Evaluation of a participatory,competency‐based model of staff training in a community habilitative setting

This study evaluated a participatory model of staff training within a community habilitative setting for adults with developmental disabilities. The objectives were to formulate an approach to training that was not time intensive, included multiple instructional methods, and incorporated all levels of staff involvement. Senior administrative, middle‐level supervisory, and direct‐care personnel comprised a committee that designed and implemented a training program that targeted performance and verbal report competencies required by ‘on‐line’ staff. Training consisted of corrective feedback, modeling, rehearsal, and practice procedures that were carried out with three individuals in a multiple baseline design across sets of target competencies. The training program was effective in establishing staff competencies although individual learning effects were revealed. The implications of these findings for the design of staff training programs within human service agencies are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prejudice toward immigrant workers among Dutch employees: integrated threat theory revisited

Integrated Threat Theory (ITT) (Stephan & Stephan, 1993 , 1996 ) describes four types of threats as mediators in the relation between antecedent factors (previous intergroup conflict, intergroup contact, status inequalities, in‐group identification, knowledge about the out‐group, and intergroup contact) and prejudice. The four mediating types of threats, which influence prejudice according to ITT are: intergroup anxiety, negative stereotyping, realistic and symbolic threats. In this study, the ITT model was tested using structural equation modeling on data collected in sample of 187 Dutch employees. Two alternative explanatory models are proposed in which, first intergroup anxiety and then negative stereotyping mediate the relation between the other ITT threats and prejudice. The data show a good fit with the model in which negative stereotypes are considered as mediator variable. The implications of these findings for ITT are discussed in the context of recent theoretical developments in the study of stereotypes and prejudice. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Language Impairment and Sexual Assault of Girls and Women: Findings from a Community Sample

Both children and adults with disabilities face increased prevalence of abuse and assault, including sexual assault. Women and girls are disproportionately the victims of sexual assault in both disabled and nondisabled populations. Communication difficulties have been identified as a factor that may increase the vulnerability of individuals with disabilities to sexual assault. However, few studies have examined whether language impairment increases risk for sexual assault. This study reports on a community sample of children with speech or language impairment, followed to age 25. Sexual assault history was assessed based on two questions from the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Posttraumatic Stress Disorder module. Women with language impairment (n = 33) were more likely than women with unimpaired language (n = 59) to report sexual abuse/assault, controlled for socioeconomic status. Sexual assault was associated with higher rates of psychiatric disorders and poorer functioning. Women with neither language impairment nor a history of sexual assault had fewer psychiatric disorders and higher functioning than women with language impairment and/or a history of sexual assault.     

Examining Externalizing Behavior Trajectories of Youth in Group Homes: Is there Evidence for Peer Contagion?

Although concerns about peer contagion are often cited in critiques of group treatments for troubled youths, few studies have examined the effects of exposure to deviant peers in residential group care settings. This study used administrative data of youth served at Boys Town, a nationally-known group care provider. Using latent class growth analysis, this study identified the externalizing behavior trajectories of youth in group care as well as the behavior trajectory of the peers with whom they lived, assessed the relationship between youth trajectory classes and individual and peer group characteristics as well as the relationship between an individual youth’s behavior pattern and the behavior pattern of proximal peers. Several results suggested the presence of peer contagion in group care: a trajectory class of gradually increasing externalizing behavior problems, the strength of deviant peer density in predicting an individual youth’s externalizing behavior trajectories and significant associations between behavior patterns of youth and proximal peers. While there is some evidence that suggests an increase in problem behavior during care, results from this study indicated that over 90% of the youth did not have an increase in problem behaviors and that positive peer influences may also be protective and inhibit problem behaviors.     

Forget Transmitted Memory: The De-traditionalised ‘Religion’ of Prem Rawat

This article uses the case study of Prem Rawat, a teacher of Indian origin who arrived in the West in 1971 and inspired several organisations, including Divine Light Mission, Elan Vital, and The Prem Rawat Foundation for the dissemination of his teachings. Identifying Prem Rawat as a contemporary form of a solitary Sant unconcerned with organisational forms or institutionalised religion and displaying considerable iconoclasm with regard to ritual and doctrinal dimensions, the article offers fresh insights into the debate in the study of religion between those who maintain that religion exists as a sui generis category and those who argue that religion is merely a sub-set of cultural phenomena. In particular the article focuses on the work by Danièle Hervieu-Léger who argues that religion exists when ‘the authority of tradition’ has been invoked ‘in support of the act of believing’.     

Job Satisfaction of Child Welfare Workers in an Urban Setting: Status and Predictors

Large urban areas present many challenges to those children and adults who reside in those settings. The social service workers in urban areas have clients with complex, multiple needs. Reliable and consistent workers are essential to successfully working with these families. In the current study, the job satisfaction of 29 social service workers in an urban child welfare agency was assessed using the Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS). The JSS measures satisfaction in 7 areas of one's job (i.e., work, supervision, coworkers, pay and promotion, work environment, training, and position). Data indicated that the staff were relatively satisfied, that satisfaction did not vary by staff position (family worker vs. social worker/supervisor), and that neither demographic factors nor prior experiences were predictors of job satisfaction. Implications for agency management and the provision of social services to urban families are discussed.     

Payoff expectancies between contingent serial moves of victim and aggressor in three hypothetical conflict situations

The expectancies of payoffs in the contingent serial interactive moves between victim and instigator, from the point of view of the victim, were measured for three hypothetical confrontations: someone pushes ahead of you in a movie line; a driver of a car takes a parking space you felt was yours; or you are the object of a rape attempt. These situations differ in urgency, and in the likelihood of success if there is resistance to the instigator. Expectations of persons were elicited as to their response to the particular aggressive act, the counter-response then expected of the instigator of the attack, and the subsequent contingent responses of each of the two persons, victim and instigator, until one or the other withdrew. The results show, in general, different payoffs at each interactive point over the ongoing serial stages in a situation, rather than an overall generalized contingency expectation, with these being different for self and the symbolized other, and also different for the three situations. Personality and sex-role measures showed minimal relation to the expectancies, and then not at the opening of the conflict, and for the instigator's rather than for the victim's expected responses.     

Assessment of Problematic Situations and Coping Strategies in Women with Eating Disorders: Initial Validation of a Situation-Specific Problem Inventory

The current study examined the psychometric properties of the Anorexia and Bulimia Problem Inventory (ABPI; Eason, 1983) in women with and without diagnosed eating disorders. The ABPI was initially constructed in accordance with the Behavior-Analytic model of instrument development (Goldfried & D'Zurilla, 1969). In this investigation, the ABPI was refined to consist of 38 audiotaped problematic situations, including those related to eating and weight, academic, family, and interpersonal relationship issues, and scoring criteria to rate the effectiveness of responses. Convergent and discriminant validity were established between ABPI-R scores and the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI; Garner, Olmsted, & Polivy, 1983) scales. As evidence of disciminative validity women with eating disorders received less ratings indicating less effective problem-solving on the ABPI-R scales than women without eating disorders. A significant increase in effective coping as measured by the ABPI-R was found for women following an 8-week outpatient eating disorders treatment program. Potential uses of this measure in research and clinical practice are discussed.