A comparison of two approaches to education about carrier testing for cystic fibrosis

We tested the efficacy of two types of educational materials for genetic counseling: a traditional information brochure and one adding a role model story. Brochures were alternated weekly at a prenatal genetics center. Subjects were asked to read the brochure and fill out a questionnaire covering demographics and variables from the health belief model (impact, barriers, motivation, susceptibility, knowledge, severity). A group of 409 pregnant women and 251 male partners participated. Study design was quasiexperimental, using a post-test only comparison group. The brochure with modeling enhanced the perception of both risk and the severity of the disease and was inversely associated with the assessment of barriers, but did not directly impact on the decision to pursue testing; only 12% chose to be tested, with no significant differences between groups. While suggestive, the study is not confirmatory and should be repeated with a more heterogenous group of women.     

Dogfighting: Symbolic Expression and Validation of Masculinity

This study examines the issue of masculinity indogfighting. Dogfighting is an illegal gaming sportcentered in the Southern United States. The data for thisstudy were obtained via ethnographic fieldwork over a period of two years. Interviews wereconducted with 31 dogmen, approximately 90% of whom werewhite males. In addition the authors attended 14dogfights and numerous pre-fight meetings. We argue that specific elements of this sport representsymbolic attempts at attaining and maintaining honor andstatus, which, in the (predominantly white, male,working-class) dogfighting subculture, are equated with masculine identity. We further argue thatpursuit of symbolic masculinity through dogfighting ismore important to working-class men, who possess feweralternative avenues for achieving status than do middle-class or professional men. Theimplications of this research for the larger culture ofmasculinity in the United States are alsoexplored.     

Understanding Respite Care Use by Families of Children Receiving Short-Term, In-Home Psychiatric Emergency Services

Respite care is widely believed to be an important support service for families raising a child with a disability. We report the findings of a respite care utilization study conducted within the context of a larger research and demonstration project examining three models of intensive, in-home services for children experiencing psychiatric crises. Respite care, both in-home and out-of-home, was a support service available to families in two of the three study conditions. Overall, 34% of 146 eligible families used in-home and or out-of-home respite care. Utilization was lower than the estimates developed prior to implementation, prompting an inquiry at the end of the first project year designed to maximize use and to gather more information on caregiver and service provider attitudes toward respite care. The inquiry included caregiver and provider focus groups, surveys, and enhanced data collection and analysis. Caregiver interviews indicated that many families did not fully understand what it meant to receive respite care or even that it was available to them. A comparative analysis of respite care users and non-users revealed that respite care users were more likely to have younger children, children who had a greater number of assessed functional impairments, and fewer social supports. Respite care users also reported greater difficulty managing their children's difficult behaviors.     

Robert Merrihew Adams,Leibniz: Determinist,Theist, Idealist

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

The source of belief bias effects in syllogistic reasoning.

In studies of the belief bias effect in syllogistic reasoning, an interaction between logical validity and the believability of the conclusion has been found; in essence, logic has a larger effect on unbelievable than on believable conclusions. Two main explanations have been proposed for this finding. The selective scrutiny account claims that people focus on the conclusion and only engage in logical processing if this is found to be unbelievable; while the misinterpreted necessity account claims that subjects misunderstand what is meant by logical necessity and respond on the basis of believability when indeterminate syllogisms are presented. Experiments 1 and 2 compared the predictions of these two theories by examining whether the interaction would disappear if only determinate syllogisms were used. It did, thus providing strong support for the misinterpreted necessity explanation. However, the results are also consistent with a version of the mental models theory, and so Experiment 3 was carried out to compare these two explanations. The mental models theory received strong support, as it did also in the follow-up Experiments 4 and 5. It is concluded that people try to construct a mental model of the premises but, if there is a believable conclusion consistent with the first model they produce, then they fail to construct alternative models.     

Hemispheric asymmetry and recategorized WISC-R patterns in learning-disabled and nondisabled children.

The relationship between hemispheric processing and recategorized WISC-R patterns (spatial strengths and depressed Acquired Knowledge scores) in 14 learning-disabled and 14 nondisabled boys was examined. A genetic-prenatal hormonal basis appears most plausible.     

Characteristics of seriously emotionally disturbed youth with and without substance abuse in intensive case management

Youth with emotional disturbance who have substance abuse problems are of particular concern to child-serving agencies. Approximately 22% of the youth served in New York State's Intensive Case Management Program for Children and Youth (CYICM) have identified substance abuse problems. We compared youths enrolled in CYICM who abuse substances with those who do not abuse substances. Adolescents with substance abuse problems differed from non-abusing adolescents. The abusing cohort was most likely to be emancipated minors, not enrolled in school, less likely to be members of a minority group, and more likely to have private health care coverage. They also evidenced a different constellation of symptoms than the non-abusing cohort, with abusers tending to display suicidal symptoms and behaviors and sexual acting out. Abusers were also more likely to have been admitted to private psychiatric hospitals and to have had crisis contacts in emergency rooms. Similar to non-abusers, however, abusers spent significantly fewer days as inpatients in state hospitals, and had fewer admissions to these hospitals following their enrollment in CYICM.     

Cognitive models of class structure and explanations of social outcomes

In this paper we argue that people's explanations of a wide range of social outcomes occur within a framework of expectations derived from beliefs about the pervasive influence of social class on individuals' life-chances. This claim is tested by examining the effect of varying the social class origins of vignette characters on judgments and explanations concerning their outcomes. Four domains of social activity are examined: occupational attainment, educational achievement, relationship success, and unemployment. In all of these areas, the class background of the characters was found to be associated with different outcome expectations, future expectations, judgments of responsibility and differences in the ways in which outcomes were explained. The results are consistent with the claim that people have cognitive models in which social class background is associated with particular social outcomes across a range of activities, and that these models are reasonably accurate representations of the relationships between social class and life-chances. This suggests that contrary to theories which have stressed the individualistic nature of belief systems in western societies, social class forms an important part of the popular representation of the influences on occupational, educational and relationship success.     

TEACHING MEMORIZED SPELLING WITH A MICROCOMPUTER: TIME DELAY AND COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTION

A computer-assisted instruction program was evaluated that used a constant time-delay procedure to teach 5 students 18 spelling words. In addition to delivering the instructional procedure, the program managed the presentation of training content based on individual student responding and collected instructional data on individual student performance. The procedure was effective at teaching 4 of the 5 students the words, and generalization occurred from the computer-delivered keyboard response format to a teacher-delivered hand-written response format. Maintenance data varied among the students. The study demonstrated the feasibility of using microcomputers to deliver time-delay instruction in special education classrooms and suggested several research questions related to specific features of microcomputer-delivered time-delay instruction.