Crisis intervention: long-term training effects

10 months following a crisis-intervention training program which focused on interpretation of signal events, 17 participants more frequently reported increased belief in their ability to recognize the need for intervention and to intervene effectively than did 22 control subjects. Perceived frequency of intervention by trained participants, however, had decreased rather than increased. Implications of the findings and recommendations for research are discussed.     

Reflections on "Nursing considered as moral practice

This response to the preceding article by Gastmans, Dierckx de Casterle, and Schotsmans challenges the notion of "good care" as the ultimate goal of nursing practice, explores further the possible goals of nursing and how they may be identified, and presents six elements of professional caring along with their related virtues and moral obligations.     

Conditioning treatment of nocturnal enuresis in adults: preliminary findings

Four male and six female adults (aged between 16 and 23) were treated for nocturnal enuresis with bell and pad apparatus. Although the trial was based upon an atypical sample (most patients were referred by psychiatrists), the results do suggest that bell and pad treatment may often markedly reduce or entirely eliminate nocturnal wetting even when the problem has persisted into adulthood.The special problems which may occur when treating enuresis in adults are discussed.     

DOES USE OF TANGIBLE REWARDS WITH INDIVIDUAL CHILDREN AFFECT PEER OBSERVERS?1

The common assumption that employing tangible rewards with individual children will have adverse effects upon peer observers was studied in the preschool setting. Multiple-subject, multiple-baseline procedures were applied to two classes of children, aged 3.5 to 6 yr. In each group, three consecutive children with low base rates of in-seat behavior received a verbal contingency and food rewards for sitting, while peers (with either low or high rates of in-seat behavior) received neither food nor teacher attention for sitting. Peer reactions measured were in-seat behavior, aggression, nonaggressive disruptive behavior, and complaints. The procedures neither decreased the in-seat behavior of peer observers, nor increased their aggressive or disruptive behavior. On the contrary, peers with low base rates of sitting initially displayed an abrupt, but temporary, increase in sitting. Moreover, although no compensatory attention was delivered, all children exhibited improved sitting by the end of the study. Complaints, which consisted mainly of requests for rewards, decreased in frequency with successive program phases, and within each phase. It is suggested that the class improvement in sitting behavior and the absence of negative effects on observers may be partially due to the high frequency of attention the teacher maintained for other desired behavior and the lack of attention to children's complaints.     

A clinical trial of continuous, intermittent and overlearning ‘bell and pad’ treatments for nocturnal enuresis

Sixty-one enuretic children were allocated sequentially to ‘standard’, ‘intermittent’ or ‘overlearning’ bell and pad treatment. The results suggest that the ‘overlearning’ modification of standard treatment was successful in bringing about a reduction in the relapse rate. The present status and implications of research into nocturnal enuresis were discussed in the light of the results of the investigation.