Work stress and coping: drawing together research and practice

Despite the enthusiasm for coping research, reviewers are concerned that much of the research has failed to live up to expectations as to its practical relevance. Yet the debate about the application of coping research is not short on writers pointing the way forward. By examining a number of issues at the heart of the debate on coping research this paper focuses on what may be ways of bridging the gap between coping research and practice. What follows is a discussion around the belief that if coping research is to become more clinically relevant, then researchers need to make better use of transactional models of stress. More specifically this paper points to the explanatory potential in concepts like appraisal that provide the psychological links between the individual and the stressful encounter. Moreover if coping researchers are to focus on more process-focused models, then what is needed is a time of quiet reconstruction where researchers consider where current methodologies are taking us and what alternative methods can provide. The argument here is that coping research needs to adopt measurement methods that reflect the techniques of clinicians. The emphasis is for coping methods to become more ecologically sensitive, person- and meaning-centred, daily processing and narrative in application.     

Personnel Selection with Top‐Score‐Referenced Banding: On the Inappropriateness of Current Procedures

The method of selecting among job applicants using statistically based banding has been proposed over the last 10 years as a way to increase workforce diversity. The method continues to be reviewed by academics and considered by practitioners. Although the goal of increasing workforce diversity is important, statistical banding of scores remains controversial. We present a set of unique, statistically and theoretically based criticisms of a form of banding (top‐score‐referenced banding) that is widely used in hundreds of jobs in the public sector throughout the United States. We suggest that even within the premises of such banding, the wrong formula is used to estimate the standard error of measurement and standard error of the difference. One consequence is that too many individuals are labeled as essentially equal with respect to test scores. A related consequence is that test scores within a single band are statistically different and should therefore be treated as such for selection purposes. A more logically and statistically defensible procedure for responding to diversity concerns is to continue to attend to adverse impact issues at each step of the recruiting and test development process.     

The Necessity for a Theology of Disease: Reflections on Totalities and Fragments

Abstract. Our ideas of disease try to explain it, and they aim at facilitating cures. In the process, they become entwined in sociocultural networks that have totalizing effects. Disease, however, counters this totalizing effect by revealing to us that our lives are fragments. Unless we engage this fragment character of disease and of our lives, we cannot properly understand disease or deal with it. HIV/AIDS clarifies these issues in an extraordinarily powerful fashion. Medical, legal, commercial, political, and institutional approaches to disease overlook the fragment character of disease in favor of totalizing world‐ views. A theology of disease is necessary in order to maintain the focus on fragments. Unless we recognize this fragment character, we do not really understand our lives, and we do not really understand either disease or healing.     

Effects of test order and modality on sustained attention in children with epilepsy.

Neurological conditions affect sustained attention, but the effects of modality and interactions with test order have not been examined. In a 2 x 2 (Order x Modality) design using 54 children with chronic epilepsy, performance was compared on an auditory measure (modified Seashore Rhythm Test) versus a visual measure of attention (modified Conners' Continuous Performance Test). Auditory scores were worse than visual, F(1, 52) = 98.93, p<.001, but there was no order effect or interaction (p>.05). Implications for assessment and intervention are discussed.     

World Religions and the Northern Ireland Curriculum

The aim of this article is to assess the arguments for and against the inclusion of a study of world religions within the religious education provision of schools in Northern Ireland. The point of departure for our discussion is the Inter-Faith Forum's recent claim that exclusively Christian content may be in breach of equality and human rights legislation. It is concluded that there should be teaching about world religions but that multi-faith religious education of the form espoused in England and Wales, whereby a wide range of religions is covered, is inappropriate to the Northern Irish educational and cultural context.     

Determining the Place of Religion: Native American Traditions and the WWW

Examples of Native American websites reveal great differences in those created by Native and non-Native people. Most often of central concern for non-Indian people is Native American ‘spirituality’. In contrast, Native people rarely discuss religion as a topic distinct from political, economic or material concerns. This disparity highlights the contentious nature of ‘religion’ between Indigenous and Immigrant cultural contexts. It also reveals some features of the relationships between the cultural phenomenon of ‘whiteness’ and religion.     

Using Mental Imagery to Enhance the Effectiveness of Implementation Intentions

Past research shows that forming implementation intentions increases the probability of carrying out goals. The present research proposes that mental imagery can strengthen the effects of implementation intentions on goal achievement. Participants were assigned a mundane goal and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: implementation intentions only or implementation intentions plus mental imagery. Results support the hypothesis that using mental imagery when forming implementation intentions leads to higher rates of goal achievement.     

Step by Step: Avoiding Spiritual Bypass in 12‐Step Work

With spirituality as a cornerstone, 12‐step groups serve a vital role in the recovery community. It is important for counselors to be mindful, however, of the potential for clients to be in spiritual bypass, which likely will undermine the recovery process.     

A hierarchical competing systems model of the emergence and early development of executive function

The hierarchical competing systems model (HCSM) provides a framework for understanding the emergence and early development of executive function – the cognitive processes underlying the conscious control of behavior – in the context of search for hidden objects. According to this model, behavior is determined by the joint influence of a developmentally invariant habit system and a conscious representational system that becomes increasingly influential as children develop. This article describes a computational formalization of the HCSM, reviews behavioral and computational research consistent with the model, and suggests directions for future research on the development of executive function.