Trunk posture affects upper extremity function of adults

This study examined the effects of various seated trunk postures on upper extremity function. 59 adults were tested using the Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test while in three different trunk postures. Significant mean differences between the neutral versus the flexed and laterally flexed trunk postures were noted during selected tasks. Specifically, dominant hand performance during the tasks of feeding and lifting heavy cans was significantly slower while the trunk was flexed and laterally flexed than when performed in the neutral trunk position. Performance of the nondomi nant hand during the tasks of picking up small objects, page turning, as well as the total score was slower while the trunk was flexed compared to performance in the neutral trunk position. These findings support the assumption that neutral trunk posture improves upper extremity performance during daily activities although the effect is not consistent across tasks. Findings are discussed along with limitations and recommendations for research.     

Are complex psychotherapies more effective than biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, or both? A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis of 26 studies was conducted to assess whether more complex forms of psychotherapy would be superior to control treatments of either biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, or both. Consistent with hypotheses, more complex treatments provided a small, significant improvement over biofeedback and progressive muscle relaxation (r = .09). A subset of the more complex behavioral treatments accounted for most of this small incremental effectiveness of more complex treatments (r = .15). Possible sources of this incremental effectiveness are discussed.     

Research without Consent: Exception from and Waiver of Informed Consent in Resuscitation Research

The ethical concept of Informed Consent provides individuals with the right and the opportunity to approve of events that will occur regarding his or her own person. In medicine, informed consent is obtained for treatment and for research participation. However, under some circumstances, prospective informed consent cannot be obtained because of the devastating clinical condition of the patient. In emergency circumstances, treatment is never withheld if obtaining informed consent from a critically ill person is not possible or if a delay while seeking surrogates would further endanger life. In emergency research circumstances, waiving informed consent for study participation is fraught with additional ethical considerations. This article will review a presentation given at the June 2, 2006 conference entitled “The Ethics of Research in Emergency Medicine”. An earlier version of this paper was presented at: The 7th International Conference on Bioethics on “The Ethics of Research in Emergency Medicine”, held on June 2, 2006, Warsaw, Poland.     

Change in emotional processing during a dialectical behavior therapy-based skills group for major depressive disorder

Across studies, paying attention to and analyzing one's emotions has been found to be both positively and negatively correlated with depression symptoms. One way of reconciling these seemingly contradictory findings is the possibility that attending to emotions in a skillful manner may help to reduce depression whereas attending to emotions with limited skill may be counterproductive. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a clinical intervention designed to foster adaptive awareness, expression, regulation, tolerance, and acceptance of emotions. Results of the present report come from a pilot study of a 16-week DBT-based skills training group for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD) as an adjunctive treatment to pharmacotherapy. Patients were randomized to treatment or a waitlist control group. A significant interaction revealed that increases in emotional processing were associated with decreases in depression symptoms in the DBT-based skills group; however, increases in emotional processing in the waitlist condition were associated with increases in depression. Results offer preliminary support for the idea that participating in DBT-based skills training may help individuals with treatment-resistant MDD to develop skills that facilitate processing emotions in a way that helps to reduce rather than exacerbate depression symptoms.     

The relationship between career adaptability, person and situation variables, and career concerns in young adults

We surveyed 245 first-year university students using measures of career concerns, career adaptability (career planning, career exploration, self-exploration, decision-making, self-regulation), goal-orientation (learning, performance-prove, performance-avoid) and social support (family, friends, significant others), and tested: (a) whether the career adaptability variables could be represented by a second-order factor of career adaptability; (b) whether career adaptability, goal-orientation and social support were associated with fewer career concerns; and (c) whether career adaptability mediated the relationship between goal-orientation and social support and career concerns. The study demonstrated that the career adaptability variables were inter-related and could be represented by a higher-order factor. Decision-making and self-exploration were negatively associated with career concerns, and decision-making mediated the relationship between goal-orientation and career concerns. Having more of a learning orientation was associated with more decision-making and fewer career concerns, whereas holding a performance-prove orientation was associated with poorer decision-making and more career concerns.     

Learning to label letters by sounds or names: a comparison of England and the United States

Learning about letters is an important foundation for literacy development. Should children be taught to label letters by conventional names, such as /bi/ for b, or by sounds, such as /b/? We queried parents and teachers, finding that those in the United States stress letter names with young children, whereas those in England begin with sounds. Looking at 5- to 7-year-olds in the two countries, we found that U.S. children were better at providing the names of letters than were English children. English children outperformed U.S. children on letter-sound tasks, and differences between children in the two countries declined with age. We further found that children use the first-learned set of labels to inform the learning of the second set. As a result, English and U.S. children made different types of errors in letter-name and letter-sound tasks. The children's invented spellings also differed in ways reflecting the labels they used for letters.     

Erratum: Durable and generalized effects of spatial experience on mental rotation: Gender differences in growth patterns

The above article (DOI: 10.1002/acp.1420 ) was published online on 26 November 2007 and in print in Volume 22: 996‐1013, 2008. A printing error was subsequently identified in the article. Page 996: Missing author information. Should read Dr. Nora S. Newcombe, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA, National Science Foundation Grants REC‐0337360 and SBE0541957.     

Consumer decision making and aging: Current knowledge and future directions

We review existing knowledge about older consumers and decision making. We develop a conceptual framework that incorporates the notion of fit between individual characteristics, task demands and the contextual environment. When the fit is high, older consumers use their considerable knowledge and experience to compensate for the impact of any age-related changes in abilities and resources. When the fit is relatively low, older consumers feel increased need to adapt their decision making processes. We discuss these consumer adaptations and propose a number of research questions related to the processes underlying them in order to contribute to a better understanding of how they can lead to more effective consumer decision making for older adults. We further consider some pragmatic implications of the adaptations for marketing management and public policy.