Counselling provision for staff in the National Health Service in England: A survey of patterns of provision

This paper reports the findings of a research project carried out in 2001, mapping the provision of counselling services for staff in the National Health Service in England. A postal survey was used to gather both quantitative and qualitative data in order to produce a picture of service provision in NHS Trusts throughout England. Analysis of information concerning the qualifications, experience and pay structure of counsellors, and patterns of service delivery, revealed significant variations across Health Trusts. Findings are discussed in relation to implications for policy, practice and future research.     

"I don't mean to sound arrogant, but . . ." The effects of using disclaimers on person perception

Limited research has examined the effects of using disclaimers on person perception, and none has examined disclaimer effectiveness. Four studies test whether disclaimers effectively ward off negative judgments regarding the specific disclaimed traits. Study 1 finds that using an arrogance disclaimer ("I don't mean to sound arrogant, but . . .") increased judgments of the speaker's arrogance but only when followed by an arrogant comment. Studies 2 and 3 yield similar findings using laziness and selfishness disclaimers. Studies 2, 3, and 4 examine five possible underlying mechanisms regarding why disclaimers can backfire. The most support was obtained for the notion that disclaimers increase an audience's expectations that the speaker will say something consistent with the unwanted trait, which then increases perceptions of that trait in the speaker. We discuss some possible moderating variables as well as some implications of these findings for general impression formation models.     

Effects of Including a Graphic Warning Label in Advertisements for Reduced‐Exposure Products: Implications for Persuasion and Policy1

Considerable interest has focused on making warning labels on tobacco‐product packaging more effective in communicating risk to current and potential smokers. However, none of this work to date has involved the communication of risk information about reduced‐exposure products, or how a graphic warning label may function in advertisements. Reduced‐exposure products pose an interesting public health challenge in light of the fact that many advertisements for such products convey safety claims that may undermine the likelihood that potential consumers will process warnings about the products. The present study examines the influence of graphic warning labels on ratings of advertisements for 3 different types of tobacco products. Results showed that including a graphic picture lowered the appeal ratings for the product.     

Impulsivity predicts treatment outcome in obese children

Treatment for obesity is still running short, particularly on the long term. However, some people do take advantage of treatments and are able to retain their weight loss. What makes the difference between those who can keep their weight loss and those who cannot? One possible predictor of relapse in obesity treatment is impulsivity. Overall, obese people are found to be more impulsive than lean people, especially obese binge eaters. Intuitively, it would make sense that the most impulsive people are less able to keep control over eating behaviour. Therefore, impulsivity could serve as an obstacle for treatment. In the present study impulsivity was measured with a behavioural task (the stop signal task) in 26 obese children. Overweight of the children was measured before and after treatment and at 6 and 12 months follow ups. The results show that impulsivity was related to overweight at all moments: The most impulsive children were the most overweight ones; even after 12 months. Moreover, impulsivity predicted therapy success: the most impulsive children lost less weight. Impulsivity appears to contribute to the difference between succeeding or failing in attempts to lose weight.     

Effects of daily environmental enrichment on memory deficits and brain injury following neonatal hypoxia-ischemia in the rat

Environmental enrichment (EE) results in improved learning and spatial memory, as well as attenuates morphological changes resulting from cerebral ischemia in adult animals. This study examined the effects of daily EE on memory deficits in the water maze and cerebral damage, assessed in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, caused by neonatal hypoxia-ischemia. Male Wistar rats in the 7th postnatal day were submitted to the Levine-Rice model of neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI), comprising permanent occlusion of the right common carotid artery and a period of hypoxia (90 min, 8%O(2)-92%N(2)). Starting two weeks after the HI event, animals were stimulated by the enriched environment (1h/day for 9 weeks); subsequent to the stimulation, performance of animals in the water maze was assessed. HI resulted in spatial reference and working memory impairments that were completely reversed by EE. Following the behavioral study, animals were killed and the hippocampal volume and cortical area were estimated. There was a significant reduction of both hippocampal volume and cortical area, ipsilateral to arterial occlusion, in HI animals; environmental stimulation had no effect on these morphological measurements. Presented data indicate that stimulation by the daily environmental enrichment recovers spatial memory deficits caused by neonatal hypoxia-ischemia without affecting tissue atrophy in either hippocampus or cortex.     

Social neuroscience of child and adolescent depression

The social neuroscience of child and adolescent depression is inherently multidisciplinary. Depressive disorders beginning early in life can have serious developmental and functional consequences. Psychopathology research has described depression's defining clinical and contextual features, and intervention research has characterized its response to treatment and prevention programs. Neuroendocrine, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging studies have identified core neurobiological aspects of early-onset mood disorders. These areas are reviewed using a developmental social neuroscience perspective for integrating disparate observations. The paper introduces a dynamic adaptive systems framework, and it discusses hedonic capacity, stress sensitivity, ruminative self-focus, and attentional impairments as fundamental components of mood disorders.     

Ethics in construction project briefing

The research reported in this paper set out to investigate ethics in the initial stages of construction projects. Briefing is the first real contact stage between the commissioner (client/employer) of a project — at this stage a potential project — and those involved in project realization — the designers and, subsequently, the constructors. It is well known that early decisions are of greatest impact and so, the importance of the initial contacts, communications and consequent decisions are paramount. Different project participants are known to pursue individual objectives to varying degrees as well as possessing different perspectives and perceptions and operating/behaving in different ways. Hence, determination of the appropriate form, content etc. of a project is, inevitably, a matter of exercising value judgements and compromises and so, involves ethical considerations. A case study of a project through the briefing stage is reported and analysed, from initial contacts to scheme approval. It is apparent that a number of ethical concerns are manifest through the various actions of the major participants. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology” meeting, New Orleans, 2003.     

Is Keeping a Secret or Being a Secretive Person Linked to Psychological Symptoms?

This prospective study explored whether keeping a major secret, self-concealment (i.e., the predisposition to keep secrets), and social support at Time 1 predicted symptomatology levels 9 weeks later (Time 2) among a sample of 86 undergraduates. The results showed that the process of keeping a secret actually predicted fewer symptoms, whereas the personality variable of self-concealment predicted more symptoms at Time 2, even when the analyses controlled for social support. However, the predictive effects of both secret keeping and self-concealment were wiped out when the analyses statistically controlled for initial symptomatology, which was positively linked to self-concealment from the outset. These findings challenge conventional wisdom about the dangers of keeping a major secret and suggest that, instead, the kind of person who is secretive simply might be more vulnerable to symptoms.     

Controversy and consensus regarding the use of cognitive ability testing in organizations

Seven hundred three members of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology indicated agreement or disagreement with 49 propositions regarding cognitive ability tests in organizations. There was consensus that cognitive ability tests are valid and fair, that they provide good but incomplete measures, that different abilities are necessary for different jobs, and that diversity is valuable. Items dealing with the unique status of cognitive ability were most likely to generate polarized opinions. A 2-factor model, classifying items as those reflecting societal concerns over the consequences of ability testing and those reflecting an emphasis on the unique status of "g," fit the data well, and these factors proved especially important for predicting responses to the more controversial items.     

Resource loss,resource gain,and emotional outcomes among inner city women

The authors examined a dynamic conceptualization of stress by investigating how economic stress, measured in terms of material loss, alters women's personal and social resources and how these changed resources impact anger and depressive mood. Resource change in women's mastery and social support over 9 months was significantly associated with changes in depressive mood and anger among 714 inner city women. Greater loss of mastery and social support was associated with increased depressive mood and anger. Loss of mastery and social support also mediated the impact of material loss on depressive mood and anger. Resource loss and worsening economic circumstances had more negative impact than resource gain and improving economic circumstances had positive impact, suggesting the greater saliency of loss than gain.