Work with adolescents brief psychotherapy with a limited aim

The ideas and cases presented here are the outcome of our experience in an experimental “Walk-in-Centre” for young people between the ages of 14-22 years. Our approach, however, was influenced by the insight and understanding acquired from intensive analytic work with adolescents and the detailed discussion and research studies undertaken at the Hampstead Child Therapy Clinic.     

Race and Ethnicity: An 11‐Year Content Analysis of Counseling and Values

Using the Dimensions of Personal Identity Model proposed by Arredondo and Glauner (as cited in Arredondo et al., 1996 ), the authors reviewed the last 11 years of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling's journal, Counseling and Values, specifically regarding the “A” dimensions of race and ethnicity. Twenty‐five of the 235 articles reviewed (11%) contained a multicultural perspective defined in these terms. Other aspects of cultural inclusion, such as authorship and type of study, were also considered.     

Aristotle and Personal Selling

Abstract

The authors discuss the relevance of Aristotle's writings, particularly in the Rhetoric, to modern-day personal selling. Aristotle endorses a sophisticated approach to selling—advocating a customer orientation and segmented markets. He proposes a three-pronged selling process that includes appeals to reason and the emotions of the purchaser while concurrently convincing the purchaser of the seller's integrity. Aristotle argues that the art of selling is subject to systematic formal treatment and demonstrates the possibilities of formal analysis in persuasion. He further assimilates logical argument with practical persuasion in a way that provides a sound basis for selling strategy.     

Process Evaluation of A Physical Activity Self-Management Program For Children: Spark

Abstract

SPARK is a controlled field study of a multi-component elementary school program to promote physical activity. One component is a weekly classroom-based self-management program, with the goal of increasing physical activity outside of school. The curriculum included goal setting, behavioral skills training, a reward system, and parent involvement. An evaluation of curriculum implementation and association between process and outcome was conducted using direct observation of lessons, subjective ratings by 24 teachers and 391 parents, and participation records of 549 students. Teachers viewed the self-management curriculum less positively than the physical education curriculum. Teachers were observed implementing an average of 65% of curriculum elements, which may have contributed to the limited effects of the self-management program. Student participation in the program, measured by points earned for doing out of school physical activity, was correlated significantly with changes in body mass index and multiple psychosocial variables among boys but not girls. Barriers to full program implementation were identified, and a remaining challenge is to improve self-management curriculum implementation by teachers.     

Methodological practices in cognitive style research: Insights and recommendations from the field of business and psychology

This study provides insights and recommendations concerning methodological practices of cognitive style research applied to the field of business and psychology. Based on a carefully designed selection process, 139 style-related articles published between 1986 and 2010 were content-analysed. In terms of research design, we found the field to be dominated by quantitative, cross-sectional, and single-source designs that relied heavily on self-reports, sample surveys, and student samples. While this might indicate a potential vulnerability in terms of internal and external validity, a strong emphasis on construct validity was also found, exemplified by high attention to reliability, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. With regard to construct measurement, although more than 30 different instruments were used, the field was dominated by three of these. Regarding data analysis, traditional approaches have been mainly used and more advanced and novel approaches have not yet permeated through the cognitive style field. Implications and suggestions for future research are offered. This is the first review of methodological practices in cognitive style research and represents an important step in the advancement of the field.     

Training for paraprofessional counsellors: Evaluating the meaning and impact of a common factors approach

A group of 12 people participated in a short (40 hours) counselling training programme for paraprofessional counsellors, which emphasised the importance of common factors in accounting for therapeutic effectiveness. The general framework, language and skills of a brief, solution‐focused approach was used as a means of translating the theoretical/conceptual ideas of the common factors model into specific counsellor behaviours and also to provide structure and focus for counselling sessions. A pluralist methodology was employed to assess the personal meaning of the training for participants and the impact of the training on the development of counselling skills and awareness. Results indicated the training impacted positively on the development of counselling skills and ability to handle difficult client behaviours but less so on personal values and ability to deal with process issues. The majority of participants believed the training contributed positively toward their personal development.     

The Dimensions Underlying Loneliness Counseling Interventions: A Multidimensional Scaling Solution

The purpose of this study was to investigate major dimensions affecting the acceptability of loneliness counseling interventions from the potential client's perspective and to compare the results with dimensions posited by theoretical models of treatment acceptability. Data were collected from 241 university students who were asked to sort loneliness counseling interventions on the basis of their similarities. Multidimensional scaling analyses revealed 4 dimensions underlying the acceptability of loneliness counseling interventions: the type of activity required by the intervention, the counselor-client relationship, the difficulty of the intervention, and the fit of the intervention to the problem.     

Luminance control of a small computer CRT display: A very cheap technique

An inexpensive way to produce continuous variation in the luminance of a computer-controlled CRT display is described. One application of that system to the study of motion-analyzers in human vision is discussed briefly.     

Episodic and semantic memory in accounts of food intolerance

It was hypothesized that accounts of occasions of eating followed by adverse symptoms (i.e. perceived food intolerance) would contain greater detail when based on recall of actual events, using episodic memory. Where accounts lacked detail it was hypothesized that recalled events were based on knowledge about food intolerance, without personal experience of a plausible incident. These hypotheses were tested by categorizing the contents of interviews of respondents to a randomized survey of the electorate in the Birmingham area, who attributed one or more adverse symptoms to one or more foods. The majority of interview records provided evidence for semantic memory rather than recall of actual episodes of food ingestion followed by symptoms(s). Vagueness of recollection correlated negatively with patho‐physiological plausibility of the perceived food intolerance. Greater detail and specificity in accounts of food‐symptom episodes was positively correlated with plausibility. Rareness of food‐symptom(s) contingencies also correlated with detail and specificity in accounts of episodes and with plausibility of food intolerance. Detail and specificity of accounts of the eating of foods followed by symptoms, when coupled with rareness of the contingency of that food being followed by those symptoms, may prove to be a better predictor of physically diagnosed food intolerance than plausibility by patho‐physiological criteria alone. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.