Examining Religious Disaffiliation Through a Family Systems Lens: Implications for Treatment

Religious disaffiliation can be emotionally and relationally challenging. Research indicates that people who disaffiliate can experience grief, emotional distress, and even posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Research also indicates that disaffiliation can put strain on family relationships, yet exactly how this impacts the family system as a whole is much less understood. This qualitative study, using grounded theory analytic procedures, fills a gap in the literature by utilizing a systemic approach to explore the impact of religious disaffiliation on family units. Twelve participants from five different families representing five different religions were interviewed. At least one disaffiliated member and one affiliated member were interviewed from each family system. Results offered a deeper understanding of (a) the relational impact of religious disaffiliation and (b) the relational challenges of navigating interactions after disaffiliation. Six clinical implications are offered with the goal of helping family members understand their unique experience of this transitional time, process their emotions, enhance distress tolerance skills, and effectively communicate with one another in a spirit of kindness and respect to prevent relational wounds, expedite the healing process, and protect family bonds.     

Conditioned suppression under positive, negative, and no contingency between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli

Using a conditioned suppression procedure, the effects of three contingent relationships between conditioned (CS) and unconditioned (US) stimuli were investigated. A traditional positive (if CS—then US) contingency suppressed response rate during the CS relative to responding during stimulus-free minutes of the session. A negative (if CS—then no US) contingency resulted in suppressed responding during CS-off minutes, and rate increases during the CS. A no-contingency control procedure, during which CS and US were randomly related, almost totally suppressed responding throughout the session and showed no differential effects of the CS on response rate. An analysis of changes in response rate during the minute after US-offset revealed acceleration under the no-contingency condition and, to a somewhat lesser degree, under the negative contingency. Both conditioned suppression and non-suppression are analyzed in terms of the temporal relationship between CS and US.     

Identifying the Common Elements of Treatment Engagement Interventions in Children’s Mental Health Services

Difficulty engaging families in mental health treatment is seen as an underlying reason for the disparity between child mental health need and service use. Interpretation of the literature on how best to engage families is complicated by a diversity of operational definitions of engagement outcomes and related interventions. Thus, we sought to review studies of engagement interventions using a structured methodology allowing for an aggregate summary of the most common practices associated with effective engagement interventions. We identified 344 articles through a combination of database search methods and recommendations from engagement research experts; 38 articles describing 40 studies met our inclusion criteria. Following coding methods described by Chorpita and Daleiden (J Consul Clin Psychol 77(3):566–579, 2009, doi:10.1037/a0014565), we identified 22 engagement practice elements from 89 study groups that examined or implemented family engagement strategies. Most frequently identified engagement practice elements included assessment, accessibility promotion, psychoeducation about services, homework assignment, and appointment reminders. Assessment and accessibility promotion were two practice elements present in at least 50 % of treatment groups that outperformed a control group in a randomized controlled trial. With the exception of appointment reminders, these frequently identified engagement practice elements had a high likelihood of being associated with winning treatments when they were used. This approach offers a novel way of summarizing the engagement literature and provides the foundation for enhancing clinical decision-making around treatment engagement.     

The Utilization and Choices of Aneuploidy Screening in a Midwestern Population

The types, interpretation, and use of first- and second-trimester aneuploidy screening are often unclear for many women. This impairs appropriate decision making and understanding of the implications of prenatal genetic testing options. The purpose of this study was to examine the utilization of Stepwise Sequential screening in our Midwestern population, demographic factors associated with choice of screening and method of risk reporting and it’s potential impact on women’s choices. First trimester screening was performed for 2,634 women during the study period. Results were not reported or “framed” as “positive” or “negative”. Rather, the specific age-risk and screen-risk for T21 were relayed, along with options for follow-up Stepwise Sequential screening and invasive testing. Nearly 80 % of women declined Stepwise Sequential screening. Minorities and women of lower education were least likely to pursue further screening. Less than 4 % of the study population elected invasive testing. First trimester screening was associated with a 53 % reduction in amniocenteses and 20 % fewer CVS’s compared to pre-first trimester screening availability. Reporting age-and screen-risks for T21, rather than classifying results as “positive” or “negative” based on a pre-determined threshold, was associated with a low uptake of further testing.     

Capuchins’ (Cebus apella) sensitivity to others’ goal-directed actions in a helping context

As humans, our ability to help others effectively is at least in part dependent upon our capacity to infer others’ goals in a variety of different contexts. Several species of nonhuman primate have demonstrated that they will also help others in some relatively simple situations, but it is not always clear whether this helping is based on an understanding of another agent’s goals. Although the results of a number of different studies support the hypothesis that chimpanzees represent others’ goals in various helping contexts and are sensitive to these goals when actually helping others, less work has addressed whether more distantly related species actively represent goals when helping. To explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying helping behaviors in species less closely related to humans, we tested whether a species of New World monkey—the brown capuchin (Cebus apella)—would provide an experimenter with a desired out-of-reach object more often than an alternative object when the experimenter attempted to obtain the former object only. We found that capuchins reliably helped by providing the experimenter’s goal object (Experiment 1) and that explanations based on the use of several less sophisticated strategies did not account for the overall pattern of data (Experiments 2–4). Results are thus consistent with the hypothesis that capuchins help others based on an understanding of their goals although more work is needed to address the possibility that capuchins may be responding to gestural and postural factors alone.     

Altering "motivational" variables alters induction produced by upcoming food-pellet reinforcement

Previous research has demonstrated that rats will increase their rates of lever pressing for sucrose rewards in the first half of an experimental session when food pellets, rather than the same sucrose, continually serve as the reward in the second half of the session. This effect has been coined induction, and the present study investigated whether it could be altered by altering "motivational" variables. Experiment 1 manipulated subjects' motivation by altering, across conditions, their level of food deprivation. Predictably, the size of induction varied directly with level of deprivation. Experiments 2 and 3 manipulated subjects' motivation by feeding them food pellets and sucrose, respectively, prior to their responding in the experimental session. These pre-session feedings decreased the size of the observed induction in both experiments. The results from the present study indicate that the size of induction is correlated with subjects' motivation to respond for the available reinforcers. They are also consistent with the idea that operant processes underlie the effect. The notion that induction might encompass the concept of "anticipation" is also discussed. Electronic Publication     

A Comparison of Two Group Contingencies on Teachers’ Use of Behavior-Specific Praise

The present study evaluated the effects of two reinforcement contingencies on teacher use of behavior-specific praise (BSP) in the classroom. An alternating treatments design was used to compare the implementation of both an independent and interdependent contingency to increase frequency of BSP delivery. Four general education elementary school teachers and their students participated. Teachers’ use of BSP and general praise, as well as, behavior-specific and general reprimands were evaluated. Data were also collected on students’ levels of academically engaged and disruptive behaviors. Both the independent and interdependent conditions resulted in higher frequencies of BSP and reduced the use of both general and behavior-specific reprimands. Student levels of academic engagement increased while disruption decreased across both contingencies. Results of the present study are discussed in terms of related literature and implications for applied practice.

     

Preschool Children’s Pretend and Physical Play and Sex of Play Partner: Connections to Peer Competence

This study was designed to examine associations between preschool childrens pretend and physical play with same-sex, other-sex, and mixed sex peers and childrens social competence with peers. Sixty predominately middle-class preschoolers (33 boys, 51 European-American) were observed on the playground at their school over a period of 4 months. Childrens same-sex, other-sex, and mixed-sex peer play was observed, and teachers and peers provided assessments of childrens social competence. Analyses revealed that children who engaged in more same-sex pretend play were better liked by peers and were viewed by teachers as being socially competent. In addition, girls who engaged in same-sex exercise play and boys who engaged in same-sex rough-and-tumble play were better liked by peers, whereas boys who engaged in rough-and-tumble play with other-sex peers were less liked by peers. The results suggest that child gender and gender of playmate are important factors in the association between pretend play and rough-and-tumble play and childrens social competence with peers.     

Risk Reduction Behaviors and Provider Communication Following Genetic Counseling and BRCA1 Mutation Testing in an African American Kindred

Little is known about the impact of cancer genetic counseling and testing on health behaviors in racial and ethnic subgroups. This prospective observational study examined use of risk reduction strategies following BRCA1 counseling and testing. Participants were female members of an African American kindred who received genetic education, counseling and testing (n = 40) and completed a 1-year follow-up interview. Mutation carriers were more likely to opt for breast (100%, 7/7) and ovarian (25%; 1 of 4) cancer surveillance than prophylactic surgery. Following genetic counseling, 71% (5/7) of the BRCA1 carriers who opted for surveillance reported having a mammogram within the year following receipt of their genetic test results. Ovarian cancer screening among mutation carriers increased from 0% at baseline to 25% (one of four) at 1 year. Compared to noncarriers (23%, 7/30), carriers (70%, 7/10) were more likely to discuss their BRCA1 test results with their primary health care providers. Surveillance for breast cancer was preferred to prophylactic surgery and chemoprevention as a way to reduce risk for these cancers. Our data indicate that patient-provider communication about BRCA1 test results is suboptimal.     

Holland Type as a Moderator of Personality-Performance Predictions

This study explored the value of using Holland's theory of vocational personality types and work environments for improving predictions of personality-performance relations. Upper level undergraduates representing the RIASEC environments completed the Self-Directed Search and a measure of the Five-Factor Model of personality that were used to predict grades. Overall, agreeableness and conscientiousness accounted for approximately 2% to 3% of the variance in performance. However, when the data were analyzed further by RIASEC environment, more than 9% of the variance in performance was accounted for with personality scores. This study supports assertions in the literature that predictions of performance using global traits, such as conscientiousness, can be improved using appropriate moderators. Furthermore, important relations between personality and performance can be masked if job context is ignored.