The counseling assignment problem

A disposition index, DI, which provides information about each possible placement to be considered in a personnel classification situation is discussed. The index is readily computed by machine methods and can be used by counselors required to make assignments. The use of the disposition index provides an adequate approximation to optimal solutions obtained by other methods.This report is based on work done under ARDC Project No. 7702, Task No. 17051, in support of the research and development program of the Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Permission is granted for reproduction, translation, publication, use, and disposal in whole and in part by or for the United States Government.     

The futures of physicians: Agency and autonomy reconsidered

The corporatization of U.S. health care has directed cost containment efforts toward scrutinizing the clinical decisions of physicians. This stimulated a variety of new utilization management interventions, particularly in hospital and managed care settings. Recent changes in fee-for-service medicine and physicians' traditional agency relationships with patients, purchasers, and insurers are examined here. New information systems monitoring of physician ordering behavior has already begun to impact on physician autonomy and the relationship of physicians to provider organizations in both for-profit and ‘not-for-profit’ sectors. As managed care practice settings proliferate, serious ethical questions will be raised about agency relationships with patients. This article examines health system dynamics altering the historical agency relationship between the physician and patient and eroding the traditional autonomy of the medical profession in the United States. The corporatization of medicine and the accompanying information systems monitoring of physician productivity is seen to account of such change, now posing serious ethical dilemmas.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Group CBT for Parents of ADHD Children

Improvements in parenting skills do not necessarily lead to improvements in child and parent outcomes for children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Cognitive factors such as parental cognitions and parenting self-efficacy may influence such outcomes. Clinical research on the effects of cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) on parental cognitions, parenting self-efficacy and mental health in Chinese parents of children with ADHD is lacking. This quasi-experimental study intended to assess the effects of a culturally attuned group CBT treatment on the mental health and quality of life of Chinese parents aged 26–58 years, with children with ADHD in Hong Kong. Participants in the experimental group received group CBT and standard treatment and their counterparts in the control group received standard treatment. Primary outcome variables of mental health and quality of life and process variables including parenting stress, parenting efficacy and dysfunctional attitudes were measured at baseline, post-treatment and 3-month follow-up. Data were analysed using 2?×?3 ANCOVAs, Cohen’s d statistics and multiple mediation analyses. Group by time interactions were found for most outcome variables. Effect size statistics indicated that group CBT had small to moderate effects on most outcome variables at post-treatment and follow-up assessments. The effect of CBT on mental health was mediated by the reduction in parenting stress and the effect of CBT on quality of life was mediated by the reductions in parenting stress and dysfunctional attitudes. Given its potential benefit, it is worth considering incorporating this group CBT programme into interventions for Chinese parents with ADHD children.     

Children's academic attainment is linked to the global organization of the white matter connectome

Literacy and numeracy are important skills that are typically learned during childhood, a time that coincides with considerable shifts in large‐scale brain organization. However, most studies emphasize focal brain contributions to literacy and numeracy development by employing case‐control designs and voxel‐by‐voxel statistical comparisons. This approach has been valuable, but may underestimate the contribution of overall brain network organization. The current study includes children (N = 133 children; 86 male; mean age = 9.42, SD = 1.715; age range = 5.92–13.75y) with a broad range of abilities, and uses whole‐brain structural connectomics based on diffusion‐weighted MRI data. The results indicate that academic attainment is associated with differences in structural brain organization, something not seen when focusing on the integrity of specific regions. Furthermore, simulated disruption of highly‐connected brain regions known as hubs suggests that the role of these regions for maintaining the architecture of the network may be more important than specific aspects of processing. Our findings indicate that distributed brain systems contribute to the etiology of difficulties with academic learning, which cannot be captured using a more traditional voxel‐wise statistical approach.     

Connections Among Identity,Attachment, and Psychological Dating Aggression During Adolescence

The collective influence of identity styles and romantic attachment insecurity on psychological dating aggression was examined for 1,975 adolescents living in a southern state in the United States. Informational identity style related negatively to psychological dating aggression, but anxious romantic attachment related positively to this behavior. Diffuse-avoidant identity style and using psychological dating aggression were associated positively, whereas normative identity style and receiving psychological dating aggression were associated negatively. In addition, the combination of high informational or normative identity style with high avoidant romantic attachment was linked to lower psychological dating aggression. Our findings build on the previously noted parallelism between identity styles and romantic attachment insecurity by showing how they work together to explain variability in psychological dating aggression.