Developing Roles and Skills in Community-Living Adults With Severe and Persistent Mental Illness

People with severe and persistent mental illness often experience a disruption in the development of social roles, and the skills within these roles. Role Development, a set of guidelines for practice, is an intervention to develop roles and skills. The purpose of this study was to continue to examine the efficacy of this intervention. Ten people attending two community mental health programs participated in evaluation and treatment based on Role Development. Quantitative pretest and posttest measures were used. Qualitative components were incorporated to get a sense of the experience involved in developing roles and skills. Quantitative results indicated statistical significance (p < .05) in the development of roles and skills. Qualitative data revealed multiple trends experienced by the participants. This study contributes to the evidenced-based knowledge regarding development of roles and skills for persons living with severe and persistent mental illness.     

Moral sentiments and cooperation: Differential influences of shame and guilt

For centuries economists and psychologists (Frank, 1988 Frank , R. H. (1988) . Passions within reason: The strategic role of the emotions . New York : Norton . (Originally published 1988)  [Google Scholar]; Ketelaar, 2004 Ketelaar, T. 2004. “Ancestral emotions, current decisions: Using evolutionary game theory to explore the role of emotions in decision-making”. In Evolutionary psychology, public policy and personal decisions, Edited by: Crawford, C. and Salmon, C. 145–163. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.  [Google Scholar]; Smith, 1759) have argued that moral emotions motivate cooperation. Ketelaar and Au (2003 Ketelaar, T. and Au, W. T. 2003. The effects of guilt on the behaviour of uncooperative individuals in repeated social bargaining games: An affect-as-information interpretation of the role of emotion in social interaction. Cognition and Emotion, 17: 429–453. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) recently found first evidence that guilt increases cooperation for proselfs in social bargaining games. We investigated whether this effect would also occur for shame, another moral emotion. Using a dyadic social dilemma game in Experiment 1 and an everyday cooperation measure in Experiment 2 as measures for short-term cooperation, we replicated Ketelaar and Au's findings for guilt. However, as predicted on the basis of previous emotion research, we found no such effect for shame. These results clearly indicate that the effects of moral emotions on cooperative behaviour can only be understood if the specific moral emotion is known.     

The social side of shame: approach versus withdrawal

ABSTRACT

At present, the consequences and functions of experiences of shame are not yet well understood. Whereas psychology literature typically portrays shame as being bad for social relations, motivating social avoidance and withdrawal, there are recent indications that shame can be reinterpreted as having clear social tendencies in the form of motivating approach and social affiliation. Yet, until now, no research has ever put these alternative interpretations of shame-motivated behaviours directly to the test. The present paper presents such a test by studying the extent to which shame motivates a preference for social withdrawal versus a preference for social approach. Two studies (N?=?148 and N?=?133) using different shame inductions both showed people experiencing shame to prefer to be together with others (social approach) over being alone (social withdrawal). In addition, the preference for a social situation was found to be unique for shame; it was not found for the closely related emotion of guilt. Taken together, these findings provide direct empirical support for the idea that shame can have positive interpersonal consequences.     

Effects of a Peer Engagement Program on Socially Withdrawn Children with a History of Maltreatment

Children with a history of child maltreatment often have limited social interactions with other children and adults. This study examined the effects of a Peer Engagement Program, consisting of peer mentoring and social skills training with positive reinforcement, in three children with low levels of oral and social interaction. A multiple baseline, single-subject research design was used to test whether introduction of the intervention was associated with increased, directly observed oral interaction and engagement in social activities with peers and adults. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS) were administered before and after intervention. All children showed increased levels of oral and social interaction and improved scores on the SSRS and the CBCL.     

Parenting Wisely: Parent Training via CD-ROM with an Australian Sample

The effectiveness of a parenting program was examined with an Australian sample regarding improved parent knowledge, parental sense of competence, and child behavior. One hundred and sixteen parents and their children were randomly assigned to three conditions: a two-session group based intervention, a two-session self-administered individual intervention, or to a waitlist control group. Across both treatment modalities results reveal a significant increase in parental satisfaction, efficacy, and a reduction in child problem behavior. Improvements were maintained at 3-months follow-up. Results indicate the individual self-administered format enhanced treatment gains relative to the group format.     

Sport-Based Group Therapy Program for Boys with ADHD or with Other Behavioral Disorders

A group of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was compared to children with other behavior and emotional problems. All the participants participated together in 20 weekly sessions for 1 academic year. The participants were assessed with three questionnaires on three different occasions: before the beginning of the group, at the completion of the group, and 1 year after the completion of the group. The results showed that the children indicated improvement in two behavior domains while their parents indicated improvement in the children's behavior in five domains. The most striking improvement was reduction of anxiety.