Addressing issues of workplace harassment: counseling the targets

Workplace violence has recently received attention because of the killing of several individuals by their coworkers. However, more common are passive and nonfatal forms of aggressive behavior that are manifested as psychological and emotional harassment. Workplace harassment includes dysfunctional personal interactions characterized by bullying behaviors, personal attacks, and attempts to denigrate others. Targets of workplace harassment may experience stress, depression, low self‐esteem, loss of sleep, and even posttraumatic stress disorder. Strategies that counselors can use to work effectively with targets are discussed.     

The Theory of Reasoned Action as a Model of Children's Health Behavior1

This research examined the applicability of the theory of reasoned action to school‐age children. Using structural equation modeling, we longitudinally modeled children's attitudes, norms, intentions, and behavior with regard to drinking alcohol. Respondents were 1,061 children attending public schools in the northwestern United States. Attitude, norms, and intentions (measured when the children were in 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grades) were used to predict alcohol use 1 year later. Two modifications of the model improved the overall fit at each grade level: separating attitude into 2 dimensions (positive and negative), and adding a path from social norm to behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Physical home environment is associated with prefrontal cortical thickness in adolescents

Biologically embedded experiences alter developmental trajectories in ways that can influence health, learning, and/or behavior. These systematic differences in experiences may contribute to different biological outcomes as individuals grow and develop, including at the neural level. Previous studies of biologically embedded experiences on neurodevelopment have focused on large‐scale institutional or economic factors (e.g. socioeconomic status [SES]) and psychosocial factors (e.g. caregiving behavior). Less attention has focused on how the quality of the immediate home settings, such as the physical home environment (PHYS), influences neurodevelopment. Moreover, no study has investigated these effects in adolescents, who undergo significant physical maturation and neurodevelopment that may influence how they respond to their physical environments. The goal of the current study was to examine whether PHYS quality is biologically embedded in the developing adolescent brain as evidenced by cognitive achievement and cortical development in 56 (48% female) healthy adolescents (14–18 years (M = 16.83 years, SD = 1.17). Using in‐home assessments of the physical home environment, anatomical brain scans, and indices of academic achievement, we found that adolescents who have more physical problems in the home (e.g. structural hazards, crowding, excessive noise, poorly lit) have thinner prefrontal cortices, which was associated with lower levels of reading achievement, independent of SES and psychosocial factors. By conducting home visits to assess physical characteristics of adolescents’ home, we highlight a typically overlooked aspect of the home environment that has relevance for adolescents’ cognitive and brain development.     

Understanding Transcultural Identity: Ethnic Identity Development of Asian Immigrant College Students during Their First Two Years at a Predominantly White Institution

The present study focused on the conflict of Asian immigrant students preserving their connections to the Asian ethnic culture, adapting to American cultural orientation, and redefining their ethnic identity during their first two years of college. Our findings revealed a complex interaction of six social environmental factors that contributed to the emergence of three ethnic identity patterns: bicultural identity, ethnicized identity, and transcultural identity. The implications of the study articulate the need for college educators to avoid viewing Asian immigrants as an ethnically homogenous group, and acknowledge the nuanced variations in Asian ethnic identity. Moreover, it is incumbent upon student affairs administrators to persevere in promoting a campus environment that minimizes the generational divide between Asian American and Asian immigrant students.     

Complex Trauma in Children and Youth: A Scoping Review of Sensory-Based Interventions

Emerging evidence in neuroscience indicates exposure to complex trauma in children and youth affects brain development—particularly with the ability to process sensory information. This sensory processing challenge has been shown to negatively impact emotional and self-regulation. A developing area of trauma treatment utilizes sensory-based interventions to target these concerns. A scoping review of the literature indicates there is limited, although promising, evidence for the use of these interventions when used as part of an integrated treatment approach. Occupational therapy is in a unique position to contribute to this area of practice due to a background in sensory-based approaches.     

Manualised health support interventions: Their efficacy in a South African primary healthcare setting

The study examined the implementation efficacy of a stress-reduction intervention for people living with HIV/AIDS by health care workers in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Informants were 20 health care workers drawn from two health facilities. There were 17 females (85%) and 3 males (15%). Participants engaged in a focus group discussion on their experiences using a theory-based manualised stress-reduction support intervention in primary care settings. Thematic content analysis of the data yielded the following themes characterising costs to faithful implementation: departure from manualised instructions and ad hoc improvisation of theoretical concepts; disruptive power dynamics; lack of grounding in community values; and implementation resource limitations. Manualised intervention implementation efficacy by health workers needs customisation to local culture and health service support services.     

Mother-child emotional availability in ecological perspective: three countries, two regions, two genders

This study used a cross-national framework to examine country, region, and gender differences in emotional availability (EA), a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Altogether 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. mothers and their daughters and sons from both rural and metropolitan areas took part in home observations when the children were 20 months old. In terms of country, Italian mothers were more sensitive and optimally structuring, and Italian children were more responsive and involving, than Argentine and U.S. dyads. In terms of region, rural mothers were more intrusive than metropolitan mothers, and boys from metropolitan areas were more responsive than boys from rural areas. In terms of gender, mothers of girls were more sensitive and optimally structuring than mothers of boys, and daughters were more responsive and involving than sons. Understanding how country, region, and gender influence EA exposes forces that shape child development, parent-infant interaction, and family systems.     

Forming implicit and explicit attitudes toward individuals: social group association cues

The authors explored how social group cues (e.g., obesity, physical attractiveness) strongly associated with valence affect the formation of attitudes toward individuals. Although explicit attitude formation has been examined in much past research (e.g., S. T. Fiske & S. L. Neuberg, 1990), in the current work, the authors considered how implicit as well as explicit attitudes toward individuals are influenced by these cues. On the basis of a systems of evaluation perspective (e.g., R. J. Rydell & A. R. McConnell, 2006; R. J. Rydell, A. R. McConnell, D. M. Mackie, & L. M. Strain, 2006), the authors anticipated and found that social group cues had a strong impact on implicit attitude formation in all cases and on explicit attitude formation when behavioral information about the target was ambiguous. These findings obtained for cues related to obesity (Experiments 1 and 4) and physical attractiveness (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, parallel findings were observed for race, and participants holding greater implicit racial prejudice against African Americans formed more negative implicit attitudes toward a novel African American target person than did participants with less implicit racial prejudice. Implications for research on attitudes, impression formation, and stigma are discussed.     

Phoneme-based rehabilitation of anomia in aphasia

This study investigated the effects of phonologic treatment for anomia in aphasia. We proposed that if treatment were directed at the level of the phonologic processor, opportunities for naming via a phonological route, as opposed to a strictly whole word route, would be enhanced, thereby improving naming. The participants, ten people with anomia and aphasia due to left hemisphere stroke, received 96 h of phoneme based treatment in 12 weeks. To learn if treatment improved naming, a single-subject, repeated probe design with replication was employed. The primary outcome measure was confrontation naming. Secondary outcome measures included phonologic production, nonword repetition and discourse production. Results suggest a positive treatment effect (confrontation naming), improvements in phonologic production and nonword repetition, and generalization to discourse production. When tested 3 months after the completion of treatment the effects appeared to be maintained.