False memories for end-of-life decisions

OBJECTIVE: To examine people's false memories for end-of-life decisions. DESIGN: In Study 1, older adults decided which life-sustaining treatments they would want if they were seriously ill. They made these judgments twice, approximately 12 months apart. At Time 2, older adults and their self-selected surrogate decision makers tried to recall the older adults' Time 1 decisions. In Study 2, younger adults made treatment decisions twice, approximately 4 months apart. At Time 2, younger adults tried to recall their Time 1 decisions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Percentage of participants who falsely remembered that their original treatment decisions were the same as their current decisions. RESULTS: In Study 1, older adults falsely remembered that 75% of their original decisions were the same as their current decisions; surrogates falsely thought that 86% of older adults' decisions were the same. In Study 2, younger adults falsely remembered that 69% of their original decisions were the same as their current decisions. CONCLUSION: Age alone cannot account for people's false memories of their end-of-life decisions; we discuss other mechanisms. The results have practical implications for policies that encourage people to make legal documents specifying their end-of-life treatment decisions.     

Gathering Diverse Perspectives to Tackle “Wicked Problems”: Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in Educational Placement

Among students receiving behavioral health and special education services, racial/ethnic minority students are consistently overrepresented in settings separate from general classrooms. Once separated, many young people struggle to improve academically and face significant difficulty upon trying to return to a general education setting. Given the complex, ongoing, and multifaceted nature of this challenge, racial/ethnic disproportionality can be identified as a “wicked problem,” for which solutions are not easily identified. Here, we describe our community-engaged research efforts, eliciting perspectives from relevant partners in an ongoing dialogue, to better integrate diverse stakeholders’ perspectives when attempting to address such disparities. We conducted focus groups and qualitative interviews with members of three stakeholder groups: community-serving organizations, individuals with lived experience of behavioral health conditions, and state-level policymakers, with a shared interest in addressing racial and ethnic disparities. Participant responses illustrated the “wickedness” of this problem and highlighted the need for additional supports for students, families, and school personnel, increased collaboration across relevant systems and agencies, and reduced barriers related to funding. Overall, this methodology bridged differing perspectives to develop, in concert with our partners, a shared language of the problem and a core set of issues to consider when seeking to effect change.     

Targeting Common Factors Across Anxiety and Depression Using the Unified Protocol for the Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Adolescents

Clinical approaches to mood and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents have historically been confined to either diagnosis- [e.g., for obsessive–compulsive disorder vs. generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), etc.] or domain-specific (e.g., for anxiety disorders vs. depressive disorders) treatments. However, as conceptualizations of mental illness shift towards a more dimensional model [e.g., the recent Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) from the National Institutes of Health], transdiagnostic treatments, such as the unified protocol for the treatment of emotional disorders in adolescents (UP-A; Ehrenreich et al. in Child Fam Behav Ther 31(1):20–37, 2008), are gaining support in the empirical literature. This paper reviews the common treatment targets across three emotional disorders commonly found in adolescence: GAD, social anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder. In particular, similarities and differences across potential treatment mechanisms, including cognitive and information processing deficits, problem-solving difficulties, and avoidance strategies are examined. Finally, the case of 17-year-old “Andrea” is presented to demonstrate how transdiagnostic approaches like the UP-A can be effective in treating a range of emotional disorders in youth.     

Setting an egalitarian social norm in the classroom: improving attitudes towards diversity among male engineering students

This study tested the effect of a message describing a social norm of egalitarian attitudes and behaviors in an engineering college on male students’ attitudes and behavioral intentions surrounding diversity in engineering. Participants were first-semester university students enrolled in four sections of an introductory engineering course in two academic terms (Fall 2009 and Fall 2011). At the beginning of the semester, students in two of the four sections received the egalitarian social norms message in the form of an oral presentation given by a senior White male faculty member (social norms message condition). Students in the other two sections did not receive this presentation (control condition). At the end of the semester, all students were invited to complete a survey. Results from a sample of 129 students showed that compared to the control condition, male students in the social norms message condition had stronger intentions to speak out against racist behaviors in their engineering courses and teams, and (among White compared to racial minority men) more positive attitudes toward diversity in engineering. These results suggest that setting a tone of egalitarianism and intolerance of bias for incoming students could help create a more inclusive environment in a White male-dominated educational setting such as a college of engineering.     

Femi-Nazis and Bra Burning Crazies: A Qualitative Evaluation of Contemporary Beliefs about Feminism

Despite data demonstrating a substantial gender gap in the United States, many women do not self-identify as feminist. An evaluation of the literature suggests four potential reasons for the lack of identification, 1) a negative connotation associated with the term “feminist,” 2) the dichotomous presentation of feminism (e.g., the lack of grey area between feminism and non-feminism), 3) a belief that feminism may no longer be necessary, and 4) a perceived lack of cultural relevance. Previous research on feminism has not adequately addressed the dynamic and contextual factors that can influence a woman’s decision of whether to self-identify. Therefore, the goal of this project was to use qualitative methodology to allow for the identification of potential personal barriers for women associating with the feminist movement. The data suggest that feminism is viewed as an obsolete entity with largely negative connotations associated with the term. The implications of these barriers and several suggestions for change in the movement are discussed.     

Decision Difficulty in the Age of Consumer Empowerment

In this review, we examine the impact of two key factors of consumer empowerment–choice freedom and expansion of information--on the choice difficulty consumers experience in today’s decision environment. We posit that though these two consumer empowerment factors offer numerous potential benefits, they also can magnify such sources of decision difficulty as task complexity, tradeoff difficulty, and preference uncertainty. Next we review several key moderators, including consumer knowledge, mental representation, and maximization tendencies as well as information type and organization, that can exacerbate or mitigate the effect of these consumer empowerment factors on decision difficultly outcomes. Lastly, we examine the effectiveness of decision aids in assisting consumers navigate the complexity of today’s decision environment, and we identify areas for future investigation.