Preliminary Outcomes of a Multi-site,School-based Modular Intervention for Adolescents Experiencing Mood Difficulties

Many evidence-based programs to address the emotional needs of youth experiencing mood difficulties are based on implementing “manualized” interventions. This approach often presents feasibility challenges in the school setting. In contrast, modular strategies, which involve implementing the most effective practices for specific emotional/behavioral problems, may be more feasible. Research, however, on the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of modular approaches in schools to address youth experiencing mood difficulties is lacking. The multi-site current study tested the effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of a modular intervention approach delivered in schools for youth presenting with mood disorder symptoms. The pilot study included 20 participants (ages 12–16) and parents/caregivers for each student. Data were collected at baseline, throughout treatment, and following intervention or end of school year. The intervention, called the Student Emotional and Educational Development (SEED) project, included a modularized manual of efficacious and common practice elements for the treatment of mood disorders among adolescents. Decision making protocols guided provision of specific modules based on baseline and treatment data. Statistically significant differences were found between pretest and posttest assessments with modest to large effect sizes for youth and/or parents’ report of mood-related symptoms, including reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety and inattention. Clinically significant findings were also detected with more than 50 % of participants demonstrating reliable improvement on a global assessment of mental health symptoms. With regards to feasibility, these results were achieved with an average of nine, 45-min sessions across 2–3 months, and a subsample of participants overwhelmingly supported the acceptability of SEED. Although limited by the lack of a controlled comparison and small sample size, findings from this pilot study suggest this modular intervention focused on internalizing symptoms in students can be feasibly implemented in the school setting, is acceptable to students, and holds promise for improving their psychosocial functioning.     

The role of age and inhibitory efficiency in working memory processing and storage components

In this study, we examined the extent to which inhibitory efficiency accounted for age-related decline in the processing and storage components of working memory. Older and younger adults performed a sequential task, which served as an index of deletion-type inhibition (the ability to suppress no-longer-relevant information). The reading span task was used to measure working memory components by examining processing accuracy, processing time, and end-word recall of sentences presented. Reduced inhibitory efficiency, which was poorer in older adults, predicted age-related decline in recall, over and above the effects of processing speed. Similar results were observed for processing accuracy, although the age effect in this component was marginal. These results highlight the important role of deletion-type inhibition in explaining age-related decline in working memory performance, particularly in the storage component, and extend previous research by examining this relationship at a componential level.     

The interclinician reliability of Rorschach interpretation in four data sets

To examine agreement on Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2004) interpretations, 55 patient protocols were interpreted by 3 to 8 clinicians across 4 data sets on a representative set of 29 characteristics. Substantial reliability was observed across data sets, although a problematic design produced lower results in one. Unexpectedly, a Q-sort task had slightly lower reliability than a simple rating task. As expected, scales that summarized judgments had higher agreement than judgments to individual interpretive statements, and some clinicians produced more generalizable inferences than others. Interpretations for all clinicians were more strongly associated with patients' psychometric true scores (aggregated judgment M range = .82 to .92) than with the judgments of other clinicians (range = .76 to .89). Compared to meta-analyses of interrater reliability in psychology and medicine, the findings indicate these clinicians could reliably interpret Rorschach CS data.     

Presidential stroke: United States presidents and cerebrovascular disease

In the United States, more individuals suffer disability from stroke than from any other disease, and as many as 11 of the 43 presidents have been affected. In this article, the authors review the cases of the United States presidents who have had strokes, some of which have occurred while the president was in office, having a direct effect on the country.     

Rorschach measures of aggressive drive derivatives: a college student sample

This study investigated measures of aggressive drive derivatives on the Rorschach and Personality Assessment Inventory with 70 college students. As predicted, (a) self-reported physical aggression potential was related to Rorschach measures of identification with the aggressor and aggressive impulses, (b) suicidal ideation with impulsivity was related to a Rorschach measure of aggressive impulses turned toward the self, and (c) the borderline features scale was related to a Rorschach pathological object relations measure. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that a Rorschach measure of emotional impulsivity added unique variance to these Rorschach aggression variables in predicting self-reported physical aggression potential, suicidal ideation with impulsivity, and borderline features. Finally, caution is advised in applying our findings when there is motivation to suppress aggressive responses     

Validity and reliability of the general well-being schedule with northern plains American Indians diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus

The General Well-being Schedule is a brief indicator of subjective feelings of psychological well-being and distress. It is easy to administer, reliable, and valid, although its validity with American Indians has not been established. This study then assessed reliability, validity, and factor structure for a sample of 88 diabetic American Indians, who sought care for diabetes at an Indian Health Service hospital. Cronbach alpha was .89. A factor analysis indicated four dimensions. Adequate concurrent and divergent validity were noted in association with scores on the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition, the depression scale on the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, and Family-Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection, & Resolve. These results suggest that the General Well-being Schedule is a reliable and valid measure of general well-being for this population of American Indians.     

Selective Association Between Tetris Game Play and Visuospatial Working Memory: A Preliminary Investigation

Recent experimental and clinical research has suggested that Tetris game play can disrupt maladaptive forms of mental imagery because Tetris competes for limited cognitive resources within visuospatial working memory (WM) that contribute to imagery. Whether or not Tetris performance is selectively associated with visuospatial WM remains to be tested. In this study, young adults (N = 46) completed six standardized measures indexing verbal and non‐verbal reasoning, verbal and visuospatial short‐term memory, and verbal and visuospatial WM. They also played Tetris. Consistent with the hypothesis that visuospatial WM resources support Tetris game play, there was a significant moderate positive relationship between Tetris scores and visuospatial WM performance but no association with other cognitive ability measures. Findings suggest that Tetris game play involves both storage and processing resources within visuospatial WM. These preliminary results can inform interventions involving computer games to disrupt the development of maladaptive visual imagery, for example, intrusive memories of trauma. © 2017 The Authors. Applied Cognitive Psychology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Psychological Assessment Training in Clinical Psychology Doctoral Programs

We surveyed American Psychological Association–accredited clinical psychology doctoral programs' (n = 83) training in psychological assessment—specifically, their coverage of various assessment topics and tests in courses and practica, and whether the training was optional or required. We report results overall and separately per training model (clinical science, scientist-practitioner, and practitioner-focused). Overall, our results suggest that psychological assessment training is as active, or even more active, than in previous years. Areas of increased emphasis include clinical interviewing and psychometrics; multimethod, outcomes, health, and collaborative or therapeutic assessment; and different types of cognitive and self-report personality tests. All or almost all practice-focused programs offered training with the Thematic Apperception Test and Rorschach compared to about half of the scientist-practitioner programs and a third of the clinical science programs. Although almost all programs reported teaching multimethod assessment, what constitutes different methods of assessing psychopathology should be clarified in future studies because many programs appear to rely on one method—self-report (especially clinical science programs). Although doctoral programs covered many assessment topics and tests in didactic courses, there appears to be a shortage of program-run opportunities for students to obtain applied assessment training. Finally, we encourage doctoral programs to be familiar with (a) internships' assessment expectations and opportunities, (b) the professional guidelines for assessment training, and (c) the American Psychological Association's requirements for preinternship assessment competencies.     

Do actions speak louder than words? Examining children’s ability to follow instructions

The ability to encode, retain, and implement instructions within working memory is central to many behaviours, including classroom activities which underpin learning. The three experiments presented here explored how action—planned, enacted, and observed—impacted 6- to 10-year-old’s ability to follow instructions. Experiment 1 (N = 81) found enacted recall was superior to verbal recall, but self-enactment at encoding had a negative effect on enacted recall and verbal recall. In contrast, observation of other-enactment (demonstration) at encoding facilitated both types of recall (Experiment 2a: N = 81). Further, reducing task demands through a reduced set of possible actions (Experiment 2b; N = 64) led to a positive effect of self-enactment at encoding for later recall (both verbal and enacted). Expecting to enact at recall may lead to the creation of an imaginal spatial-motoric plan at encoding that boosts later recall. However, children’s ability to use the additional spatial-motoric codes generated via self-enactment at encoding depends on the demands the task places on central executive resources. Demonstration at encoding appears to reduce executive demands and enable use of these additional forms of coding.