Improving multiple behaviors for colorectal cancer prevention among african american church members.

The WATCH (Wellness for African Americans Through Churches) Project was a randomized trial comparing the effectiveness of 2 strategies to promote colorectal cancer preventive behaviors among 587 African American members of 12 rural North Carolina churches. Using a 2 X 2 factorial research design, the authors compared a tailored print and video (TPV) intervention, consisting of 4 individually tailored newsletters and targeted videotapes, with a lay health advisor (LHA) intervention. Results showed that the TPV intervention significantly improved (p <.05) fruit and vegetable consumption (0.6 servings) and recreational physical activity (2.5 metabolic task equivalents per hour) and, among those 50 and older (n = 287), achieved a 15% increase in fecal occult blood testing screening (p =.08). The LHA intervention did not prove effective, possibly because of suboptimal reach and diffusion.     

A RESPONSE TO DAVID HOLLENBACH AND SOHAIL H. HASHMI

Irene Oh affirms that religious freedom, faith, and reason, as David Hollenbach suggests, are subject matters that offer promising platforms for interreligious dialogue between Christians and Muslims. The need for cross‐cultural understanding is imperative especially given the current political climate, in which world leaders can easily exacerbate existing tensions through the misapplication of such terms. Sohail H. Hashmi addresses the need to discuss women's rights as part of a larger discussion on human rights in Islam. Oh concurs and notes that Sayyid Qutb's remarks on women in the United States serve as a starting point for clarifying women's agency in Islam.     

Appraisal of behavioral measurement techniques for assessing dental anxiety and fear in children: A review

The aim of this article is to review and evaluate behavioral and physiological measurement techniques frequently used to assess dental anxiety and fear in children. Attention is given to the data collected, the empirical findings obtained, and the availability of normative data. The main focus, however, is on the reliability and validity. Results show that all questionnaires are open to criticism. Of the behavioral measures, Melamed's Behavior Profile Rating Scale is to be preferred to Frankl's Rating Scale, Venham Rating Scales, and Visual Analogue Scales. The main reasons are that Melamed's BPRS measures the behavior of the child more precisely and that it has superior psychometric properties. Furthermore, because of their practical, conceptual, and psychometric problems, physiological measures at this stage are found to be less appropriate for assessing dental fear in children. It is concluded that a behavioral measure is not always the ideal, but often the only available technique for assessing dental fear in children.     

Toward optimum group placement from the perspective of the self or self-experience

This paper offers referring and prospective group analysts/therapists a way of conceptualizing optimum placement. This approach, using the charts provided, will aid in determining the patient's current needs based on past and present selfobject functions, deficits/ derailments, and traumatizations. The charts also offer the group analyst/therapist a tool with which to evaluate the present selfobject functions, impingements, and traumatizations that may be available in a prospective group to determine whether the match is appropriate or whether group should be the treatment modality of choice. When the interviewing analyst/therapist has taken all of the current and past selfobject functions and traumatizations into account, the patient can be expected to benefit from the most growth-enhancing placement available.     

Scientific Meetings of the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -