Difficulties adjusting to post-discharge life following a spinal cord injury: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 individuals who had experienced a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), focusing on the participants' lived experience of SCI. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and were analysed for recurrent themes using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Here, we present three inter-related recurrent themes all concerning difficulties in adjusting to home life following hospital discharge: "loss of camaraderie", "lack of post-discharge care" and "other people's reactions to spinal cord injury". Participants reported that the camaraderie they formed with fellow patients during their rehabilitative stay in hospital generated feelings of security and community. This was discussed in stark contrast to the isolation and loneliness that they subsequently experienced post-hospital discharge. A perceived lack of physical, practical and psychological support coupled with negative and stigmatising reactions of the wider community served to make adjustment to home life post-SCI particularly difficult for the participants. The findings are discussed in relation to extant SCI literature, and recommendations for future health care of individuals with SCI are made.     

Learning for Life: An Ecological Approach to Pedagogical Research

ABSTRACT— The trend to convert laboratory findings on the conditions associated with optimal memory into recommendations for teaching strategies and learning aids will harm students if findings fail to generalize to students' usual learning environments. Moreover, it is likely that pedagogies function differently for students with different degrees of background knowledge, time, and interest in the subject matter; that some support activities will prevent students from honing their ability learn from narrative material without guided learning; and that an overuse of learning aids will tax students' ability to use them effectively. We contrast two approaches to developing pedagogy—memory first and pedagogical ecology—and explain how the human factors approach of pedagogical ecology could be a more satisfying model for the scholarship of teaching and learning.     

TREATING TOTAL LIQUID REFUSAL WITH BACKWARD CHAINING AND FADING

In this study, we report on a 12-year-old boy with autism, mental retardation, and a history of severe gastrointestinal problems who presented with total liquid and food refusal. Backward chaining was used to shape drinking from a cup, and a fading procedure was used to increase the quantity of water he was required to drink.     

An empirical investigation of the effects of a microcounselling programme with social work students: The acquisition and transfer of component skills

Microcounselling has become widely used with various professional groups as a systematic approach to improving interviewing and counselling skills (Ivey & Authier, 1978). Although reviews of research largely attest to its effectiveness (Hargie & Saunders, 1983; Baker & Daniels, 1989), such conclusions have been based on outcome criteria which, for the most part, have been essentially second-order and proximal (Dickson, 1981). The present study, which utilized a multiple baseline design, was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of a programme of microcounselling, undertaken by social work students, in terms of both the initial acquisition and subsequent transfer of the interpersonal skills of non-verbal communication, questioning, reflecting, listening, explaining, set induction, and closure. While the training intervention was adjudged to have been successful with regard to the initial acquisition of skills, only limited evidence was found of performances generalizing from role-play to ‘real problem’ situations (across tasks) and from familiar to unfamiliar clients (across persons). These results are related to existing research findings. The possibility of distinct and characteristic profiles of skill acquisition is discussed together with factors which may promote transfer effects. Finally, limitations of the study are addressed and recommendations made for further research.     

Medical Technology and Childbirth: Experiences of Expectant Mothers and Fathers

Research and theory on medical technologysuggests that, for many expectant mothers, medicalintervention in pregnancy and childbirth results infeelings of alienation from their bodies and a lack ofcontrol over the childbirth experience. Few studies,however, examine the influence of medical interventionon the expectant father's experience of this significantlife event. In this study, we compare expectant fathers' and mothers' experiences with medicaltechnology during pregnancy and childbirth. In-depthinterviews were conducted with 15 primarily White,middle-class, married couples prior to and after the birth of their first child. Our findings revealdifferences in the impact of medical technology onexpectant mothers' and fathers' perceptions ofinvolvement and control over pregnancy andchildbirth.     

Effects of Alcohol Intoxication on Parenting Behavior in Interactions With Child Confederates Exhibiting Normal or Deviant Behaviors

Experimental analogue methods were used to study how acute alcohol intoxication in parents influences their perceptions of and reactions to child behaviors, as well as their strategies for management of those behaviors. All participating parents had a grade school-aged son, but in half the cases this target child had a diagnosed externalizing disorder, whereas for the remaining half neither the target son nor any other offspring of the parents evidenced any psychopathology. Equal numbers of married fathers, married mothers, and single mothers from each of these groups received either alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages prior to videotaped interactions with male child confederates who, depending on condition, enacted behaviors characteristic of either normal boys or boys with attention deficit hyperactivity/conduct/oppositional defiant disorders (ADHD/CD/ODD). Results indicated that intoxicated parents rated their ADHD/CD/ODD child partners as less deviant than did sober parents. Alcohol intoxication caused all participant groups to exhibit less attention and productive work and more commands, indulgences, and off-task talk in the interactions. Implications for better understanding of the role of psychosocial factors in the correlation between adult drinking problems and childhood behavior disorders are discussed.     

An automated administration of Corsi's Block-tapping Test

Corsi's Block-tapping Test has been a clinically useful test of visuospatial memory. Participants (15 men, 15 women) completed an automated and a manual version of the Block-tapping Test, the findings for which suggest that the automated and manual versions gave very similar scores.