Senior citizens group: The supervisory process (A case of parallel processes in multiple systems)

As cost-effective treatment becomes mandatory, preventive psychiatry support groups in community settings offer one solution. The authors describe their experience establishing a group at a Senior Citizens Center. They focus on the supervision of the PGY III psychiatry resident who led the group and how the supervisory process reflected the conflicts in multiple systems: the group, the Senior Citizens Center, the hospital, and supervision. Guidelines are offered for establishing such groups.     

Measurement of Sense of Community Within the Sphere of City1

Based on a deductive process, several objective items were developed to measure people's sense of community with their city of residence. An item analysis produced a 17-item scale, which was then evaluated for homogeneity and external validity in three studies using telephone interviews on random samples in Alabama and South Carolina. Of seven hypotheses that were tested, six received support. Results described the scale as internally reliable and unidimensional, and the scale differentiated between people who differed in terms of demographics, home ownership, and civic contributions. Contrary to prediction, the scale did not relate to how long people had lived in their city. Explanations for this were offered and then conclusions were drawn about the potential usefulness of the scale.     

Chronic pain conceptualization and religious interpretation

The pastoral counselor often interviews patients suffering from chronic pain. Many of them express religious notions about their suffering. This article examines some traditional concepts of pain and types of religious interpretations, and proposes appropiate roles for the pastoral counselor.     

Sentential structure and the perceptual spans of two samples of disabled readers

The constructs of accuracy and speed were adopted as performance criteria against which to define two clinical samples of disabled readers. Accuracy-disabled subjects had failed to achieve reliable age-appropriate word recognition skills. Rate-disabled readers were age-appropriate in word recognition accuracy but deficient on measures of contextual accuracy and reading speed. When their eye-voice spans were measured under different text manipulations, accuracy-disabled and rate-disabled children differed in the magnitude of their perceptual spans during the act of reading. The two samples did not differ in the extent to which they availed themselves of contextual constraints to extend their spans in the reading of connected text. Both samples of disabled readers appeared able to use syntactic information as an independent source of sentential information in reading, even the sample whose reading disability was associated with oral syntax deficits. Comparisons with a previous sample of normal beginning readers suggested both types of disabled readers to be reading with perceptual spans of reduced dimensions.This research was supported by operating funds from the Medical Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Mental Health Foundation/COMSOC Provincial Lottery Grants Program, and The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation. The author gratefully acknowledges the generous contributions of Terry Smialy and Judy Millington in assisting with all phases of data collection and data analysis. Special thanks are due Judy Millington for her skill in computing and analyzing the phrase boundary and pseudoboundary counts. Identification of the present rate-disabled subjects was made possible through the assistance of Andrew Biemiller, Donald G. Doehring, and Roger T. Lennon, who made previously unpublished normative data on reading speed available for use in this research project. The generosity of these individuals is very gratefully acknowledged. This paper was presented in part to the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Anaheim, California, August 1983.     

Social reinforcement: A treatment component in verbal self-instructional training

This study investigated the effects of noncontingent social reinforcement on social and academic behaviors in grade school children. Twenty-four children in the second through fifth grades were selected on the basis of teacher ratings of disruptive behavior. Subjects were divided into (a) a high social reinforcement verbal self-instructional (VSI) training group, (b) a low social reinforcement VSI group, and (c) a no-contact control group. Children in VSI groups were removed from their classrooms during four 40-minute periods and given VSI training. Significant between-groups differences on measures of social reinforcement were found indicating its successful manipulation. While none of the dependent measures indicated significant differences between experimental groups, a consistent pattern of difference scores emerged giving limited support to the hypothesis that noncontingent social reinforcement contributed to behavioral gains. Results are discussed in terms of the need for future research on the effects of rapport on treatment outcome.Both authors wish to express their thanks to the Missoula public school administration, principals, psychologists, and teachers. Appreciation is also due to Matthew Firpo and Anita Fisher for their help in this project.