The “Hidden” Technology of Effective Parent Consultation: A Guided Participation Model for Promoting Change in Families

Parenting interventions based on social learning principles are amongst the most effective interventions available to prevent and manage social, emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents. The most successful programs employ active skills training methods (modeling, rehearsal, practice, feedback and homework) to teach new parenting skills. However, effective parent consultation also involves a broader range of interpersonal and process skills such as building a collaborative relationship, facilitating parent receptivity to new ideas or skills, managing within session resistance, and important micro skills associated with clinical tasks such as promoting parents self-regulation, independent problem solving and autonomy. This paper aims to articulate the “hidden” technology of effective parent consultation and identify implications for research on mechanisms of change in parenting interventions and practitioner training.     

Grief Therapy and the Reconstruction of Meaning: From Principles to Practice

Viewed from a constructivist perspective, grieving is a process of reconstructing a world of meaning that has been challenged by loss. Although most people successfully navigate bereavement and retain or return to pre-loss levels of functioning, a significant proportion struggle with protracted grief, and are unable to find meaning in the wake of an unsought transition. For these individuals, constructivist therapists have a number of strategies at their disposal that foster meaning making and help clients reestablish a coherent self-narrative that integrates the loss, while also permitting their life story to move forward along new lines. After reviewing theory and evidence that scaffolds this constructivist conceptualization, this article draws on excerpts of therapy with two bereaved clients to illustrate how narrative retelling, therapeutic writing, a focus on metaphorical language, and the use of visualization can all be viable strategies in helping individuals reconstruct meaning in the wake of bereavement.     

A Program Intervention for Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: Preliminary Results

The effectiveness of a behaviorally based day treatment program for young children diagnosed with Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (PBD) was evaluated using pretreatment and posttreatment mean scores from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Data were evaluated in aggregate and using the clinically significant change method for children diagnosed with PBD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Adjustment Disorder, and no diagnosis/clinical and subclinical groups. Significant effects were found for all groups except the no diagnosis/subclinical group on the Internalizing scale and for all groups on the Externalizing scale. Clinically significant change was supported for the PBD, ADHD, ODD, and Adjustment Disorder groups. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Demonstration and interpretation of ‘scutoid’ cells formed in a quasi-2D soap froth

ABSTRACT

Recently a novel type of epithelial cell has been discovered and dubbed the ‘scutoid’. It is induced by curvature of the bounding surfaces. We show by simulations and experiments that such cells are to be found in a dry foam subjected to this boundary condition.     

Surviving breast cancer: Women's experiences with their changed bodies

In this study, we explored women's experiences with their bodies following treatment for breast cancer. Eleven women who had been treated for the disease (M_{time since treatment} = 4.45 years) were interviewed. Data were collected and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith et al., 2009). Four main themes emerged from the data: changing visibly and invisibly; experiencing intense thoughts and emotions; meaning of the body: a vehicle of health, well-being, and social expression; and managing and dealing with physical changes. Overall, the women experienced various physical changes that shaped, mostly in a negative way, their perceptions, thoughts, attitudes, feelings, and beliefs about their bodies. The women described attempts to make positive lifestyle behavior choices (e.g., diet, participate in physical activity), and used other strategies (e.g., wigs, make-up, clothes) to manage their appearances and restore positive body-related experiences. Based on these findings, it is important to be cognizant of women's body image concerns following breast cancer given the poignant and lasting effects they can have on their psychosocial and emotional well-being.