Moving Knowledge into Action: Developing the Rapid Synthesis and Translation Process Within the Interactive Systems Framework

The Interactive Systems Framework (ISF) for Dissemination and Implementation presents an overall framework for translating knowledge into action. Each of its three systems requires further clarification and explanation to truly understand how to conduct this work. This article describes the development and initial application of the Rapid Synthesis and Translation Process (RSTP) using the exchange model of knowledge transfer in the context of one of the ISF systems: the Prevention Synthesis and Translation System (see [special issue “introduction” article] for a translation of the Wandersman et al. (Am J Community Psychol 41:3–4, 2008) article using the RSTP). This six‐step process, which was developed by and for the Division of Violence Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with partners, serves as an example of how a federal agency can expedite the transfer of research knowledge to practitioners to prevent violence. While the RSTP itself represents one of the possible functions in the Prevention Synthesis and Translation System, the resulting products affect both prevention support and prevention delivery as well. Examples of how practitioner and researcher feedback were incorporated into the Rapid Synthesis and Translation Process are discussed. Special Issue: Advances in Bridging Research and Practice Using the Interactive System Framework for Dissemination and Implementation; Guest Editors: Abraham Wandersman, Paul Flaspohler, Catherine A. Lesesne, Richard Puddy; Action Editor: Emilie Phillips Smith     

Reflective family play: A model for whole family intervention in the infant and preschool clinical population

This article proposes a new treatment model, Reflective Family Play, for clinical intervention in two‐parent families of children aged 0 to 5 years. It is play‐based and grounded in the evidence‐based treatment approach of Watch Wait and Wonder (WWW) as well as the assessment tool known as the Lausanne Family Play paradigm (LFP). WWW is a dyadic treatment for caregivers and their infants or preschoolers that has been shown to shift attachment in the very young (N.J. Cohen, E. Muir, & M. Lojkasek, 1999; N.J. Cohen, M. Lojkasek, E. Muir, R. Muir & C.J. Parker, 2002). The LFP is a more recent adaptation of the Lausanne Trilogue Play paradigm (LTP; E. Fivaz‐Depeursinge & A. Corboz‐Warnery, 1999). Together, the LTP/LFP have now been used for over 2 decades as reliable measures of the family alliance and interactions in two‐parent households. By combining concepts from WWW and the LTP/LFP, a novel approach is presented for treatment in two‐caregiver households. Clinical excerpts are used to illustrate.     

Longitudinal Assessment of Sleep–Wake Regulation and Attachment Security with Parents

The development of sleep–wake regulation occurs within the context of the infant–parent relationship. The present study investigated (1) patterns of change in night waking across infancy and attachment to parents and (2) if dependency, a characteristic of secure subgroup B4 and insecure‐resistant infants, accounted for differences in night waking. Forty‐six families reported on the number of infant night wakings at 7, 12, and 14 months of age. Attachment was measured at 12 (infant–mother) and 14 (infant–father) months. Findings suggest that infants with a secure (including the dependent‐secure, B4) pattern of attachment with mothers decreased in the number of night wakings over time, whereas infants with an insecure‐resistant pattern of attachment with mothers continued to wake at night into the second year. Attachment dependency did not account for differences in night waking. These findings are important to understanding the mechanism(s) underlying the relation between attachment and sleep–wake regulation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neural correlates of metacognitive monitoring during episodic and semantic retrieval

Activity in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) has been shown to be a strong correlate of successful recognition performance. We assessed the degree to which the PPC mediates metacognitive judgments by assessing the feeling of knowing (FOK) for recently learned (episodic) and well-learned (semantic) facts (e.g., "The sport that is associated with Wimbledon is . . ."). Activity in ventral regions of the PPC was observed for strong FOKs for both sets of facts, although greater activity was observed for episodic than for semantic facts. Strong semantic FOKs activated anterior temporal regions. Weaker FOK ratings, when contrasted with strong FOKs, activated dorsal parietal regions, a finding that parallels contrasts during explicit tests in which low-confident responses were compared with high-confident responses. These findings demonstrate retrieval-related parietal activity during metacognitive judgments. Furthermore, they show that the ventral PPC is particularly engaged during context-specific, episodic retrieval, as compared to semantic retrieval.     

Emotions in context: pictorial influences on affective attributions

The visual illusion Terror Subterra, by Roger Shepard (1990), depicts a seemingly large creature chasing another in a tunnel, yet both creatures are physically identical. In addition to this visual illusion, the two creatures also appear to exhibit different emotions, as the background creature (the pursuer) appears angry whereas the foreground creature (the pursued) appears fearful. We explored this context effect by first establishing the magnitude of the emotional bias effect. We then modified the original drawing in various ways, such as equating for perceived size, removing one creature from the scene, and removing the pictorial context altogether. Findings suggest that the emotional bias is due to the pictorial setting and to the perceived social-emotional relationship between the two creatures. These results highlight the importance of both perceptual and social-emotional influences in driving affective attributions.     

Decomposing the interaction between retention interval and study/test practice: the role of retrievability

Even without feedback, test practice enhances delayed performance compared to study practice, but the size of the effect is variable across studies. We investigated the benefit of testing, separating initially retrievable items from initially nonretrievable items. In two experiments, an initial test determined item retrievability. Retrievable or nonretrievable items were subsequently presented for repeated study or test practice. Collapsing across items, in Experiment 1, we obtained the typical cross-over interaction between retention interval and practice type. For retrievable items, however, the cross-over interaction was quantitatively different, with a small study benefit for an immediate test and a larger testing benefit after a delay. For nonretrievable items, there was a large study benefit for an immediate test, but one week later there was no difference between the study and test practice conditions. In Experiment 2, initially nonretrievable items were given additional study followed by either an immediate test or even more additional study, and one week later performance did not differ between the two conditions. These results indicate that the effect size of study/test practice is due to the relative contribution of retrievable and nonretrievable items.     

Self-report and startle-based measures of emotional reactions to body image cues as predictors of Drive for Thinness and Body Dissatisfaction in female college students

The purpose was to compare self-report and psychophysiological assessment techniques in the measurement of emotional response to body image cues. Female college students (n=53; % Caucasian=53.6; M body mass index=26.1 kg/m2) completed the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-3) and viewed photos of themselves both unaltered and morphed to simulate weight gain. Response to the photos was assessed by self-report and the affect modulated startle paradigm. EDI-3 Drive for Thinness (DT) and Body Dissatisfaction (BD) scale scores were correlated with startled amplitude for the largest simulated weight gain photo. Startle eye blink amplitude predicted more variance in DT and BD subscales than self-reported response to the image. The affect modulated startle paradigm may provide unique information in the assessment of eating disorder symptomatology that cannot be captured via self-report techniques, and has potential to inform evaluation of treatment outcomes of eating and body image disorders.     

The effect of study time distribution on learning and retention: a Goldilocks principle for presentation rate

In 2 experiments, we investigated the effect of presentation rate on both immediate (5 min) and delayed (2 days) cued recall of paired associates. Word pairs were presented for a total of 16 s per pair, with presentation duration of individual presentations varying from 1 to 16 s. In Experiment 1, participants studied word pairs with presentation rates of 16 × 1 s, 8 × 2 s, 4 × 4 s, 2 × 8 s, or 1 × 16 s. A nonmonotonic relationship was found between presentation rate and cued recall performance. Both short (e.g., 1 s) and long (e.g., 16 s) presentation durations resulted in poor immediate and delayed recall, compared with intermediate presentation durations. In Experiment 2, we replicated these general findings. Moreover, we showed that the 4 s condition resulted in less proportional forgetting than the 1 s and the 16 s conditions.     

Family members' unique perspectives of the family: examining their scope, size, and relations to individual adjustment

Using the McMaster Family Assessment Device (Epstein, Baldwin, & Bishop, 1983) and incorporating the perspectives of adolescent, mother, and father, this study examined each family member's "unique perspective" or nonshared, idiosyncratic view of the family. We used a modified multitrait-multimethod confirmatory factor analysis that (a) isolated for each family member's 6 reports of family dysfunction the nonshared variance (a combination of variance idiosyncratic to the individual and measurement error) from variance shared by 1 or more family members and (b) extracted common variance across each family member's set of nonshared variances. The sample included 128 families from a U.S. East Coast metropolitan area. Each family member's unique perspective generalized across his or her different reports of family dysfunction and accounted for a sizable proportion of his or her own variance in reports of family dysfunction. In addition, after holding level of dysfunction constant across families and controlling for a family's shared variance (agreement regarding family dysfunction), each family member's unique perspective was associated with his or her own adjustment. Future applications and competing alternatives for what these "unique perspectives" reflect about the family are discussed.     

Pediatrician Identification of Child Behavior Problems: The Roles of Parenting Factors and Cross-Practice Differences

While most primary care pediatricians acknowledge the importance of identifying child behavior problems, fewer than 2% of children with a diagnosable psychological disorder are referred for mental health care in any given year. The present study examined the potential role of parental characteristics (parental affect, parenting style, and parenting self-efficacy) in pediatrician identification of child behavior problems, and determined whether these relationships differed across practices. Parents of 831 children between 2 and 16 years completed questionnaires regarding demographic information, their child’s behavior, their affect, their parenting style, and their parenting self-efficacy. Pediatricians completed a brief questionnaire following visits in four community-based primary care practices in the Midwest. Logistic regressions controlling for child behavior and demographic predictors of pediatrician identification found that an authoritarian parenting style, in which parents yell or strongly negatively react to problem behavior, was negatively associated with likelihood of identification in the overall sample. However, the variables that were predictive of pediatrician identification differed depending on the specific practice. Parental characteristics can aid in understanding which children are likely to be identified by their pediatrician as having behavioral problems. The finding that practices differed on which variables were associated with pediatrician identification suggests the need to potentially individualize interventions to certain physicians and practices to improve identification of child behavior problems in primary care.