Applied pluralism in the evaluation of employee counselling

The method and major findings of a complex, 'pluralist' evaluation, which investigated the effectiveness of the counselling provision of an employee support and counselling service in a local authority education department over 22 months, are outlined. Reference is made to the underlying philosophical approach of integrated pluralist evaluation, which may represent a significant step forward from the accepted methods of triangulation. In addition to achieving predicted high satisfaction rates from clients, counsellors and clients both indicated significant improvements in all measures used. These were maintained at follow-up which took place at intervals from 1 to 18 months after counselling had ended. Reduction in absenteeism post-counselling suggested the possibility of very substantial revenue savings. Responses also indicated the acute, and often chronic, need for employee counselling provision in the education system.     

CER suppression, passive-avoidance learning, and stress-induced suppression of drinking in the Syracuse high- and low-avoidance strains of rats (Rattus norvegicus)

The Syracuse strains of Long-Evans rats were selectively bred for good (SHA) or poor (SLA) avoidance learning in a two-way shuttle box, which resulted in a phenotypic difference that is correlated with behavior patterns indicative of emotional reactivity, SLA animals showing evidence of greater emotional reactivity than SHA animals. The first three experiments examined conditioned suppression of bar pressing and compared paired and unpaired conditioned- and unconditioned-stimulus presentations to evaluate the influence of conditioning versus primary aversive stimulation on baseline responding. SLA animals acquired conditioned suppression faster than SHA animals and also showed greater suppression of baseline responding than SHA animals. In Experiment 4, SLA animals learned a passive-avoidance task faster than SHA animals. In Experiment 5, SLA animals showed greater stress-induced suppression of drinking a weak quinine solution than SHA animals. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that SLA animals are more emotionally reactive than SHA animals.     

Assessing compliance to home relaxation: A simple technology for a critical problem

A simple, low-cost, and reliable technology for assessing compliance with relaxation practice in the natural environment is presented. Brief, audible cue tones are overdubbed onto selected client relaxation tapes, which are ordered by the therapist and then played in sequence by the client. The presence/absence or number of cue tones on each tape in the sequence is self-monitored, thereby providing the therapist with a record for objectively assessing whether or not the tapes were used as instructed. A clinical case example is presented to illustrate use of the procedure. Finally, advantages and limitations of the procedure are discussed.A portion of this paper (clinical case study) was presented at the meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, November 1980, New York. This research was partly supported by the Medical Research Service of the Veterans Administration. The authors wish to express their appreciation to Leonard H. Epstein for his support and stimulation in the early development of this and related projects.