The Partners for Life Program: A Couples Approach to Cardiac Risk Reduction

Morbidity and mortality are reliably lower for the married compared with the unmarried across a variety of illnesses. What is less well understood is how a couple uses their relationship for recommended lifestyle changes associated with decreased risk for illness. Partners for Life compared a patient and partner approach to behavior change with a patient only approach on such factors as exercise, nutrition, and medication adherence. Ninety‐three patients and their spouses/partners consented to participate (26% of those eligible) and were randomized into either the individual or couples condition. However, only 80 couples, distributed across conditions, contributed data to the analyses, due to missing data and missing data points. For exercise, there was a significant effect of couples treatment on the increase in activity and a significant effect of couples treatment on the acceleration of treatment over time. In addition, there was an interaction between marital satisfaction and treatment condition such that patients who reported higher levels of marital distress in the individuals condition did not maintain their physical activity gains by the end of treatment, while both distressed and nondistressed patients in the couples treatment exhibited accelerating gains throughout treatment. In terms of medication adherence, patients in the couples treatment exhibited virtually no change in medication adherence over time, while patients in the individuals treatment showed a 9% relative decrease across time. There were no condition or time effects for nutritional outcomes. Finally, there was an interaction between baseline marital satisfaction and treatment condition such that patients in the individuals condition who reported lower levels of initial marital satisfaction showed deterioration in marital satisfaction, while non satisfied patients in the couples treatment showed improvement over time.     

An attentional-adaptation account of spatial negative priming: Evidence from event-related potentials

Negative priming (NP) refers to a slower response to a target stimulus if it has been previously ignored. To examine theoretical accounts of spatial NP, we recorded behavioral measures and event-related potentials (ERPs) in a target localization task. A target and distractor briefly appeared, and the participant pressed a key corresponding to the target’s location. The probability of the distractor appearing in each of four locations varied, whereas the target appeared with equal probabilities in all locations. We found that response times (RTs) were fastest when the prime distractor appeared in its most probable (frequent) location and when the prime target appeared in the location that never contained a distractor. Moreover, NP effects varied as a function of location: They were smallest when targets followed distractors in the frequent distractor location—a finding not predicted by episodic-retrieval or suppression accounts of NP. The ERP results showed that the P2, an ERP component associated with attentional orientation, was smaller in prime displays when the distractor appeared in its frequent location. Moreover, no differences were apparent between negative-prime and control trials in the N2, which is associated with suppression processes, nor in the P3, which is associated with episodic retrieval processes. These results indicate that the spatial NP effect is caused by both short- and long-term adaptation in preferences based on the history of inspecting unsuccessful locations. This article is dedicated to the memory of Edward E. Smith, and we indicate how this study was inspired by his research career.     

Recall of 9/11/01 as an Indicator of Cognitive Functioning in the Elderly

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the recall of a highly salient remote event, the terrorist attack in New York City on 9/11/01, and general cognitive functioning in the elderly. A heterogeneous group (n = 93) of persons ≥65 years of age (M = 76.5, SD = 6.4), from both community and hospital settings, were asked to describe as much as they could remember about the events of 9/11/01 in New York City. The number of correct factual details, affective or emotional responses, and incorrect details were recorded. Ten multiple choice questions were then administered to assess recognition of the 9/11 events (M = 9.1 items correct, SD = 1.2). The mini mental state exam (MMSE) was also administered (M = 26.3, SD = 3.4). Participants generated a mean of 4.8 (SD = 3) correct factual details about 9/11, 1.1 affective/emotional responses (SD = 1.1), and 0.22 incorrect recollections (SD = 0.46). Significant correlations (p &;lt; .01) were found between correct details recalled and the MMSE (0.42), education (0.37), and age (?0.31). A significant negative correlation (p &;lt; .01) was found between incorrect details recalled and MMSE scores (?0.38). Female participants generated significantly more affective responses than males (M = 1.3 vs. 0.51; p &;lt; .001) but recall of correct details was equivalent. The recall of 9/11 events, approximately 18 months after the incident, appears related to general mental status, education, and age. Responses to this question may be helpful in assessing the mental status of the elderly. In addition, now that objective memory data has been established, recall of this event by other samples of seniors can be monitored over time to determine the cognitive processes related to the storage and retrieval of this unique and tragic event.     

Personality and work-home interaction among dual-earner couples in South Africa: Testing an actor-partner interdependence model

This study aimed to investigate the effect of personality on work-home interaction crossover effects among dual-earner couples in South Africa. The participants were dual-earner couples (n = 264; 132 couples) with young children. They completed measures on work-home interaction and personality. Multilevel modelling was used to analyse predictions for six personality variables and four work-home interaction outcome variables. Additionally, we examined interaction effects between husbands’ and wives’ actor effects, as well as between their partner effects. Results suggest only wives’ Extraversion, Emotional Stability, and Openness positively influenced husbands’ experience of work-home interaction. Work-home personality crossover actor effects were more pronounced for wives. Partner effects were stronger for husbands in that an increase in Extraversion in wives will increase husbands’ experience of positive home-work interaction. A gendered effect appears to influence work-home interaction among South African working couples; this knowledge is important for interventions to establish balanced work and home lives.     

Sexual languages/cultural bodies: Transforming psychoanalysis

Abstract

This paper explores what transformation is necessary for a psychoanalytic practice that is sensitive to the languages of lesbian, gay and bisexual identities in their cultural and historical specificity. It draws on phenomenological texts, in particular Merleau-Ponty, the writing of the psychoanalyst Franz Fanon and also of the feminist theorist and novelist, Audre Lorde. It argues for a practice that challenges the dominant language of psychoanalysis with its dualisms of inner/outer, conscious/unconscious, mind/body, and universal notions of drives and mechanisms. The clinical example of the work of women in a therapy workshop entitled ‘Am I a Lesbian?’ highlights the critical importance of the specificity of language, whether verbal, visual or gestural, and its relation to embodiment in psychotherapy.     

Woman to Woman Sexual Violence

This article addresses woman to woman sexual violence, a topic that is seldom addressed in the therapy literature. A brief history of research and theory on sexual violence is presented followed by two case studies. Treatment issues are discussed and challenging questions are raised in an attempt to increase counselors' awareness of the issue of sexual violence between women with the goal of providing more comprehensive treatment to survivors of woman to woman sexual violence.     

Effects of Head Restraint on Signal Detectability in Simultaneous and Successive Vigilance Tasks

Dittmar, Warm, and Dember (1985) suggested that visual parallax may lead to declines in perceptual sensitivity over time in spatial vigilance tasks involving comparative judgments. The present study tested this possibility by restraining subjects' head movements during a 1-hr vigil in which comparative (simultaneous task) or absolute (successive task) judgments of line length were necessary for signal detection. Under free-viewing conditions, perceptual sensitivity declined over time with both types of tasks. Head restraint eliminated the sensitivity decrement in both cases. The results highlight signal quality as a crucial determinant of perceptual decrements in sustained attention.     

Close encounters of the third order kind

This article describes an exercise developed for assessing trainee family therapists' practice at the end of a placement year in a manner consistent with the third‐order positioning the trainees were endeavouring to adopt in their practice. Evaluation by the trainees confirmed that the exercise had provided them with a significant opportunity to co‐construct with the supervisors their practice learning and future learning goals.