The Test–Retest Reliability and Predictive Validity of a Battery of Newly Developed Occupational Performance Assessments

The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure was used as a tool to compare goals for intervention identified by seven clients living in a long-term residential program and diagnosed with schizophrenia, with their goals as identified by the occupational therapist. In-depth interviews were conducted in conjunction with the use of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure. Data analysis revealed an overarching theme that described the clients' concerns as, “I want to accomplish goals outside of the residence program.” During the analysis, however, the data revealed that the occupational therapist primarily focused her attention on goals to be achieved within the residence program, emphasizing programming and symptom management as each client's priorities for intervention, rather than community involvement. The findings reveal how data from the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure was used to reveal client/therapist disconnect in goal setting and the need to continue to examine client-centered practices in mental health settings.     

Cultural Lens on Mental Illness: Four Clients Share Their Perspectives

People served by mental health providers represent diverse cultural groups. In-depth qualitative interviews were used to collect data to examine: “How do people, diagnosed with a mental illness, perceive their experience in a partial care mental health program from the perspective of their cultural context?” Four participants described cultural identities that included ethnic, health status, and sexual orientation identities. The participants' way of participating in the world was often in conflict with cultural values and expectations of the family and counselors. Cultural competence must include understanding how complex, multiple cultural contexts interact and influence a person's participation in the therapeutic process.     

Who's Responsible? Our Mutual Implication in Each Other's Suffering

In this paper, I examine the social and psychological roots of what I call neoliberal subjectivity, a version of contemporary subjectivity marked by a repudiation of vulnerability that has arisen from the social, economic, and political milieu of the past 30 years. The defense mechanisms involved in such a repudiation cause a decline in empathic capacities and in the capacity to experience ourselves as responsible and accountable for the suffering of others. I look at the way conflicts in the area of accountability and responsibility are lived both within our patients and within the interaction between patient and analyst. I argue that contemporary definitions of empathy normalize the repudiation of vulnerability and thereby foster an experience of empathy in which one can sustain a safe distance from the suffering other and not hold oneself accountable. A two-way version of empathy that counters neoliberal trends requires that we examine the ways we seek refuge in identifications that distance us from vulnerability, and it requires us to recognize the harm we inflict when we do so.     

Recovery of intellectual function after a brain injury: a comparison of longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches

The goal of this study was to investigate recovery of intellectual function as a function of age at the time of a brain lesion. Participants with unilateral cortical lesions were selected from an initial data base of 685 patients. Ninety-six participants formed a longitudinal cohort for a first study and 314 participants formed a cross-sectional cohort for a second study. Participants of each study were split into two age groups according to the age at the time of the lesion: (1) before 7 years, (2) 7 years or more. Results showed a significantly different recovery profile as a function of age in the longitudinal study. Older participants manifested recovery on VIQ and PIQ, while younger participants presented stable profiles. The longitudinal and cross-sectional studies revealed differing recovery profiles as a function of age. Results are discussed in the context of the Kennard principle and with regard to the methodological approaches.     

Attentional bias for words and faces in social anxiety

Conflicting findings concerning the nature and presence of attentional bias in social anxiety and social phobia have been reported in the literature. This paper reports the findings of two studies comparing people with high and low social anxiety on dot probe tasks using words, faces photographed in front view, and faces photographed in profile as stimuli. In Study 1 those with high social anxiety displayed an attentional bias towards negative faces. The low social anxiety group showed an attentional bias towards positive faces. No significant effects were observed on the dot probe using words as stimuli. Study 2 used pairs of faces presented in profile as though looking at each other. One of the faces displayed either a positive, negative or neutral expression. The second face always had a neutral expression, and in half of the trials it was the subject's own face. The findings of this more ecologically valid procedure replicated those of Study 1. Facilitated attention to dots following emotional faces was specific to threatening facial stimuli. From these studies it appears that the facial dot probe task is a more sensitive index of attentional bias than the word task in a non-clinical sample with social anxiety.     

The ontology of artifacts

Beginning with Aristotle, philosophers have taken artifacts to be ontologically deficient. This paper proposes a theory of artifacts, according to which artifacts are ontologically on a par with other material objects. I formulate a nonreductive theory that regards artifacts as constituted by—but not identical to—aggregates of particles. After setting out the theory, I rebut a number of arguments that disparage the ontological status of artifacts.     

Coherence of Personal Narratives across the Lifespan: A Multidimensional Model and Coding Method

Personal narratives are integral to autobiographical memory and to identity, with coherent personal narratives being linked to positive developmental outcomes across the lifespan. In this article, we review the theoretical and empirical literature that sets the stage for a new lifespan model of personal narrative coherence. This new model integrates context, chronology, and theme as essential dimensions of personal narrative coherence, each of which relies upon different developmental achievements and has a different developmental trajectory across the lifespan. A multidimensional method of coding narrative coherence (the Narrative Coherence Coding Scheme or NaCCS) was derived from the model and is described here. The utility of this approach is demonstrated by its application to 498 narratives that were collected in six laboratories from participants ranging in age from 3 years to adulthood. The value of the model is illustrated further by a discussion of its potential to guide future research on the developmental foundations of narrative coherence and on the benefits of personal narrative coherence for different aspects of psychological functioning.     

Christian materialism in a scientific age

Many Christians who argue against Christian materialism direct their arguments against what I call ‘Type-I materialism’, the thesis that I cannot exist without my organic body. I distinguish Type-I materialism from Type-II materialism, which entails only that I cannot exist without some body that supports certain mental functions. I set out a version of Type-II materialism, and argue for its superiority to Type-I materialism in an age of science. Moreover, I show that Type-II materialism can accommodate Christian doctrines like the Resurrection of the Body, the Incarnation, and the “intermediate state” (if there is one).