Assessing the generality and durability of interview‐informed functional analyses and treatment

Due to the limited research demonstrating socially valid outcomes of function‐based treatments in ecologically relevant environments (Santiago, Hanley, Moore, & Jin, 2016), we replicated and extended the effects of the interview‐informed functional analysis and skill‐based treatment procedure described by Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, and Hanratty (2014) with two children diagnosed with autism in a home setting. The assessment and treatment was implemented by a home‐based service provider and treatment was extended to the participants’ parents. Following the interview‐informed functional analyses, we taught the participants functional communication responses and to engage in less‐preferred activities when functional communication outcomes were delayed. We observed large reductions in problem behavior following the introduction of the function‐based treatment. The effects extended to novel settings, stimuli, and caregivers and the results maintained at 6‐week follow‐ups.     

Transgressing the father figure: performing queer theology as an act of liberation

ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the intersection of power, ritual, and the sacred through the lens of performing drag as a tool to subvert dominant notions of theological discourse. Grounded in Cheng’s assertion that queer theology is transgressive (Radical Love) and Althaus-Reid’s Indecent Theology, the foundational text which introduces the concept of theology as destabilizing and grounded in subversion, particularly in the realm of sexuality, we critique the forces of power operating within Catholicism. We ask: Whose bodies are allowed to play a powerful role in Catholicism? How has ritual performance perpetuated the colonization of the mind/spirit and how can it be used to undo that same colonization? In discussing a public drag performance using George Michael’s “Father Figure,” we suggest the possibility of liberation that exists in bringing theology into queer spaces, extending theology beyond the realm of religious institutions or the academy.     

The Home/School Connection and Its Role in Narrowing the Academic Achievement Gap: An Ecological Systems Theoretical Perspective

This literature review seeks to evaluate previous studies on the topic of the home/school connection and its role in enhancing students’ academic achievement and narrowing the academic achievement gap. The ecological systems theory framework will facilitate the discussion of the importance of the home/school connection phenomenon. Perspectives pivotal to parental involvement and their interconnectedness with academic achievement and the academic achievement gap will be explored using a synthesis of prior research. The barriers impeding this partnership and strategies for removing them will be examined. Additionally, non-traditional solutions to the academic achievement gap such as individual faith will be addressed. Finally, implications of the home/school connection particularly for Christian educators will be presented.     

The Effectiveness of the MMPI-2-RF in Detecting Feigned Mental Disorders and Cognitive Deficits: a Meta-Analysis

A cornerstone of forensic assessments involves the assessment of response styles, including feigning and malingering. As a forensic relevant instrument (FRI), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) contains embedded overreporting scales that cover the three major domains: feigned mental disorders (i.e., F-r and Fp-r), feigned cognitive impairment (RBS and FBS-r), and feigned medical complaints (Fs). This meta-analytic review of 30 studies examined the effectiveness of various detection strategies and cut scores for the MMPI-2-RF. As an important clinical concern, several feigning scales (F-r, FBS-r, and RBS) exhibited marked elevations (Ms > 80 T) for genuine responders diagnosed with major depressive or somatoform disorders. However, the Fp-r—a true rare-symptoms detection strategy—proved highly effective for discriminating feigned from genuine psychopathology (ds > .90). For feigned cognitive impairment, the FBS-r produced very large effect sizes with feigned TBI (M d = 1.41); however, its cut scores were more indicative of general feigning than feigned cognitive impairment. Finally, Fs yielded a large effect size (d = 1.23) for feigned medical complaints, but its cut scores were more likely to identify examinees feigning mental disorders (M sensitivity = .74) than medical complaints (M sensitivity = .43). These findings are discussed within the context of clinical forensic evaluations.     

Experiences and Decisions that Motivate Women at Increased Risk of Breast Cancer to Participate in an Experimental Screening Program

Although the discovery of mutations on BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes associated with high breast cancer risk has given rise to screening and surveillance initiatives, there is little documentation on why high-risk women choose to enter screening programs. The objective of this qualitative study was to develop a detailed understanding of the experiences and decisions that motivate women with increased risk of hereditary breast cancer to participate in the multicentered Quebec experimental breast screening program. Our study involved 21 participants who were either BRCA carriers or at risk and untested. These women were interviewed while participating in the screening program. Our study demonstrates that intensive screening programs may provide valuable reassurance for women with increased familial risk of hereditary breast cancer, who count on early detection and rapid response from professionals if and when a problem arises. Health professionals must take these and others concerns into account to ensure their interventions are most consistent with women’s needs.     

An Examination of PAI Clinical Descriptors and Correlates in an Outpatient Sample: Tailoring of Interpretive Statements

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey 1991, 2007) was designed to evaluate patterns of psychopathology utilizing validity, clinical, treatment, and interpersonal scales. Its psychometric strengths include easily read items, gradations of responses, and extensive validation. The primary focus of the current study is to examine item-level clinical correlates to inform interpretation. For external validity, the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire (PDSQ; Zimmerman 2002) was utilized by examining individual items and subscales. The investigation used archival data from 192 outpatients. The most specific and detailed clinical correlates were found for PAI mood disorder scales. Several other clinical scales, such as Schizophrenia (SCZ), had comparatively few clinical correlates. The current findings underscore the need to further validate PAI external correlates in order to augment PAI statements.     

Beyond Credentials: The Effect of Physician Sex and Specialty on How Physicians Are Perceived

The experiment investigated the effect of physician sex and specialty on participants’ perceptions of doctors. Participants (N = 206) viewed a physician profile (male/female orthopedic surgeon or male/female dermatologist) and then evaluated the physician on a survey. While male participants reported they would be more willing to see a female physician and believed female physicians would be more caring, female participants reported they would be more willing to see physicians in counter-stereotypical specialties and rated them as more caring. The study suggests that not only do men and women focus on different things in selecting physicians but also that negative stereotypes of female physicians have dramatically decreased.     

Spatial encoding of hidden objects in dogs (Canis familiaris)

The authors investigated the type of spatial information that controls domestic dogs' (Canis familiaris) search behavior in a situation in which they have to locate a spatial position where they saw an object move and disappear. In Experiments 1 and 2, the authors manipulated all local and global sources of allocentric spatial information surrounding the hiding location. The results revealed that dogs relied on an egocentric frame of reference. Experiment 3 showed that dogs also encoded allocentric information when egocentric information was irrelevant. The authors conclude that dogs simultaneously encode both egocentric and allocentric spatial information to locate a spatial position, but they primarily base their search behavior on an egocentric frame of reference. The authors discuss under which natural conditions dogs might use these 2 sources of spatial information and detail the nature of spatial egocentric information and the circumstances underlying its use by dogs.     

Race of ratee and anonymity of rater: a study comparing students with practitioners as performance appraisers

123 students and 123 nonstudent supervisors viewed videotapes which displayed four supposed subordinate supervisors, two African Americans and two Caucasians, who individually described their respective performances during the past year. After being told either that the supposed subordinates would or that they would not have access to the performance rating, the subjects rated the performance of those subordinate supervisors. While anonymity of rater and race of rater had no evaluative effect on the performance ratings given by the nonstudent subjects, the student subjects gave higher ratings when they believed that their ratings would be made public. Also, the nonstudent subjects' ratings differed as a function of whether they worked closely with others of another race and as a function of the frequency with which they actually discussed performance evaluations with their own subordinates.