Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Training for Therapists: Outcomes,Acceptability, and Impact of Support

The objectives of the present study were to assess the effects of online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) training for therapists on measures of CBT knowledge, skills, confidence, and utilisation; to determine what differences might exist between a group supported by regular telephone contact and an independent group who undertook online training without additional support; and to determine the acceptability of CBT online training among rural and remote mental health professionals. Mental health practitioners were randomly allocated to a supported training group (six sessions of 15‐min support) or an independent group. They undertook a 12‐week online CBT training program. The two groups showed similar gains on an objective test of knowledge of CBT, and on self‐report measures of knowledge, skills, confidence levels, and utilisation of skills. However, the supported training group had a significantly higher program completion rate than the independent group. Participants evaluated the program favourably. The results suggest that online CBT training represents a promising and cost‐effective approach to training the mental health workforce, and may be particularly attractive for those who live in regional, rural, and remote communities. A challenge is to determine the most cost‐effective ways to enhance program completion rates and trainee skills.     

Hospitable Hospitals in a Diverse Society: From Chaplains to Spiritual Care Providers

The chaplain’s role in health care services has changed profoundly within the contexts of managerial and fiscal constraints, and increasingly pluralistic and secularized societies. Drawing from a larger study that examined religious and spiritual plurality in health care, we present findings regarding the contributions of chaplains or spiritual care providers (SCPs) as they are referred to more recently, in Canadian institutional health care contexts. Qualitative analyses of interviews with 14 employed SCPs and 7 volunteers provided insights about legitimizing and crafting the role of SPCs, becoming part of the health care team, and brokering diversity. Implications are discussed in relation to role clarification and policy development for truly hospitable health care.     

Diversity,Donations, and Disadvantage: The Implications of Personal Fundraising for Racial Diversity in Evangelical Outreach Ministries

Employing insights from critical whiteness theory, I analyze the fundraising experiences of racial minorities within predominantly white evangelical outreach ministries (EOMs) in order to assess the ways in which the funding structure of EOMs contributes to the reproduction of white structural and cultural dominance and, ultimately, racial homogeneity within these organizations. Quantitative and qualitative data from a mixed-race sample of EOM workers (N = 716) reveal that white dominance is reproduced within the funding structure of EOMs through two primary means: (1) the individualistic fundraising model of EOMs naturally advantages whites over economically disadvantaged minorities, thereby reproducing whites’ structural dominance. And (2) the fundraising strategies of EOMs embody white cultural preferences that become normalized, requiring minorities to sacrifice their own preferences and relationships to adapt. The EOM funding structure thus becomes a mechanism for reproducing white dominance and ultimately fortifying racial divisions and perpetuating racial homogeneity within EOMs.     

Cortisol Reactivity and Socially Anxious Behavior in Previously Institutionalized Youth

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - The current study investigated the association between cortisol stress reactivity to a social stressor and observed socially anxious behaviors...     

Professionalism,Ethics, and Value‐Based Conflicts in Counseling: An Introduction to the Special Section

This introduction to this special section of the Journal of Counseling & Development explores the importance of a code of ethics to the establishment and maintenance of a profession. Recognizing a code of ethics as a communication of a profession's collective values and expectations, the editors of this special section acknowledge the dilemmas that arise when a counselor's personal values do not align with the profession's collective values. The authors of each article address value‐based conflicts in counseling.     

Peak shift in honey bee olfactory learning

If animals are trained with two similar stimuli such that one is rewarding (S+) and one punishing (S?), then following training animals show a greatest preference not for the S+, but for a novel stimulus that is slightly more different from the S? than the S+ is. This peak shift phenomenon has been widely reported for vertebrates and has recently been demonstrated for bumblebees and honey bees. To explore the nature of peak shift in invertebrates further, here we examined the properties of peak shift in honey bees trained in a free-flight olfactory learning assay. Hexanal and heptanol were mixed in different ratios to create a continuum of odour stimuli. Bees were trained to artificial flowers such that one odour mixture was rewarded with 2 molar sucrose (S+), and one punished with distasteful quinine (S?). After training, bees were given a non-rewarded preference test with five different mixtures of hexanal and heptanol. Following training bees’ maximal preference was for an odour mixture slightly more distinct from the S? than the trained S+. This effect was not seen if bees were initially trained with two distinct odours, replicating the classic features of peak shift reported for vertebrates. We propose a conceptual model of how peak shift might occur in honey bees. We argue that peak shift does not require any higher level of processing than the known olfactory learning circuitry of the bee brain and suggest that peak shift is a very general feature of discrimination learning.     

Changes in cue-induced, prefrontal cortex activity with video-game play

Brain responses, particularly within the orbitofrontal and cingulate cortices, to Internet video-game cues in college students are similar to those observed in patients with substance dependence in response to the substance-related cues. In this study, we report changes in brain activity between baseline and following 6 weeks of Internet video-game play. We hypothesized that subjects with high levels of self-reported craving for Internet video-game play would be associated with increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, particularly the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex. Twenty-one healthy university students were recruited. At baseline and after a 6-week period of Internet video-game play, brain activity during presentation of video-game cues was assessed using 3T blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Craving for Internet video-game play was assessed by self-report on a 7-point visual analogue scale following cue presentation. During a standardized 6-week video-game play period, brain activity in the anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortex of the excessive Internet game-playing group (EIGP) increased in response to Internet video-game cues. In contrast, activity observed in the general player group (GP) was not changed or decreased. In addition, the change of craving for Internet video games was positively correlated with the change in activity of the anterior cingulate in all subjects. These changes in frontal-lobe activity with extended video-game play may be similar to those observed during the early stages of addiction.