Changes in long-term institutionalized schizophrenics with psychotherapy

This study focussed on the process of psychotherapeutic change in seven experimental and 6 control long term institutionalized persons with schizophrenia. The therapist input variables and performance on a battery of tests (Rorschach, Thematic Apperception Test, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, and the Health Inventory Profile) were compared for 4 six month time segments. Results suggested intrapsychic and functional changes can occur with a modified psychoanalytic technique called Warm Intrusive Therapy.     

“I find peace there”: how faith,church, and spirituality help mothers of colour cope with postpartum depression

This article reports the findings of 30 semi-structured, qualitative interviews with new African American and Latina mothers who have histories of postpartum depression (PPD) to learn how their faith, church participation, and spiritual practices helped them cope with PPD. Six themes emerged: relief from stress, feeling valued and less alone, experiencing gratitude, developing perspective and accepting God’s guidance, changing and developing relationships, and preventing self-harm. Specifically, mothers who adhered to their faith beliefs and engaged in spiritual practices described shifts in their perspectives on various life stressors known to contribute to PPD such as negative thoughts and feelings, and strained family relationships, which in turn led them to make positive changes in their lives.     

APORETIC POSSIBILITIES IN CATHERINE KELLER'S CLOUD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE

In stressing the beauty of ignorance, of not knowing in the usual manner, Catherine Keller's Cloud of the Impossible evokes the death of a metaphysical (A)uthorial presence and the dissolution of closed systems of meaning. In this article, I view her text as part of a crisis of modernity that challenges dominant theological pathways, on which certain problematic views of the human have been constructed. In my reading, Keller's Cloud enriches humanistic thinking in the West and I explore the themes it shares with my own work in religious naturalism: there is no escape from the radical relationality and the irreducible materiality that structure human existence. I also emphasize that textual strategies are mere seductive, disembodied abstractions without acknowledging the force of materiality. Materiality matters; and I explore ways in which religious naturalism demonstrates how it does. In light of Keller's rich analysis, I focus on a “learned ignorance” that accompanies all of our limited interpretations emerging from the shifting, precarious positionalities as we rethink our relationality to each other and to all that it is.     

AIDS Educator Effectiveness as a Function of Sexual Orientation and HIV Status1

This study investigated the effectiveness of an AIDS educator as a function of his HIV status and sexual orientation. A 2 × 2 factorial design was employed where 136 heterosexual undergraduates viewed I of 4 videotapes of an AIDS educator who introduced himself as either HIV positive or negative and either heterosexual or homosexual. The videos were identical except for the introduction. Results revealed that all videos increased knowledge about AIDS. However, students' perceptions of risk increased only when they believed the educator was HIV positive and heterosexual. Intentions to get tested for HIV increased when they perceived the educator as HIV positive but declined when they thought she was HIV negative. Results suggest the sexual orientation and HIV status of educators can impact their effectiveness.     

Internal Validity of the Disruptive Behavior Disorder Symptoms: Implications from Parent Ratings for a Dimensional Approach to Symptom Validity

A dimensional approach was used to evaluate the internal validity of the DSM-III-R ADHD-inattention, ADHD-hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) symptoms (i.e., whether a symptom has a stronger correlation with its own dimension than the other three). Parents rated 4,019 children between the ages of 2 and 19 on these symptoms. The results showed that 5 of the 6 inattention symptoms, 3 of the 4 hyperactivity symptoms, 1 of the 4 impulsivity symptoms, 6 of the 9 oppositional defiant disorder symptoms, and 8 of the 11 CD symptoms had significant internal validity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) found support for inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant, and conduct disorder dimensions. Multiple-group CFA also found support for factor pattern and loading invariance across gender. The implications of these results as well as the merits of the dimensional approach to symptom validity are discussed in the context of the DSM-IV changes in ADHD, ODD, and CD.     

VARIANT AND INVARIANT HIGH-PROBABILITY REQUESTS: INCREASING APPROPRIATE BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN WITH EMOTIONAL-BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS

This study examined the effects of variant versus invariant high-probability (high-p) request sequences on the performance of requests to initiate a social bid by young children with emotional-behavioral disorders. In the initial phases of the investigation, a multiple baseline design showed that the delivery of invariant sequences (i.e., high-p requests delivered in the same sequence) produced initial increases in compliance to requests to initiate a social bid to a peer. However, increases were not maintained across the invariant condition. The delivery of variant high-p sequences produced increases in compliance to requests to initiate social bids that were maintained across the variant condition. In a follow-up condition, the number of requests within the pool of the variant and invariant high-p requests were controlled. Results of the follow-up condition replicated those found in the initial condition. Implications for applied use and future research are discussed.     

How controllable is occupational violence?

Occupational violence may be an issue in a number of workplaces, and be of two main sources—those sites where cash is handled, and sites with aggressive clients. Legal requirements make it mandatory for an employer to provide a safe workplace, but just how controllable is occupational violence? A risk management equation is developed to assist the manager to ascertain the level of risk for violence in the workplace.     

An evaluation of the long-term outcomes of small-group work for counsellor development

A questionnaire was designed which enquired into the long-term professional applications and outcomes of Rogerian small-group and Tavistock Group Dynamics training. The 92 respondents were graduates of either a Master's degree or a Diploma in Human Relations or Counselling Studies in a university course where a 'small-group' module was a compulsory element of the taught course. Respondents were drawn from graduates of these one-year full-time or two-year part-time courses over a 21-year period. All respondents were involved either directly in professional or voluntary counselling, in the application of counselling skills in their work, or in training in counselling and counselling skills at work. The respondents reported no loss of learning gains over time: ascribed the application of many specific counselling skills to the small-group training process; reported on the affective component of the learning process; and provided only minimal evidence of forms of psychological damage which could be directly ascribed to the experience. These outcomes have to be considered in the light of the relatively low response rate of 33% and the difficulties in monitoring the precise behaviour of the facilitators in the groups.