Prevalence of Cognitively Intact Individuals Residing in Extended Care Nursing Facilities

There appears to be a relative absence of studies that have examined the prevalence of cognitively intact individuals who reside in extended care facilities. Prevalence data were collected on 296 persons who resided in 3 extended care nursing facilities in Central Virginia. Cognitive intactness was evaluated via the Minimum Data Set Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS) and an author-generated survey (i.e., Cognitively Intact Survey [CI Survey]) of select nursing staff members at each facility. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was utilized to examine the accuracy of the two measures in identifying cognitive intactness. Findings indicated that prevalence rates of cognitively intact residents varied as a function of the measures utilized to assess intactness. Specifically, a significantly greater proportion of the total sample of residents was judged to be cognitively intact via the CI Survey (34.12%) as compared to the CPS (26.01%). The level of interjudge agreement between the two measures was found to be moderately high (K = 0.68). When the MMSE was employed to verify individuals' levels of intactness, the percentages of residents predicted to actually be cognitively intact were somewhat lower for each measure. Specifically, based on the data obtained via the CI Survey, 22.75% of the total sample were predicted to actually be cognitively intact, whereas 17.85% of the sample were predicted to be intact based on the CPS results. Findings are discussed in light of factors that may have contributed to the differential prevalence rates of cognitively intact individuals obtained across the measures utilized in this study. Concerns regarding the utilization of the MMSE as a criterion measure of cognitive intactness in persons residing in extended care nursing facilities are provided, along with data on the living environments/roommate statuses of those residents judged to be intact via the CI Survey. Implications for the design of future extended care nursing units, as well as future research, are also included.     

The School-Based Mourning Project: A Preventive Intervention in the Cycle of Inner-City Violence

This paper describes the origin, facilitation, and effectiveness of an innovative model of early secondary prevention designed to help high-risk, inner-city, elementary school children deal with multiple losses and trauma. Grieving is especially difficult for inner-city children who live in a chaotic environment of poverty and are often traumatized by witnessing and enduring violence. These emotionally vulnerable and often developmentally impaired children are unable to deal with the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, the pain of grief, violent fantasies, and guilt. The result can be an underlying depression that children and adolescents try to avoid through aggressive acting out or self-destructive behavior. An innovative school-based model promotes mourning work. Clinical pre- and posttesting indicate the effectiveness of the intervention. Various extensions of the project are described.     

Self‐monitoring and the propensity for risk

Apart from earlier research on sexual behavior, little is known about associations between self‐monitoring and engagement in risk behaviors. Our research verified that one component of self‐monitoring, public performing, is related to a range of risk behaviors. We then tested whether the greater engagement of high compared to low self‐monitoring individuals in risk behaviors could be attributed to: (a) greater discrepancies between perceptions of risk and reported risk behaviors for the high‐scoring group; or (b) higher levels of sensation seeking among high versus low self‐monitoring individuals. Data from a sample of 452 college students supported the second of these two explanations. Implications for self‐monitoring theory and measurement, as well as for adolescent and young adult risk behaviors, are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Mere Idea

In response to Khin Zaw's pragmatic model of reason, I argue for a normative,Kantian account in which reason actively impels thought andunderstanding towards transcendental ideals. Reason is neither constructedout of what is ready to hand, nor imposes moral laws from a transhistorical content. Reason's role is to provide the formof our ideas of the good in accordance with which we may shape thecontent in any particular culture. I argue that the well-rehearseddebate between nature and culture cannot be advanced without recourseto metaphysics. Since metaphysics in transcendental, not transcendent,what emerges from metaphysics must be revealed, interrogated andcriticised, never assumed.     

Blurring Emotional Safety With Physical Safety in AIDS and STD Risk Estimations: The Casual/Regular Partner Distinction1

Research on the sexual behavior of young adults has documented a casual/regular partner distinction in terms of condom use and perceived risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). How this population distinguishes between the 2 partner types has not been known, making it impossible to assess the rationality of this strategy. In the present study, college students' conceptions of casual vs. regular partners were explored and used to create 3 sexual partner scenarios: casual, regular with insufficient risk information (regular emotionally safe), and regular with sufficient risk information (regular objectively safe). Participants rated the target partner in terms of emotional safety, AIDS/STD risk, and likelihood of condom use. Results showed participants to be blurring emotional with physical safety; i. e., employing an emotionally based strategy in rating perceived risk.     

The "God Module" and the Complexifying Brain

Recent reports of the discovery of a "God module" in the human brain derive from the fact that epileptic seizures in the left temporal lobe are associated with ecstatic feelings sometimes described as an experience of the presence of God. The brain area involved has been described as either (a) the seat of an innate human faculty for experiencing the divine or (b) the seat of religious delusions.
In fact, religious experience is extremely various and involves many parts of the brain, including some that are prehuman in their evolutionary history and some that are characteristically human. In the continuing integration of such experiences, spiritual formation takes place. Thus the entire human brain might be described as a "God module."
Such a process is only possible because of the brain's complexity. The human brain is the most complex entity for its size that we know of. As used here, complexity is a specialized term denoting the presence of a web of interlinked and significant connections—the more intricate the web, the more complex the entity. Complex systems develop only in a milieu that provides both lawfulness and freedom, and they tend to be self-organizing, becoming more complex and more effective as a result of both inward and outward experience. The evidence suggests that both personal growth and spiritual growth are processes of complexification of character, and of the brain itself. This thesis is tested in light of the work of William James and James W. Fowler.     

Watch,wait, and wonder: Testing the effectiveness of a new approach to mother–infant psychotherapy

This research compared two forms of psychodynamic psychotherapeutic interventions for 67 clinically referred infants and their mothers. One was an infant‐led psychotherapy delivered through a program called Watch, Wait, and Wonder (WWW). The other was a mother–infant psychotherapy (PPT). Infants ranged in age from 10 to 30 months at the outset of treatment, which took place in weekly sessions over approximately 5 months. A broad range of measures of attachment, qualities of the mother–infant relationship, maternal perception of parenting stress, parenting competence and satisfaction, depression, and infant cognition and emotion regulation were used. The WWW group showed a greater shift toward a more organized or secure attachment relationship and a greater improvement in cognitive development and emotion regulation than infants in the PPT group. Moreover, mothers in the WWW group reported a larger increase in parenting satisfaction and competence and decrease in depression compared to mothers receiving PPT. Both WWW and PPT were successful in reducing infant ‐presenting problems, decreasing parenting stress, and reducing maternal intrusiveness and mother–infant conflict. Some potential reasons for the differential treatment effects and the theoretical, clinical, and methodological implications from the findings are discussed. ©1999 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Right hemisphere metaphor processing? Characterizing the lateralization of semantic processes

Previous laterality studies have implicated the right hemisphere in the processing of metaphors, however it is not clear if this result is due to metaphoricity per se or another aspect of semantic processing. Three divided visual field experiments varied metaphorical and literal sentence familiarity. We found a right hemisphere advantage for unfamiliar sentences containing distant semantic relationships, and a left hemisphere advantage for familiar sentences containing close semantic relationships, regardless of whether sentences were metaphorical or literal. This pattern of results is consistent with theories postulating predominantly left hemisphere processing of close semantic relationships and predominantly right hemisphere processing of distant semantic relationships.     

Working Class Masculinity: Keeping Gay Men and Lesbians out of the Workplace

Recent survey research suggests that heterosexuals’ attitudes toward lesbian and gay rights have become more progressive. However, we find in our research that negative attitudes and barriers against gay men and lesbians in workplaces still remain. Our project represents one case study of hidden animosity toward homosexuals, which varies from “overt disgust” to “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies that reinforce negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. As such, we contend that attitudes toward lesbian and gay rights are not becoming more progressive; instead various methods of discrimination are increasingly being used to exclude gay men and lesbians from the workplace. We argue that White working class men have constructed and maintained a form of White male solidarity, a collective practice directed toward women, People of Color, and non-heterosexuals that maintains racism, sexism, and homophobia in the local, national, and global context.     

Internal working models of caregiving and security of attachment at age six

This study describes the relation between internal working models of caregiving, child attachment, and maternal behavior in the home. Thirty-two mothers of 6-year-old children were observed in the home and subsequently interviewed regarding experiential and affective dimensions of parenting. Interviews were examined in order to assess the quality of the mother's thinking regarding two dimensions of caregiving (secure base, competence) which we hypothesized to be related to attachment security. Results indicated a strong correspondence between internal working models of caregiving and child mental representations of attachments as measured from the child's response to a laboratory reunion. The correspondence between mental representations of caregiving and maternal behavior in the home was limited. Representation ratings were most strongly associated with competence-supporting behavior. Implications for infant mental health research and program evaluation are discussed.