Autobiographical reflections on what it means to experience disruption

Accepting disruption as an inevitable occurrence in life, five nurse-teacher-researchers explore their experience with being disruptive/being disrupted. Reflection on the all-encompassing embodied experience of disruption takes us through a process of exploration and meaning-making. We pause to show what it is like to be in-between the known and unknown in creating a life in academia through stories. Plotlines such as being in-between family and work; transplanted outsider seeking a sense of belonging; going into the chaos while feeling invisible; and self-induced disruption in response to loss illuminate our reflection. The metaphor of the breathturn allows us to reconstruct our experience and to discern possibilities beyond the usual negative connotations.     

Critical Issues in Using Homework Assignments Within Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Schizophrenia

Presents an overview of the research findings to date and practical guidelines for the use of homework in cognitive-behavioral therapy for schizophrenia. In particular, the article outlines strategies to combat the common difficulties experienced when using homework with clients with schizophrenia and the types of homework assignments that may be most helpful. The empirical evidence suggests that cognitive-behavioral therapy incorporating homework assignments help clients to improve at least 60% more than those in treatment without homework. Despite that most therapy formulations incorporate homework as an integral component of treatment for schizophrenia, prior research has identified that practitioners consider homework to be less helpful for clients with delusions and hallucinations. Interventions to enhance homework compliance in the treatment of clients with schizophrenia are outlined.     

The influence of suggestions on children's reports of a unique experience versus an instance of a repeated experience

In Experiment 1 we compared the influence of misleading suggestions on 4‐, 6‐, and 8‐year‐olds' reports of details of an instance of a repeated experience versus a unique experience. For children who experienced the event repeatedly, some components remained constant across instances (fixed) whereas others varied (variable). Relative to children who had experienced the event only once, those who had experienced it repeatedly were less affected by suggestions regarding fixed details and more affected by suggestions regarding variable details. In Experiment 2 a misinformation effect was observed in responses to questions about variable details but not in responses to questions about fixed details. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adults' memories of childhood: Affect,knowing, and remembering

Adult questionnaire respondents reported, for each of a number of events, if they had experienced that event during childhood and, if so, if they remembered the experience or merely knew it had happened. Respondents also rated the emotion of each event and judged whether they would remember more about each reportedly experienced event if they spent more time trying to do so. Study 1 respondents were 96 undergraduates, whereas Study 2 tested 93 community members ranging widely in age. Respondents often reported no recollections of reportedly experienced events. Reportedly experienced events rated as emotional were more often recollected than those rated as neutral, and those rated as positive were more often recollected than those rated as negative. Predicted ability to remember more was related to current memory. Claims of remembering reportedly experienced events increased with age, but predicted ability to remember more about them declined with age.     

Increasing meal consumption in individuals with competing protective equipment

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder may engage in self‐injurious behavior that can cause tissue damage. Protective equipment is sometimes used to decrease the severity of tissue damage when self‐injury occurs. However, wearing protective equipment may be incompatible with some forms of adaptive behavior, such as meal consumption. The purpose of the present analysis was to identify a treatment for increasing meal consumption in two adolescent males diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder who wore protective equipment that interfered with self‐feeding. Three interventions were evaluated: modifying the protective equipment, manipulating the reinforcing efficacy of the meal, and arranging additional positive reinforcement for meal consumption in the absence of protective equipment. Modifying protective equipment and manipulating the reinforcing efficacy of the meal were effective for both participants. Additional positive reinforcement was evaluated and effective for one participant.     

Toward Developing Laboratory-Based Parent–Adolescent Conflict Discussion Tasks that Consistently Elicit Adolescent Conflict-Related Stress Responses: Support from Physiology and Observed Behavior

Parent–adolescent conflict poses risk for youth maladjustment. One potential mechanism of this risk is that stress in the form of increased arousal during conflict interactions results in adolescents’ impaired decision-making. However, eliciting consistent adolescent stress responses within laboratory-based tasks of parent–adolescent conflict (i.e., conflict discussion tasks) is hindered by task design. This limitation may stem from how conflict topics are assessed and selected for discussion. Within a sample of 47 adolescents (ages 14–17) and parents, we investigated whether a modified version of a conflict discussion task could elicit physiological (i.e., arousal) and behavioral (i.e., hostility) displays of adolescents’ conflict-related stress responses. We assessed parent–adolescent conflict via structured interview to identify topics for dyads to discuss during the task. We randomly assigned dyads to complete a 5-min task to discuss either a putatively benign topic (i.e., control condition) or a conflict topic while undergoing direct assessments of continuous arousal. Trained raters coded dyad members’ hostile behavior during the task. Adolescents in the conflict condition exhibited significantly greater levels of arousal than adolescents in the control condition. We observed an interaction between discussion condition and baseline conflict. Specifically, higher baseline conflict predicted greater hostile behavior for adolescents in the conflict condition, yet we observed the inverse relation for adolescents in the control condition. Our modified laboratory discussion task successfully elicited both physiological and behavioral displays of adolescent conflict-related stress. These findings have important implications for leveraging experimental paradigms to understand causal links between parent–adolescent conflict and adolescent psychopathology, and their underlying mechanisms.