The role of ethnocultural variables in response to terrorism

The threat of terrorism is having a profound impact on Americans. This study examined ethnocultural variables of ethnic background, gender, age, and educational background to better understand first reactions to, explanations for, and responses to what happened on September 11, 2001. Data were obtained from a sample of university students, church and civic group members, and people of the general community. Results suggest that ethnic background, gender, and age influence reactions to terrorism. Ethnic background and gender influenced causal explanations about the attacks. Strong gender differences were noted in how participants were affected by the attacks; strongest similarities were observed in reports of first reactions to news of the events, with most people experiencing shock and disbelief. Conclusions stress the importance of future mental health interventions and research giving strong consideration to ethnocultural variables when dealing with victims of terrorism.     

What works in prevention. Principles of effective prevention programs

The high prevalence of drug abuse, delinquency, youth violence, and other youth problems creates a need to identify and disseminate effective prevention strategies. General principles gleaned from effective interventions may help prevention practitioners select, modify, or create more effective programs. Using a review-of-reviews approach across 4 areas (substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, school failure, and juvenile delinquency and violence), the authors identified 9 characteristics that were consistently associated with effective prevention programs: Programs were comprehensive, included varied teaching methods, provided sufficient dosage, were theory driven, provided opportunities for positive relationships, were appropriately timed, were socioculturally relevant, included outcome evaluation, and involved well-trained staff. This synthesis can inform the planning and implementation of problem-specific prevention interventions, provide a rationale for multi-problem prevention programs, and serve as a basis for further research.     

Left ventricular assist devices: An ethical analysis

United States statistics continue to indicate that the human donor heart pool does not and will not meet the great demand for hearts. For those patients unresponsive to maximal medical therapy (approximately 60,000 patients per year), cardiac transplantation is currently their best hope for increased survival. To address the need for additional end-stage congestive heart failure (CHF) therapy options, three medical device manufacturers have developed implantable left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) which act as a pump for hemodynamic support of the patient’s diseased heart. Although LVADs have been shown to improve patient disease state prior to organ transplantation. LVADs do nothing to increase the pool of human donor hearts, and they negatively impact the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) waiting list by increasing the size of the waiting pool. This paper identifies and explores the ethical challenges presented by the use of LVADs as a bridging technology for heart transplant candidates. Although LVADs raise some ethical concerns, these concerns are outweighed by the proven medical efficacy of these devices. Thus, this technology should continue to be used and further developed. This paper was written by the author while in the Masters degree progrm at Loma Linda University (Dept. of Biomedical and Clinical Ethics), 11234 Anderson Street, Coleman Pavillion, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA. The author is currently an Ethies Fellow (pre-doctoral) in UCLA’s program in Biomedical and Research Ethics.     

Sociopolitical Development as an Antidote for Oppression—Theory and Action

Although psychology has an ample vocabulary for describing individual pathologies, the development of theory and concepts for understanding societal pathology remains in its infancy. Because community psychology theory views human behavior in its context, it is essential that interventions not be limited to stress management, personal coping, and similar programming. Interventions should not leave social injustice undiscussed and unchallenged. In this spirit we present a theory of oppression and sociopolitical development that informs an intervention with young, African American men in an urban setting. The five-stage theory highlights the role of Freire's notion of critical consciousness, a sociopolitical version of critical thinking, in enhancing an awareness of sociopolitical as well as personal forces that influence behavior. The theory also draws on African American social-change traditions and their spiritual aspects. The action section of the study describes the Young Warriors program's use of mass culture (rap videos and film) as stimuli for the development of critical consciousness. Highlights from an empirical investigation of an eight-session high school version of the program will be presented to illustrate the practical challenges and benefits of sociopolitical interventions.     

A critical evaluation of coercive persuasion as used in the assessment of cults

An intense controversy regarding new and unpopular religious movements, or cults, continues to involve professionals at the juncture of psychiatry, religion, and the law. As the cults come under increasingly critical scrutiny, the concept most often used for assessing them is that of coercive persuasion. Briefly, such persuasion is seen as a means of psychological manipulation that leaves individuals without the normal control of their own minds. Considering recent pertinent cases and literature, the authors find major weaknesses in this theory. When applied it proves elastic, and it is regularly identified in cults for conduct that, on close examination, is similar to that of established religious groups. The concept of coercive persuasion as a means of thought control fails to pass scientific muster, and it serves poorly as a means of evaluating the connection between alleged harm and the cults. Instead, the authors suggest that a search for an alternative theory might well begin with one based on the individual as competent or not to make a choice regarding religion.     

Monitoring and Performance: A Comparison of Computer and Supervisor Monitoring1

This research addresses how computer monitoring affects the way individual workers perform on their jobs. The study tests the effects of a supervisor's physical versus electronic presence on individual worker performance. Forty-two women were hired to perform a simple data entry task. The women worked in one of three conditions: (a) alone, (b) in the physical presence of the supervisor who monitored their work, or (c) computer-monitored (electronic presence) by the data entry system without the physical presence of the supervisor. It was hypothesized that social facilitation effects would result from either the physical or electronic presence conditions. Electronic presence does seem to result in social facilitation, though the mean differences are not statistically significant. The results for physical presence are mixed. Profile analysis indicates that there are significant differences in the patterns of performance. When subjects work alone or with electronic presence, performance follows a steady pattern. When subjects work with physical presence, performance is somewhat lower than in the alone condition, except when the supervisor is actively monitoring, then individual performance is significantly increased. There are no satisfaction differences between the three conditions. The results of this research suggest that “Big Brother” is not lurking inside every computer-monitoring system.     

A PERFORMANCE-BASED LOTTERY TO IMPROVE RESIDENTIAL CARE AND TRAINING BY INSTITUTIONAL STAFF

Two experiments were conducted on four units of a residential facility for the multiply-handicapped retarded in an attempt to improve daily care and training services. Experiment I compared the effects of two procedures in maintaining the work performance of attendants, using an A-B design on two units. One procedure consisted of implementing specific staff-resident assignments, the other consisted of allowing attendants who had met performance criteria to be eligible for a weekly lottery in which they could win the opportunity to rearrange their days off for the following week. Results showed that the lottery was a more effective procedure as measured by the per cent of time attendants engaged in predefined target behaviors, and by their frequency of task completion in several areas of resident care. Experiment II replicated and extended these results to the area of work quality on two additional units, using a multiple-baseline design. The performance lottery was found to be an effective economical procedure that could be implemented by supervisory staff on a large scale.     

Psychosocial Considerations in Sickle Cell Disease (SCD): The Transition from Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Sickle cell disease (SCD) occurs in 1 of every 400 to 500 African American births. Despite its prevalence, there has been a relative dearth of attention paid to SCD in the psychological literature. African American SCD adolescents and young adults, individuals at an already vulnerable developmental stage, are at increased risk for psychological distress and psychosocial impairments (e.g., depression and low self-esteem, poor social and academic/vocational functioning). Such difficulties often result in problematic adherence to medical regimens, and thus represent a potentially serious clinical and public health problem that merits the attention of psychologists working in medical settings. This article (1) reviews the psychosocial needs peculiar to SCD patients transitioning from adolescence to young adulthood; (2) applies a culturally informed stress-coping-adjustment framework to assess and address the psychological status, psychosocial functioning, and disease outcomes of these individuals; and (3) describes a culturally and developmentally sensitive, psychoeducational group intervention.     

Adolescent autonomy and minors' legal rights: contraception and abortion

During adolescence, dependent children grow into independent and autonomous adults, and it is necessary to make difficult policy judgements about children's rights. Questions that arise include: shoudl minors have the right to work, to marry, to make legal contracts, and to obtain medical care without parental consent; or should parental consent be required by the state in order to protect minors and to preserve parental authority. This discussion focuses upon the area of family planning, a topic of special interest to policymakers because they now face many questions about minor's contraceptive and abortion rights in Congress, in state legislatures, and in the courts. comprehensive response to policy questions about family planning rights for minors would require information about adolescent development, maturity, and autonomy; about teenagers' sexual and contraceptive attitudes and behavior; about the nature of parent-child communication regarding sexual and contraceptive questions; and about politics and values. Many from the legal system want help in answering questions about minors' rights. As little research has been conducted, policymakers can obtain only limited guidance from social scientists. As the policy issue is fundamentally tied to developmental issues, the better the knowledge about the development of cognitive competence, social competence, and autonomy, the easier it will be to make the difficult legal and policy judgements about minor's rights. Regarding minors' access to contraceptives, the situation is somewhat cloudy. There is only 1 state statute that requires parental consent for access to contraceptive medical services, passed in Utah in 1981, and pertaining to services provided with public funds. Yet, common law requires parental consent for any medical treatment (with exceptions for emancipated or mature minors) and "physicians often hesitate to serve young people without first obtaining parental consent because they fear civil liability." The situation is even more cloudy in the case of abortion. The Supreme Court's present position seems to grant emancipated and mature minors access to abortion without a requirement for parental consent or notification, but states may place some requirements for parental involvement upon other minors, as long as these minors have an alternative route to abortion. A thorough search of the literature on adolescent development reveals that the policy questions loom larger than the alternatives. 2 policy alternatives are: to single out a reasonable age below which minors require either parental consent or some form of adult involvement; or treat family planning and fertility control as basic rights which cannot be abridged because of age.