Psychological frailness and strength in an AIDS-affected community: A study of seropositive gay men and voluntary caregivers

Addressed both the psychological frailness and strength in an AIDS-affected community. The gay community in Sydney, Australia, was represented by men who were seropositive (n = 60) and voluntary caregivers (n = 60). They were compared with two samples of men outside the gay community, who were ill with non-AIDS-related medical conditions (n = 30), and well (n = 30). Their psychological frailness and strength were measured by content analysis scales. Both the seropositive men and the caregivers showed the frailness of anxiety, indirectly expressed anger and helplessness, but also the compensating strength of greater personal competence and good feeling relative to the other men. The men who were seropositive or had other illnesses showed the predicted frailness of anxiety and depression but neither indirectly expressed anger nor helplessness. The seropositive men and caregivers of the gay community differed from each other only in the high levels of depression of the former.     

Visiting the labyrinth of religious transformation

Understanding the complexity of religious transformation requires empirical contextualized research on the continuous dynamic relationship between formation and transformation. Narrative study in context unveils the implicit meaning of phenomena made explicit in stories. This article, through a biographical case study of a Mennonite woman’s religious journey, explores the complex nature of religious transformation with particular attention to intricate interplay of factors. Critical insights regarding the inseparable relationship between formation and transformation are made clear through an in‐depth examination of lived experience, yielding implications for religious education.     

Adding pieces to the puzzle: a commentary

In Jensen's theme paper she did an excellent job of outlining and explaining ways in which motor developmentalists can use the tools of biomechanics and engineering to address research questions. We extend her thorough efforts in two ways. First, we highlight the communication value provided by the precision of biomechanics terminology, and second, we reinforce the need to embed motion (the kinematics and kinetics) in context and function in order to understand the complexity of behaviour. We illustrate how one biomechanical tool, mechanical models, can facilitate this and provide insight to the development of control. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reliability and Validity of the Current Anxiety Level Measure

Professionals interested in assessing state anxiety (in the moment) levels before and after brief activity-based treatments would find limited evidence-based assessments. The purpose of this study was to develop and test the current anxiety level measure, a free, valid, and reliable state anxiety assessment. To establish concurrent validity, the current anxiety level measure was administered (n?=?98) alongside the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results found a strong relationship (r?=?.904, p?r?=?.702, p?n?=?102). Both samples showed the current anxiety level measure to be reliable and valid.     

Enhancing Children's Spatial and Numerical Skills through a Dynamic Spatial Approach to Early Geometry Instruction: Effects of a 32-Week Intervention

This study describes the implementation and effects of a 32-week teacher-led spatial reasoning intervention in K–2 classrooms. The intervention targeted spatial visualization skills as an integrated feature of regular mathematics instruction. Compared to an active control group, children in the spatial intervention demonstrated gains in spatial language, visual-spatial reasoning, 2D mental rotation, and symbolic number comparison. Overall, the findings highlight the potential significance of attending to and developing young children's spatial thinking as part of early mathematics instruction.     

Translating sales effort into service performance: it's an emotional ride

It has been broadly assumed by both researchers and managers that the more effort salespeople exert, the better their performance outcomes are likely to be. However, organizations are placing an increasing emphasis not just on objective sales outcomes, but on subjective, customer service outcomes as well. This research tests relationships between employee effort and relational performance. We develop and test the position that employee effort reaches a point of diminishing returns, after which relational performance decreases. Further, in an effort to bound our model, we test the moderating role played by employees' emotional intelligence in this relationship. We test our study model in a lagged, multisource field study, matching survey data collected from 107 employees and 19 supervisors, relational performance metrics, and archived effort data collected for a period of 3 months pre–survey data collection. The results from our analysis indicate that the relationship between effort and relational performance is captured by an inverted U-shaped function that is significantly moderated by emotional intelligence. We find that the effort of employees with low EI reaches an identifiable point of diminishing returns; however, the more effort those with high EI exert, the better their relational performance outcomes tend to be.     

Inattentional blindness for ignored words: Comparison of explicit and implicit memory tasks

Inattentional blindness is described as the failure to perceive a supra-threshold stimulus when attention is directed away from that stimulus. Based on performance on an explicit recognition memory test and concurrent functional imaging data Rees, Russell, Frith, and Driver [Rees, G., Russell, C., Frith, C. D., & Driver, J. (1999). Inattentional blindness versus inattentional amnesia for fixated but ignored words. Science, 286, 2504–2507] reported inattentional blindness for word stimuli that were fixated but ignored. The present study examined both explicit and implicit memory for fixated but ignored words using a selective-attention task in which overlapping picture/word stimuli were presented at fixation. No explicit awareness of the unattended words was apparent on a recognition memory test. Analysis of an implicit memory task, however, indicated that unattended words were perceived at a perceptual level. Thus, the selective-attention task did not result in perfect filtering as suggested by Rees et al. While there was no evidence of conscious perception, subjects were not blind to the implicit perceptual properties of fixated but ignored words.     

Reaction time and established risk factors for total and cardiovascular disease mortality: Comparison of effect estimates in the follow-up of a large, UK-wide, general-population based survey

Higher cognitive function is associated with faster choice reaction time (CRT), and both are associated with a reduced risk of mortality from all-causes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, comparison of the predictive capacity of CRT, an emerging risk factor, with that for established ‘classic’ risk factors for mortality, such as smoking, hypertension or obesity, is lacking. The purpose of this study was to compare the relative impact of CRT with a range of established risk factors for all-cause and CVD mortality. The UK Health and Lifestyle Survey (HALS) is a national sample survey of adults in England, Scotland, and Wales. In 1984/85, data on lifestyle factors, socioeconomic status, and health were collected for 9003 individuals. CRT data were available for 7414 individuals. With different predictor variables having differing coding structures, we used the relative index of inequality (RII) to explore the relation of a range of risk factors with mortality by computing the risk in disadvantaged (high risk; e.g., smokers) relative to advantaged (low risk; e.g., non-smokers) persons. During an average of 20 years of follow-up, there were 1289 deaths (568 ascribed to CVD). In age- and sex-adjusted models in which all-cause mortality was the outcome of interest, CRT mean (RII = 2.57, 95% CI = 1.98, 3.33) was the second most important predictor of death after smoking (RII = 3.03, 95% CI = 2.45, 3.75). For death from CVD, CRT mean (RII = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.55, 3.43) was again the second most important risk factor for death, behind systolic blood pressure (RII = 4.37, 95% CI = 3.03, 6.29). These analyses suggest that CRT, a moderately high correlate of intelligence, is an important risk factor for death from all-causes and CVD.     

Substance Abuse Counselor Certification Requirements: Is It Time for a Change?

The minimum professional training requirements of 32 state certifying bodies for substance abuse counselors were analyzed. Only 14 of the certifying boards included any of the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs core knowledge areas in their training components for Certified Addictions Counselors. Specific training in counseling and drug and alcohol treatment issues also appeared to be minimal. The lack of specific drug and alcohol training brings the quality of preparation for substance abuse counselors into question.