Use of carbon monoxide breath validation in assessing exposure to cigarette smoke in a worksite population

Assessed the usefulness of carbon monoxide (CO) breath validation of self-reported smoking status in a large worksite population (N = 4,647). CO assessment was performed as part of a baseline survey procedure. CO levels differed substantially in relation to self-reported smoking status and amount smoked. Correcting for ambient exposure (estimated by mean CO levels among never smokers) produced more satisfactory results than uncorrected CO levels. Striking company differences were observed in mean CO exposures among self-reported never smokers. An unexpected finding was that 17.1% of current smokers reported smoking less than daily. Although the CO measure was excellent in detecting moderate and heavy smokers, it was inadequate in detecting occasional and light smokers. If detection of occasional or lighter smoking is critical to the purposes of the study, the more expensive (but more accurate) cotinine measure is preferred.     

The perception of /r/ and /l/ in syllable-initial and syllable-final position

American English liquids /r/ and /l/ have been considered intermediate between stop consonants and vowels acoustically, articulatorily, phonologically, and perceptually. Cutting (1947a) found position-dependent ear advantages for liquids in a dichotic listening task: syllable-initial liquids produced significant right ear advantages, while syllable-final liquids produced no reliable ear advantages. The present study employed identification and discrimination tasks to determine whether /r/and /l/ are perceived differently depending on syllable position when perception is tested by a different method. Fifteen subjects listened to two synthetically produced speech series—/li/ to /ri/ and /il/ to /ir/—in which stepwise variations of the third formant cued the difference in consonant identity. The results indicated that: (1) perception did not differ between syllable positions (in contrast to the dichotic listening results), (2) liquids in both syllable positions were perceived categorically, and (3) discrimination of a nonspeech control series did not account for the perception of the speech sounds.     

A taste of reflecting practice

This article describes a training exercise in which students who are new to systemic practice but have some experience in therapeutic work in other modalities were invited to experience reflecting practice. The students were asked to follow a role‐played therapy session by offering reflections on the connections felt to a ‘family’ member. The students stood beside the ‘family member’, reflected on the problems and accounted for the connections felt in terms of particular resonances felt. The students thus experienced a therapeutic use of self congruent with the reflecting team approach and the therapeutic position adopted in reflecting practice.     

Influential Factors in Academic and Career Self‐Efficacy: Attachment,Supports, and Career Barriers

The integration of attachment theory with social cognitive career theory provided a clear and comprehensive theoretical framework for this study. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that perceived support and career barriers mediated the relationship between attachment and efficacy in students (N = 486). Participants who were more securely attached perceived greater social supports and fewer career barriers and had higher efficacy in both academic and career domains. Theoretical, practice, and research implications are discussed.     

Addressing Concealed Suicidality: A Flexible and Contextual Approach to Suicide Risk Assessment in Adults

Concealed suicidality can be a major impediment for clinicians conducting a suicide risk assessment. Client minimization and denial of suicidal thoughts can lead clinicians to undertreat and under-monitor clients experiencing a suicidal crisis. Five recommendations are given to address potential weak areas of suicide assessment with adults including routinized processes and a reliance on assessment instruments that may underestimate risk when individuals have no prior attempts or significant mental illness. Specifically, the authors highlight the importance of continued training and education in suicide assessment, how considering the context of the assessment can heighten one’s sensitivity to concealment of suicidal ideation and how different assessment instruments and interview techniques, when chosen with care, can increase the candor of client expression. The authors also recommend attending to clinician anxiety both as a way of maintaining rapport as well as a method of identifying clues that the assessment is not producing accurate information. Finally, application of recommendations is demonstrated through case vignettes.

     

Benefits of expressive writing and expressive talking about life goals

This study employed a 2 (writing vs. talking) × 2 (life goals vs. daily schedule) fully crossed, factorial design to examine whether health benefits might accrue for talking and/or writing about life goals. Participants assigned the life goals topic had fewer illness-related health center visits, regardless of mode of expression, compared to participants assigned the non-emotional topic. Counter to expectation, optimism did not moderate the effect of topic on illness-related health center visits. Participants in talking groups rated post-intervention mood as less negative than those in writing groups and participants rated talking about life goals as more difficult than writing about life goals.     

Spatial distancing reduces emotional arousal to reactivated memories

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Memories are able to update and adapt with new information about the world after they are reactivated. However, it is unknown whether the labile period following...     

Evaluation of a social skills program based on social learning theory, implemented in a school setting

Using a sample of 647 Canadian children in kindergarten to Grade 3 (325 boys, 322 girls), the present study evaluated the perceived effectiveness of Skillstreaming (McGinnis & Goldstein, 2003), a widely known social skills program implemented to target the development of four skill sets, i.e., listening, following directions, problem-solving, and knowing when to tell. Results indicated significant postprogram improvements in all skills as well as in ratings of overall prosociality obtained from both classroom teachers and mental health staff, with medium to large effect sizes obtained from teachers' and mental health professionals' ratings, respectively. Additional analyses yielded significant but weak moderator effects of grade and preprogram prosocial functioning for teacher ratings but no consistent moderator effects for children's sex or school location (i.e., urban versus rural) regardless of rater.