Auditory lateralization: An effect of rhythm

Recall of monaurally presented semantically anomalous sentences, which had either neutral or rhythmic timing, was tested at the right ear, at the left ear, and on transfer from one ear to the other. The component words, being computer stored digitized waveforms, had identical acoustic structure in the two conditions. In the rhythmic condition there was not only an overall advantage in the second half of the experiment but also an asymmetric transfer effect such that this advantage did not appear when the left ear was tested after the right. It is proposed that functional lateralization be viewed as an adaptive, dynamic, organizational factor.     

What are careers officers thinking of? How information cues are selected and used in careers interviews

This paper explores the information-seeking practices of careers officers during careers interviews. Research in decision-making is used to establish hypotheses, with a focus on findings in the fields of heuristics, cognitive mapping and medical diagnostics. Sensitive areas for careers guidance providers in this research field are outlined. A small-scale research project is described, which indicated support for several of the hypotheses. A model is suggested of how careers officers may elicit and use information cues in order to mentally match clients' post-16 choices against perceived opportunities. The implications for careers officer practice and careers service fundholders are discussed.     

Change in Attachment Dimensions and Reflective Functioning Following Emotionally Focused Group Therapy for Binge Eating Disorder

The current study examines change in attachment variables from pre- to six months post-emotionally focused group therapy (EFGT) for binge eating disorder (BED). A clinical sample of 118 women and men with BED attended 20 sessions of EFGT and completed the Adult Attachment Interview pre- and six months post-treatment. There was a significant increase in secure attachment style classification, significant increases in Coherence of Mind and Reflective Functioning scores, and significant decreases in both unresolved/disorganized attachment style classification and scale scores from pre- to six months post-treatment. Interventions specific to EFGT, common therapeutic factors and group process interventions may have contributed to changes in these attachment variables. The current study demonstrated that EFGT is a promising treatment for facilitating change in attachment in women and men with BED.     

Development of the Family Therapy Enactment Rating Scale

This report describes the development of a new scale designed to establish how therapists intervene and clients respond during effective enactments in family therapy sessions. The Family Therapy Enactment Rating Scale (FTERS) was developed by clinically trained investigators who observed 27 videotaped family therapy sessions and listed therapist interventions and client responses during four phases of enactments: pre-enactment preparation, initiation, facilitation, and closing commentary. Interrater reliabilities for the FTERS were calculated by training 6 undergraduate volunteers to rate independently a sample of 12 enactments. When reliabilities were found to be relatively low, a second study was conducted in which the FTERS was revised and reliabilities were calculated with a different sample of 21 videotaped enactments and a new group of 6 undergraduate raters. Reliability for the FTERS was found to be sufficiently robust to make this measure of therapist interventions and client responses a useful instrument for evaluating what takes place during enactments. Findings on the FTERS were used to offer tentative guidelines for effective initiation and facilitation of enactments in family therapy sessions.     

Trouble in Eden

In response to the Wild-Anderson Report, Little Children are Sacred (June 2007) that outlined a pattern of widespread sexual abuse of small children and chronic alcoholism among aboriginals in the Australians' N.T. (Northern Territory), the federal government launched a major Intervention there sending in teams of doctors and health workers to examine all aboriginal children for abuse and special police and army units to stabilise the situation in remote communities. Moving beyond the recommendations contained in the Report the Howard government announced it would use compulsory acquisition powers and appoint administrators over aboriginal townships and centres (about 73 of them) for five years. These officials would be charged with building up local infrastructures and could assign individuals to work for their welfare payments at jobs assigned to them. More disturbing to aboriginal leaders and communities was a government plan to allow individual aboriginals to lease small plots of land on traditional community owned reserves for the purpose, it was said, of owning their home and/or to start a small business. Furthermore, traditional owners would be allowed to enter into long term leases (for 99 years) on their lands in order to attract outside investment and capitol. There was considerable fear among aboriginals that these unilateral moves by the government would undermine the basis of aboriginal culture and lead inevitably to the loss by aboriginal people of real control over their traditional land.     

CAREGIVER–CHILD INTERACTION,CAREGIVER TRANSITIONS,AND GROUP SIZE AS MEDIATORS BETWEEN INTERVENTION CONDITION AND ATTACHMENT AND PHYSICAL GROWTH OUTCOMES IN INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILDREN

This report describes a secondary analysis of data from a comprehensive intervention project which included training and structural changes in three Baby Homes in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. Multiple mediator models were tested according to the R.M. Baron and D.A. Kenny ( 1986 ) causal‐steps approach to examine whether caregiver–child interaction quality, number of caregiver transitions, and group size mediated the effects of the intervention on children's attachment behaviors and physical growth. The study utilized a subsample of 163 children from the original Russian Baby Home project, who were between 11 and 19 months at the time of assessment. Results from comparisons of the training and structural changes versus no intervention conditions are presented. Caregiver–child interaction quality and number of caregiver transitions fully mediated the association between intervention condition and attachment behavior. No other mediation was found. Results suggest that the quality of interaction between caregivers and children in institutional care is of primary importance to children's development, but relationship context may play a less direct mediational role, supporting caregiver–child interactions.     

Evaluating wraparound services for seriously emotionally disturbed youth: pilot study outcomes in Georgia

Since the early 1990s, intervention strategies designed to preserve the family system while serving children diagnosed with severe emotional disturbances (SED) have been on the rise. Many of these strategies sought to provide families with comprehensive approaches that link various agencies and services, thus providing a complete system of care. The term wraparound services was coined to describe these approaches. However, evaluation studies of the outcomes of these programs remains limited. In order to assess the impact of wraparound services, outcome evaluation programs need to be implemented and their feasibility assessed. This paper focuses on the feasibility and implementation of a computer-based field assessment system and the ability to provide empirically based feedback to the programs. In addition, an assessment of 15 participating children and families, comparing selected aspects of clinical functioning at intake and 6-month follow-up, is presented and discussed.     

When the customer shouldn't be king: antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment by clients and customers

Much of the work in today's service industries requires women to deal with people outside of their organizations, namely, customers and clients, yet research on sexual harassment has focused almost exclusively on sexual harassment within organizations. Because the threat of harassment also operates at the boundaries of organizations, our existing models based solely on harassment inside organizations may be too restricted to adequately explain the harassment experiences of women in today's economy. To address this, the authors introduce a theoretical model of the antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment by clients and customers (CSH) and describe 2 field studies conducted to test components of the model. In Study 1, they developed a model of antecedents and consequences of CSH and illustrated that certain contextual factors (client power and gender composition of the client base) affect levels of CSH and that CSH is related to a number of job and psychological outcomes among professional women. Study 2 revealed that CSH is related to lower job satisfaction among nonprofessional women, above and beyond that which is accounted for by internal sexual harassment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.