TEACHING MENDING SKILLS TO MENTALLY RETARDED ADOLESCENTS

This experiment presents a model for analyzing community living skills and teaching them to mentally retarded adolescents. A task analysis of three mending skills was developed and validated, aided by consultation with persons having expertise in home economics and mental retardation. The task analysis was modified to compensate for the constraints imposed by the trainees' disabilities. Five moderately retarded youths received training on sewing hems, buttons, and seams. Sewing skills were acquired rapidly and maintained. The behavior generalized from trained to untrained tasks on their common components for all subjects. A multiple baseline across participants combined with a multiple baseline across responses demonstrated the combined effectiveness of an objectively validated, detailed task analysis; graduated sequence of prompts; and response consequences in training and maintaining community living skills with mentally retarded adolescents.     

Stutterer''s scaled attitudes and their prognostic significance in therapy

Thirty individuals who manifested stuttering behavior participated in an intensive therapy program. Measures of pretherapy attitudes on the Attitude and Behavioral Observation Scale, which consists of self-evaluations of attitudes on a scale of five equal-appearing intervals and also two questionnaires, the Iowa Scale of Attitude Toward Stuttering and the Stutterer's Self-Ratings of Reactions to Speech Situations were utilized. These three scales were found to be significantly correlated. A difference score from the Motor Performance Scale, a speech proficiency scale of one to five was completed at pre- and posttherapy, as a measure of the client's success from therapy. Generally, pretherapy attitudes did not correlate significantly with success from therapy.     

Children's Ideas About What Can Really Happen: The Impact of Age and Religious Background

Five- to 11-year-old U.S. children, from either a religious or secular background, judged whether story events could really happen. There were four different types of stories: magical stories violating ordinary causal regularities; religious stories also violating ordinary causal regularities but via a divine agent; unusual stories not violating ordinary causal regularities but with an improbable event; and realistic stories not violating ordinary causal regularities and with no improbable event. Overall, children were less likely to judge that religious and magical stories could really happen than unusual and realistic stories although religious children were more likely than secular children to judge that religious stories could really happen. Irrespective of background, children frequently invoked causal regularities in justifying their judgments. Thus, in justifying their conclusion that a story could really happen, children often invoked a causal regularity, whereas in justifying their conclusion that a story could not really happen, they often pointed to the violation of causal regularity. Overall, the findings show that children appraise the likelihood of story events actually happening in light of their beliefs about causal regularities. A religious upbringing does not impact the frequency with which children invoke causal regularities in judging what can happen, even if it does impact the type of causal factors that children endorse.     

Feasibility and acceptability of a brief suicide intervention for youth involved with the family court

As efforts to develop models for suicide prevention and intervention in the juvenile justice (JJ) system continue to grow, research to understand the feasibility and acceptability of implementing these models is critical. Examining organizational readiness for implementation, ensuring leadership and staff buy‐in for delivering the intervention, and planning for sustainability of staff participation in implementation efforts is essential. The current study involved semi‐structured formative evaluation interviews with key JJ stakeholders (n = 10) to determine perspectives on the acceptability (perceived need and fit of the intervention) and feasibility (organizational readiness for change) of a proposed brief safety planning intervention for youth with suicidal ideation delivered by nonclinical staff and integrated into the existing system. Qualitative data revealed stakeholders' perceived need for the intervention in the family court context and their agreement that the aims of the intervention were congruent with the goals of the family court. Some barriers to successful implementation were noted, which, addressed through selection of appropriate implementation strategies, can be overcome in a future test of the safety intervention.     

Post‐incarceration Recidivism of Lone versus Group Juvenile Homicide Offenders

Killings by juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) who use accomplices have been increasing since the 1980s and currently represent approximately half of juvenile arrests for murder in the United States. Nevertheless, prior research has not compared JHOs who kill alone with JHOs who kill in groups. The present research followed up 30 years later on a sample of 59 male murderers and attempted murderers sentenced to adult prison. This study was designed to analyze whether lone and group JHOs differed on pre‐incarceration, incarceration, and post‐incarceration variables. Significant findings indicated that compared with lone offenders, group JHOs had a higher mean of pre‐homicide arrests and were more likely to be Black, have a pre‐homicide delinquent record, commit a crime‐related homicide offense, and target a stranger. With respect to post‐homicide variables, group JHOs were more likely to be released from prison and more likely to be rearrested. The two types of JHOs did not differ significantly in relation to the number of post‐release violent offenses. Preliminary implications of the findings and avenues for future investigation are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structure Building Predicts Grades in College Psychology and Biology

Knowing what skills underlie college success can allow students, teachers, and universities to identify and to help at‐risk students. One skill that may underlie success across a variety of subject areas is structure building, the ability to create mental representations of narratives (Gernsbacher, Varner, & Faust, 1990 ). We tested if individual differences in structure‐building ability predicted success in two college classes: introductory to psychology and introductory biology. In both cases, structure building predicted success. This effect was robust, with structure building explaining variance in course grades even after accounting for high school GPA and SAT scores (in the psychology course) or a measure of domain knowledge (in the biology course). The results support the claim that structure building is an important individual difference, one that is associated with learning in different domains. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Metacognitive monitoring during category learning: how success affects future behaviour

The purpose of this study was to see how people perceive their own learning during a category learning task, and whether their perceptions matched their performance. In two experiments, participants were asked to learn natural categories, of both high and low variability, and make category learning judgements (CLJs). Variability was manipulated by varying the number of exemplars and the number of times each exemplar was presented within each category. Experiment 1 showed that participants were generally overconfident in their knowledge of low variability families, suggesting that they considered repetition to be more useful for learning than it actually was. Also, a correct trial, for a particular category, was more likely to occur if the previous trial was correct. CLJs had the largest increase when a trial was correct following an incorrect trial and the largest decrease when an incorrect trial followed a correct trial. Experiment 2 replicated these results, but also demonstrated that global CLJ ratings showed the same bias towards repetition. These results indicate that we generally identify success as being the biggest determinant of learning, but do not always recognise cues, such as variability, that enhance learning.     

An Exploratory Study of Employers’ Attitudes Towards a Clinical Doctorate in Genetic Counseling

Creation of an advanced degree in genetic counseling has been considered since the early 1980s. The Genetic Counseling Advanced Degree Task Force (GCADTF) was convened in 2012 to formally explore the potential suitability of a clinical doctorate (ClinD), though employer perspectives of advanced training were not part of the discussion. The conclusion of this group was that the field was not ready to move to an entry-level clinical doctorate at this time but that further education and research among other stakeholders was necessary (Nagy et al. 2014). In this study, we describe employers’ perspectives on developing a clinical doctorate in genetic counseling based upon thirty audio-recorded semi-structured phone interviews that were transcribed verbatim and qualitatively analyzed. Overall, employers expressed concerns regarding the economic viability of ClinD training but envisioned expanded roles for genetic counselors (especially in areas of education and research) and enhanced credibility. While some employers reported that they would provide flexibility and tuition assistance for acquisition of a ClinD, for many employers, support was contingent on perceived value of the degree. Some employers were not clear about the difference between a ClinD and a PhD, suggesting that there is a need for educating employers about advanced degree options for the genetic counseling field. Future research could include investigating employer attitudes about market needs, envisioned roles, and compensation formulas for counselors with a ClinD or other forms of advanced training.     

Professional Issues of International Genetic Counseling Students Educated in the United States

International students have unique personal and academic challenges during their training in genetic counseling programs across the United States (U.S.). Previous research has explored their motivations and experiences; however, there is scant research on how their international status affects the post-graduate experience. The current study used semi-structured phone interviews to explore the professional issues that international students face throughout their educational and professional careers. Twenty-six participants were interviewed including international genetic counseling students in their second years of training and international genetic counselors who graduated from a U.S.-accredited program. Participants included six, second-year students, twelve genetic counselors employed in the U.S., six employed in Canada, and one employed in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Qualitative analysis of interviews captured the common experiences and challenges international students faced during their training and post-graduation. Participants stated that they applied to programs in the U.S. because there is wide transferability of qualifications across the world, and there is limited or no opportunities for masters level genetic counseling training in their home country. Most participants who had applied for jobs in the U.S. experienced difficulties regarding unfamiliarity of human resources (HR) departments and Border Control Officers with international genetic counselors (GCs) and their visa requirements. The results suggest that currently there are insufficient job resources tailored to international genetic counselors, and an inadequate availability of peer support. The results also speak to the need to develop resources for prospective international students and for international GCs seeking jobs, and establishment of a peer support network. These resources may also provide assistance to genetic counseling training programs and employers to address the challenges faced by international genetic counselors.     

Sexual Violence Victimization and Associations with Health in a Community Sample of African American Women

Limited information exists on the relationship between sexual violence victimization and health among African American women. Using data from a community sample of African American women, we examine the association between current health and lifetime experiences of sexual violence. In-person interviews were completed in 2010. Among interviewees, 53.7% of women reported rape victimization and 44.8% reported sexual coercion in their lifetime. Victims of rape or sexual coercion were significantly more likely to report depression and posttraumatic stress disorder during their lifetime. Among victims whose first unwanted sexual experience was rape or sexual coercion, perpetrators were mostly acquaintances and intimate partners, and over one third were injured and needed services. More attention is needed on the health needs of African American women and their association to victimization status.