Be mindful in love: Exploring the interpersonal effects of spouse mindfulness on employee work and family outcomes

Mindfulness has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners, and considerable research has demonstrated the intrapersonal effects of mindfulness at work or at home. Research to date, however, has overlooked potential interpersonal effects of mindfulness across the work and family domains. Drawing on the spillover-crossover model and the mindfulness literature, we investigate the effects of spouse mindfulness at home on employee work and family outcomes. We test our model using dyadic experience-sampling data collected from 125 focal employees and their spouses over 10 consecutive workdays. The results indicated that, at the within-person level, spouse mindfulness at home was positively associated with employee authentic emotional sharing at home, which, in turn, was positively associated with employee positive effect at home but negatively associated with employee negative affect at home. The results also indicated that spouse mindfulness at home had a positive indirect effect on family satisfaction at home and work engagement during the next morning through enhancing employee authentic emotional sharing at home. We discuss the implications of these findings and directions for the mindfulness research.     

A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach to Chronic Pain Management

More than one third of Americans suffer from recurring or persistent pain. Because this condition can result in depression, social isolation, disruption of intimate relationships, and prolonged disability, chronic pain sufferers may seek counseling. This article provides counselors with an introduction to the role of psychosocial processes in the experience of pain and offers assessment and intervention recommendations based on a cognitive-behavioral therapy approach to pain management.     

SEX-ROLE EGALITARIANISM SCALE

The Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES) was developed to measure attitudes toward the equality of women and men across content domains representing marital, parental, employment, social–interpersonal–heterosexual, and educational roles. The instrument exists in four versions: two alternate 95-item full forms and two alternate 25-item abbreviated forms. Reliability indices derived from a classical test-theory approach, multifaceted generalizability procedures, and an item-response theory-based analysis all support consistency or precision of measurement. Evidence for convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity is presented, along with a series of recommendations for future psychometric and substantive research using the scale.     

Posttraumatic stress and depression: potential pathways to disease burden among heart failure patients

Background and Objectives: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are associated with high disease burden. Pathways by which PTSD and MDD contribute to disease burden are not understood. Design: Path analysis was used to examine pathways between PTSD symptoms, MDD symptoms, and disease burden among 251 low-income heart failure patients. Methods: In Model 1, we explored the independent relationship between PTSD and MDD symptoms on disease burden. In Model 2, we examined the association of PTSD symptoms and disease burden on MDD symptoms. We also examined indirect associations of PTSD symptoms on MDD symptoms, mediated by disease burden, and of PTSD symptoms on disease burden mediated by MDD symptoms. Results: Disease burden correlated with PTSD symptoms (r = .41; p < .001) and MDD symptoms (r = .43; p < .001) symptoms. Both models fit the data well and displayed comparable fit. MDD symptoms did not mediate the association of PTSD symptoms with disease burden. Disease burden did mediate the relationship between PTSD symptoms and MDD symptoms. Conclusions: Results support the importance of detection of PTSD in individuals with disease. Results also provide preliminary models for testing longitudinal data in future studies.     

Engagement in Behavioral Parent Training: Review of the Literature and Implications for Practice

Engagement in behavioral parent training (BPT), including enrollment, attrition, attendance, within-session engagement, and homework completion, has long been a critical issue in the literature. Several estimates of various aspects of engagement have been suggested in the literature, but a systematic review of the available literature has never been accomplished. This review examines engagement data across 262 studies of BPT. Recruitment attrition, program attrition, attendance, and within-session engagement are examined across studies, with particular emphasis on the impact that SES, study purpose (efficacy vs. effectiveness), treatment format (individual vs. group), and age of child may have on those rates. Results of this review suggest that the significant amount of attrition occurs prior to enrollment in BPT, with at least 25 % of those identified as appropriate for BPT not enrolling in such programs. An additional 26 % begin, but drop out before completing treatment. Still the combined dropout rate of at least 51 % leaves at best half of identified parents completing treatment. While SES status had a small effect on attrition, other variables were not found to meaningfully impact engagement. Information on within-session engagement (homework and ratings of participation) was not often reported in studies. Key issues in this literature (e.g., varying definitions of engagement, limited attention to reporting key aspects of engagement) are discussed, and recommendations are made to further improve this important area of research and clinical practice.     

Family assessment: developing a formal assessment system in clinical practice

In a previous paper, we reviewed the literature on family assessment and set out some principles that can be derived from previous work. This paper describes the development of a system for family assessment which uses these principles and then gives a brief account of the practical difficulties encountered in applying such a system. (Empirical data on the system will be presented in subsequent papers as they become available.)     

Mutual problem-solving skills training for premarital couples: A six-month follow-up

The purpose of the present study was to undertake a six-month follow-up of the communication and problem-solving skill level of those premarital couples trained in the Ridley, Avery, Harrell, Leslie, and Dent (in press) study. Fifty-nine percent of the original sample (14 experimental couples and 18 control couples) were given a behavioral assessment of communication and problem-solving ability six months after training. Results indicated that the experimental group, relative to the control group, had significantly higher pretest to follow-up scores on communication skills and the problem-solving steps. Discussions centered on the implications of skill maintenance over time and possible directions of future research.     

Stability of Self-Esteem: Assessment, Correlates, and Excuse Making

We examined stability and level of self-esteem as predictors of excuse making; the extent to which self-ratings of stability are related to a statistical index of self-esteem stability; and the relations between stability and certainty of self-esteem and a variety of other psychological constructs. Regarding excuse making, our findings indicated that for high self-esteem individuals, instability was related to greater excuse making following success, but not following failure. However, for low self-esteem individuals, instability was related to greater excuse making following failure, but not following success. Other findings indicated that self-ratings of stability were only minimally related to a statistical measure of stability based on repeated assessments of self-esteem obtained in naturalistic contexts. Finally, stability of self-esteem was not significantly correlated with certainty of self-esteem. In addition, the pattern of correlations that emerged between certainty and other constructs suggested that uncertainty reflects the phenomenal experience of a tenuous self-view. On the other hand, stability of self-esteem appears to reflect the extent to which one's self-view is malleable, which may not be completely available to conscious awareness. Our discussion focuses on the nature of self-esteem stability and the roles of stability and level of self-esteem in reactions to evaluative events.