An exploratory study of the perceptions and experiences of further education amongst the young long‐term unemployed

The aim of this study was to explore, in depth, the perceptions and experiences of Further Education (FE) amongst the young long‐term unemployed. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 16 long‐term unemployed youths of 18–25 years of age divided into three groups: those with no experience of FE; those having recently dropped out of FE; and those currently studying in FE. Grounded theoretical analysis highlighted the importance of both responses to and institutional aspects of unemployment. The impact of unemployment, poor previous educational experience and perceived irrelevance of FE are key barriers to learning. Those that enter FE may drop out as a result of both material and psychosocial factors. Those that stay on commonly emphasize both social support and personal agency in decision‐making alongside positive evaluations of FE. In conclusion, limitations of the findings, policy and practical recommendations for successful widening of participation in FE amongst this group are considered. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social influences on smoking in middle-aged and older women

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of 2 types of social influence--general social support and living with a smoker--on smoking behavior among middle-aged and older women in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study. Participants were postmenopausal women who reported smoking at some time in their lives (N=37,027), who were an average age of 63.3 years at baseline. Analyses used multiple logistic regression and controlled for age, educational level, and ethnicity. In cross-sectional analyses, social support was associated with a lower likelihood and living with a smoker was associated with a higher likelihood of being a current smoker and, among smokers, of being a heavier smoker. Moreover, in prospective analyses among baseline smokers, social support predicted a higher likelihood and living with a smoker predicted a lower likelihood of smoking cessation 1-year later. Further, in prospective analyses among former smokers who were not smoking at baseline, social support predicted a lower likelihood and living with a smoker predicted a higher likelihood of smoking relapse 1-year later. Overall, the present results indicate that social influences are important correlates of smoking status, smoking level, smoking cessation, and smoking relapse among middle-aged and older women.     

Disseminating a smokeless tobacco cessation intervention model to dental hygienists: a randomized comparison of personalized instruction and self-study methods.

This study evaluated 2 methods of disseminating an empirically validated smokeless tobacco intervention delivered during routine dental care. Twenty cities within 12 states were stratified and then randomized to 1 of 3 groups: personalized instruction (PI), self-study (SS), or delayed training (DT) control. Dental hygienists in the SS condition were sent a manual and video. Those in the PI condition were recruited to attend a workshop. Thirty-seven percent of eligible hygienists agreed to participate. At 12 months postenrollment, hygienists in the SS and PI conditions significantly increased their "Assist" behaviors (discuss cessation techniques, help patient set a quit date, and provide cessation materials) and reported fewer perceived barriers to delivering the intervention as compared with hygienists in DT. An economic analysis suggests that SS is more cost-effective than PI.     

Sekundäre Traumatisierung

During the past several years there has been a growing interest in the negative effects that therapy may have on therapists. Of special interest is a phenomenon called secondary traumatization, which can arise while working with traumatized clients. As yet it has not been verified that secondary traumatization consists of posttraumatic symptoms and leads to clinically significant distress. In an exploratory study 21 therapists were interviewed who declared that they had experienced an incident of this form of work-related stress. The presented study reveals that in fact such a ?vicarious“ traumatization can arise, even without direct contact to the original trauma. It consists of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms, but in severe cases it can also manifest itself in symptoms which are far beyond the typical PTSD spectrum. Conditions for the development of secondary traumatization are high empathic ability and dissociative processing of the trauma material by the therapist.     

Accuracy of judging others’ traits and states: Comparing mean levels across tests

Tests of accuracy in interpersonal perception take many forms. Often, such tests use designs and scoring methods that produce overall accuracy levels that cannot be directly compared across tests. Therefore, progress in understanding accuracy levels has been hampered. The present article employed several techniques for achieving score equivalency. Mean accuracy was converted to a common metric, pi [Rosenthal, R., & Rubin, D. B. (1989). Effect size estimation for one-sample multiple-choice-type data: Design, analysis, and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 332–337] in a database of 109 published results representing tests that varied in terms of scoring method (proportion accuracy versus correlation), content (e.g., personality versus affect), number of response options, item preselection, cue channel (e.g., face versus voice), stimulus duration, and dynamism. Overall, accuracy was midway between guessing level and a perfect score, with accuracy being higher for tests based on preselected than unselected stimuli. When item preselection was held constant, accuracy was equivalent for judging affect and judging personality. However, comparisons must be made with caution due to methodological variations between studies and gaps in the literature.     

Young Humeans: the role of emotions in children's evaluation of moral reasoning abilities

Three experiments investigated whether children in grades K, 2, and 4 (n = 144) view emotional comprehension as important in solving moral dilemmas. The experiments asked whether a human or an artificially intelligent machine would be best at solving different types of problems, ranging from moral and emotional to nonmoral and pragmatic. In Experiment 1, children in all age groups indicated that a human would be superior to a computer not only at comprehending emotions, but also at solving moral dilemmas. In Experiment 2, older children also indicated that a human could solve moral dilemmas better than a 'robot' with human-like perceptual and physical abilities. Experiment 3 further demonstrated that these effects were not solely due to a bias towards humans. Thus, children as young as age 5 view emotional understanding as an important element for moral, but not for nonmoral, reasoning, suggesting that the basis for Humean intuitions emerges early in life.     

Heathen Talk: Psychoanalytic Considerations of Eating Disorders and the Dissociated Self

ABSTRACT

An intermix of direct behavioral intervention incorporated in a psychoanalytically oriented stance is needed to treat the eating-disordered patient. Symptomatic behaviors too quickly get entrenched and need to be urgently addressed. Particularly with the eating-disordered teen, treatment goals must include immediate intervention with eating behaviors while, at the same time, attempting to reach the disowned part of the patient, often hidden behind bingeing, purging, or other disordered behaviors. This work involves an expansion of the unwitting but often hierarchical structure of contemporary treatment. Understanding dissociation as an interpersonal enactment as opposed to developmental impairment allows patient and therapist to work in tandem to search for the parts of the patient hidden behind food and weight obsessions. The goal is not merely symptom reduction but also to find the part of the patient who is reluctant to enter the room.