Group CBT for Externalizing Disorders in Urban Schools: Effect of Training Strategy on Treatment Fidelity and Child Outcomes

Public schools are an ideal setting for the delivery of mental health services to children. Unfortunately, services provided in schools, and more so in urban schools, have been found to lead to little or no significant clinical improvements. Studies with urban school children seldom report on the effects of clinician training on treatment fidelity and child outcomes. This study examines the differential effects of two levels of school-based counselor training: training workshop with basic consultation (C) vs. training workshop plus enhanced consultation (C +) on treatment fidelity and child outcomes. Fourteen school staff members (counselors) were randomly assigned to C or C +. Counselors implemented a group cognitive behavioral therapy protocol (Coping Power Program, CPP) for children with or at risk for externalizing behavior disorders. Independent coders coded each CPP session for content and process fidelity. Changes in outcomes from pre to post were assessed via a parent psychiatric interview and interviewer-rated severity of illness and global impairment. Counselors in C + delivered CPP with significantly higher levels of content and process fidelity compared to counselors in C. Both C and C + resulted in significant improvement in interviewer-rated impairment; the conditions did not differ from each other with regard to impairment. Groups did not differ with regard to pre- to- posttreatment changes in diagnostic severity level. School-based behavioral health staff in urban schools are able to implement interventions with fidelity and clinical effectiveness when provided with ongoing consultation. Enhanced consultation resulted in higher fidelity. Enhanced consultation did not result in better student outcomes compared to basic consultation. Implications for resource allocation decisions with staff training in EBP are discussed.     

Treatment Adherence Among War Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Concept Analysis

Aim: This study was made to analyze the concept of treatment adherence among war veterans who suffer posttraumatic stress disorder.

Methods: This concept analysis was done using Walker and Avant’s concept analysis model. Online English and Persian databases were searched using keywords such as “posttraumatic stress disorder,” “mental disorder,” “compliance,” and “adherence.” Finally, 11 eligible documents were included in the analysis. The retrieved articles were perused word-by-word, line-by-line, and paragraph-by-paragraph in order to arrive at an in-depth understanding about their contents. Then, the obtained excerpts from the articles, which were relevant to the study subject matter, were coded. The codes were then grouped into the antecedents, consequences, and attributes of the concept.

Findings: In total, 122 primary codes, 19 subcategories, 8 main categories, and 4 main themes were extracted. The main antecedents of the treatment adherence concept are patients’ personal health background and the attributes of posttraumatic stress disorder and its treatments while its main outcome is the changes in the quality of life. Moreover, the main attribute of adherent veterans is that they take responsibility for their own health and subsequently attempt to plan for health promotion.

Conclusion: The concept of treatment adherence among war veterans who suffer from PTSD is a complex and relative concept which depends on patients’ personal health background as well as the attributes of the afflicting disorder and its treatments. The concept is manifested by patient’s attempts to plan for receiving or parting with treatments and can result in changes in health-related quality of life.     

Do procedures really matter when rewards are more important? A Pakistani perspective on the effects of distributive and procedural justice on employee behaviors

Introduction

Researchers agree that procedural justice and distributive justice interact so that high procedural fairness reduces the negative consequences of distributive unfairness.

Spirituality Moderates Hopelessness,Depression, and Suicidal Behavior among Malaysian Adolescents

Suicide is an important public health problem for adolescents, and it is essential to increase our knowledge concerning the etiology of suicide among adolescent students. Therefore, this study was designed to examine the associations between hopelessness, depression, spirituality, and suicidal behavior, and to examine spirituality as a moderator between hopelessness, depression, and suicidal behavior among 1376 Malaysian adolescent students. The participants completed measures of depression, hopelessness, daily spiritual experience, and suicidal behavior. Structural equation modeling indicated that adolescent students high in hopelessness and depression, but also high in spirituality, had less suicidal behavior than others. These findings reinforce the importance of spirituality as a protective factor against hopelessness, depression, and suicidal behavior among Malaysian adolescent students.     

Dispositional Mindfulness,Psychological Distress,and Posttraumatic Growth in Cancer Patients

Cancer has different psychological and physical outcomes. The present study was conducted to examine psychological distress, posttraumatic growth, and dispositional mindfulness in cancer patients. A total of 109 cancer patients entered the research. The Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) were used for data collection. The regression analysis revealed that dispositional mindfulness can be a significant predictor of psychological distress and posttraumatic growth in cancer patients. The results also showed that mindfulness is related significantly to psychological outcomes and adaptation in cancer patients and should be further addressed in cancer treatment.     

Post-training reversible inactivation of the rat's basolateral amygdala interferes with hippocampus-dependent place avoidance memory in a time-dependent manner

In this study, tetrodotoxin (TTX) inactivation was employed to evaluate the involvement of the rat's basolateral amygdala (BLA) in hippocampus-dependent spatial memory using a place avoidance learning task. Rats were trained in single 30 min session to avoid a 60 degrees segment of the stable circular (80-cm diameter) arena, entering which was punished by a mild shock. Bilateral injections of TTX or saline were made either immediately, 1 or 2h after training. Retention was tested 24h later in a 30 min extinction session. Retention was impaired when both BLA inactivated immediately or 1h after training, but not 2h after training. These data indicate that activity in the BLA, at least 60 min after training, is necessary for the post-training processing of a hippocampus-dependent place avoidance memory.     

Expatriate and Indigenous Managers' Work Loyalty and Attitude Toward Risk

Work loyalty and attitude toward risk of expatriate and indigenous managers in the United Arab Emirates were investigated. The results indicated that foreign expatriates scored relatively higher than Arab expatriates and indigenous managers on personal loyalty and attitude toward risk. Foreign expatriates did show less attachment than their counterparts to organizational loyalty.     

Effects of Comt Genotype on Behavioral Symptomatology in the 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

The 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (DiGeorge/velocardiofacial syndrome) is associated with elevated rates of psychosis, and is also characterized by severe attentional difficulties and executive dysfunction. Behavioral manifestations of this syndrome could result from haploinsufficiency of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, located within the 22q11 region. The goal of the present study was to examine COMT genotype in relation to behavioral symptomatology in this syndrome. Val^158/108Met was genotyped in 38 patients (16 Met/-, 22 Val/-) with confirmed 22q11.2 deletions who had received the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) as part of a comprehensive evaluation. Results indicated that the Val genotype was associated with significantly greater internalizing and externalizing behavioral symptomatology in children with 22q11.2 deletions. Val allele status was associated with a greater-than-four-fold increase in risk for clinically significant behavior problems in children with this syndrome. These data are consistent with previous findings of increased psychopathology associated with the Val genotype in normal individuals and suggest that a functional genetic polymorphism in the 22q11 region may influence behavior in individuals with COMT haploinsufficiency.     

Atlantis: a time‐value model in e‐commerce

This paper presents a model for resolving two main issues of time in e‐commerce. The first issue is the time value of e‐commerce that represents the value of each moment of the commerce time from the perspective of buyers and sellers. Buyers and sellers can use this model to calculate the time value at each moment of time and accordingly decide whether it is profitable to buy or sell at that moment. The second issue is to allow buyers or sellers to increase their savings or decrease their costs by changing each of the factors governing the time value model of the concerned e‐commerce. We present relevant model specifically for Amazon e‐commerce to present a proof of concept of our proposed models.