Exploring Understanding of “Understanding”: The Paradigm Case of Biobank Consent Comprehension

Data documenting poor understanding among research participants and real-time efforts to assess comprehension in large-scale studies are focusing new attention on informed consent comprehension. Within the context of biobanking consent, we previously convened a multidisciplinary panel to reach consensus about what information must be understood for a prospective participant’s consent to be considered valid. Subsequently, we presented them with data from another study showing that many U.S. adults would fail to comprehend the information the panel had deemed essential. When asked to evaluate the importance of the information again, panelists’ opinions shifted dramatically in the direction of requiring that less information be understood. Follow-up interviews indicated significant uncertainty about defining a threshold of understanding and what should happen when prospective participants are unable to grasp key information. These findings have important implications for urgently needed discussion of whether consent comprehension is an ethical requirement or an ethical aspiration.     

A comparison of different investigative interviewing techniques in generating differential recall enhancement and detecting deception

This study compared the Stepwise Interview, Cognitive Interview, and Reality Interview in detecting deception with inmates. The dependent measures were the amount of unique details provided during the free narrative and mnemonics and the number of words provided during the free narrative and mnemonics of each interview. The Stepwise Interview generated 58.3% accuracy, the Cognitive Interview generated 70.0% accuracy, and the Reality Interview generated 93.3% accuracy. The different tasks of these interviews increased the differences between honest and deceptive statements and therefore, increased the accuracy in detection of deception. Differential recall enhancement is used to explain the findings.     

What Drives OCD Symptom Change During CBT Treatment? Temporal Relationships Among Obsessions and Compulsions

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, less is known about how obsessions and compulsions change during treatment, either in tandem, sequentially, or independently. The current study used latent difference score analysis to show path-analytic dynamic modeling of OCD symptom change during CBT. Four competing models of the temporal relationship between obsessions and compulsions were examined: no coupling (obsessions and compulsions are not dynamically related), goal directed (obsessions lead to subsequent changes in compulsions), habit driven (compulsions lead to subsequent changes in obsessions), and reciprocal. Treatment seeking participants (N = 84) with a principal diagnosis of OCD completed 12 weeks of CBT group therapy and completed measures assessing obsession and compulsion severity at pretreatment, Sessions 4 and 8, and end of treatment. Bivariate results supported the goal directed traditional CBT model, where obsession scores are temporally associated with subsequent changes in compulsion scores. These results have implications for theoretical and treatment modelling of obsessions and compulsions in OCD treatment.     

Race,Power, and Privilege

This article identifies some of the developing context of interfaith relations within the ecumenical movement in the United Kingdom, where there has been a seismic shift in the national political debate that is now dominated by the decision, following a referendum, to leave the European Union. It argues that interfaith relations has lost much of its radical focus upon justice and become focused upon initiatives of social cohesion, mutual understanding, and celebration of difference, rather than addressing some of the deeper issues of justice and racism and the consequences of Britain’s colonial history, much of which has re‐emerged as a result of Brexit. This is of critical importance given the rise in hate crime, particularly anti‐Semitism and Islamophobia.     

Evaluating motion detection to score sleep disturbance for children: A translational approach to developing a measurement system

Information obtained via direct observation of children's sleep disturbance throughout the night in their home can guide the assessment and treatment process, but watching live or via recorded video might be impractical in terms of time expenditures. In Experiment 1, we assessed the accuracy and reliability of a motion‐detection camera with human motor movements. In Experiment 2, we tested the system's generality by using it to obtain in‐home measures of sleep disturbance for three children with autism spectrum disorder and compared the accuracy to a continuous measurement system. We also measured scoring efficiency and assessed parents' acceptability of the camera. Results provide preliminary support for motion detection in measuring sleep disturbance, but further evaluation of motion detection to improve accuracy is warranted.     

Evaluation of the accuracy,reliability, efficiency,and acceptability of fast forwarding to score problem behavior

Technological advances have allowed professionals to obtain extended recordings of caregiver–client interactions in natural settings, but scoring recorded video at normal speed to identify instances of low‐rate problem behavior is impractical in terms of scoring time. Fast forwarding is a continuous measurement system in which all seconds of an observation are viewed at a speed faster than normal. In Study 1, we evaluated whether three groups of five observers could discriminate problem behavior at three fast‐forwarding speeds across 10‐min observations. We analyzed the efficiency of using fast forwarding compared to continuous scoring, and interobserver agreement across the fast‐forwarding speeds. In Study 2, we compared the accuracy, efficiency, and social acceptability of fast forwarding (3.5x) and momentary time sampling (3.5 s) across 90‐min observations. Results support the use of 3.5x fast forwarding as a viable measurement system of improving the practicality of scoring problem behavior from video.     

The Moderating Effects of Dispositional Affectivity on Performance and Task Attitudes in a Goal‐Setting Context1

This study examined the effects of goal difficulty, negative affectivity (NA), and positive affectivity (PA) on performance and task attitudes on a complex task. Research participants played an air traffic controller (ATC) simulation and were assigned either an easy or difficult goal at 2 different points in time: early during skill acquisition, and after several experimental trials. We hypothesized that the effect of difficult goals would vary depending on whether they were administered early and late during skill acquisition. We also hypothesized that NA and PA would moderate the effect of goal difficulty. Neither the early nor late goal assignments related to performance or task attitudes as hypothesized. Instead, PA and NA both moderated goal‐outcome relationships.     

The Effects of Professional Training: The Social and Religious Capital Acquired in Seminaries

Debates over seminary education have been at the heart of some of the most heated denominational battles and schisms, often focusing on doctrines being taught at the seminaries. This research moves beyond the debates over specific teachings and explains how seminaries cultivate distinctive social capital (e.g., resources secured through social networks) and religious capital (e.g., mastery of and attachment to a specific religious culture). Using historical and contemporary examples, we illustrate how seminaries provide clergy with social and religious capital that is distinctive from that of the laity. Finally, using Brunette-Hill's 1994 survey of Milwaukee clergy and the Educational Testing Service's 1996 survey of exiting seminarians, we test two propositions on seminary training and religious capital.