An everyday story of systems practice

This article uses a case study to illustrate how a wider systems perspective can be helpful in considering the questions and dilemmas that arise in everyday practice when a practitioner is invited to intervene in a prescribed or limited way with an individual. The case is presented sequentially, with more detailed reflection at various junctures to allow readers to consider for themselves what the options for action are at any given point.     

WHEN MORE PAIN IS PREFERRED TO LESS:

Abstract— Subjects were exposed to two aversive experiences: in the short trial, they immersed one hand in water at 14°C for 60 s; in the long trial, they immersed the other hand at 14°C for 60 s, then kept the hand in the water 30 s longer as the temperature of the water was gradually raised to 15°C, still painful but distinctly less so for most subjects. Subjects were later given a choice of which trial to repeat. A significant majority chose to repeat the long trial, apparently preferring more pain over less. The results add to other evidence suggesting that duration plays a small role in retrospective evaluations of aversive experiences; such evaluations are often dominated by the discomfort at the worst and at the final moments of episodes.     

Attentional distribution in the visual field duringsame-different judgments as assessed by response competition

Judgments ofsame anddifferent on a comparison task have been found to be subject to response competition if an irrelevant stimulus is presented in the display along with the target stimuli. For example, the reaction time for judging two letters the same is markedly increased if a different but irrelevant letter is also present in the display (C. W. Eriksen, O’Hara, & B. [A.] Eriksen, 1982). We have made use of this competition effect to map the visual attentional field in two dimensions. In two experiments, we varied the size of the attended area by varying the separation of the comparison stimuli. The boundaries of the attended area were mapped by varying the location of a response-competitive irrelevant noise letter. On this task, the attended area was found to be elliptical in shape, with the location of the target stimuli defining the major axis. The minor axis of the ellipse increased in direct proportion to increases in the major axis. Rather than interpret these field effects in terms of areas of enhanced processing, we propose that instead they represent the limits or failures in inhibition of competing stimulation.     

TRAINING INTERACTIONAL BEHAVIORS OF ADULTS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES: A SYSTEMATIC REPLICATION AND EXTENSION

This study was a replication and extension of research by Foxx, McMorrow, Bittle, and Ness (1986) that assessed generalization effects of a social skills training program on the interactional behavior of adults with developmental disabilities. Target skills were a verbal action or reaction in six skill areas that specifically addressed the participants' skill deficits. In the present study, we trained 5 adult residents of a group home across these six skill areas using the “Sorry” game format and the scoring criteria described by Foxx et al. We extended the results of Foxx et al. by (a) using pretreatment assessment procedures to identify participants' specific skill deficits, (b) training all residents in the natural environment, (c) training participant—participant interactions, (d) training participants to respond to four of the six skill areas through the use of a role-play procedure, and (e) omitting rewards, criterion levels, and self-monitoring. Additionally, the trainer in the present study modeled correct responses only as an error correction procedure during training. Similar to those of Foxx et al., our results indicated that all participants increased their use of the trained interactional behaviors during the generalization assessments in the presence of other trained peers.     

The influence of parenting stress and child behavior problems on parental estimates of expressive and receptive language development

This study examined the relative contributions of parental reports of child-related and parent-related stress to their estimates of expressive and receptive language skills on the Minnesota Child Development Inventory in 152 children referred to a communicative disorders clinic. Correlational analysis showed moderately high agreement between parental estimates and objective measures of expressive and receptive language ability. Multiple-regression analyses revealed that independent measures of language acquisition accounted for the greatest amount of variance in parental estimates of expressive and receptive language skills. Stressful child behavior accounted for a small but statistically significant proportion of the variance in estimates of expressive and receptive language skills. Parental stress, in contrast, did not contribute significantly to language estimates. These findings suggest that parents are able to formulate estimates of language development which are relatively independent of personal or child-related stressors.     

Estimating the frequency of everyday events

In two experiments, subjects recorded the frequency of occurrence of 12 classes of events each week for 3 months. During a final test they estimated frequency of occurrence of events either under time restrictions (Experiment 1) or difference priming instructions (Experiment 2). They also made (metamemory) estimates of the accuracy of their estimates. Time restrictions during an initial estimate did not affect the accuracy of frequency or metamemory estimation but a second estimate did increase accuracy. Priming instructions affected accuracy of metamemory estimates as well as the accuracy of estimates for high-frequency events. Metamemory error increased with event frequency.     

Evaluating the individual counseling of conduct problem adolescents: The goal attainment scaling method

Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) is described as a potentially useful way of evaluating goal attainment of individual counseling provided to public school adolescents with conduct problems. Utilization of the GAS method for individual counseling involves a counselor (e.g., school psychologist) and a pupil in goal setting, program design, goal attainment scaling, and goal attainment evaluation activities. An application of the GAS method to evaluate goal attainment of individual counseling of conduct problem adolescents in an urban high school is presented, and formative evaluation data pertaining to practical and technical properties of the approach are reported. Advantages and limitations of the GAS method are discussed.     

Culturally grounded strategies for suicide and alcohol risk prevention delivered by rural Alaska Native communities: A dynamic wait-listed design evaluation of the Qungasvik intervention

We examined the effectiveness of the Qungasvik (Tools for Life) intervention in enhancing protective factors as a universal suicide and alcohol prevention strategy for young people ages 12−18 living in highly affected rural Alaska Native communities. Four communities were assigned to immediate intervention or to a dynamic wait list. Outcomes were analyzed for 239 young people at four time points over two years of community intervention. Outcomes assessed two ultimate variable protective factors buffering suicide and alcohol risk, and three intermediate variable protective factors at the individual, family, and community level. Dose dependent intervention effects were associated with growth in ultimate but not intermediate variables. This evaluation of the Qungasvik intervention provides support for the effectiveness of its Indigenous strategies for suicide and alcohol misuse prevention in this rural Alaska Native setting. Though findings did not provide support for a theory of change where growth in ultimate variables is occasioned through effects on intermediate variables, research designs focused on young people who enter intervention at lower levels of preexisting protection hold promise for better understanding of intervention change processes. The Qungasvik intervention is responsive to an acute public health need for effective rural Alaska Native suicide and alcohol risk prevention strategies.