Family therapy in Macau: development,challenges and opportunities

Family therapy in Macau is in its early stages of development. The Satir model and structural family therapy were the first two therapies introduced. Later on, solution‐focused brief therapy and narrative therapy were also introduced. Macau has been undergoing dramatic socioeconomic changes since the relaxation of the gambling licenses. In sociocultural terms this has led to significant changes: the so‐called ‘dealer's complex’, gambling, drug abuse and youth deviance have become more prevalent. To address complicated family problems, various counselling institutes and training centres were established to conduct family therapy. However, there are still some limitations and challenges that must be addressed in order to have a thriving family therapy profession in Macau.     

Bullying the Media: Cultural and Climato‐Economic Readings of Press Repression versus Press Freedom

Journalists and media assistants in many places are murdered, imprisoned, censored, threatened, and similarly harrassed. Here I document that, and explain why, there are three climato‐economic niches of press repression versus press freedom as part of broader syndromes of national culture. A 175‐nation coding of documents by scientific analysts, survey responses from top executives in 123 countries, and participative observations by journalists in 155 countries led to basically the same findings. Cultures of press repression, survival values, and collectivism are most prevalent in poor countries with demanding cold or hot climates. Cultures of press freedom, self‐expression values, and individualism are most prevalent in rich countries with demanding cold or hot climates. Intermediate cultures are most prevalent in poor and rich countries with temperate climates. Rival explanations in terms of a country's historic roots, population diversity, and societal inequality are ruled out and discussed.     

EFFECTIVENESS OF FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING WITH AND WITHOUT EXTINCTION AND PUNISHMENT: A SUMMARY OF 21 INPATIENT CASES

Functional communication training (FCT) is a frequently used treatment for reducing problem behavior exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities. Once the operant function of problem behavior is identified by a functional analysis, the client is taught to emit an appropriate communicative response to obtain the reinforcer that is responsible for behavioral maintenance. Studies on FCT have typically used small numbers of participants, have reported primarily on clients for whom FCT was successful, and have varied with respect to their use of other treatment components. The main purposes of the present study were to evaluate the efficacy of FCT for treating severe problem behavior in a relatively large sample of individuals with mental retardation (N = 21) and to determine the contribution of extinction and punishment components to FCT treatment packages. FCT with extinction was effective in reducing problem behavior for the majority of clients and resulted in at least a 90% reduction in problem behavior in nearly half the applications. However, when demand or delay-to-reinforcement fading was added to FCT with extinction, treatment efficacy was reduced in about one half of the applications. FCT with punishment (both with and without fading) resulted in at least a 90% reduction in problem behavior for every case in which it was applied.     

Perseverative Writing Errors in a Patient with Alzheimer's Disease

This study reports the writing performance of a dysgraphic patient with Alzheimer's disease and moderate dementia who frequently perseverated on strokes and letters. Letter formation errors were also frequently produced. Oral spelling was superior to written spelling. The habitual style of writing (cursive writing) was significantly more prone to perseverations than writing in uppercase letters, a form of writing less frequently used by the patient. Central (linguistic) spelling processes were relatively preserved. The pattern of preserved and impaired functions is consistent with impairment of the peripheral mechanism that generates the graphic motor patterns code. We suggest that damage to the peripheral orthographic mechanism may cause deficits in some patients with Alzheimer's disease.     

Perceptual adjustment to time-compressed speech: A cross-linguistic study

Previous research has shown that, when hearers listen to artificially speeded speech, their performance improves over the course of 10–15 sentences, as if their perceptual system was “adapting” to these fast rates of speech. In this paper, we further investigate the mechanisms that are responsible for such effects. In Experiment 1, we report that, for bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, exposure to compressed sentences in either language improves performance on sentences in the other language. Experiment 2 reports that Catalan/Spanish transfer of performance occurs even in monolingual speakers of Spanish who do not understand Catalan. In Experiment 3, we study another pair of languages— namely, English and French—and report no transfer of adaptation between these two languages for English—French bilinguals. Experiment 4, with monolingual English speakers, assesses transfer of adaptation from French, Dutch, and English toward English. Here we find that there is no adaptation from French and intermediate adaptation from Dutch. We discuss the locus of the adaptation to compressed speech and relate our findings to other cross-linguistic studies in speech perception.     

SAMHSA philosophy and statement on ethical principles

As the major federal agency responsible for improving the delivery and effectiveness of substance abuse and mental health services to the American public, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is aware that its programs deal with especially sensitive issues. As a national leader in advancing effective services to persons with addictive and mental disorders, SAMHSA has stewardship over important interventions affecting personal, community, institutional, and social values. Inherent in SAMHSA's mission and goals is a commitment to protect and promote the human, civil, and legal rights and moral freedoms of those individuals and groups who participate in SAMHSA-funded activities and to demonstrate that Agency policies and procedures are congruent with publicly acceptable ethical principles and standards of conduct. A foundation of mutual trust between SAMHSA officials and participants as well as sensitivity to issues of public accountability will hasten and strengthen progress toward this shared vision.     

A Longitudinal Study of Vocational Maturity and Ethnic Identity Development

This study examines longitudinally the development of vocational maturity and ethnic identity in a majority and a minority group of 641 students in the Province of Québec, Canada. Ethnic identity and four components of vocational maturity were assessed in four cohorts at three times of measurement. Results show clearly different developmental trends in both ethnic identity and in vocational maturity for majority and minority groups: The minority group showed a linear increase in ethnic identity over time, while the majority group showed a decrease starting with the second time of measurement; vocational maturity components showed a more complex pattern of changes but demonstrated that minority participants matured significantly earlier than those from the majority group. There was a positive relationship between ethnic identity and vocational maturity for both groups.