Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Father Engagement Questionnaire

While there has been increasing interest in promoting father engagement in parenting interventions for child wellbeing, both research and practice endeavors have been hindered by a lack of a measure of father engagement practices. This paper reports the development and evaluation of a comprehensive, practitioner-report measure of father engagement practices–—the Father Engagement Questionnaire (FEQ). Practitioners (N?=?589; 84.5% females; mean age?=?38.56) involved in delivering parenting interventions in Australia completed the FEQ, along with background demographics and questions regarding their own and organization’s practice. A separate sample of 28 practitioners completed the FEQ twice, with a two-week interim, to assess test–retest stability of the measure. Exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors corresponding to the measure’s five intended content areas: Confidence in Working with Fathers, Competence in Using Engagement Strategies, Perceived Effectiveness of Engagement Strategies, Frequency of Strategy Use, and Organizational Practices for Father Engagement. Each of these scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency reliability and test–retest stability. As the five scales appear to be related but distinct, it is recommended that the FEQ is used as a multidimensional measure of father engagement. In terms of predictive validity, higher scores on the Confidence in Working with Fathers, Frequency of Strategy Use, and Organizational Practices for Father Engagement scales were associated with a higher likelihood of practitioner-reported father attendance. The results provide support for adequate psychometric properties of the FEQ as a research and clinical tool for assessing and monitoring father engagement practices.     

Acceptability,Feasibility, and Effectiveness of Internet-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in New York

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), consisting of exposure and response prevention (EX/RP), is both efficacious and preferred by patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), yet few receive this treatment in practice. This study describes the implementation of an Internet-based CBT program (ICBT) developed in Sweden in individuals seeking OCD treatment in New York. After translating and adapting the Swedish ICBT for OCD, we conducted an open trial with 40 adults with OCD. Using the RE-AIM implementation science framework, we assessed the acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of ICBT. The Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) was the primary outcome measure. Of 40 enrolled, 28 participants completed the 10-week ICBT. In the intent-to-treat sample (N = 40), Y-BOCS scores decreased significantly over time (F = 28.12, df = 2, 49, p < . 001). Depressive severity (F = 5.87, df = 2, 48, p < . 001), and quality of life (F = 12.34, df = 2, 48, p < . 001) also improved. Sensitivity analyses among treatment completers (N = 28) confirmed the intent-to-treat results, with a large effect size for Y-BOCS change (Cohen’s d = 1.38). ICBT took less time to implement than face-to face EX/RP and participants were very to mostly satisfied with ICBT. On a par with results in Sweden, the adapted ICBT program reduced OCD and depressive symptoms and improved quality of life among individuals with moderate to severe OCD. Given its acceptability and feasibility, ICBT deserves further study as a way to increase access to CBT for OCD in the United States.     

The Incremental Validity of Self-Report and Performance-Based Methods for Assessing Hostility to Predict Cardiovascular Disease in Physicians

We evaluated the utility of an integrative, multimethod approach for assessing hostility-related constructs to predict premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) and premature coronary heart disease (CHD) using participants from the Johns Hopkins Precursors Study, which was designed to identify risk factors for heart disease. Participants were assessed at baseline while in medical school from 1946 to 1962 (M age = 24.6) and have been followed annually since then. Baseline assessment included individually administered Rorschach protocols (N = 416) scored for aggressive imagery (i.e., Aggressive Content, Aggressive Past) and self-reports of 3 possible anger responses to stress. Cox regression analyses predicting morbidity or mortality by age 55 revealed a significant interaction effect; high levels of Aggressive Content with high self-reported hostility predicted an increased rate of premature CVD and CHD, and incrementally predicted the rate of these events after controlling for the significant covariates of smoking (CVD and CHD) and cholesterol (CHD) that were also assessed at baseline. The hostility and anger measures, as well as other baseline covariates, were not predictors of CVD risk factors assessed at midlife during follow-up. Overall, this integrative model of hostility illustrates the potential value of multimethod assessment to areas of health psychology and preventive medicine.     

Challenges in Developing a Cultural Evidence‐Based Psychotherapy in the USA: Suggestions for International Studies

In this article, we underscore some of the cultural challenges and limitations of the evidence‐based psychotherapy (EBP) utilised within the USA with the hope that these problems will be avoided or ameliorated in Australia and other countries. Although the EBP research is very diverse and complex, we categorise this fast‐growing literature using a threefold classification system that underscores culture. This classification system is proposed to examine the influence of culture on EBPs. The three categories used are (a) universal evidence‐based psychotherapies or universal psychotherapies, (b) race and ethnic minority evidence‐based psychotherapies or racial/ethnic psychotherapies, and (c) cultural evidence‐based psychotherapies or cultural psychotherapies. After each category is described, its benefits and limitations are discussed, emphasising implications for culturally diverse and international studies. We conclude with suggestions to promote the advancement of a more effective and inclusive cultural EBP in which researchers from different countries can collaborate and learn from each other.     

The distinct contributions of age of acquisition and word frequency in auditory word perception

We report two studies of the distinct effects that a word's age of acquisition (AoA) and frequency have on the mental lexicon. In the first study, a purely statistical analysis, we show that AoA and frequency are related in different ways to the phonological form and imageability of different words. In the second study, three groups of participants (34 seven-year-olds, 30 ten-year-olds, and 17 adults) took part in an auditory lexical decision task, with stimuli varying in AoA, frequency, length, neighbourhood density, and imageability. The principal result is that the influence of these different variables changes as a function of AoA: Neighbourhood density effects are apparent for early and late AoA words, but not for intermediate AoA, whereas imageability effects are apparent for intermediate AoA words but not for early or late AoA. These results are discussed from the perspective that AoA affects a word's representation, but frequency affects processing biases.     

Kant's One World: Interpreting 'Transcendental Idealism'

The relationship between divine and created causality was widely discussed in medieval and early modern philosophy. Contemporary scholars of these discussions typically stake out three possible positions: occasionalism, concurrentism, and mere-conservationism. It is regularly claimed that virtually no medieval thinker adopted the final view which denies that God is an immediate active cause of creaturely actions. The main aim of this paper is to further understanding of the medieval causality debate, and particularly the mere-conservationist position, by analysing Peter John Olivi's neglected defence of it. The paper also includes discussion of Thomas Aquinas's arguments for concurrentism and an analysis of whether Olivi's objections refute his position.