Examining the Relation Between the Therapeutic Alliance, Treatment Adherence, and Outcome of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children With Anxiety Disorders

Little is known about the contribution of technical and relational factors to child outcomes in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for children with anxiety disorders. This study investigated the association between treatment adherence, the child-therapist alliance, and child clinical outcomes in manual-guided individual- and group-based CBT for youths diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Trained observers rated tapes of therapy sessions for treatment adherence and child-therapist alliance in a sample of 52 children (aged 8 to 12) with anxiety disorders. Self-reported child anxiety was assessed at pre-, mid-, and posttreatment; parent-reported child internalizing symptoms was assessed at pre- and posttreatment. The results showed high levels of treatment adherence and child-therapist alliance in both CBT programs. Neither treatment adherence nor child-therapist alliance predicted traditional measurements of child outcomes in the present study, but a relation between alliance and outcome was found using a more precise estimation of the true pre-post differences. Implications of these findings for expanding our understanding of how treatment processes relate to child outcome in CBT for children with anxiety disorders are discussed.     

Crossover of Weekly Work Engagement Among Dual-Working Couples

Purpose

Based on crossover theory and the actor-partner interdependence model, the purpose of this study was to investigate the crossover process of work engagement among Chinese dual-working couples.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Fifty-one dual-working couples first completed a general questionnaire to collect basic demographic information and then completed a weekly diary over five consecutive work weeks.

Findings

The results of multilevel analyses showed that (1) actor’s work engagement had a significant impact on his or her own work performance, (2) communication quality between the dual-working couples moderated the crossover of work engagement, but this effect was only found from husbands to wives and when women scored high on communication quality, (3) when men were treated as actors, the actor’s work engagement interacted with communication quality to relate to the partner’s work performance, through the mediating mechanism of the partner’s work engagement.

Implications

Dual-working couples should communicate with each other frequently through sharing positive experiences, and each member of the couple should support the partner through concrete actions. Organizations should adequately facilitate employees’ engagement, as engaged employees can not only positively influence their colleagues but also their partners at home.

Originality/Value

Previous research on work engagement has focused mainly on static and cross-sectional studies, and most studies on crossover have been conducted primarily in the context of western cultures, whereas systematic and empirical study of oriental cultures, especially Chinese cultures, is relatively scarce. The current study explored the crossover process of work engagement among Chinese dual-working couples using a diary study methodology.

     

Cross-Sectional and Prospective Associations Between Positive Emotions and General Life Satisfaction in Adolescents

Informed by the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (PE), we tested a model of the origins of life satisfaction (LS) with a sample of 567 middle school students from the Southeastern United States. The pathways thinking domain of hope was proposed to mediate the relation between PE and general LS at a single time point, as well as over 1 year. At Time 1, pathways thinking was a significant mediator of PE and LS. In the prospective model, PE did not predict later LS after controlling for baseline LS. The findings have implications for theory and efforts to promote and sustain LS over time in adolescents.     

Treating the Sexually Addicted Client: Establishing a Need for Increased Counselor Awareness

Seventeen to 37 million Americans struggle with sexual addictions (P. Carnes, 1994b; A. Cooper, D. L. Delmonico, & R. Burg, 2000; B. Morris, 1999; J. L. Wolf, 2000), yet traditionally trained addictions and offender counselors often find themselves unprepared to assist clients who are sexually addicted. This article provides a general overview of the disorder, explores the ongoing definition debate, and offers clinically proven treatment protocols.     

The efficiency of encoding: limits of information transfer into memory

We investigated how visual information is best presented to maximize the number of remembered items in a fixed time unit. In a memory task for images depicting real-world objects, we varied the number of images shown simultaneously, the presentation time, and the interstimulus interval (ISI). The viewing phase was followed by a two-alternative forced choice recognition task. We converted the percentage of correct answers into a capacity estimate scaled to a fixed time unit of 1 s to allow for comparisons across conditions. Our results showed that (1) presenting one image very briefly was always more efficient than simultaneously showing multiple images for longer periods; (2) for single images, the maximum encoding rate was fairly constant over a wide range of conditions, at 1.4 objects per second; (3) when testing was done a week later, memory capacity was the same for all conditions, irrespective of the presentation time and ISI at the initial viewing; (4) highly similar distractors led to worse performance than random distractors; and (5) showing an image twice for 100 ms was associated with worse performance than showing the image once, but for 200 ms.     

Life Satisfaction and Violent Behaviors among Middle School Students

We explored relationships between violent behaviors and perceived life satisfaction among 2,138 middle school students in a southern state using the CDC Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey (MSYRBS) and the Brief Multidimensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS). Logistic regression analyses and multivariate models constructed separately revealed significant race by gender results. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for the variables of interest. Having ever carried a gun, ever carried a knife/club, physical fighting and physical fighting with need for medical treatment were associated (p ≤ .05) with reduced life satisfaction for specific race/gender groups, while controlling for SES and grade. Results suggest implications for school-community based violence prevention programs. Future research should consider measures of life satisfaction as a component of comprehensive assessments of middle school student violence and aggressive behaviors in fieldwork, intervention research and program evaluation.     

Let’s Play: Using Systemic and Experiential Techniques in the Play Therapy Instruction of MFT Masters’ Students

Marriage and family therapists are uniquely poised to work with entire families, including children. It is surprising then, that so few MFTs affiliate with play therapy. Many COAMFTE accredited masters’ programs offer some form of play therapy training, but therapists often report feeling uncomfortable with play therapy (Gil, 2015). In this paper, we offer a condensed refresher course on play therapy for MFTs, including suggested readings, materials, and instructions to expand training from a 2-day seminar to a 14-week course. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of offering play therapy instruction as a semester long required course for masters’ students.     

Establishing an Alcohol and Other Drug Assessment and Intervention Program Within an On‐Site Counselor Education Research and Training Clinic

The authors describe the Substance Information Program, a university alcohol and other drug (AOD) assessment and intervention program. The Substance Information Program is housed in a counseling department's on‐site training and research clinic and gives counselors‐in‐training an opportunity to gain practical addictions training.