Emotional availability and psychosocial correlates among mothers in substance‐abuse treatment and their young infants

Emotional availability (EA) was investigated among low‐income mothers enrolled in substance‐abuse treatment and their young infants (n = 21) compared with a demographically matched group of mother–infant pairs who, by self‐report, were not at risk for substance abuse (n = 27). The mother–infant dyads in the treatment group generally demonstrated poorer EA functioning than those in the comparison group, but few differences between the groups on individual dimensions of EA were significant. This finding was notable considering that mothers in treatment reported significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms and psychological stress. Treatment effects may have buffered the negative impact of depression and psychological stress on mothers' EA scores. The clinical implications of the findings are discussed as they relate to substance‐abuse‐treatment services for pregnant and parenting women.     

Cross-examination of the expert witness: Do hostile tactics affect impressions of a simulated jury?

Ninety-one introductory psychology students viewed a videotape of a simulated personal damage trial in which a psychologist expert witness testified about a plaintiff's psychological problems resulting from trauma. The defense attorney's cross-examination tactics, employed against the expert witness, were varied in the videotape. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used, with leading versus nonleading questions and a hostile versus nonhostile attorney. An interaction effect was obtained, in which a hostile attorney using leading questions and a nonhostile attorney using nonleading questions were perceived as least effective.     

PROMOTING RECIPROCAL INTERACTIONS VIA PEER INCIDENTAL TEACHING

This study evaluated peer incidental teaching as a strategy for increasing reciprocal peer interactions by children with autism. Three typical preschoolers were trained as peer tutors for 3 young children with autism. During a classroom free-play session, peer tutors used incidental teaching to obtain verbal labels of preferred toys by children with autism. A multiple baseline across the 3 target children showed replicated positive effects of the intervention. Adult supervision and assistance were then faded systematically, with resulting maintenance of increased reciprocal interactions. Multiple measures of the extent and limits of generalization suggested that 1 child increased interactions in free-play periods throughout the day, but none of the children showed increases at lunch. Teacher and peer ratings supported the social validity of positive findings.     

INCREASING NURSES' USE OF FEEDBACK TO PROMOTE INFECTION-CONTROL PRACTICES IN A HEAD-INJURY TREATMENT CENTER

This study established regular implementation of a simple feedback procedure by supervisory nurses with their assistants at a head-injury treatment center. Five nurses were trained to distribute brief written comments to their assistants about infection-control practices, including using gloves to avoid contact with body fluids. Following low rates of written feedback, nurses met with the trainer weekly to set goals for using the system, to review feedback rates, and to examine contingent letters of appreciation. Written feedback increased from 0.09 to 0.58 per day. When outcome data on glove use were subsequently added to the feedback provided to nurses, nurses' feedback on glove use increased and overall glove use by assistants increased by 36.7% for 66.7% of assistants who responded to feedback. Assistants rated feedback as highly accurate and indicated some interest in receiving future feedback. However, nurses and assistants expressed a preference for oral over written feedback.     

Acting-out and the dynamics of victimization

Conclusion The trauma of child abuse resides not only in the event itself but also arises from dynamics of victimization which causes secondary trauma. Acting-out among adolescents is symbolic of these dynamics. This article has explored an ecological perspective to present a relational model of pastoral care, uplifting the impact of victimization on both the individual and the community, as well as the individual's interaction within the community.Before we nail another acting-out adolescent to the cross, we must admit here and now that the deviance manifested in victimization and its corollary, the conformity of silence, are oppressive social forces which contradict our call to transform blindness into witness, silence into revelation, and separation into reconciliation. Jesus advocated against conformity to social inadequacies, and pointed to something greater as he reconciled the separated, helpless victims to the love of a caring God.     

A systems view of psychological trauma: Developing post-traumatic stress response paradigms

This article traces the development of traumatic stress paradigms within the context of emerging psychological and organizational theories. It traces the evolution of the systems view of trauma from an early stimulus-response model using a biological perspective through the development of cybernetic, information-processing to the field systems perspectives of trauma. This article concludes by examining the evolutionary and contextualist paradigms of trauma theory and its value to the psychotherapist working with trauma victims.     

Examining the generality of eyewitness hypermnesia: A close look at time delay and question type

Three studies investigated whether requiring eyewitnesses to provide multiple accounts of a crime prompted them to exhibit more accurate and complete recall (i.e. hypermnesia) or towards providing more inaccurate and confabulated testimony. Subject-witnesses viewed videotapes enacting several types of crimes. Subjects exhibited hypermnesia in two studies in which they were asked to provide accounts of the incident via a free-recall procedure. Indeed, there tended to be roughly a 10–20 per cent increase in the number of facts accurately recalled from the initial interview to the third. The number of incorrect recollections and confabulations did not reliably increase. In the second experiment, hypermnesia was observed even when eyewitness memory was degraded by delaying the initial interview until a week after the witness viewed the crime. In a third study, which employed a multiple-choice questioning procedure, subjects exhibited neither hypermnesia nor heightened incorrect responding. Discussion centres on possible factors influencing the hypermnesia effect and implications of the present research for theory on hypermnesia.     

BRIEF EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF STIMULUS PROMPTS FOR ACCURATE RESPONDING ON ACADEMIC TASKS IN AN OUTPATIENT CLINIC

Brief multielement designs were used to examine the effects of specific instructional strategies on accuracy of academic performance during outpatient evaluations of 4 children with learning disorders. Instructional strategies that improved accuracy on academic tasks were identified for all participants. These results suggest that the application of experimental analysis methodologies to instructional variables may facilitate the identification of stimulus prompts that are associated with enhanced academic performance.     

Peer interactions of dysphoric adolescents

The present study sought to extend our knowledge of dysphoric adolescents' dyadic peer interactions. Thirty female dyads (ages 13–17) were videotaped interacting during both a structured and an unstructured task. Fourteen of the dyads were each comprised of a dysphoric girl and a nondysphoric girl; the remaining dyads were comprised of two nondysphoric girls. Girls were considered dysphoric if they scored 10 or higher on the Beck Depression Inventory. Dysphoric subjects evaluated their performances more negatively than nondysphoric subjects and rated their partners more negatively overall. The partners of the dysphoric girls were viewed by raters as less positive and less happy. They saw the dysphoric teens as making more critical comments and evaluated them more negatively overall. There was also a tendency for these girls to reject their dysphoric partners and to become more passive during the unstructured task. The findings indicate that dysphoric adolescent girls evoke negative reactions from peers and negatively influence their peers' behavior. These negative reactions from others may lead to further difficulties in negotiating the developmental tasks of adolescence.