Decision Workshops for the Improvement of Decision-Making Skills and Confidence

This article describes the development and evaluation of a workshop program to help people become more confident and effective as decision makers. The workshops, based on conflict theory, consisted of five 2-hour sessions, in which participants learned about the major decisional coping patterns and the critical steps of decision making. Participants also practiced decision-making skills and learned how to use decisional balance sheets, future diaries, and other aids to vigilant decision making. The 76 participants were classified as “problem clients” (N = 44, “learners” (N = 30), and “others” (N = 2). A follow-up questionnaire administered 3 months after the final session revealed that the workshops had promoted increased confidence in decision making and less reported use of maladaptive patterns of decision making.     

Issues in the Assessment of Outcome in Family Therapy

This paper examines several issues in family therapy outcome research. These include the need to consider numerous population and treatment variables, the influence of treatment goals and values upon the research, the difficulties in defining and operationalizing family treatment, the choice between emphasizing integrity of treatment or randomness of sampling, the selection of measurement methods, the controls needed in research design, the extent of generalizability of results, the importance of efficiency of treatment, and the special role of deterioration effects. Throughout, the need for a multivariate schema for conceptualizing this research and special attention to the role of values and assumptions in it are highlighted.     

STATE COURT DISPARITY ON EMPLOYMENT AT-WILL

State courts have produced three major exceptions to the employment at-will doctrine: (1) violation of public policy, (2) breach of an implied contract (including written policies, oral promises, and implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing), and (3) commitment of a tort of emotional distress, defamation, or third-party interference with a contractual relationship. We analyzed state appellate court decisions to identify judicial philosophies and to determine which states have accepted or rejected the various exceptions to employment at-will. Our results show that the states vary considerably. The most commonly accepted arguments against employment at-will are violations of public policy, breaches of implied contracts in employee handbooks, and torts of outrageous emotional distress. Overall, this research highlights the need for statewide consistency with regard to the at-will issue.     

From the Story of Jesus to the Faith of the Readers

The author analyzes the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke regarding the stories that tell of the death and resurrection of Jesus to determine how these works attempt to deal with such issues as unmerited suffering and the relationships among faith, knowledge, and experience. The author shows that the Gospels use different literary strategies in their discussions of these issues even as they try to encourage their readers toward faith and the corresponding behavior required by that faith.     

The counselor as contingency manager

Aspects of contingency management are discussed as they relate to counseling. Three case studies illustrate the role of a counselor as a contingency manager and adviser to teachers in the application of behavior modification techniques to common classroom problems.