Improved Parental Emotional Functioning After Circle of Security 20-Week Parent–Child Relationship Intervention

This study examined the effectiveness of the attachment-based Circle of Security 20-week intervention (COS) in improving parent emotional functioning in 83 families referred to a community clinical service with concerns about their young children’s behavior. Parenting stress and parent psychological symptoms were assessed pre and post intervention and mixed design repeated measures ANOVAs were used to assess change. Severity of presenting problems was considered as a moderator. Results showed clinically significant improvements in both aspects of parent emotional functioning, with changes accounted for by for those with more severe problems at the outset. Improvements for parents were associated with improved child behavior and more positive parent representations of the child and of parenting capacity. Findings suggest the intensive COS intervention is effective in reducing parenting stress and psychological symptoms in parents of children from aged 1–7 years. Questions remain about the mechanisms of change and the direction of effects.     

A Virtue-Based Defense of Mathematical Apriorism

Mathematical apriorists usually defend their view by contending that axioms are knowable a priori, and that the rules of inference in mathematics preserve this apriority for derived statements—so that by following the proof of a statement, we can trace the apriority being inherited. The empiricist Philip Kitcher attacked this claim by arguing there is no satisfactory theory that explains how mathematical axioms could be known a priori. I propose that in analyzing Ernest Sosa’s model of intuition as an intellectual virtue, we can construct an “intuition–virtue” that could supply the missing explanation for the apriority of axioms. I first argue that this intuition–virtue qualifies as an a priori warrant according to Kitcher’s account, and then show that it could produce beliefs about mathematical axioms independent of experience. If my argument stands, this paper could provide insight on how virtue epistemology could help defend mathematical apriorism on a larger scale.     

Exposure-based Interventions for the management of individuals with high levels of needle fear across the lifespan: a clinical practice guideline and call for further research

Needle fear typically begins in childhood and represents an important health-related issue across the lifespan. Individuals who are highly fearful of needles frequently avoid health care. Although guidance exists for managing needle pain and fear during procedures, the most highly fearful may refuse or abstain from such procedures. The purpose of a clinical practice guideline (CPG) is to provide actionable instruction on the management of a particular health concern; this guidance emerges from a systematic process. Using evidence from a rigorous systematic review interpreted by an expert panel, this CPG provides recommendations on exposure-based interventions for high levels of needle fear in children and adults. The AGREE-II, GRADE, and Cochrane methodologies were used. Exposure-based interventions were included. The included evidence was very low quality on average. Strong recommendations include the following. In vivo (live/in person) exposure-based therapy is recommended (vs. no treatment) for children seven years and older and adults with high levels of needle fear. Non-in vivo (imaginal, computer-based) exposure (vs. no treatment) is recommended for individuals (over seven years of age) who are unwilling to undergo in vivo exposure. Although there were no included trials which examined children < 7 years, exposure-based interventions are discussed as good clinical practice. Implementation considerations are discussed and clinical tools are provided. Utilization of these recommended practices may lead to improved health outcomes due to better health care compliance. Research on the understanding and treatment of high levels of needle fear is urgently needed; specific recommendations are provided.     

Quantitative Meta-Analyses: Lateralization of Memory Functions Before and After Surgery in Children with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Neuropsychology Review - Memory deficits in children with epilepsy have been reported in some but not all studies assessing the effects of side of seizures and resection from the temporal lobe on...     

Alberto G. Urquidez, (Re-)Defining Racism: A Philosophical Analysis,Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, Viii +421 Pp. the Concept of Racism and the Adjective Racist

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice -     

Executive abilities in children with congenital visual impairment in mid-childhood

The role of vision and vision deprivation in the development of executive function (EF) abilities in childhood is little understood; aspects of EF such as initiative, attention orienting, inhibition, planning and performance monitoring are often measured through visual tasks. Studying the development and integrity of EF abilities in children with congenital visual impairment (VI) may provide important insights into the development of EF and also its possible relationship with vision and non-visual senses. The current study investigates non-visual EF abilities in 18 school-age children of average verbal intelligence with VI of differing levels of severity arising from congenital disorders affecting the eye, retina, or anterior optic nerve. Standard auditory neuropsychological assessments of sustained and divided attention, phonemic, semantic and switching verbal fluency, verbal working memory, and ratings of everyday executive abilities by parents were undertaken. Executive skills were compared to age-matched typically-sighted (TS) typically-developing children and across levels of vision (mild to moderate VI [MVI] or severe to profound VI [SPVI]). The results do not indicate significant differences or deficits on direct assessments of verbal and auditory EF between the groups. However, parent ratings suggest difficulties with everyday executive abilities, with the greatest difficulties in those with SPVI. The findings are discussed as possibly reflecting increased demands of behavioral executive skills for children with VI in everyday situations despite auditory and verbal EF abilities in the typical range for their age. These findings have potential implications for clinical and educational practices.     

The positive eating scale: relationship with objective health parameters and validity in Germany,the USA and India

Objective: The prevailing focus regarding eating behaviour is on restriction, concern, worry and pathology. In contrast, the purpose of the present studies was to focus on a positive relationship with eating in non-clinical samples from Germany, the USA and India.

Design: In Study 1, the Positive Eating Scale (PES) was tested and validated in a large longitudinal sample (T1: N = 772; T2: N = 510). In Study 2, the PES was tested in online samples from the USA, India and Germany (total N = 749).

Main Outcome Measures: Health risk status was measured in Study 1 with objective health parameters (fasting serum glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure, waist circumference, BMI).

Results: Study 1 revealed acceptable psychometric properties of the PES, internal consistency (α = .87), as well as test–retest reliability after six months (r = .67). Importantly, a positive relationship with eating was associated with decreased health risk factors six months later. In Study 2, the structure of the PES was confirmed for German, Indian and US-American adults, suggesting validity across remarkably different eating environments.

Conclusion: A positive relationship with eating might be a fruitful starting point for prevention and intervention programmes promoting physical and psychological health.     

Shades of support: An empirical assessment of D&I policy support in organizations

In this research, we aim to develop a better understanding of the different ways in which employees can advance or resist the diversity and inclusion (D&I) policies implemented by their organization. To this end, we complement prior work by distinguishing between employees' attitudinal and behavioral opposition versus support for D&I policies. We combine these to distinguish different combinations of attitudinal and behavioral responses that characterize specific groups of employees, which we label opponents, bystanders, reluctants, and champions. In a large-scale survey study conducted among employees from seven organizations located in the Netherlands (n = 2913), we find empirical support for the validity of this taxonomy and its value in understanding the likelihood that employees advance or resist D&I policies. Furthermore, we find more convergence between attitudinal and behavioral support when employees perceive a more positive climate for inclusion. Together, these results advance existing scholarly work by providing both a theoretical account of and empirical evidence for the different ways in which D&I policies may find support or resistance from employees. In addition, our work offer practitioners a practical tool to examine the likelihood that D&I policies meet support or opposition from their employees and therefore enables them to design and implement more effective D&I interventions.