A Phenomenological Inquiry of Clients’ Meaningful Experiences in Counseling With Counselors‐in‐Training

This study is a follow‐up to Sackett, Lawson, and Burge's ( 2012 ) study that explored the meaningful experiences of clients and counselors‐in‐training (CITs). Using the previous study's themes of clients’ experiences in counseling with CITs as a launching pad, the authors examined in greater depth the meaningful experiences of clients who are in counseling with CITs through qualitative phenomenological interviews. Findings, as well as implications for counselor education, supervision, and counseling, are discussed.     

Offender and Offence Characteristics of School Shooting Incidents

School shootings are a concern due to their impact in the local community. This paper aimed to (a) establish frequent characteristics of the offender and offence, (b) explore the differences between offenders who are over the age of 18 years and those who are younger, and (c) consider the underlying themes of the offence characteristics. Data were collected on 28 cases through accessing resources such as West Law and case studies. The majority of the offenders were Caucasian and US citizens and suffered from depression. Their offences were primarily well planned, involved more than three deaths, and resulted in the offender committing suicide. Pearson's chi‐square test and Fisher's exact test identified significant differences between the two age groups. Offenders who were 18 years of age or under were more likely to experience depression, be US citizens and be linked to the school. Additionally, offenders who were 18 years of age or under were more likely to have stolen their weapons and made threats prior to the incident. Smallest space analysis revealed four thematic regions in relation to the offence characteristics: making an impact, delivering a message, doing unrestrained activity, and targeting specific individuals. These findings have implications for risk assessment and furthering understanding. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationship between self-efficacy,readiness to change,and AUDIT risk levels in a sample of active duty emergency department patients

The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between self-efficacy, readiness to change, and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) risk levels in a sample of active duty drinkers who were seeking care in a military emergency department. Civilian health educators screened participants for alcohol use with the AUDIT and collected sociodemographic, service, and drinking-related cognitions data from active duty patients admitted to an emergency department. A total of 787 active duty military personnel participated in the study. Almost half (48%) drank at least once a week and 32% reported consuming five or more alcoholic drinks during a typical drinking episode. One in five participants reported heavy episodic drinking weekly to almost daily. Results of a multinomial logistic regression model showed that active duty service members with a self-reported diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder since joining the military were more likely to be an at-risk or high/severe risk drinker relative to a low risk drinker. Higher controlled drinking self-efficacy was associated with a decrease in the odds of being either an at-risk or high/severe risk drinker. Increased readiness to reduce drinking was associated with an increase in the odds of being either an at risk or high/severe risk drinker. The results of this research suggest self-efficacy to control one’s heavy drinking as well as readiness to change may be important factors to consider when designing alcohol education programs within the military.     

Solitude among contemplative cloistered nuns and monks: conceptualisation,coping and benefits of spiritually motivated solitude

There are rising perceptions and concerns about social isolation and the prevalence of loneliness in Western societies and their negative impact on people’s psychological well-being. We report on an ethnographic study conducted in two Catholic contemplative monasteries in Spain, focusing on the nuns’ and monks' voluntary search for solitude. Through in-depth interviews we aimed to explore their conceptualisation and experiences of solitude, the motivations behind their spiritual quest for it, and the benefits and challenges that this choice entailed. An extraordinary human template of searching for solitude emerged: although they lived communally (they were not alone), they actively avoided intimacy and closeness with other members of the community (they strove to feel alone out of their own volition). Human solitude was seen as the necessary condition for achieving perfect closeness with God and was interpreted not as leading to isolation but as a channel to communicate more intimately with God.     

Historical Perspectives on Ancient Greek Derived “a” Prefixed Nomenclature for Acquired Neurocognitive Impairment

Distinct forms of acquired neurocognitive impairment are often described by “a” prefixed terms that derive from ancient Greek (and in one case Latin). Two modern English language neurological and neuropsychological reference books were searched to identify 17 such terms in contemporary usage: amnesia, akinesia, ataxia, aphasia, agraphia, anosmia, apraxia, athetosis, ageusia, achromatopsia, agnosia, alexia, amusia, anomia, anarthria, anosognosia, and acalculia. These were traced to their initial association with acquired neurocognitive impairment in German, English, and French language medical publications from the late 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries (1770 through 1920). Some of these terms (e.g., agnosia) were used in ancient Greek, although not associated with neurocognitive impairment. The remainder constitute novel semantically plausible (e.g., anosmia) and unclear (e.g., alexia) formulations. In the localizationist thinking of the time, neurocognition was conceived as being organized within specialized “centers” in specific locations connected by pathways within the brain.     

Emergence and reduction in dynamical cognitive science

This paper examines the widespread intuition that the dynamical approach to cognitive science is importantly related to emergentism about the mind. The explanatory practices adopted by dynamical cognitive science rule out some conceptions of emergence; covering law explanations require a deducibility relationship between explanans and explanandum, whereas canonical theories of emergence require the absence of such deducibility. A response to this problem - one which would save the intuition that dynamics and emergence are related - is to reconstrue the concept of emergence as a relationship between laws. I call this “nomological emergence” and comment on the extent to which dynamicists would find it acceptable. Alternatively, dynamical cognitive science might be viewed as fitting better with the kind of “functional reductionism” which has recently been developed by authors such as Jaegwon Kim. Which of these two alternatives is preferable remains an open question pending the further development of dynamical cognitive science, particularly in its “non-classical” forms.     

Executive Functions in Preschool Children with Aggressive Behavior: Impairments in Inhibitory Control

The question whether executive function (EF) deficits in children are associated with conduct problems remains controversial. Although the origins of aggressive behavior are to be found in early childhood, findings from EF studies in preschool children with aggressive behavior are inconsistent. The current study aimed to investigate whether preschool children with aggressive behavior show impairments in EF. From a population-based sample, 82 preschool children who were showing aggressive behavior as indicated by scores at or above the 93rd percentile on the Aggressive Behavior Scale of the CBCL 1 1/2-5 were selected. These children with aggressive behavior were matched on IQ to a group of typically developing control children (N = 99). Six neuropsychological tasks were administered to assess set shifting, inhibition, working memory and verbal fluency. A factor analysis was conducted which yielded one clear factor: inhibition. Aggressive preschool children showed poorer performance on this inhibition factor than control children and boys performed worse on this factor than girls. This association between aggressive behavior and inhibition deficits was maintained after controlling for attention problems. In addition, gender differences in all EFs measured were found with boys exhibiting more impairment in EF than girls. These findings demonstrate that preschool children with aggressive behavior show impairments in inhibition, irrespective of attention problems.     

The experience of working with refugees: counsellors in primary care

The provision of counselling services for refugee and asylum-seeking patients is relatively new in the UK and their complex needs may present considerable challenges within primary care, where access to specialist support resources is often limited. As far as we know, no previous research has attempted to look at the experiences of the counsellors who do this work. We undertook in-depth interviews with 13 counsellors who provide counselling to refugees in primary care in north London. The findings of this study suggest that counsellors who work in a primary care setting find themselves conflicted, troubled and out of their depth by the experiences, narratives and distress presented by refugee and asylum-seeking patients. They also report an erosion of usual counselling boundaries. Thus, the problems presented by refugees seem to demand approaches which go beyond standard counselling practice and which create ambivalence and uncertainty. These counsellors express feelings of isolation and impotence. The paper concludes with implications for counselling practice and suggestions for further research.