An Experimental Analysis of Phoneme Blending and Segmenting Skills

In this 2-experiment study, experimental analyses of phoneme blending and segmenting skills were conducted with four-first grade students. Intraindividual analyses were conducted to identify the effects of classroom-based instruction on blending phonemes in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, the effects of an individualized intervention for the student who failed to improve in the first experiment were examined. Stimulus materials were drawn directly from the classroom curriculum, making it possible to monitor students’ response to classroom instruction and intervention over time. Generalization of responding to unique letter combinations was measured. A multiple-probe across tasks designs was used in both studies. Results indicated that all students improved their phoneme blending skills and are discussed in terms of the need for evaluation methods that are sensitive enough to identify individual differences in responding between students and to detect within-student performance increases in critical early literacy skills.     

Feelings Matter: Depression Severity and Emotion Regulation in HIV/STI Risk-Related Sexual Behaviors

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention models may not address psychological complexities among adolescents with mental illnesses. This study examined contextual factors related to HIV/STI risk among heterosexually active Black adolescents with mental illnesses to inform the development of targeted HIV/STI prevention strategies. Black adolescent males and females (aged 14–17) were recruited from outpatient mental health programs in Philadelphia, PA to complete a computer-assisted personalized interview on sociodemographics, sexual behaviors, and emotion regulation (N?=?53). Two sample t-tests, Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests and regression modeling were used to examine differences in the study measures by gender and relationship status. Reports of sexual partner concurrency were high—both while already in a sexual relationship (67.3%) and multiple sexual partners in the same day (42.3%). Boys reported significantly more risk behaviors than girls. Sadness dysregulation predicted currently being in a relationship, older age at first oral sex, fewer vaginal sexual partners and fewer unprotected oral sexual encounters. Coping difficulties predicted a greater number of vaginal and oral sexual partners, and a lower age at first vaginal sex. Increasing depression severity was related to older age at first vaginal sex, fewer vaginal sexual partners and fewer unprotected oral sexual encounters in the past 3 months. This formative work suggests that coping mechanisms should be addressed in HIV/STI prevention research through the inclusion of activities targeted toward emotion regulation and decreasing sexual risk behaviors. Psycho-education and skills building may mitigate the psychopathology that contributes to HIV/STI risk in the target demographic.     

Executive Functioning Among College Students With and Without History of Childhood Maltreatment

This study utilized performance-based and self-report measures to examine differences in executive functions in college students with and without histories of childhood maltreatment. On the performance-based measures of executive function, all scores fell within the normal range for age. However, participants in the childhood maltreatment group reported more problems with metacognition than those without history of maltreatment. Severity of childhood maltreatment was associated with poorer cognitive inhibition/switching and phonetic fluency. Although significant group differences were found on a laboratory-based task of executive function, performance across the other tasks was generally similar. However, those with a history of maltreatment reported more problems with metacognition, suggesting a potential avenue for brief interventions focused on improving metacognitive skills important for success in the college environment. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

An integral approach to health science and healthcare

Defining disease and delineating its boundaries is a contested area in contemporary philosophy of medicine. The leading naturalistic theory faces a new round of difficulties related to defining a normal environment alongside normal organismic functioning and to delineating a discrete boundary between risk factors and disease. Normative theories face ongoing and seemingly intractable difficulties related to value pluralism and the problematic relation between theory and practice. In this article, I argue for an integral—as opposed to a hybrid—philosophy of health based on Bernard Lonergan’s notion of generalized empirical method that provides a way to settle these difficulties dynamically and comprehensively, both in theory, by orienting functional and statistical investigation toward an explanatory ecological viewpoint, and in practice, by framing critiques in relation to the normativity intrinsic to all human inquiry.     

The generalized sense of power is a psychological resource: Evidence from a disaster response field training exercise

We examined whether the generalized sense of power—the belief that one is able to influence others in one's various social relationships—serves as a psychological resource that enables leadership in high-stakes, unfamiliar group challenges, such as emergencies or crises. We studied current and prospective humanitarian aid professionals (N = 180) during a major field training exercise: a three-day, immersive simulated humanitarian crisis. Individuals who entered the simulated crisis with a greater sense of power in their social relationships experienced lower stress (anxiety), behaved more assertively, and left the simulation with a relatively heightened desire to lead, despite not being deemed better leaders by their teammates. Lacking an initial sense of power was associated with experiences (e.g., feeling timid) that undermined the desire to lead. These results suggest that the psychological sense of power is a key leadership resource, without which one may be at risk of self-selecting out of leadership.     

Fictionalism and the attitudes

This paper distinguishes revolutionary fictionalism from other forms of fictionalism and also from other philosophical views. The paper takes fictionalism about mathematical objects and fictionalism about scientific unobservables as illustrations. The paper evaluates arguments that purport to show that this form of fictionalism is incoherent on the grounds that there is no tenable distinction between believing a sentence and taking the fictionalist's distinctive attitude to that sentence. The argument that fictionalism about mathematics is ‘comically immodest’ is also evaluated. In place of those arguments, an argument against fictionalism about abstract objects of any kind is presented in the last section. This argument takes the form of a trilemma against the fictionalist.

L’adaptation transculturelle d’une échelle de mesure Cas de l’échelle des ancres de carrière

The objective of this research is to achieve a transcultural adaptation of a measure scale of professional values, particularly Schein’s (1985) career anchors from a north American context where it has been conceived to an arab-islamic culture, Tunisian’s environment. For this, this research follows a rigorous methodological process, that enable it to establish a new measure scale, offering good psychometric qualities and building up professional values adapted to Tunisian employees.     

Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills Training in the Treatment of Self-Poisoning Patients

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of interpersonal problem-solving skills training (IPSST) for the treatment of self-poisoning patients. Thirty-nine self-poisoning patients were assigned randomly either to IPSST or to a control treatment condition (a brief problem-oriented approach). Both conditions were equally effective in reducing the number of presenting problems and in reducing hopelessness levels. However, the IPSST condition was significantly more effective than the control condition as determined by other outcome measures (measures of interpersonal cognitive problem solving, self-rated personal problem-solving ability, perceived ability to cope with ongoing problems, and self-perception). Follow-up studies showed maintenance of IPSST treatment gains at 6 months and a greater reduction of repetition of self-poisoning in the IPSST group at 1 year posttreatment.     

The Declaration of Interdependence! Feminism,Grounding and Enactivism

Human Studies - This paper explores the issue whether feminism needs a metaphysical grounding, and if so, what form that might take to effectively take account of and support the socio-political...