Estimated Intelligence Moderates Cognitive Processing Therapy Outcome for Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Although patient intelligence may be an important determinant of the degree to which individuals may comprehend, comply with, and ultimately benefit from trauma-focused treatment, no prior studies have examined the impact of patient intelligence on benefit from psychotherapies for PTSD. We investigated the degree to which educational achievement, often used as a proxy for intelligence, and estimated full scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) scores themselves moderated treatment outcomes for two effective psychotherapies for PTSD: Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Written Exposure Therapy (WET). Participants, 126 treatment-seeking adults with PTSD (52% male; mean age = 43.9, SD = 14.6), were equally randomized to CPT and WET; PTSD symptom severity was measured at baseline and 6-, 12-, 24-, 36-, and 60-weeks following the first treatment session. Multilevel models revealed that participants with higher FSIQ scores experienced significantly greater PTSD symptom reduction through the 24-week assessment in CPT but not WET; this effect did not persist through the 60-week assessment. Educational achievement did not moderate symptom change through either 24- or 60-weeks. Individuals with higher FSIQ who are treated with CPT may experience greater symptom improvement in the early stages of recovery.     

Perceptions of infant boys' behavior and mental health: Relation to infant attachment

Two studies were conducted to determine the impact of infants' attachment classifications and behaviors on naive adults' impressions of their behavior and mental health. In Study 1, three groups of 44 adults viewed a videotape of episode 8 of the Strange Situation for either an avoidant, a resistant, or a secure male infant. After viewing the videotape, they made judgments about aspects of the infant's mental health. Adults viewed the resistant baby as less socially competent and more negative in affect than the other two babies and the secure baby as the least independent of the three babies. Parents rated babies as more intelligent than did nonparents. In Study 2, 15 parents were matched on race and gender with 15 nonparents. All adults viewed a videotape of the reunions of two secure, two avoidant, and two resistant male infants. Avoidant babies were viewed as more socially competent and independent than secure babies and the C2 baby was viewed as the least intelligent, least independent, least socially competent, and most affectively negative of the infants. Results are interpreted as underscoring the need to educate parents and paraprofessionals about the importance of infant distress and physical contact with parents.     

Intercessory Prayer on Spiritual Distress,Spiritual Coping,Anxiety, Depression and Salivary Amylase in Breast Cancer Patients During Radiotherapy: Randomized Clinical Trial

The goal of this study was to assess the effect of intercessory prayer in the psychological, spiritual and biological scores of breast cancer patients who are undergoing radiotherapy. Double-blind RCT comprising a sample of 31 participants (15 in the Control Group and 16 in the Intervention Group). Data collection was performed in three time points (T₀, T₁ and T₂). Significant changes have been identified in the intra-group analysis, concerning the decrease in spiritual distress score; negative religious/spiritual coping prevailed, while the total religious/spiritual coping increased between the posttest T₂ to T₀. Intercessory prayer was effective in religious and spiritual scores.

     

Adaptive self-regulation: meeting others' expectations of leadership and performance

The authors used longitudinal multisource field data to examine core aspects of the adaptive self-regulation model (A. S. Tsui & S. J. Ashford, 1994) in terms of linkages between self-monitoring, discrepancy in manager match-to-position, 5 measures of leadership, and manager performance. At Time 1, 64 superiors of focal managers rated the managers' matches to their positions within the organization; at Time 3, they rated the managers' performance. At Time 2, the 64 focal managers completed a measure of self-monitoring, and 192 subordinates rated the focal managers' leadership behaviors. Results of partial least squares analysis revealed that discrepancy in manager match-to-position was associated with reductions in laissez faire and passive management-by-exception behaviors and increases in transformational leadership behavior. Self-monitoring was positively associated with all 5 leadership behaviors. Performance was related positively to transformational leadership behavior and negatively to passive management-by-exception and contingent-reward behaviors     

Tailoring Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Individuals Diagnosed with Bulimia Nervosa

There is a wealth of data indicating the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy in the treatment of bulimia nervosa. However, the best evidence indicates a treatment success rate of 50%. The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe cognitive behavioral treatment of bulimia nervosa and to offer suggestions on how this therapy approach may be tailored to best serve the needs of individual clients. Such tailoring should ultimately lead to even greater treatment success.     

Evaluation of a High School Peer Group Intervention for At-Risk Youth

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of Reconnecting Youth, a prevention program for at-risk high school youth. Data are from a large, independently evaluated effectiveness trial in two diverse urban school districts. A total of 1,218 students participated; 50% were male; average age was 15. We tested whether positive efficacy trial effects could be replicated, and whether any negative behavioral effects occur when clustering high-risk youth. Although mixed program effects were observed at immediate post-intervention, only negative effects were found at 6-month follow-up. These effects included less optimal scores on measures of GPA, Anger, School Connectedness, Conventional Peer Bonding, and Peer High-Risk Behaviors. Overall, we found little support for the use of this social-influence—model intervention aimed at increasing school connectedness for high-risk youth. Further, this study provides evidence that clustering high-risk youth in preventive interventions has the potential for iatrogenic effects.     

Psychological closure as a memory phenomenon

A theory is proposed that life events are remembered with a satisfying sense of closure when there is decreased emotional detail in the constructed autobiographical memory representation. The first three studies show that, although properties of the experienced event (such as valence and recency) accounted for some variance in participants' sense of closure, the amount of emotional detail in the memory was also a significant predictor. The third study shows that emotion-focused biased retelling of the experience increased emotional detail and decreased the sense of closure participants reported. Related approaches and implications for psychological adjustment are discussed.     

Guiding the creation of knowledge and understanding in a virtual learning environment.

This article reports findings from an in-depth case study investigating processes of teaching and learning within one tutorial group studying an e-learning course presented as part of the Open University's MA in Open and Distance Education. Drawing on contemporary sociocultural theory and research, the instructional techniques used by the tutor-moderator to guide the creation of "common knowledge" and the construction of understanding are explored. The significance of tutor contributions for fostering a supportive culture of enquiry is also discussed.     

Effects of ontogeny on performance of rats in a novel object-recognition task

The current experiment investigated ontogenetic forgetting on a novel object-recognition task similar to that of Besheer and Bevins. 18-day-old pups (n = 49) and adult (n = 29) rats were tested at two retention intervals (1 min. or 120 min.). By employing exclusion criteria which demanded minimum amounts of object exploration at training and test, the performance of 18-day-old pups but not that of adults was significantly impaired at 120 min. relative to 1 min. Analysis indicated that the ontogeny of the learning and memory measured in novel object recognition follows a developmental trend similar to that of other forms of learning, with older animals remembering more and thus performing better than younger animals. Unfortunately, given the extreme variability inherent to the task and large N necessary to achieve significance, the use of this task in studies of learning, memory, and development is discouraged.