Gender,gender identity,rape myth acceptance,and time of initial resistance on the perception of acquaintance rape blame and avoidability

This study, including female (n = 355) and male (n = 179) college students, investigated the role of gender, gender role identity, rape myth acceptance, and time of initial resistance in assigning blame to the victim, perpetrator, situation and chance following an acquaintance rape, and perceived degree of avoidability of the assault. Approximately 94% of the participants were White. Men and women low in rape myth acceptance attributed significantly less blame to the victim and situation, more blame to the perpetrator, and were less likely to believe the assault could have been avoided. When time of initial resistance occurred early in the encounter, men and women attributed significantly less blame to the victim and situation, more blame to the perpetrator, and were less likely to believe the sexual assault could have been avoided.     

Women and Counseling: A Vision for the Future

The authors who worked to prepare this special issue on women and counseling (N. L. Kees, L. A. Carlson, R. Parmley, P. Dahlen, K. Evans, A. F. Marbley, et al., 2005) offer a vision for a just, equitable, and sustainable future for all. Recommendations for individual and systemic change needed to realize this future vision are offered. Implications for the American Counseling Association and members of the counseling profession are highlighted.     

Aging and Spirituality: Reclaiming Connection Through Storytelling

In this article, the author suggests it is possible for older persons to renew community connections with storytelling and, through this means, to ask some compelling questions. The answers to these questions provide a sense of meaning and purpose for a life well lived.     

Apples and Oranges Make a Nice Start for a Fruit Salad: A Response to Culbreth and Borders (1999)

These comments represent a response to J. R. Culbreth and L. D. Borders (1999) and suggest consideration of other factors when addressing the impact of clinical supervision in the addictions field. This article supports formal graduate academic preparation for substance abuse counselors and clinical supervisors and challenges the use of satisfaction surveys in measuring appropriateness of clinical supervision.     

Cognitive Processes While Writing Poetry: An Expert-Novice Study

To identify expert poets’ cognitive processes as they compose poetry, we asked 10 expert poets and 10 novice writers of poetry to think aloud as they composed a poem. Compared to the novices, expert poets revealed an associative playfulness and surrendering of consciousness, similar to that shown in research on general creativity in domains such as art, music, and science. Experts also demonstrated significantly more evidence of deliberate procedures and active revision. Novices rarely revised their poems. With regard to meaning, experts made significantly more comments about how the text was meaningful, in particular how textual elements evoke and amplify meaning, than about what the text merely meant. The novices commented more on what the text meant than how the text was meaningful. In discussing the results, we propose a model of the cognitive processes involved in poetic composition, and explore implications for instruction in school and post-secondary educational settings.     

Learning and generalization on asynchrony and order tasks at sound offset: implications for underlying neural circuitry

Normal auditory perception relies on accurate judgments about the temporal relationships between sounds. Previously, we used a perceptual-learning paradigm to investigate the neural substrates of two such relative-timing judgments made at sound onset: detecting stimulus asynchrony and discriminating stimulus order. Here, we conducted parallel experiments at sound offset. Human adults practiced approximately 1 h/d for 6-8 d on either asynchrony detection or order discrimination at sound offset with tones at 0.25 and 4.0 kHz. As at sound onset, learning on order-offset discrimination did not generalize to the other task (asynchrony), an untrained temporal position (onset), or untrained frequency pairs, indicating that this training affected a quite specialized neural circuit. In contrast, learning on asynchrony-offset detection generalized to the other task (order) and temporal position (onset), though not to untrained frequency pairs, implying that the training on this condition influenced a less specialized, or more interdependent, circuit. Finally, the learning patterns induced by single-session exposure to asynchrony and order tasks differed depending on whether these tasks were performed primarily at sound onset or offset, suggesting that this exposure modified circuitry specialized to separately process relative-timing tasks at these two temporal positions. Overall, it appears that the neural processes underlying relative-timing judgments are malleable, and that the nature of the affected circuitry depends on the duration of exposure (multihour or single-session) and the parameters of the judgment(s) made during that exposure.     

Perceptions of Licensure: A Survey of Michigan Genetic Counselors

This study by the Michigan Genetic Counselor Licensure Committee is the first known published documentation of genetic counselors’ beliefs and attitudes about licensure. The response rate from genetic counselors in Michigan was 66% (41/62). Ninety-five percent of respondents were supportive of licensure. Respondents believed licensure would legitimize genetic counseling as a distinct allied healthcare profession (97.5%), increase the public’s protection (75%), and allow genetic counselors to practice independently (67%). While 45% felt licensure would increase counselor involvement in lawsuits, this did not impact licensure support (p?=?0.744). Opinions were split regarding physician supervision and ordering tests. Even though 28% favored physician supervision, there was overwhelming support for genetic counselors performing some components of genetic testing (95%) and ordering some types of genetic tests (82%) independent of a physician. Use of this survey may be helpful in other states to assess genetic counselors’ interest in licensure and for drafting legislation.     

How to Supervise the Use of Homework in Cognitive Behavior Therapy: The Role of Trainee Therapist Beliefs

Encouraging and facilitating homework completion is a core cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) skill. Consequently, it represents an important part of training practitioners. Oftentimes the process of integrating homework into therapy is rushed, poorly executed, or forgotten, and trainees are surprised to find that some patients do not complete homework. We advocate for increased therapist responsibility in accounting for homework nonadherence. Therefore, problems with the use of homework in therapy are frequently an agenda item in the supervision of trainee cognitive behavior therapists. In our experience, trainee CBT practitioners exhibit a number of interrelated automatic thoughts, assumptions, and in-session behaviors that influence their use of homework assignments. The Cognitive Behavior Therapy Homework Project has proposed a “model for practice” to guide the use of homework in CBT [Kazantzis, N., MacEwan, J., & Dattilio, F. M. (2005). A guiding model for practice. In: Kazantzis, N., Deane, F. P., Ronan, K. R., & L’Abate, L. (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 359–407). New York: Routledge]. The present article will draw from those practice recommendations and discuss the role and impact of the therapeutic relationship and therapist beliefs on the use of homework assignments, with reference to the different levels of CBT conceptualization. Clinical examples from the supervision of trainees enrolled in the practicum component of the Massey University Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavior Therapy are used to illustrate supervising the use of homework assignments.     

Is there more to complicated grief than depression and posttraumatic stress disorder? A test of incremental validity

There is growing interest in complicated grief reactions as a possible new diagnostic category for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. However, no research has yet shown that complicated grief has incremental validity (i.e., predicts unique variance in functioning). The authors addressed this issue in 2 studies by comparing grief, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms with different measures of functioning (interviewer ratings, friend ratings, self-report, and autonomic arousal). The 1st study (N = 73) used longitudinal data collected at 4 and 18 months postloss, and the 2nd study (N = 447) used cross-sectional data collected 2.5-3.5 years postloss. With depression and PTSD controlled, grief emerged as a unique predictor of functioning, both cross-sectionally and prospectively. The findings provide convergent support for the incremental validity of complicated grief as an independent marker of bereavement-related psychopathology.     

Parent education in the public school: The parent and preschooler's program

The public school is discussed as a milieu in which to provide parent education for parents of preschool children. Primary prevention within the public school setting is designated as a means by which many children and families can be reached while the mental health of infants and young children is addressed as an integral concern of the community. The Parent and Preschooler's Program is described as an example of the implementation of a preschool parent education program in a public school which was initiated by community members and is eagerly supported by the school system.