Help-agents' views about clinical interactions with acting-out children

A scale to measure nonprofessional child-aides' views about, and practices in, working primarily with acting-out children is described. The scale was used as part of an overall evaluation of a program to teach the aides Ginottian limit-setting approaches for work with such children. A prior study had shown that the training was followed by significantly more favorable treatment outcomes. Compared to 44 nontrained child-aides, the 19 trained aides had significantly higher postprogram scale scores on opinions and beliefs about acting-out children, changes in feeling about working with them, and actual observed changes in their playroom behaviors. Item analysis indicated that, following training, aides felt more comfortable with and had a richer repertoire of techniques for dealing with acting-out children. Specifically, they found it easier to set limits and to deal with overtly aggressive behaviors. Those changes may be key factors in explaining the significantly greater effectiveness of the trained aides working with acting-out children.This study was supported by a grant (MH-11427-02) from the NIMH Experimental and Special Training Branch, for which the authors express sincere appreciation. Thanks also to Mary Boike, Michael A. DeStefano, and Alice B. Wilson for their contributions to the data analyses.     

The ontogenesis of primary prevention: Lengthy strides and subbed toes

Reviews evolution of the concept of primary prevention in the past 40 years and cites progress in overcoming significant early deterrents (e.g., loosely anchored, overinclusive definitions; weak supporting empirical base) to this development. Highlights the growing trend to define the concept specifically around the yoked notions of risk, and the goal of forestalling major psychological dysfunction. This de facto shift in definitional emphasis has obscured primary prevention's early vision of promoting health and wellness. Stresses need for a comprehensive, multilevel, proactive approach targeted systematically toward the enhancement of psychological wellness in all people, from the start. This article is based on the Seymour B Sarason Award talk given at the 103rd annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York City, August 12, 1995. Although the spoken and written versions are similar, and their intended bottom lines identical, the two differ in several ways. One is that the talk's many references to Sarason'shighly influential contributions to the field, and his unique, thought-stimulating style, do not appear here. They continue, however to be keenly felt. Those views are a matter official record (see “In Honor of Seymour Sarason,”American Journal of Community Psychology, 1976, Vol. 4, pp. 244–246). A second difference between the talk and the article is that the former was more relaxed, breezier, and less jargonesque. Although I have tried to preserve some of that informality, the article is surely stuffier than the talk.     

Integrating Behavioral and Social Sciences in the Medical School Curriculum: Opportunities and Challenges for Psychology

The Institute of Medicine has reviewed and made recommendations concerning current teaching approaches, content, and barriers to the incorporation of behavioral/social sciences in medical school curricula (Cuff & Vanselow, 2004). This paper discusses those recommendations, the history of medical education reform, the barriers to and evolution of behavioral/social sciences’ inclusion, and the implications for psychology’s future role in academic medicine. Psychological concepts and technology permeate medical practice, but little progress has been made in integrating psychological and biological sciences. Looking to its basic science domains (e.g. cognition, learning, development, neuroscience), psychology can take scientific leadership in illuminating the mechanisms by which behavioral/social processes interact with biological functions in health, thereby providing the empirical basis for a truly integrated bio-behavioral curriculum. This article is based upon a symposium, “IOM Report on Enhancing Behavioral & Social Science in Medical Education: Impact and Opportunities for Psychology,” presented at the Annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., August 21, 2005. Suzanne Bennett Johnson, Chair; Elena Reyes, John E. Carr, and Anthony Errichetti, participants; Eugene K. Emory, Discussant.     

Children's judgments of event upsettingness and personal experiencing of stressful events

Five-hundred and three urban and suburban 4th- to 6th-grade schoolchildren judged event upsettingness and reported the occurrence of 22 life events. Judgments of event upsettingness ranged considerably, some corresponding to, others differing from, adult judgments. Children reported experiencing an average of seven events during their lifetimes. Girls judged events to be more upsetting than boys, and fourth and fifth graders judged events to be more upsetting than sixth graders. Urban children reported having experienced more stressful events than suburban children, and sixth graders experienced more events than fourth graders.     

Social environmental predictors of children's adjustment in elementary school classrooms

Relationships between qualities of the perceived social environment and children's adjustment were examined in 30 second- to fourth-grade classrooms. Based on Moos' conceptual framework, social environment was assessed from both teachers' and children's perspectives. There was little agreement between the two views. Nine teacher- and peer-rated adjustment variables were used as criterion measures in multiple regression analyses which controlled for the potential confounding influence of grade level and family income. The main substantive findings were that peer sociometric ratings were more positive at lower grade levels and in classes rated by children as high in Order and Organization; teachers rated less acting-out behavior in classes seen by children as high in Affiliation, Teacher Control, and Task Orientation; and teachers rated children as more likeable in classes seen by Children as high in Teacher Control and Competition. Implications of the study's findings for future primary preventive efforts to engineer health-promoting classroom environments are discussed.     

Person-centered approaches to primary prevention in mental health: Situation-focused and competence-enhancement

Summary Situation-focused and competence-enhancement approaches represent different pathways toward a richer person-centered primary prevention in mental health. Each is valid in its own right. The utility of developing both strands rests precisely on the fact that they are different means to a common end. Thus, although the approaches have somewhat different conceptual footings (one is proactive, the other reactive), differ in immediate goals and tactics, and have characteristically different target groups and times of application, they come together around the shared ultimate goal of strengthening people's psychological well-being.How much good will accrue from energetic exploration and development of these two strands remains a moot point, around which some skepticism has already been voiced (Rappaport, 1981). The two approaches singly or in combination, do not substitute for the type of social reform and provision of life opportunities (based on the concepts of justice and distribution of power) that Rappaport advocates. Nor do they compete with it. During the long period in which informed social change will remain an ideal, surrounded by uncertainty about procedural steps and outcomes, effective development of the two person-centered primary prevention strategies considered in this article can at least help to achieve a shorter-term objective, i.e., replacing aspects of traditional mental health practice known to have limited potential for advancing psychological wellness.This paper was written under support of grants from the New York State Department of Education and NIMH (MH 14547-07), for which the author expresses appreciation. Thanks also to Dr. Richard Price, who read and contributed constructively to earlier drafts of the article. I lay exclusive claim, however, to all of its remaining sins.     

Effects of a school mental health project: A one-year follow-up

Matched samples of children who had (Terminators) or had not (Nonterminators) successfully participated in a school-based project for the early detection and treatment of school maladaption were compared on teacher ratings of adjustment with a control sample having no prior program contact. Terminators were found to have significantly more positive school adjustment ratings than Nonterminators and Controls, both five and 12 months after their final program contact. These data support the conclusion that the program has positive consequences for children in the primary grades which generalize to new classroom settings and remain stable over time. The absence of adjustment differences between Nonterminators and Controls suggests the importance of developing alternative approaches for those not benefiting from the program.     

The 1975 division 27 awards for distinguished contributions to community psychology and community mental health: Seymour B. Sarason

American Journal of Community Psychology -     

Comparison of two outcome groups in a school-based mental health project

Two samples of school-maladjusted children responding most and least favorably to a helping program with nonprofessional child-aides were compared on demographic, referral, and program experience variables. Outcome measures other than teacher ratings used to select the samples validated the inferred improvement differences. Subjects with poor outcomes were significantly more likely to reside in the city, older, from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and initially more maladjusted than those with good outcomes, but there were no group differences in age, repeat in grade, or program experience variables. Implications of these data for future program directions and modifications of aide-training procedures are discussed.