The psychiatric nurse as group psychotherapist

An overview of current dimensions of group psychotherapy practice by psychiatric-mental health nurses is presented. The relationship between graduate education and the characteristics of the nurses' current practice is demonstrated. The psychiatric-mental health nurse's involvement in the general health care arena with nonpsychiatric populations is highlighted. Future trends for the practice of group by nurses is explicated and projected. In addition, implications for the education and practice of other group practitioners is drawn.Marianne DiMinno, R.N., M.S.N., assisted in the development of the survey questionnaire.     

Interpersonal problem-solving ability and sociometric status in elementary school children

The relationships among a measure of problem-solving ability, school grade level, and interpersonal functioning as assessed by sociometric measures were investigated. Previous research has shown these relationships to be significant but the reliability and validity of the problem-solving measures used have been seriously questioned. This study attempted to replicate previous findings while using a reliable and valid measure of interpersonal problem solving. Two sociometric measures were administered to 463 second-, fourth-, and sixth-graders from which 179 pupils were sociometrically identified as populars, rejecteds, neglecteds, and controversials. These subjects were subsequently administered the Purdue Elementary Problem Solving Inventory. Dunn's multiple comparison procedure was used to analyze the existing relationships among grade levels and among sociometric categories. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in interpersonal problem-solving ability among grade levels but no significant differences were found among sociometric categories. The implications of the findings for social skills training are discussed.     

Characteristics of forgetting functions in delayed matching to sample

Performance of pigeons in delayed matching-to-sample procedures was measured in terms of an index of discriminability derived from the difference between logarithms of ratios of choice responses to comparison stimuli following the different sample stimuli. Forgetting functions that plotted discriminability as a function of delay-interval duration were well described by a simple negative exponential function with two parameters, one describing initial discriminability of sample stimuli at zero delay (log d₀) and the other describing rate of decrement in discriminability with increasing delay-interval duration (b). With the difference between wavelength values of the comparison stimuli held constant, a large difference between wavelengths of the sample stimuli resulted in a higher log d₀ value than that for a small difference between sample stimuli, without changing the rate of decrement in discriminability, b. An increase in the fixed-ratio requirement for sample-key responding produced an increase in log d₀ without affecting b, and interpolation of ambient illumination in the delay interval increased b without influencing log d₀. Both parameters changed when intertrial-interval duration was varied. The result of variation in the point of interpolation of ambient illumination in the delay interval indicated that levels of discriminability at longer delays were independent of discriminability levels at earlier delays, consistent with the properties of the exponential function. Functions relating performance to delay-interval duration were suggested to have two characteristics: discriminability of the sample stimuli in the absence of a delay between the stimuli and the behavior they occasion, and rate of attenuation in discriminability with increasing delay-interval duration.     

Semantic congruity and expectancy in symbolic judgments

These experiments assess the degree to which the semantic-congruity effect in comparative judgment can be explained by such expectancy effects as priming, perceptual "set," or strategies used in the task. The first experiment mixed a lexical-decision task with the comparative-judgment task and showed that neither automatic semantic priming nor deliberate preparation can account for the congruity effect. Experiments 2-4 assessed expectancy effects in a different way by presenting the instructions for comparative judgment either before or after the pair to be judged. These experiments included, among other things, a number of safeguards against artifacts in this paradigm. In these three experiments the congruity effect was obtained with both orders of stimuli and instructions, contrary to the prediction of an expectancy hypothesis. The results indicate that when stimuli are not degraded. The semantic-congruity effect depends largely on the relation between the stimuli and the instructions and only to a small degree, if at all, on expectancy.     

The death crisis and pastoral counseling

Death is an event that presents a crisis to the family system. Conceptualizing death as a stressor event and recognizing the variety of coping resources present in and available to bereaved families and individuals, along with the meaning attached to death, can help interventionists to perceive stategies for providing assistance in time of grief. Pastoral counselors are often needed to interpret death from a faith perspective, yet they may need to interpret the family's reaction to the death crisis in order to facilitate their readjustment. Analysis of the death event using Reuben Hill's crisis equation provides a workable conceptual framework.     

Changeover delay effects on topographically tagged discriminative behavior

In a multiple variable-interval extinction schedule, pigeons' responses on an operant key were differentially reinforced in the presence of discriminative stimuli located on a signal key. Changeover delays of zero, one, two, or four seconds specified the time following a signal-key response within which an operant-key response was not reinforced. Systematic reduction of signal-key response rates with increasing changeover-delay duration indicated that signal-key responding was largely maintained by reinforcement of adventitious signal-key/operant-key response chains.