Implications of an Africentric Worldview in Reducing Stress for African American Women

Despite the extensive research on stress in recent decades, including the emphasis on stress mediation and reduction, epidemiological studies indicate that African American women continue to experience high rates of morbidity and mortality because of stress and stress-related diseases. With growth in the conceptualization and articulation of an Africentric perspective for defining the functioning of African American people, in this article the authors explore the idea of an Africentric worldview as a means for reducing stress among African American women. Considering that cognitive appraisals define the situations that individuals experience and considering that worldview is the lens through which experience is viewed, restructuring worldview can alter the cognitive appraisals of potential stressful situations. Africentric worldview provides a framework for affirming African American and women's beliefs and behaviors. The authors propose that the framework has the potential to counter the negative images that often result in stressful appraisals of an oppressive and hostile environment.     

Culture change: A training program for recent immigrant professionals from the former Soviet Union

The article describes a training program in structural/integrative family therapy for immigrant professionals from the former Soviet Union at the Training Center of the Shiluv Institute for Family and Couple Therapy in Jerusalem. The program was instituted to meet the pressing needs of a mass immigration of half a million people that came to Israel between 1990 and 1992. This is a retrospective look at the journey of the initial group of psychiatrists and psychologists who changed country, culture, language, and professional orientation in just two years. The authors state their conclusions as to the most expedient way to organize therapy for families from the former Soviet Union — a population in need of help but lacking an awareness of therapy and suspicious of the outsider.     

Retention and treatment failure in Classwide Peer Tutoring: Implications for further research

Knowledge of basic arithmetic facts aids in the acquisition and speed of performance of arithmetic operations. A peer mediated instructional procedure, Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT), has been shown to increase the rates and accuracy of students responses to academic tasks and to improve student performance on a variety of academic tasks. The present investigation evaluated the retention of 100 subtraction items by primary grade-age children with mild disabilities using CWPT for 10 weeks. Short- and long-term retention of items, and rate of correct responding were assessed. Results indicated that the students' average pretest score was 58.0% correct, and their average weekly posttest score was 87.12 correct, a 27% improvement in accuracy. Short- and longer-term retention measured on posttests was 88.7 % and 85.0% correct, respectively. Improvement in students rate of accurate responding to subtraction items practiced during CWPT was obtained. Student failure to learn particular items was not attributable to fewer opportunities to practice these items, less accurate practice, or item difficulty. Students reported positive evaluation of CWPT and perceived positive social and self esteem outcomes. Directions for future research focusing on retention and analysis of treatment failure are suggested.     

Stimules configuration in selective attention tasks

The possibility that perceptual configuration of stimulus elements impairs the ability to attend selectively to individual elements was tested with two-element stimuli, constructed by placing two curved lines in close proximity. Ss rapidly classified series of these stimuli which could differ on both elements or on only one with the second held constant. It was hypothesized that if the two elements formed a configuration, then Ss should have difficulty attending selectively to the element relevant for classification while filtering information from the other element. This result was obtained in one experiment with both stimulus elements oriented vertically, and it is concluded that these stimuli were perceived as unanalyzed, nominally related shapes. In another experiment, with one stimulus element oriented horizontally, selective attention to the relevant element was possible.     

Individual response patterns and the effects of different behavioral methods in the treatment of claustrophobia

The importance of individual response patterns in claustrophobic patients was examined in the present study. Thirty-four psychiatric outpatients with a phobia of enclosed spaces were assessed in a small test chamber. During the test their overt behavior was video-taped, heart-rate was measured continuously, and self-ratings of experienced anxiety were made at certain intervals. On the basis of their reactions in the test situation, the patients were divided into two groups showing different response patterns—behavioral and physiological reactors. Within each group the patients were randomly assigned to one behaviorally-focused method (exposure), one physiologically-focused method (applied relaxation) and a waiting-list control group. The patients were treated individually in eight sessions. The between-group comparisons showed that both exposure and applied relaxation were significantly better than the waiting-list condition. Furthermore, exposure yielded better results than applied relaxation for the behavioral reactors, while applied relaxation was better than exposure for the physiological reactors. The improvements were maintained at a follow-up assessment 14 months after the end of treatment. The results support the hypothesis that greater effects are achieved when the method used fits the patient's response pattern than when it does not.     

Social Function and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children and Adults with Neurofibromatosis Type 1: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

In light of the proliferation of recent research into social function in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a systematic review and meta-analysis is required to synthesise data and place findings within the context of a theoretical framework. This paper reviews findings from research into social function and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children and adults with NF1 and integrates these findings with the Socio-Cognitive Integration Abilities Model (SOCIAL). It also critically appraises links between social outcomes, internal and external factors moderating social functioning, cognitive domains implicated in social functioning, and underlying neural pathology in NF1. A systematic literature search conducted in MedLine (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), and PubMed electronic databases yielded 35 papers that met inclusion criteria for the systematic review. Out of these papers, 22 papers provided sufficient data for meta-analysis. Findings from this review and meta-analysis provide evidence that children and adults with NF1 exhibit significantly higher prevalence and severity of social dysfunction and ASD symptomatology. To date, very few studies have examined social cognition in NF1 but results indicate the presence of both perceptual and higher-level impairments in this population. The results of this review also provide support for age, gender, and comorbid ADHD as moderating factors for social outcomes in NF1. Suggestions for future research are offered to further our understanding of the social phenotype in NF1 and to facilitate the development of targeted interventions.