Psychosocial mediation of fruit and vegetable consumption in the body and soul effectiveness trial.

In this study the authors examined psychosocial variables as mediators for fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in a clustered, randomized effectiveness trial conducted in African American churches. The study sample included 14 churches (8 intervention and 6 control) with 470 participants from the intervention churches and 285 participants from the control churches. The outcome of FV intake and the proposed mediators were measured at baseline and at 6-month follow-up. Structural equation modeling indicated that the intervention had direct effects on social support, self-efficacy, and autonomous motivation; these variables also had direct effects on FV intake. Applying the M. E. Sobel (1982) formula to test significant mediated effects, the authors confirmed that social support and self-efficacy were significant mediators but that autonomous motivation was not. Social support and self-efficacy partially mediated 20.9% of the total effect of the intervention on changes in FV intake. The results support the use of strategies to increase social support and self-efficacy in dietary intervention programs.     

Integrating Multiple Intersecting Identities: A Multicultural Conceptualization of the Power and Control Wheel

For the past three decades intimate partner abuse has received growing attention as a major social problem with its roots in socially structured systemic inequalities. However, much of the intimate partner abuse literature lacks adequate attention to issues of diversity, and more specifically fails to address how structural underpinnings beyond gender shape women's experiences of intimate partner abuse. The primary purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of considering how various systems of oppression (e.g., heterosexism, agism, ableism, racism, spirituality/religion, classism, and sexism) shape the experiences of victims of intimate partner abuse. In particular, we address how these personal, cultural, and structural identities may individually or in combination influence women's experiences of intimate partner abuse. The literature on diverse identities and intimate partner abuse is reviewed, and a revised version of the commonly used Power and Control Wheel is presented, called the Multicultural Power and Control Wheel. Directions for future research and implications for practice are proposed with the hopes of initiating a dialogue among researchers and clinicians as to the most effective ways to serve victims of IPA.     

The Spiritual Transcendence Index: An Item Response Theory Analysis

ABSTRACT

In an attempt to measure understudied dimensions of spirituality, recent efforts have focused on the transcendent dimension of spirituality. The Spiritual Transcendence Index (STI) was developed to assess a perceived experience of the sacred that affects one’s ability to transcend life’s difficulties. The main focus of the current study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the STI by utilizing the microscopic item-level examination tools unique in item response theory (IRT), as well as its scale-level exploration devices for psychometric properties of an assessment measure. IRT analyses were conducted to investigate the STI’s psychometric properties across samples (N = 712) including how well the measure assesses the latent construct, spiritual transcendence, from the low to high range of the construct. The findings confirm that the 8-item index is a single factor that assesses the latent construct, spiritual transcendence. Instead of the original 6-category version, these findings support a 4-category response version; the 3 categories of disagreement may be collapsed into a single category. These findings not only inform the refinement of the STI but also highlight an important psychometric approach for the refinement of spirituality/religiousness measures, especially those with ceiling effects.     

Culture and empowerment in the Deaf community: An analysis of internet weblogs

Although deafness is traditionally conceptualized as a medical problem or disability, about 500 000 deaf people in the United States identify as members of an ethno‐linguistic minority that takes pride in being Deaf. This study examined 416 Internet weblog posts authored by nine Deaf bloggers to describe aspects of Deaf culture and individual and community level empowerment strategies expressed in weblogs. Results highlight aspects of American Deaf culture, such as the value placed on American Sign Language and equal treatment of D/deaf and hearing people. Findings also provide evidence of expressions of Deaf culture such as the use of humour and supporting the community that have been less emphasized in previous literature. Community level empowerment strategies evident in posts included disseminating information, rallying the involvement of members and advocating for social justice. Overlap between expressions of Deaf culture and empowerment strategies were also found. Present results inform a growing literature on empowerment strategies that occur without intervention by professionals. Implications of the study for community research and action are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Supervisory reactions: an important aspect of supervision

Anne Alonso was passionate about the practice of supervision. An excellent supervisor herself, she sought to identify and teach the ingredients of effective supervision throughout her career. Her first book, The Quiet Profession (1985), was about the supervisory relationship and the various influences on it from within and without the relationship, and she insisted that the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies training program that she directed for many years include a required course on supervision. While the usual focus in supervision is on the supervisee and the clinical material presented, supervisors often experience powerful emotional reactions. Sometimes this is parallel process, in which the dynamics of the psychotherapy are replayed in the supervisory relationship. However, many other sources can contribute to supervisory affect, including the personality, background, and developmental stage of the supervisor, the impact of the clinical material, and the setting in which the supervision takes place. Supervisory reactions can be informative about the psychotherapy being supervised, about the supervisory relationship, or about the supervisor. Supervisors need self-awareness in order to identify their own contribution to their affective responses in supervision. The use of a supervisor decision tree of 1) awareness of reaction, 2) identification of its source, 3) relevance to current supervision, and 4) appropriate use of the reaction in the current supervision is recommended.     

Families of Choice? Exploring the Supportive Networks of Lesbians,Gay Men,and Bisexuals1

Despite the judicial and cultural progress that has been made in Flanders (i.e., Dutch‐speaking part of Belgium), lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) are still a stigmatized sexual minority. They are assumed to rely extensively on the support of friends to compensate for lack of familial support (i.e., family‐of‐choice hypothesis). In this article, we compare the support networks of 2,754 Flemish LGBs and 1,199 Flemish citizens and find convincing support for the family‐of‐choice hypothesis. LGBs seem to rely primarily on friends, while the average Fleming primarily relies on family for confidant support. We discuss the supportive potential captured in these friendship networks and raise the question “Are friends all a person needs?”     

Philosophy,Its Pitfalls,Some Rescue Plans,and Their Complications

This article offers the motivation for organising a conference on philosophy as it is practised across several faculties and departments at the University of Cambridge. It also offers an overview of the main themes that emerge in the essays collected in this issue of Metaphilosophy, which derive from the aforementioned conference. In particular it focuses on the risk of scholasticism and dogmatism that philosophy faces when it divorces itself from its own history, other disciplines, and real life. It then discusses the potential problems that can arise from the practice of philosophy in close conjunction with other disciplines, such as the natural sciences and the history of philosophy. Finally, it briefly comments on how institutional/academic structures have an influence on the way philosophy is practised.     

Effectiveness of virtual reality for pediatric pain distraction during i.v. placement.

The objective of this study was to test the efficacy and suitability of virtual reality (VR) as a pain distraction for pediatric intravenous (i.v.) placement. Twenty children (12 boys, 8 girls) requiring i.v. placement for a magnetic resonance imaging/computed tomography (MRI/CT) scan were randomly assigned to two conditions: (1) VR distraction using Street Luge (5DT), presented via a head-mounted display, or (2) standard of care (topical anesthetic) with no distraction. Children, their parents, and nurses completed self-report questionnaires that assessed numerous health-related outcomes. Responses from the Faces Pain Scale-Revised indicated a fourfold increase in affective pain within the control condition; by contrast, no significant differences were detected within the VR condition. Significant associations between multiple measures of anticipatory anxiety, affective pain, i.v. pain intensity, and measures of past procedural pain provided support for the complex interplay of a multimodal assessment of pain perception. There was also a sufficient amount of evidence supporting the efficacy of Street Luge as a pediatric pain distraction tool during i.v. placement: an adequate level of presence, no simulator sickness, and significantly more child-, parent-, and nurse-reported satisfaction with pain management. VR pain distraction was positively endorsed by all reporters and is a promising tool for decreasing pain, and anxiety in children undergoing acute medical interventions. However, further research with larger sample sizes and other routine medical procedures is warranted.     

Training in musical rhythm and field dependence of children.

The present experiment investigated the effects of musical rhythm training on field dependence in children. An experimental group of 12 Ss showed significant improvement on the Children's Embedded-figures Test and the Rod-and-frame Test after training, while a matched control group did not improve. Pretest scores on the children's Embedded-figures Test and the Rod-and-frame Test were not correlated.