Mastery or mystery? Therapeutic writing: A review of the literature

Recent developments in online support and counselling suggest that the users of chat rooms, for example, or the Samaritans' e-mail 'listening' service, have already discovered the power of writing as a self-help vehicle. Developments in computer-mediated counselling and therapy are essentially text-based and client-driven. The therapeutic use of expressive and reflective writing is not widely recognised in British counselling and therapy circles. The empirical foundations for the therapeutic uses of the literary arts are, however, well established. This review aims to map the use of 'writing therapy' by drawing together cross-disciplinary research and practitioner reports which might support the place of writing as a creative therapy in its own right, whether as an adjunct to face-to-face counselling or as a self-help tool.     

A multi-perspective multi-domain model of self-concept: structure and sources of self-concept knowledge

A perspective-specific model which deals with the sources of self-concept knowledge as construed by two theories (symbolic interaction and social comparison) was combined with Shavelson's domain-specific model to form a two-facet model of self-concept. The structure of this two-facet model was tapped by a new self-concept instrument, the Multi-Perspective Multi-Domain Self-Concept Inventory (MMSI), which was constructed by crossing domain and perspective facets. Results of confirmatory factor analysis by grade level of the data from a large sample of primary two, four, and six students lent support to the multi-perspective multi-domain model. The MMSI facilitates the estimation of (a) the differential contribution of domain and perspective factors, and (b) the differential contribution of different sources of self-concept knowledge. It also serves as an exemplar of an interesting application of the multi-trait multi-method model in confirmatory factor analysis.     

A model of users' satisfaction with Taiwan's Government website

Taiwan's Government web portal has been the sole communication link between citizens and E-Government since being launched in 2002 to provide citizens with government-related information promptly via effective classification. The assessment of the service quality and citizens' satisfaction with E-Government has rarely been explored. The present study explored how the service quality of E-Government subsequently affects the users' psychological and behavioral responses. A structural model was proposed that contained four constructs: service quality, service value, users' satisfaction, and behavioral intention as well as their interrelations. A survey was used to collect users' ratings. Structural equation modeling was applied to verify the factor analysis of the obtained data and fit of a model. Analyses indicated adequate fit of model as follows: E-Government service quality --> service value --> users' satisfaction --> behavioral intention.     

Neuropsychological findings of extrapontine myelinolysis without central pontine myelinolysis

Central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) and extrapontine myelinolysis (EPM) are well recognized syndromes related to the rapid correction of hyponatremia, which are reported to show brain stem signs and various movement disorders. Cognitive dysfunction and neuropsychological findings, however, have seldom been reported. Cognitive manifestations in osmotic myelinolysis may have been underestimated due to the prominent brain stem symptoms and movement disorders. We report a case of EPM without CPM and describe the neuropsychological findings of EPM. The absence of CPM in this case made it possible to test neuropsychological function in the acute stage. Neuropsychological testing showed severe impairment of attention, verbal and visual memory, visuospatial function, and frontal/executive function. Language and language-related functions were normal except naming.     

Sender Demeanor: Individual Differences in Sender Believability Have a Powerful Impact on Deception Detection Judgments

Sender demeanor is an individual difference in the believability of message senders that is conceptually independent of actual honesty. Recent research suggests that sender demeanor may be the most influential source of variation in deception detection judgments. Sender demeanor was varied in five experiments (N = 30, 113, 182, 30, and 35) to create demeanor–veracity matched and demeanor–veracity mismatched conditions. The sender demeanor induction explained as much as 98% of the variance in detection accuracy. Three additional studies (N = 30, 113, and 104) investigated the behavioral profiles of more and less believable senders. The results document the strong impact of sender effects in deception detection and provide an explanation of the low‐accuracy ceiling in the previous findings.     

Using mixture models with known class membership to address incomplete covariance structures in multiple‐group growth models

Multi‐group latent growth modelling in the structural equation modelling framework has been widely utilized for examining differences in growth trajectories across multiple manifest groups. Despite its usefulness, the traditional maximum likelihood estimation for multi‐group latent growth modelling is not feasible when one of the groups has no response at any given data collection point, or when all participants within a group have the same response at one of the time points. In other words, multi‐group latent growth modelling requires a complete covariance structure for each observed group. The primary purpose of the present study is to show how to circumvent these data problems by developing a simple but creative approach using an existing estimation procedure for growth mixture modelling. A Monte Carlo simulation study was carried out to see whether the modified estimation approach provided tangible results and to see how these results were comparable to the standard multi‐group results. The proposed approach produced results that were valid and reliable under the mentioned problematic data conditions. We also present a real data example and demonstrate that the proposed estimation approach can be used for the chi‐square difference test to check various types of measurement invariance as conducted in a standard multi‐group analysis.     

The Role of Social Toxicity in Responses to a Slowly-Evolving Environmental Disaster: The Case of Amphibole Asbestos Exposure in Libby,Montana, USA

Experiencing a disaster has significant negative effects on psychological adjustment. Case study accounts point to two consistent trends in slowly-evolving environmental disasters: (a) patterns of negative social dynamics, and (b) relatively worse psychological outcomes than in natural disasters. Researchers have begun to explicitly postulate that the social consequences of slowly-evolving environmental disasters (e.g., community conflict) have their own effects on victims’ psychological outcomes. This study tested a model of the relationship between those social consequences and psychological adjustment of victims of a slowly-evolving environmental disaster, specifically those whose health has been compromised by the amphibole asbestos disaster in Libby, MT. Results indicate that experiencing greater community conflict about the disaster was associated with greater family conflict about the disaster which, in turn, was associated with greater social constraints on talking with others about their disease, both directly and indirectly through experiencing stigmatization. Experiencing greater social constraints was associated with worse psychological adjustment, both directly and indirectly through failed social support. Findings have implications for understanding pathways by which social responses create negative effects on mental health in slowly-evolving environmental disasters. These pathways suggest points for prevention and response (e.g., social support, stigmatization of victims) for communities experiencing slowly-evolving environmental disasters.     

Toward an Inductive Theory of Stayers and Seekers in the Organization

This study takes a person-centered approach to enhance our understanding of job search and intentions to leave among currently employed individuals. Four categories of seekers and stayers in the organization were identified based on their unique patterns of turnover intentions, behaviors, and reasons: Embedded Stayers, Detached Stayers, Dissatisfied Seekers, and Script-Driven Seekers. We theorize that these prototypes are conceptually differentiated by two dimensions—the direction of action and the concreteness of plans. We also found meaningful associations between the probability of cluster membership and a variety of individual difference variables such as job satisfaction, motivational forces, and personality dispositions. Findings from the present study provide some useful insights for theory building and future empirical studies on individual differences in whether and why people intend to leave or stay in their jobs.