Must phenomenology remain Cartesian?

Husserl saw the Cartesian critique of scepticism as one of the eternal merits of Descartes?? philosophy. In doing so, he accepted the legitimacy of the very idea of a universal doubt, and sought to present as an alternative to it a renewed, specifically phenomenological concept of self-evidence, making it possible to obtain an unshakable foundation for the edifice of knowledge. This acceptance of the skeptical problem underlies his entire conceptual framework, both before and after the transcendental turn, and especially the immanence/transcendence distinction, i.e., the very basis of intentionality. In taking as its starting point an analysis of perception, the article puts forth a certain number of phenomenological arguments in order to put into question the validity of the skeptical problem and, therefore, of the Husserlian conceptual framework; it defends, in the first place, a disjunctive conception of perception and, in the second place, a holism of experience.     

Group CBT for early psychosis--are there still benefits one year later?

Our team recently conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing group cognitive behavior therapy for psychosis (CBTp) to group social skills training for symptom management and a wait-list control group, for early psychosis. The results at post-therapy and six months provided considerable empirical support for the efficacy of the group CBTp. The results of the one-year follow-up are described here. Given the high attrition rates, mostly in the comparison and control conditions, imputations were not possible, so that only the results of those having completed more than 50% of the group CBTp are presented. Significant improvements at 12 months were found for social support and insight. Negative symptoms remained low, whereas positive symptoms went back to pre-therapy levels. Challenges regarding attrition with this clientele are discussed.     

What Does the Alliance Predict in Group Interventions for Early Psychosis?

The therapeutic alliance is considered an essential component of any clinical or psychological intervention. The therapeutic alliance can however change over time, and therefore it is relevant to determine if the alliance and its variations are related to clinical outcomes. The present study had three objectives: (1) determine the impact of the alliance measured by the client and the therapist, on clinical and psychosocial outcomes of individuals with early psychosis receiving group interventions; (2) measure the concordance between the client and the therapists’ ratings of the alliance; and (3) determine the best predictor of the client’s alliance in our sample. A total of 36 individuals with early psychosis who participated in group interventions for symptom management answered the WAI three times, and so did the group therapists. Outcomes included measures of insight, symptoms (total, positive and negative), and self-esteem. Attendance and group participation were also measured. Results suggest that the overall client’s alliance predicted total symptoms and self-esteem at post-therapy, whereas both clients’ and therapists’ ratings predicted group attendance and participation. Greater variations in the alliance overtime for the clients were somewhat linked to worse negative symptoms at post-therapy. Alliance ratings were generally high and fairly concordant between therapists and clients. Only the baseline measure of capacity for attachment, predicted the client’s overall alliance scores. Clinical implications are discussed.     

The Role of Spiritual Experiences and Activities in the Relationship Between Chronic Illness and Psychological Well-Being

Our research explores the correlates of spiritual experiences over a 2-year period in a sample of older adults (N = 164; mean age 81.9 years) living in a continuing care retirement community. Utilizing responses to the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale, scores were analyzed for changes over time and for their hypothesized moderating effect in the relationship between chronic illness impact and markers of psychological well-being (as measured by the Geriatric Depression and Life Satisfaction scales). Repeated measures ANOVA indicated a significant decline (P < .01) in the reported spiritual experiences over a 2-year period of time, and t tests showed a significant difference by gender (P < .01) in years 1 and 2, with women reporting higher levels of spiritual experiences than men. Analyses found low spirituality scores associated with low life satisfaction in all years (baseline: r = ?.288, P < .01; year 1: r = ?.209, P < .05; year 2: r = ?.330, P < .001). Only weak associations were detected between low spirituality and the presence of depressive symptoms at baseline (r = .186, P < .05) and year 2 (r = .254, P < .01). Moderation effects of spirituality on the relationship between chronic illness impact and markers of psychological well-being were explored in all years, with a statistically significant effect found only for the presence of depressive symptoms in year 2. Higher impact of chronic illnesses is associated with more depressive symptoms under conditions of low spirituality. Future research may center upon longer-duration evaluation of reliance upon spiritual practices and their impact in care management models.     

Health Programming for Clergy: An Overview of Protestant Programs in the United States

The health of clergy is important, and clergy may find health programming tailored to them more effective. Little is known about existing clergy health programs. We contacted Protestant denominational headquarters and searched academic databases and the Internet. We identified 56 clergy health programs and categorized them into prevention and personal enrichment; counseling; marriage and family enrichment; peer support; congregational health; congregational effectiveness; denominational enrichment; insurance/strategic pension plans; and referral-based programs. Only 13 of the programs engaged in outcomes evaluation. Using the Socioecological Framework, we found that many programs support individual-level and institutional-level changes, but few programs support congregational-level changes. Outcome evaluation strategies and a central repository for information on clergy health programs are needed.     

Revisiting backward recall and benchmark memory effects: a reply to Bireta et al. (2010)

When participants are asked to recall lists of items in the reverse order, known as backward recall, several benchmark memory phenomena, such as the word length effect, are abolished (Bireta et al. Memory & Cognition 38:279–291, 2010). Bireta et al. (Memory & Cognition 38:279–291, 2010) suggested that in backward recall, reliance on order retention is increased at the expense of item retention, leading to the abolition of item-based phenomena. In a subsequent study, however, Guérard and Saint-Aubin (in press) showed that four lexical factors known to modulate item retention were unaffected by recall direction. In a series of five experiments, we examined the source of the discrepancy between the two studies. We revisited the effects of phonological similarity, word length, articulatory suppression, and irrelevant speech, using open and closed pools of words in backward and forward recall. The results are unequivocal in showing that none of these effects are influenced by recall direction, suggesting that Bireta et al.’s (Memory & Cognition 38:279–291, 2010) results are the consequence of their particular stimuli.     

Accounting for Movement between Childcare Classrooms: Does it Change Teacher Effects Interpretations?

Child care studies that have examined links between teachers' qualifications and children's outcomes often ignore teachers' and children's transitions between classrooms at a center throughout the day and only take into account head teacher qualifications. The objective of this investigation was to examine these traditional assumptions and to compare inferences made from these traditional models to methods accounting for transitions between classrooms and multiple teachers in a classroom. The study examined the receptive language, letter-word identification, and passage comprehension skills of 307 children enrolled in 49 community-based childcare centers serving primarily low-income families in Colorado. Results suggest that nearly one-third of children and over 80% of teachers moved daily between classrooms. Findings also reveal that failure to account for daily transitions between classrooms can affect interpretations of the relationship between teacher qualifications and child outcomes, with the model accounting for movement providing significant improvements in model fit and inference.     

Identity construction and career development interventions with emerging adults

Today's wealthy societies are more fluid, varied and complex than they were just a few decades ago. As a consequence, what were “vocational choices” at the beginning of the 20th century now appear as “life designing issues”. In this context, contemporary research stresses the plurality and relative malleability of human subjects as well as their ability to take reflexive stances on their current and past experiences. Fitting in such an epistemology, a self-constructing model is proposed as a basis for a life designing counseling interview. This model describes self-identity as a dynamic system of (past, present and expected) subjective identity forms (SIF), the synthesis and dynamism of which originate in a tension between two kinds of reflexivity. Counseling interviews with emerging adults show that the elicitation of some expected SIF allows them to re-read their current and past experiences from such a perspective and constitutes a compelling incentive to act.