Development of Family Therapy in Hong Kong

This paper provides an insight into the development and growth of family therapy in Hong Kong. Family therapy was introduced in Hong Kong in the early 1980s and is now gaining ground. The authors give a historical account of the development of family therapy in Hong Kong, and report on its progress and achievement for the past three decades there. The field has gone through several stages of development. The 1980s were marked by an importation of Western family therapy models, during which overseas expertise was tapped to promote family therapy. The 1990s were characterized by a blossoming of different schools of family therapy on the local scene. Most schools established their own practice centers, and training packages were tailor-made for local use. The 2000s were an important era of family therapy development in Hong Kong. The field has nurtured a new generation of leaders (both academics and front-line practitioners and trainers) who play an essential role in advancing its development. The paper concludes by identifying problems in clinical practice, professional training, and research and knowledge development, and proposes ways of overcoming these difficulties.     

Emotion and Appraisal Profiles of the Needs for Competence and Relatedness

This study examined the emotion and appraisal correlates of the needs for Competence and Relatedness. Using experience-sampling, fluctuations of competence and relatedness throughout a day's period were found to correspond to fluctuations in emotions and appraisals in ways theoretically consistent with the self-determination theory (Deci &; Ryan, 2000 Deci , E. L. , &; Ryan , R. M. ( 2000 ). The “what” and “why” of goal-pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior . Psychological Inquiry , 11 , 227 – 268 .[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Each need was related in specific ways to the six emotions examined (anger, sadness, fear, guilt, shame, and joy) and, more interesting, was characterized by a specific appraisal-profile. Implications of these findings for needs processes are discussed.     

Group Intensive Family Training (GIFT) for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders

Early, intensive behavioral intervention is effective in treating children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but can be cost prohibitive. Expenses may be defrayed if children can benefit from parents acting as therapists. This quantitative case series examines the efficacy of the Group Intensive Family Training (GIFT) program, a 12‐week (180 h, delivered 3 h each weekday) parent‐training for preschoolers with ASDs. Parents were individually mentored in the hands‐on application of behavior analytic techniques, implementing these skills in vivo within a group of six parent–child dyads. Seventy‐two parents and children (ages 25–68 months) with ASDs participated in this study. Children's cognitive and adaptive functioning was assessed before and after the intervention program. Analyses revealed average gains of eight standard score points on the Mullen Early Learning Composite and five standard score points on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Composite after 12 weeks of treatment. Additionally, 14% and 11% of the children moved from the ‘impaired’ to ‘non‐impaired’ range on Mullen and Vineland composite scores, respectively. This preliminary investigation suggests that GIFT's behavioral, group parent‐training can lead to significant, yet cost‐ and time‐efficient gains for children with ASDs. Results must be interpreted with caution because of the absence of a control group. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Statistical processing: not so implausible after all

Myczek and Simons (2008) have shown that findings attributed to a statistical mode of perceptual processing can, instead, be explained by focused attention to samples of just a few items. Some new findings raise questions about this claim. (1) Participants, given conditions that would require different focused attention strategies, did no worse when the conditions were randomly mixed than when they were blocked. (2) Participants were significantly worse at estimating the mean size when given small samples than when given the whole display. (3) One plausible suggested strategy--comparing the largest item in each display, rather than the mean size--was not, in fact, used. Distributed attention to sets of similar stimuli, enabling a statistical-processing mode, provides a coherent account of these and other phenomena.     

Anxiety and Depression in Cancer Patients: The Association with Religiosity and Religious Coping

There is a lack of studies looking into religiosity and religious coping in cancer patient. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the religiosity using Duke University Religion Index, religious coping using Brief Religious Coping Scale, anxiety and depression based on Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale among 200 cancer patients. The association between religiosity and religious coping with anxiety and depression was studied. The findings showed that subjects with anxiety or depression used more negative religious coping and had lower non-organization religiosity. Hence, measurements in reducing negative religious coping and encouraging religious activities could help to reduce psychological distress in cancer patients.     

Perceived Stigma of Postpartum Depression Symptoms in Low-Risk First-Time Parents: Gender Differences in a Dual-Pathway Model

Although postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms are fairly common among new mothers and fathers, new parents still perceive a stigma associated with having the “baby blues.” Research has extensively examined the role of perceived stigma on help-seeking for clinical PPD, but little is known about the process of perceived stigma in new parents. We examined the role of perceived stigma in postpartum depressive symptoms using the dual-pathway model (Mickelson and Williams 2008). Specifically, we tested whether internalized stigma would influence PPD symptoms through parenting efficacy, whereas experienced stigma would influence PPD symptoms through indirect support-seeking. We also examined whether the internalized pathway was stronger for fathers while mothers would utilize both pathways. Using longitudinal data from a community sample of first-time parents in the United States, we found parenting efficacy was a mediator between internalized stigma and PPD symptoms for mothers and experienced stigma and PPD symptoms for fathers; indirect support-seeking was only a cross-sectional mediator for mothers between internalized stigma and PPD symptoms. Understanding how new mothers and fathers perceive the stigma attached to PPD symptoms and the process by which it impacts symptom reporting can help to improve interventions aimed at new parents.     

等级数据的测量不变性检验及影响因素模拟研究

研究介绍了针对等级数据的模型建构（LRV,潜在反应变量模型）和参数估计（WLSMV）方法,以及在此基础上的测量不变性检验（DIFFTEST）方法,同时采用蒙特卡洛模拟研究方法,考察样本总量大小、组间样本量对比情况、阈值差异程度、量表长度等因素,对DIFTEST进行针对等级数据的测量不变性检验效果的影响情况,以及WLSMV估计方法下的参数复原情况。研究结果发现WLSMV估计方法参数的复原效果很好;DIFFTEST的一类错误概率达到可接受水平,在大样本情况下、组间样本量基本相等、阈值差异程度较大时,DIFFTEST检测力较好。在控制测量不变性遭受破坏的项目个数情况下,随着测验长度的增加,DIFFTEST的检测力下降。     

Role of cerebellum in fine speech control in childhood: persistent dysarthria after surgical treatment for posterior fossa tumour

Dysarthria following surgical resection of childhood posterior fossa tumour (PFT) is most commonly documented in a select group of participants with mutism in the acute recovery phase, thus limiting knowledge of post-operative prognosis for this population of children as a whole. Here we report on the speech characteristics of 13 cases seen long-term after surgical treatment for childhood PFT, unselected for the presence of post-operative mutism (mean time post-surgery = 6y10 m, range 1;4-12;6 years, two had post-operative mutism), and examine factors affecting outcome. Twenty-six age- and sex- matched healthy controls were recruited for comparison. Participants in both groups had speech assessments using detailed perceptual and acoustic methods. Over two-thirds of the group (69%) with removal of PFT had a profile of typically mild dysarthria. Prominent speech deficits included consonant imprecision, reduced rate, monopitch and monoloudness. We conclude that speech deficits may persist even up to 10 years post-surgery in participants who have not shown mutism in the acute phase. Of cases with unilateral lesions, poorer outcomes were associated with right cerebellar tumours compared to left, consistent with the notion based on adult data that speech is controlled by reciprocal right cerebellar/left frontal interactions. These results confirm the important role of the cerebellum in the control of fine speech movements in children.