Supervising professionals involved in the psychological care of people infected with HIV/AIDS

The provision of psychological care for people with HIV/AIDS in the last decade has led to a demand for professional supervision of counsellors and other professionals who work with this patient group. While there are many similarities in the supervisory process with professionals working with patients with other medical and psychological problems, there are also unique and specific issues which stem from working with people with HIV/AIDS. Some of these are discussed in this paper. The supervisory process described relates to a systemic conceptual framework. Tasks in clinical supervision and dijiculties in supervision are highlighted. Suggestions are offered for setting up and developing supervision sessions in clinical practice.     

The meaning of bad news in HIV disease: Counselling about dreaded issues revisited

HIV disease is a slow, progressive immunological disorder. As there is neither a cure nor a vaccine, morbidity and mortality arising from HIV infection will continue to challenge health care providers, including those who counsel these patients. Psychological preparation for ‘bad news’ and support for those whose health is deteriorating is an important task in HIV counselling. This paper describes what may be considered bad news for people living with HIV, how to prepare them for unwelcome changes in their medical condition and how to give bad news, should the need arise.     

Perinatal indicators of sudden infant death syndrome: A study of 34 Rhode Island Cases

Pre- and perinatal characteristics of 34 victims of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) were compared with those controls matched for sex, race, birthdate, and hospital. Data were collected retrospectively from hospital records. Factors which reliably differentiated the SIDS group from controls included low birth-weight, short second stage of labor, fewer years of maternal schooling, and maternal anemia during pregnancy. The constellation of findings was interpreted as reflecting the interaction of physiological predispositions and environmental “setting conditions”, culminating in sudden and unexpected death. The efficacy of a previously established SIDS risk scale was assessed for these cases. Some issues concerning prediction of outcome from perinatal variables are discussed.     

Response stereotypy without automaticity in pigeons

Previous research has shown that when pigeons are required to peck each of two keys four times in any order for reinforcement, stereotyped response sequences develop though they are not demanded by the task. The present experiment explored whether the functional value of sequence stereotypy was that sequences became automatized, freeing cognitive resources for other activities. Pigeons were exposed to variants of the task requiring four pecks on each key that differed in the degree of task stringency. Concurrent with the sequence task, pigeons were required to process the color of the keys in order to complete successfully either a matching or a conditional discrimination task. The delay between sequence execution and matching or discrimination choice was varied between 0 and 10 sec. Matching and discrimination accuracy were decreasing functions of delay, but the stringency of the concurrent sequence task had no effect on choice accuracy, suggesting that stereotyped sequences were automatized. However, the matching and discrimination tasks produced substantial disruptions of sequence performance, suggesting that stereotyped sequences were not automatized. The data were taken to suggest that response stereotypy need not imply automaticity.     

Signaled Delay of Reinforcement: Effects of Postconditioning Manipulation of Context Associative Strength on Instrumental Performance

Two experiments examined the influence of postconditioning treatments of contextual cues on instrumental responding acquired with a signaled delay of reinforcement schedule. In Experiment 1, mere exposure to the conditioning context after instrumental training resulted in an attenuated response rate during an extinction test. In the second experiment, responding was decreased by exposure to the contextual cues or sessions in which signaled noncontingent reinforcements occurred. The greatest response decrement, however, occurred following unsignaled noncontingent food presentations. The results are discussed with respect to the different roles of contextual cues on operant responding.     

An experimental test of the influence of selection procedures on fairness perceptions,attitudes about the organization,and job pursuit intentions

College juniors and seniors (N=184) reviewed a 12-page college recruiting brochure containing information about a large, high-technology corporation. Six versions of the brochure created a 2×3 experimental design in which the compensation and selection practices of the company were manipulated. Compensation and benefit packages were described as being either above or comparable to the industry average. The selection procedure was described as either a biodata inventory, an abstract cognitive test, or an in-basket simulation. We hypothesized that selection procedures would have an indirect, rather than direct, effect on attitudes about the organization and job pursuit intentions. LISREL analyses found good fits for the measurement model (RNI=.97) and the structural model (RNI=.95). All hypothesized paths were significant (p<.05) except for the path between compensation and attitudes about the organization. It is suggested that different selection procedures with comparable levels of validity may have different effects on candidates' attitudes about employers.     

Inter‐confessional relations in nineteenth‐century Syria: Damascus,Homs and Hama compared

This article examines relations between Muslims and Christians in Syria during the later Ottoman period in light of social science literature on ethnicity and ethnic conflict. It argues that the social science literature illuminates the historiography of this question by bringing to the fore historians’ underlying assumptions about religion and ethnicity. By comparing three Syrian towns with contrasting histories of inter‐communal relations, the article argues that religious consciousness in Syria ought not to be understood in strictly primordialist terms. Rather, a more circumstantialist approach is needed where specific conditions transform an otherwise unproblematic situation of religious diversity into one of inter‐confessional hatred and strife.     

The influence of job familiarity and impression management on self-report measure scale scores and response latencies

Two studies were conducted to examine the effects of job familiarity and impression management on response latencies and scale scores for measures of personality and situational judgment. In a laboratory study using university students and a field study using U.S. Border Patrol Agent applicants, impression management was generally associated with faster personality item responses when job familiarity was high and with slower responses when job familiarity was low. Both impression management and job familiarity were associated with personality item responses that were more likely to lead to a job offer. The field study revealed a similar pattern of results for situational judgment scale response latencies, although only impression management was associated with item responses that were more likely to lead to a job offer. The implications for using response latencies to detect impression management on self-report measures are discussed.     

How is Systemic and Constructionist Therapy Change Process Narrated in Retrospective Accounts of Therapy? A Systematic Meta‐synthesis Review

Despite the considerable potential of qualitative approaches for studying the systemic and constructionist therapy process due to shared theoretical and epistemological premises, to date there is lack of a comprehensive qualitative synthesis of how change process is experienced and conceptualized by clients and therapists. To address this evidence gap, we performed a systematic meta‐synthesis review of 30 studies reporting clients’ and therapists’ retrospective narratives of change process across systemic and constructionist models and across a range of client configurations, including individuals, couples, families, and groups. The studies were identified following a systematic search in PsycINFO and MEDLINE resulting in 2,977 articles, which were screened against eligibility criteria. Thematic analysis led to the identification of four main themes: (1) navigating through differences, (2) toward nonpathologizing construction of problems, (3) navigating through power imbalances, and (4) toward new and trusting ways of relating. Findings illustrate the multifaceted aspects of systemic and constructionist change process, the importance for their reflexive appraisal, and the need for further research contributing to the understanding of the challenges inherent in the systemic and constructionist therapeutic context.