Self as verb and the metaphor of dance: An explanation of the self discovery experience within a constructivist framework

The concept of self discovery within a constructivist framework is difficult to explain given the central assumption of constructivism that self is a created construct rather than an entity to be discovered. Two problems are identified as impediments to constructivist accounts of the self discovery experience: first, their failure to adequately account for the embodied experience of self, and second, the difficulties inherent in using self as a noun to express a process.
It is proposed that if self is considered as a verb, as the action of a body-subject, the verbal contortionism of referring to self as a process in a language that places self as an entity may be overcome. The notion of self as verb places the individual firmly in the role of active embodied participant in the experience of self. The metaphor of "self'" as "dance" is explored to emphasize the materiality of the human animal that is argued to be central to the experience of self discovery.     

Transitioning from a hospital rehabilitation programme to home: exploring the experiences of people with complex regional pain syndrome

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is difficult to diagnose and is characterised by burning pain in one or more limbs. Treatment is palliative not curative and focuses on improving function. This requires patients to make long-term changes to their behaviour. As with all such regimens, adherence is often poor. This study explored the lived experience of 10 patients who had returned home after completing a two-week in-patient treatment programme. The interviews focused on how they coped with the transition from hospital to home, and on the things that they considered had facilitated or hindered this transition. Battling for control was an overarching theme that connected the four superordinate themes: 'gaining momentum' that facilitated the implementation of treatment advice, 'distance from the pool of expertise' that detailed the barriers to adherence experienced; 'It helped me realise it was not all in my head' that detailed a facilitative process, and the 'nag list' that was a technique patients' used to garner support. This article offers insights into the transition experience. A key outcome is the recognition of the need to better prepare patients for their transition back home.     

Does Risk Assessment Make a Difference? Results of Implementing the SAVRY in Juvenile Probation

An effective approach to reducing recidivism is, first, to identify a youth's risk of reoffending and then to match the intensity of interventions to that risk level. This pre-post quasi-experimental, prospective study compared 247 (pre) with 217 (post) adjudicated youths to examine the implementation of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) and its effects on case management practices in Louisiana's Caddo parish probation office. The results indicated that placement rates dropped by 50%, use of maximum levels of supervision dropped by almost 30%, and use of community services decreased except for high-risk youths, but only after the SAVRY was properly implemented. This shift towards more appropriate allocation of resources that are matched to risk level occurred without a significant increase in reoffending. The implications for implementation and for use of risk/needs assessment in juvenile probation are discussed. Copyright ? 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychometric Evaluation of the Factor Structure of the Teasing Questionnaire – Revised (TQ-R)

Recent literature has focused on the relation between childhood teasing and adulthood psychopathology, with the majority of this work dependent on a single measure, the Teasing Questionnaire-Revised (TQ-R; Storch et al. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 18:681–694, 2004). However, the factor structure and reliability of the TQ-R requires further examination. The present investigation reevaluated the factor structure of the TQ-R in two large samples. In Study 1, three previous factor models were investigated through confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) in a large clinical sample. Due to their poor fit, exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were used to investigate alternative factor models. In Study 2, the factor structure of the previous models and new models from Study 1 EFAs were investigated through CFAs and estimates of internal consistency in a large college sample. Together, these findings provided the most support for a new 21-item five factor model, identified in the Study 1 EFAs and supported by the Study 2 CFAs, with the content of the teasing subscales consistent with the constructs of anxiety, appearance, academics, weight, and height.     

Healing and Harming

As part of a volunteering program, a medical student learns the story of a sick infant whose survival was wholly dependent on modern medicine. The family was pacified by believing, during pregnancy, that the fetus would be healthy. Poor counseling and unethical physician behavior led to the trauma of the family's struggle to keep its baby alive, happy, and as healthy as possible. The need for adequate, thorough, and individualized counseling is a critical and still unfulfilled need in patient care.     

Learning new vocabulary in German: the effects of inferring word meanings,type of feedback,and time of test

In the present study, introductory-level German students read a simplified story and learned the meanings of new German words by reading English translations in marginal glosses versus trying to infer (i.e., guess) their translations. Students who inferred translations were given feedback in English or in German, or no feedback at all. Although immediate retention of new vocabulary was better for students who used marginal glosses, students who inferred word meanings and then received English feedback forgot fewer translations over time. Plausible but inaccurate inferences (i.e., those that made sense in the context) were more likely to be corrected by students who received English feedback as compared with German feedback, providing support for the beneficial effects of mediating information. Implausible inaccurate inferences, however, were more likely to be corrected on the delayed vocabulary test by students who received German feedback as compared with English feedback, possibly because of the additional contextual support provided by German feedback.     

Impact of Location and Availability of Behavioral Health Services for Children

Literature suggests advantages for co-locating behavioral health care in primary care. We compared the impact of location of services on attendance at behavioral health appointments when access to care was assured for externalizing behavior problems with referral as usual. Two primary care pediatric practices had an evidence-based parenting program co-located in the practice for parents of children aged 2?C12 years and two practices had the program available using an enhanced-referral procedure for locations external to the practices. The program was available at the regional children??s hospital (referral as usual). During an 8-month period, the rate of attendance at first appointments was significantly higher in the co-located than the enhanced referral condition (.38 and .12 % of patient visits, respectively; ??² = 13.32; p < .0003; OR = 3.10; 95 % CI: 1.63, 5.89). These outcomes, while low, were better than the near 0 rate of attendance to referral as usual. Availability of behavioral health services in both conditions increased rates of attended appointments. However, the low rates of attendance indicate increasing availability of services, alone, is not sufficient to decrease the unmet need of children with behavioral problems. Factors other than availability must be addressed in order to improve outcomes for children.     

Thinking Outside the Clocks: The Effect of Layered‐Task Time on the Creative Climate of Meetings

The turbulence of the new economy puts demands on organizations to respond rapidly, flexibly and creatively to changing environments. Meetings are one of the organizational sites in which organizational actors “do” creativity; interaction in groups can be an important site for generating creative ideas and brainstorming. Additionally, Blount (2004) demonstrated the importance of organizational temporalities for group performance. We draw on both of these literatures and examine how temporal structures influence the climate for creativity, or the extent to which creativity is fostered, within groups. Specifically, we develop a hypothesis linking organization‐ and job‐level temporal structures to the extent to which managers structure meetings with a climate supportive of creativity. Our results demonstrate that a nuanced relationship exists between temporal structures and creative climate such that certain temporal structures appear to either enhance or decrease the creative climate of meetings. We end with a discussion of the implications of the findings for management.