to helping the single parent. Techniques are presented to help the single-parent job seeker develop self-confidence and competencies to get a job.     

Identifying,Preventing, and Treating Disturbances between Parents and Their Infants

The author categorizes disturbances between parents and their infants and recommends counseling interventions for preventing and treating such disturbances.     

Gender Differences in Reasons for Entering and Leaving Education Administration: Discriminant Function Analyses

Using discriminant function analyses on survey data collected from 457 students in 29 education administration programs across the United States, the authors inquired into whether men and women decide to enter and possibly leave education administration for different reasons. There were statistically significant functions separating men and women in their reasons for entering and leaving education administration. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Couples Therapy for Drug Abusing Women in an Inpatient Setting: A Pilot Study

This article describes a pilot study to examine the usefulness of adding a couples therapy component to inpatient drug and alcohol treatment for women. The treatment model was modified from a 12-week integrative systems model that has been empirically supported in outpatient treatment settings. A team of student-therapists received intensive training and supervision in the modified version. This article discusses the ability of chemical dependency counselors to implement this model, includes pre and post treatment comparisons, and qualitative findings regarding the efficacy of the project. The treatment model promises to be usable, safe, and practical in inpatient settings, and merits a more thoroughgoing clinical trial.     

Discriminant measures for desperate love

Viewing desperate love as marked by urgency, neediness, dependence, a great need for reciprocation, indealization, and affective extremes, personality traits leading to desperate love were examined. A sample of 251 undergraduates, in desperate love, nondesperate love, and random groups, completed several questionnaires examining characteristic qualities of self and important others and attitudes toward love (Desperate Love Scale, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Knox-Sporakowski Attitudes Toward Love Scale, Characteristic Qualities Questionnaire). Findings support both the primary hypothesis that people can be differentiated in their experience of desperate love based upon significantly different responses when describing characteristic qualities of self and important others and the secondary hypothesis that those tending toward desperate love have a more romantic attitude toward love. The study can be taken as an indication that latent qualities, as well as manifest behavior, differentiate someone who experiences desperate love.     

A Pragma-dialectical Procedure for a Critical Discussion

According to the pragma-dialectical ideal of reasonableness, in case of a difference of opinion the protagonist and the antagonist of a standpoint should attempt to find out by means of a critical discussion whether the protagonist's standpoint is capable of withstanding the antagonist's criticism. In this paper, the authors formulate the latest version of their basic rules for the performance of speech acts in the various stages that can beanalytically distinguished in a critical discussion that can lead to the resolution of a single and non-mixed difference opinion.     

Assertiveness Training for Parents

Many parents lack assertiveness in their interactions with their children. The author describes an assertiveness training model that has been offered to parents of preschool children at a community-based parenting center.     

The Role of Dichotic Listening Performance and Tasks of Executive Functions in Reading Impairment: A Discriminant Function Analysis

This study focused on the role of dichotic listening performance for the identification of reading impaired subtypes. Dichotic listening (DL), using verbal stimuli, has shown to be a valid measure of language lateralization. Usually, lateralization is estimated from the proportion of right ear over left ear accuracy during a free recall test procedure. However, it has been suggested that a more accurate estimate of laterality can be obtained by using a directed attention procedure. A sample of 43 reading disabled children of whom 18 showed signs of impaired language comprehension skills and 25 without language comprehension impairments, were compared to 20 age, and gender, matched controls on dichotic listening performance in both an unbiased free recall task and in a directed attention task using consonant-vowel syllables as dichotic stimuli. A laterality index was calculated for left and right ear stimuli reported during both the free recall condition and the attended ear-scores for the two directed attention conditions. Although both DL procedures yielded significant group differences, with a lower laterality score for the reading disabled compared to the controls, there was no main effect of DL-procedure or group × procedure interaction. Taken alone, DL performance could correctly classify 42% of the reading impaired samples, but together with other measures of executive functions, discriminant function analyses yielded 90.74% accuracy in classifying reading impaired children. The result indicates that DL together with tests of executive functions are valuable tools for assessment of reading impaired subjects.     

Identifying the Function of School Refusal Behavior: A Revision of the School Refusal Assessment Scale

A revision of the School Refusal Assessment Scale (SRAS-R), a measure designed to help clinicians identify the primary function of a child's school refusal behavior, was examined. Changes in the original version of the scale were made to improve psychometric quality and align the measure in accordance with evolutions in the functional model. Two samples of youth with school refusal behavior, in addition to parents and teachers, were evaluated to determine the test-retest and interrater reliability and construct and concurrent validity of the SRAS-R. The scale was found to have good psychometric strength. Implications of these findings for clinicians who address this population are discussed.     

The Selected Response Procedure: A Variation on Appelbaum's Altered Atmosphere Procedure for the Rorschach

This article introduces the Selected Response Procedure, which is a supplementary technique for expanding the scope of the Rorschach test. The procedure is conducted as follows: After the standard administration of the Rorschach test, patients are asked to look through all of the cards a second time and select one more response from any card of their choice. A rationale for this procedure is developed through a comparison to another supplementary Rorschach technique, the Altered Atmosphere Procedure. The importance of understanding the selected response within a theoretical framework, as well as the clinical context of each selected response, is highlighted by a clinical example using object relations theory. Finally, a number of didactic questions are offered as potential ways to query the possible meaning of selected responses.     

Parents Taking Action: A Psycho‐Educational Intervention for Latino Parents of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

The increased prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among Latino children, later diagnosis, limited access to bicultural specialist support, and worsened health outcomes when compared to non‐Latinos points to the need for a culturally relevant parent education intervention. This pilot study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of a culturally derived intervention, Parents Taking Action, for 19 Spanish‐speaking mothers of children with ASD. This study introduces the Promotora de Salud Model of intervention delivery to the autism field. A mixed‐methods design including one group pre‐ and posttest design and focus groups was used to evaluate the outcomes of PTA. We found that the intervention was both feasible to implement and acceptable to participants. We also found significant increases in empowerment oriented outcomes for parents between pre‐ and posttest suggesting that the intervention is promising. Suggestions for future research and practice are offered.     

Comparing Students From Substance Abusing and Dysfunctional Families: Implications for Counseling

This research compared family role dysfunction, college adjustment, chemical dependence, and family functioning among a sample of 245 college students from three groups: homes in which significant alcohol or other chemical abuse or dependence dysfunction existed; dysfunctional homes in which substance abuse was not a significant problem; and nonabusing, nondysfunctional homes. The results suggest that chemical abuse or dependence in families is associated with slowed adult role assimilation and increased risk for alcohol and other drug abuse among children.     

Identifying repressors: A methodological issue for health psychology

Abstract

The majority of studies in health psychology use self-report measures. However, there is a growing body of evidence indicating that this methodology may be problematic for a significant minority of the population: individuals who possess a repressive coping style (repressors). Repressors, who fail to report negative affect, answer many self-report measures in a positive fashion. Research has identified an association between repressors, who are identified by low trait anxiety scores and high defensiveness scores, and adverse health outcomes. Therefore, repressors are an important group for health psychologists to investigate. Health psychology research should use more than one method of data collection in an attempt to unravel this difficult methodological problem.