Is Student Counselling a Profession?

Moves towards professionalisation within student counselling are discussed as a case-study which may have wider applicability within counselling as a whole. The main approaches to defining a profession are described, and eight criteria are distinguished and applied to student counselling. It is concluded that student counsellors are some way from the 'ideal-type' profession. Account also needs to be taken, how ever, of moves towards some forms of deprofessionalisation' within the traditional professions. Current moves towards accreditation of individuals and courses within the Association for Student Counselling are welcomed.     

Does Motivational Interviewing (MI) Work With Nonaddicted Clients? A Controlled Study Measuring the Effects of a Brief Training in MI on Client Outcomes

This study investigated the relationships between motivational interviewing (MI) and client symptoms, attendance, and satisfaction. Seventy‐nine clients attending a university‐based counseling center were purposefully assigned to treatment or control conditions. Statistical analyses revealed client symptoms in both groups improved. However, clients assigned to treatment conditions attended more sessions and missed fewer sessions than clients in the control group. Implications for using MI and suggestions for additional research are explored within the study.     

Selection or Training? A Two-Fold Test of the Validity of Job-Analytic Ratings of Trainability

Decisions to use selection devices or training are typically based on subject matter expert (SME) judgments concerning the trainability of job components, including tasks and knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs). The studies reported here examined the validity of SME trainability judgments from two perspectives. We found that (1) different SME groups' judgments related differently to actual learning changes in KSAOs covered in a training program and (2) sources of variability thought to be unrelated to the job influenced trainability ratings. Implications for the selection of SMEs in job analysis applications intended to determine the trainability of various job components are outlined.     

Parent Training Adapted to the Needs of Children With Callous–Unemotional Traits: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Callous–unemotional (CU) traits designate a distinct subgroup of children with early-starting, stable, and aggressive conduct problems. Critically, traditional parenting interventions often fail to normalize conduct problems among this subgroup. The aim of this study was to test whether parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) adapted to target distinct deficits associated with CU traits (PCIT-CU) produced superior outcomes relative to standard PCIT. In this proof-of-concept trial, 43 families with a 3- to 7-year-old child (M age = 4.84 years, SD = 1.12, 84% male) with clinically significant conduct problems and elevated CU traits were randomized to receive standard PCIT (n = 21) or PCIT-CU (n = 22) at an urban university-based research clinic. Families completed five assessments measuring child conduct problems, CU traits, and empathy. Parents in both conditions reported good treatment acceptability and significantly improved conduct problems and CU traits during active treatment, with no between-group differences. However, linear mixed-effects models showed treatment gains in conduct problems deteriorated for children in standard PCIT relative to those in PCIT-CU during the 3-month follow-up period (ds = 0.4–0.7). PCIT-CU shows promise for sustaining improvements in conduct problems for young children with conduct problems and CU traits, but requires continued follow-up and refinement.     

Why Do Women Do the Lion’s Share of Housework? A Decade of Research

The body of recent American research indicates that women continue to perform the vast majority of household labor. Understanding the conditions under which couples can achieve an egalitarian division of household labor constitutes one of the first steps in attaining gender equity in the private and public spheres. This article discusses the state of research on the division of household labor published between 2000 and 2009. After a discussion of conceptualization and methodological issues, we review empirical findings that support or challenge the micro- and macro-level perspectives (focusing on individual characteristics and national contexts, respectively) that have been proposed to explain the gendered allocation of labor. We then review studies focusing on the interplay between these two prominent perspectives.     

Fear of Punishment in Another World: a Follow-Up Examination of the Religious Beliefs About HIV/AIDS—A Decade of Progress?

Journal of Religion and Health - This study compared 2000 and 2010 data on the religious beliefs about HIV/AIDS among those with HIV in a Deep South state. The percentage agreeing that HIV/AIDS is...     

A Randomized Trial of Attention Training for Generalized Social Phobia: Does Attention Training Change Social Behavior?

The use of attention training protocols for the treatment of generalized social anxiety disorder (SAD) is undergoing increased examination. Initial investigations were positive but more recent investigations have been less supportive of the treatment paradigm. One significant limitation of current investigations is overreliance on self-report. In this investigation, we expanded on initial investigations by using a multimodal assessment of patient functioning (i.e., including behavioral assessment). Patients with a primary diagnosis of SAD (n = 31) were randomly assigned to eight sessions of attention training (n = 15) or placebo/control (n = 16). Participants were assessed at pre- and posttreatment via self- and clinician-report of social anxiety as well as anxious and behavioral response to two in vivo social interactions. Results revealed no differences between groups at posttreatment for all study outcome variables, suggesting a lack of effect for the attention training condition. The results are concordant with recent investigations finding a lack of support for the use of attention training as an efficacious treatment for patients with SAD.     

Effects of Self-Control Training on Tinnitus in a Deaf Patient — A Case Study

Abstract

The treatment of a deaf woman with severe tinnitus using a behavioural approach including relaxation and various forms of behavioural and cognitive coping strategies is described. The patient received therapy in five one-hour sessions during which specially adapted methods like the use of sign interpretation, visual prompts and written instructions were used. Positive results in various self-reports made both after treatment and at a five-month follow-up are discussed.     

Counselling — Why not? A qualitative study of people's accounts of not taking up counselling appointments

The aim of this research was to explore the reasons behind people's decision not to take up a counselling referral. A qualitative study was carried out, using semi‐structured interviews and written responses. The investigation was based in NHS primary care counselling services in a GP practice in the North of England. People who had been referred for counselling by their GP, but did not attend any counselling appointments, were interviewed or invited to submit written comments. Many people talked about the courage it took to ask for help. The referral itself was sometimes therapeutic as it legitimised their distress. The GP's response affected people's decisions. Waiting time and what happened during waiting was important. Some people had their own resources, which they used actively, seeking other sources of help; others were more passive, their lives changed around them. Other factors that contributed to non‐engagement were being referred in a crisis; lack of knowledge about counselling and mental distress; and concern about stigma and its impact on work. Perceived waiting time was the most significant factor for participants in this study, but most people had a combination of reasons for not engaging. Support from the GP, information about the service and being given a realistic expectation of waiting times, may help people feel better able to access counselling services.     

Is alcoholism a disease? A critical review of a controversy

Commentators have repeatedly attacked the traditional view that alcoholism is a disease. Their arguments that alcoholism is a central aspect of life, a deviant life style, or a form of learned behavior are examined in the light of the history and philosophy of medicine as well as current bio-behavioral research. Our conclusion is that alcoholism, as a lawful pattern of observable signs and symptoms that deviate significantly from a norm of health, is a bio-psychosocial disease.     

Can SMART Training Really Increase Intelligence? A Replication Study

A burgeoning research stream supports the efficacy of a novel behavior-analytic intervention, known as SMART training, in raising general intelligence by training a set of crucial cognitive skills, referred to as relational skills. A sample of Irish secondary school students (n?=?26) was divided into two IQ matched groups, with the experimental group receiving 12 weeks of SMART training delivered in bi-weekly 45-min sessions. WASI IQ assessments were administered at baseline and follow-up to all participants by blind testers. For each of the three WASI IQ indices and the four IQ subtests, significant follow-up rises were found for the experimental group only. Analyses of variance indicated a significant effect of training on Verbal IQ, Matrix Reasoning and Vocabulary scores. Results lend further support for the efficacy of the SMART training program in enhancing intellectual skills.     

Does a Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Program Work in a School Setting? Evaluating Training Outcome and Moderators of Effectiveness

The suicide prevention gatekeeper training program QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer) was evaluated among school personnel using a nonequivalent control group design. Substantial gains were demonstrated from pre- to post-test for attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs regarding suicide and suicide prevention. Exploratory analyses revealed the possible moderating effects of age, professional role, prior training, and recent contact with suicidal youth on QPR participants' general knowledge, questioning, attitudes toward suicide and suicide prevention, QPR quiz scores, and self-efficacy. The need for replication using a more rigorous experimental design in the context of strong community collaboration is discussed.     

Counselling after Stroke: An Unmet Need?

Information was gathered by means of a questionnaire survey and interviews from a group of patients (N = 17) and health professionals (N=13) working within a stroke unit, concerning the emotional needs of patients and and their relatives and how staff responded to these needs. Although most of the staff had received some training or information about counselling and felt that their interactions with patients often involved an element of counselling, there was strong support for separate specialised counselling services to deal with psychological problems suffered by both patients and their relatives. Patients rated assistance with personal and emotional worries and advice about physical problems as equally useful. A strong need for a counselling service in some form or other was expressed by patients. Neither the level of the patients' social support nor the presence or absence of aphasia, however, predicted the strength of interest expressed. It is concluded that specialised psychological help could be useful in various ways for both in- and out-patients and for their families.     

A Cry of Dereliction? Reconsidering a Recent Theological Commonplace

Abstract: The ‘cry of dereliction’ (‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’) has often been understood in recent theology as pointing to a genuine abandonment of the Son by the Father in the event of the cross. Hans Urs von Balthasar's account of this is explored, and exegetical and theological reasons are offered for preferring a more traditional account in which the unity of the Trinity remains unbroken by human sin.     

Does Parent Training Format Affect Treatment Engagement? A Randomized Study of Families at Social Risk

We examined whether parent engagement in parent training (PT) differed based on PT format (parent group-based with video versus mastery-based individual coaching with child) in an economically disadvantaged sample of families seeking behavioral treatment for their preschool children in an urban mental health clinic. Parents (N?=?159; 76.1% mothers, 69.8% African American, 73% low-income) were randomized to one of two interventions, Chicago Parent Program (parent group?+?video; CPP) or Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (individualized mastery-based coaching; PCIT). Parent engagement indicators compared were PT attendance and completion rates, participation quality, and parent satisfaction. Risk factors predictive of PT attrition (parent depression, psychosocial adversity, child behavior problem severity, length of wait time to start PT) were also compared to determine whether they were more likely to affect engagement in one PT format versus the other. No significant differences were found in PT attendance or completion rates by format. Clinicians rated parents’ engagement higher in PCIT than in CPP while satisfaction with PT was rated higher by parents in CPP compared to PCIT. Never attending PT was associated with more psychosocial adversity and externalizing behavior problems for CPP and with higher baseline depression for PCIT. Parents with more psychosocial adversities and higher baseline depression were less likely to complete PCIT. None of the risk factors differentiated CPP completers from non-completers. Delay to treatment start was longer for PCIT than CPP. Strengths and limitations of each PT format are discussed as they relate to the needs and realities of families living in urban poverty.     

Therapists’ Perspectives of the Cotherapy Experience in a Training Setting

The experience of cotherapy has been sparsely addressed in the literature. This qualitative study’s goals were to explore (a) the usefulness of cotherapy as a training model (b) the impact of cotherapy on services provided; (c) the impact of being trained in a cotherapy model; and (d) factors that both facilitated and hindered the process of cotherapy. The authors conducted a focus group interview with seven participants who graduated from a COAMFTE accredited MFT master’s program. Participants unanimously reported they believed cotherapy impacted client outcomes and training. They also expressed that cotherapists’ unwillingness to address issues within the cotherapy team negatively impacted the cotherapy relationship and client outcomes. Data analysis yielded four main themes, including cotherapy as a vehicle for personal growth, accountability in the cotherapy relationship, need for safety in the cotherapy relationship, and cotherapy team’s need for supervision.     

A Game a Day Keeps Cognitive Decline Away? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Commercially-Available Brain Training Programs in Healthy and Cognitively Impaired Older Adults

Neuropsychology Review - The rising prevalence rates of age-related cognitive impairment are a worldwide public concern, bringing about a surge in the number of “brain training”...