Workers' compensation for law enforcement related post traumatic stress disorder

The questions of how Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) manifests itself among police officers and their eligibility to receive workers' compensation for PTSD are explored. The nature of the police officer's occupation, the prevalence of stress-related disorders among police personnel, and the relationship of the police personality to the dynamics of the way stress is manifested are considered. The extent to which workers' compensation statutes in various states cover mental injuries is also examined, and the variables that may affect the outcome of an officer's receiving compensation for PTSD are discussed. Finally, implications for mental health professionals who testify as expert witnesses in cases dealing with police stress, as well as those who work in the assessment and treatment ofpolice personnel, are explored.     

DECREASING BURNED CHILDREN'S PAIN BEHAVIOR: IMPACTING THE TRAUMA OF HYDROTHERAPY

We evaluated the effects of cartoon viewing with the use of a star feedback chart on two burned children's pain behavior during their physical therapy sessions. In addition, the degree to which the observational data corresponded with physical therapists' and mothers' ratings of the children's pain, fear, and cooperativeness was examined. Using a reversal single-subject design, the results showed that the children's pain behavior substantially decreased during experimental treatment sessions compared to their baseline levels. The rating scale data indicated that the physical therapist's and mother's rating of pain, anxiety, and cooperativeness were all correlated significantly with the observational data (p < .05). The contributions of respondent and operant conditioning to the occurrence and treatment of pain behavior in burned children are discussed.     

A methodology to facilitate occupational task grouping: Meeting the demands of training analysis and planning

Methods for grouping occupational tasks are required to support a broad range of personnel actions and organizational planning activities. Having subject matter experts sort tasks into groups is the only methodology generally recognized for these purposes. For many applications, however, and training in particular, analyses that cover large areas of an organization may be required. For such uses, manual sorting is costly and may be infeasible. A new method, based on statistical clustering using task coperformance, is described. Results indicate that this method can replicate much of the structure of the experts’ groups and so can be used to facilitate task grouping. Implications of this new approach are discussed.     

States of Affairs,Facts and Situations in Wittgenstein’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tractatus</Emphasis>

This paper addresses the problem of providing a satisfying explanation of the Tractarian notions of state of affairs (Sachverhalt), fact (Tatsache) and situation (Sachlage), an issue first raised by Frege and Russell. In order to do so, I first present what I consider to be the three main existing interpretations of these notions: the classic, the standard and Peter Simons’. I then present and defend an interpretation which is closer to the text than the classic and standard interpretations; one which is similar to Peter Simons’ but which differs from it concerning one important point with respect to the nature of situations. Accordingly, the above mentioned should be seen as three wholly distinct categories. States of affairs are to be understood as Russellian complexes, facts as the subsistence and non-subsistence of states of affairs and situations as possibilities of the subsistence and possibilities of the non-subsistence of states of affairs.     

Parent‐implemented brief functional analysis and treatment with coaching via telehealth

We evaluated the use of parent‐implemented brief functional analyses in the home with coaching delivered via telehealth. Parents of 7 children with autism conducted functional analyses of their child's challenging behavior. For 4 participants, the brief functional analysis provided information regarding the function of the child's challenging behavior. A full functional analysis indicated a social function for 1 participant. The brief functional analysis yielded false positive results and subsequent assessment indicated an automatic function for another participant. The final participant did not engage in sufficient rates of challenging behavior to provide information regarding the function of the child's challenging behavior. Treatment evaluations occurred with 4 participants; these evaluations provided support for the results of the functional analysis. Together with previous research, the results indicate that parent‐implemented brief functional analyses, followed by additional assessment as needed, may be an effective method for assessing and treating challenging behavior via telehealth.     

At the Interface of Ethnicity and Recent Immigration: Family Functioning of Chinese with School-Age Children in Canada

This study examined the family functioning of recent Chinese immigrants living in Canada in terms of its status and those socio-ecological factors that influence it. Recent immigration has resulted in an increasingly large number of residents in Canada and the US who represent both an immigrant and an ethnic minority status. Among such residents are Chinese immigrants. Because of the potentially large number of school-age children who are part of these families, the family functioning of the new Chinese immigrants with school-age children would be important for the children’s development. This study therefore compared 112 Chinese families who recently immigrated to Canada with 90 Caucasian non-immigrant families. Scales were administered to the families to measure various aspects of family functioning. The results showed that the Chinese immigrants experienced a lower degree of family cohesion. Their socio-ecological factors were both similar and different from the non-immigrants, with a lower degree of social support and certain differences in child-rearing practices than the non-immigrants. Social support and child-rearing practices were differentially related to different dimensions of family functioning. However, these relationships were not entirely unique to the immigrants. The results have increased our understanding of immigrants and may contribute to the provision of effective support for immigrants. Implications are suggested for community support for immigrants and for further research.     

Counter‐prejudicial training reduces activation of biased associations and enhances response monitoring

Although implicitly measured bias was once assumed to be highly stable, subsequent research has shown that it is, in fact, malleable. One technique for altering implicit bias is through counter‐prejudicial training. At least two broad mechanisms may drive this effect. First, training people to respond in counter‐prejudicial ways may diminish the extent to which biased associations are activated in memory. Second, training may strengthen processes that reduce the influence of biased associations on responses. Participants received either counter‐prejudicial, pro‐prejudicial, or no training and then completed an implicit measure of bias. Application of the quadruple process model revealed support for both mechanisms: Counter‐prejudicial training produced less activation of biased associations as well as enhanced detection of appropriate responses compared with pro‐prejudicial or no training. Implications for the development of bias‐reduction training are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Research Participants’ Preferences for Hypothetical Secondary Results from Genomic Research

Secondary or incidental results can be identified in genomic research that increasingly uses whole exome/genome sequencing. Understanding research participants’ preferences for secondary results and what influences these decisions is important for patient education, counseling, and consent, and for the development of policies regarding return of secondary results. Two hundred nineteen research participants enrolled in genomic studies were surveyed regarding hypothetical preferences for specific types of secondary results, and these preferences were correlated with demographic information and psychosocial data. The majority of research participants (73%) indicated a preference to learn about all results offered, with no clear pattern regarding which results were not desired by the remaining participants. Participants who reported greater interest in genetic privacy were less likely to indicate a preference to learn all results, as were individuals who self-identified as Jewish. Although most research participants preferred to receive all secondary results offered, a significant subset preferred to exclude some results, suggesting that an all-or-none policy would not be ideal for all participants. The correlations between preferences to receive secondary results, religious identification, and privacy concerns demonstrate the need for culturally sensitive counseling and educational materials accessible to all education levels to allow participants to make the best choices for themselves.     

Increased sensitivity to proactive interference in amnestic mild cognitive impairment is independent of associative and semantic impairment

Episodic memory deficit is the hallmark of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). There is, however, an overlap in performance among patients with aMCI and elderly controls (EC). The memory deficit in aMCI therefore needs to be better characterized. Studies have shown that associative memory is selectively impaired in aMCI, and recent work suggested that aMCI may be hypersensitive to semantic proactive interference (PI). It is not known whether this increased PI is related to associative or semantic impairment. EC (n = 44) and patients with aMCI (n = 30) performed two tasks presenting a gradually increasing PI effect across four lists. One task used semantic cueing, the other phonological cueing. We controlled for associative memory by introducing it as a covariate and by matching our subjects for it. Patients with aMCI had a greater PI effect than EC matched for associative memory, regardless of the type of cueing. The increased PI effect in patients with aMCI is independent of their associative and semantic impairment.