Crisis intervention with families of servicemen missing in action

This study investigated reactions and processes in a crisis situation as well as experiences of those who engaged in crisis intervention activities. Thirty-two volunteers, who worked with 55 families of servicemen missing in action during the October 1973 Mideast war, described the families' reactions to the given situation as well as their own involvement. Reactions to crisis and expectations from the volunteers are described and discussed. Special scrutiny was directed at the volunteering phenomenon, and at the volunteers' motivations, needs, reactions, and conflicts.     

Occupational specialty congruence: New data and future directions

The present research examined the relationship between within-occupational congruence and satisfaction, and attempted to integrate hypotheses and findings of prior studies with the conceptual implications of occupational specialty congruence. Correspondence between vocational interests within occupations and specialty choice has shown higher correlations with satisfaction than with congruence (Assouline & Meir, 1987). Occupational specialty congruence was derived by comparing preferred functions with the actual functions characterizing a given occupational specialty. In the present study, involving 120 computer software professionals, occupational specialty congruence correlated approximately .45 with satisfaction, using core job function dimensions. Specialty change within occupation, rather than occupational change, may help in cases of poor occupational choice, burnout, or a change in health. Further research should explore the generalizability of the function dimensions employed herein. Identifying core dimensions can aid in designing both career tracks and certification exams.     

The Children’s Developmental Play Instrument (CDPI): An Extended Validity Study

This is an extended construct validity study of the Children’s Developmental Play Instrument (CDPI), a multidimensional scale to measure play activity among mainstream children based on the psychoanalytic concepts of coping and defensive strategies. The sample included 160 children. Ten-minute videotapes were collected of children between the ages of 1.3 years and 8.5 years at play. The foci of this extended study were six “core” variables comprising the functional level of the CDPI consisting of the following scales: play engagement, symbolic functioning, adaptive play style, inhibited/conflicted play style, impulsive/aggressive play style, and disorganized play style. Good to excellent reliability was achieved by ratings of two independent raters. Regression analysis revealed the five predictors, as a set, were very strong correlates of adaptive play style. Component analysis reduced the six core functional variables to two components clarifying the relationships between the six core variables as organized along two continuums. One continuum is discussed to briefly illustrate the structure of play styles reflected in the play activity of one child.     

Searching for Togetherness: The Simultaneous Treatment of a Mother and Her Early Adolescent Daughter

Simultaneous treatment involves the separate treatment of parent and child by the same therapist. In this supportive–expressive psychotherapy, the focus of treatment is on the connecting points in the relationship between parent and child that cause each member of the dyad to experience difficulties ranging from enmeshment to alienation. The context provided by the parent–child relationship provides a background for the actual, as well as the potential, identities of each of its members. While transforming elements of this relationship radiate change outward, affecting the larger family unit, facets of the parent–child relationship also affect the inner subjective experience and personality structure of each participant. What characterizes this treatment method is not only external arrangements but also the complex nature of the developing transference–countertransference relationships. The therapist is the nodal point, integrating levels of reality by experiencing and communicating new understandings to each member of the dyad.     

Contextual interference and augmented feedback: is there an additive effect for motor learning?

Learning to perform a skilled behavior is affected by the context of the practice session and the frequency of augmented feedback. We studied the combined effect of these variables in the acquisition of a ballistic, bi-directional lever movement pattern involving four different target locations as measured by performance in practice, retention, and transfer tests. Augmented feedback was presented in either an every-trial or a faded schedule during random and blocked practice. Consistent with the contextual interference effect, the blocked practice group produced lower errors in acquisition, but the random practice group outperformed the blocked practice group in both retention and transfer. In contrast, faded feedback did not have a beneficial effect on learning and degraded learning when provided during blocked practice. While the results were consistent with previous findings of random and blocked practice, they were not consistent with previous findings of reduced feedback frequencies.