ESID,Dissemination, and Community Psychology: A Case of Partial Implementation?

Dissemination, the second stage of Experimental Social Innovation and Dissemination (ESID) is a critical, if not defining, element of this social change model. This paper attempts to assess the extent to which community psychology has adopted and implemented ESID's dissemination focus in its training and publications. We identify four levels of commitment to dissemination: dissemination advocate, dissemination activist, dissemination researcher, and experimental dissemination researcher. Content analyses of textbooks, journal publications, and conference papers and a brief survey of doctoral training in the field were conducted. Findings suggest that the dissemination aspects of ESID have been modestly and partially implemented within the field. That is, although there is some evidence of a commitment to dissemination practice (advocate, activist), there is much less evidence of a commitment to dissemination research. The implications of these findings for the effectiveness of the ESID model and for training and practice in community psychology are discussed.     

An ESID Case Study at the Federal Level

The D (dissemination) phase of the ESID model has been often overlooked in our efforts to create innovative and widespread social change. The process of replicating successful social innovations is both a prerequisite for dissemination (in order to assess the consistency of effects) and an obvious outcome of a successful dissemination effort. Fidelity, the extent to which a replicated program is implemented in a manner consistent with the original program model, is an important dimension of replication. This study was designed to provide empirical data related to three questions. Can complex social programs be implemented with fidelity? How much fidelity is appropriate or desired? What are the organizational dynamics of adoption with fidelity? Data were collected from grantees of a national replication initiative funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Data suggest that high fidelity can be achieved, at least in the context in which programs are mandated to do so as part of the funding agreement and are given technical assistance in achieving fidelity. Secondly, programs perceived high fidelity as having positive effects on the program and its participants, a finding consistent with a limited assessment of the relationship of program outcomes and fidelity. Finally, much was learned about the human and organizational dynamics of replicating with fidelity. Implications for policy and direction regarding replication are discussed.     

The Effects of Training on Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Allegations

This study of 176 college juniors examined the effects of respondent gender and sexual harassment training on the perceptions of what constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace. Variation in these perceptions, due to severity of the sexually oriented behavior, was also examined. Regardless of the subject's gender, individuals who 6 weeks earlier had seen a training film about sexual harassment rated severe sexually oriented work behaviors as more harassing than did individuals who had not seen the film. Additionally, males who had not seen the film rated ambiguous sexually oriented behaviors as less harassing than did males and females who had seen the film, and as less harassing than females who had not seen the film. Implications for the importance of training in addressing sexual harassment are discussed.     

Sequences of Fixed-Ratio Schedules: The Relative Effects of Reinforcer Magnitude and Ratio Size in the Second Fixed Ratio

The Psychological Record - Four pigeons were given a choice between two sequences of fixed-ratio schedules. The second fixed ratio was a fixed-ratio 5 followed by 2-s access to grain in one...     

THE BEHAVIORAL EFFECTS OF A PROCEDURE USED BY PEDIATRIC OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS

Pediatric occupational therapists often use specific activities associated with deep pressure touch as a modality when providing services based in sensory integration theory. This study investigated the effects of these activities contingent on choice responding. Initially, preference assessments identified that activities such as being swaddled in a blanket or sandwiched between halves of a therapy mat were potential reinforcers for each of the three participants. Then, the stimuli were presented contingently under a two‐response concurrent schedule. The results suggested that for each participant, the application of these activities functioned as a positive reinforcer. Given that such activities are often used in pediatric occupational therapy interventions, the clinical implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Study of Seventh Grade Children's Reading of Comic Books as Related to Certain other Variables

Developmental changes in a variety of cognitive processes as a function of age and schooling were examined in 160 rural Guatemalan children aged 5, 7, 9, and 11 years. Larger differences in test performance were seen between ages 9 and 11 than during earlier age periods on most tasks. Regression analyses of years of schooling controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic status indicated that the effects of school were limited to memory tasks and to response time on the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF). Evidence for cumulative effects of additional years in school on test performance was weak. Good school performance was also most related to two memory measures. Previous studies indicating that schooling has a substantial effect on abstract cognitive processes were questioned; the suggestion that school performance is related to various memory processes was raised.     

Are Chameleons Good Citizens? A Longitudinal Study of the Relationship Between Self-Monitoring and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

In this study the relationship between self-monitoring and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) was examined longitudinally among professional and managerial employees of a federal government research laboratory. Supervisory ratings of subordinates' OCBs were collected and matched with 172 subordinates' self-ratings of self-monitoring, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, perceived organizational support, and perceptions of job characteristics. One year later, supervisory ratings of subordinates' OCBs were again collected. Support was found for the hypothesis that individuals high in self-monitoring are more likely to perform OCBs which are other-directed. Implications for management and future research are discussed.     

Note taking, review, memory, and comprehension

In previous work assessing memory at various levels of representation, namely the surface form, textbase, and situation model levels, participants read texts but were otherwise not actively engaged with the texts. The current study tested the influence of active engagement with the material via note taking, along with the opportunity to review such notes, and the modality of presentation (text vs. spoken). The influence of these manipulations was assessed both immediately and 1 week later. In Experiment 1 participants read a text, whereas in Experiment 2 participants watched a video recording of the material being read as a lecture. For each experiment the opportunity to take notes was manipulated within participants, and the opportunity to review these notes before the test was manipulated between participants. Note taking improved performance at the situation model level in both experiments, although there was also some suggestion of benefit for the surface form. Thus, active engagement with material, such as note taking, appears to have the greatest benefit at the deeper levels of understanding.     

Foster Care Children’s Kinship Involvement and Behavioral Risks: A Longitudinal Study

Researchers have found that individual strengths (e.g., coping, optimism) are protective against behavioral risk (e.g., delinquency, suicide) among traumatized youth in foster care. However, less is known about kinship involvement (i.e., extended family support) as a social strength that can also attenuate the effects of childhood trauma, thereby reducing behavioral risk. Addressing the lack of research on kinship involvement, the present longitudinal study investigated individual strengths (IS) and kinship involvement (KI) as moderators between trauma experiences (TE) and risk behaviors (RB) among 336 youth, ages 6 to 13, who entered the Illinois child welfare system between 2011 and 2014. Controlling for Time 1 (T1) RB, T1 IS, age, gender, and ethnicity, we utilized a three-level Hierarchical Generalized Linear Model to analyze TE?×?KI and TE?×?IS at T2. The study found that KI was negatively associated with RB (β16?=??.08, Event Rate Ratio [ERR]?=?0.92, p?=?<.01), suggesting that youth with more KI had relatively lower RB trajectories. Further, the TE?×?IS interaction was significant in the model (β21?=??.05, ERR?=?0.95, p?<?.01); TE was positively associated with RB at lower levels of IS but not higher levels of IS. These results highlight the importance of assessing children’s kinship networks and individual strengths early in foster care.     

The Moderating Effects of Equity Sensitivity on The Relationship Between Organizational Justice and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

This study explores equity sensitivity as an explanation for the differences in individuals’ organizational citizenship behaviors in response to their perceptions of organizational justice. The concept of equity sensitivity recognizes three categories of individuals: benevolents, entitleds, and sensitives. As predicted, benevolents perform more OCBs than entitleds regardless of the level of perceived justice. However, sensitives did not react as hypothesized and instead reacted similarly to benevolents. Entitleds were the most sensitive to perceived justice, responding consistently with Adam’s (1963, 1965) equity theory.