Sensitivity for Treatment Effects of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) is a relatively new self-report questionnaire that measures DSM-defined anxiety disorders symptoms in children. The present study examined the treatment sensitivity of the SCARED. Eleven anxiety-disordered children aged 10 to 13 years received cognitive-behavioral treatment, an intervention that is generally known to be effective. Children completed the SCARED on three occasions: (1) 3 months before treatment (i.e., baseline), (2) at pretreatment, and (3) at posttreatment. Before and after treatment, scores on traditional childhood anxiety measures (i.e., State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, and Fear Survey Schedule for Children) were also obtained. Results showed that children's SCARED scores remained relatively stable from baseline to pretreatment. However, from pre- to post-treatment, significant decreases were evident for the SCARED and for all traditional measures. These results suggest that the SCARED reliably taps treatment effects and, thus, provide further support for its utility as a self-report index of childhood anxiety in clinical and research settings.     

Estimating the impact of variable costs on SDy in complex situations

The inclusion of variable costs when estimating the standard deviation of job performance in dollars has been the basis for a number of highly important advances in utility analysis (e.g. Boudreau, 1983; Boudreau & Berger, 1985). However, no studies have shown the feasibility of incorporating variable costs in situations where multiple types of costs might require global estimation of variable costs. Results obtained from a nationwide sample of insurance personnel indicated that global estimates of variable costs were feasible to obtain in such complex situations but that those costs were not a fixed percentage of the value of job performance. Judges reported that the most important inputs of information into their estimates of the value of job performance in dollars were performance and output as well as initiative of the job holder. Surprisingly, salary related information was not reported as a relatively important input.The authors wish to thank Patricia G. Roth, Bart Osburn, and Jim Phillips for reviewing previous drafts of this work and contributing their valuable comments. The paper has improved as a result of their insights.     

Multi-attribute utility analysis using the promes approach

Traditional utility analyses have focused on the economic value of increased job performance. While providing a great deal of information to decision makers, such approaches fail to account for other potentially critical outcomes of implementing a selection system (e.g. legal exposure). This paper proposes a new method for incorporating multiple outcomes in utility analysis. An example shows how to incorporate economic gains due to job performance, legal exposure, effect on protected groups, and organizational image in the decision to implement a new selection system. Integrating these four outcomes into utility analysis captures managerial policy that will allow examination of the process of using utility information to aid decision making. In addition, the method is amenable to use of sensitivity, breakeven, and Monte Carlo analyses advocated by utility researchers (Boudreau, 1991).     

Two scales for measuring patients' perceptions for coercion during mental hospital admission

Legal and extra-legal coercion are pervasive in mental hospital admission and there are sharp disputes about its appropriate role. This article presents two scales for measuring psychiatric patients' perceptions of coercion during hospital admission and reports data on these scales' internal consistency. We measure patients' perceptions of coercion by asking questions, in either an interview or questionnaire format, about their experience of lack of control, choice, influence, and freedom in hospital admission. Patients' responses to questions about their perceptions of coercion were highly internally consistent. The internal consistency of the scale was robust with respect to variation in site, instrument format, patient population, and interview procedure. Correspondence analysis was used to construct two numerical scales of perceived coercion.     

Moral Identity Predicts Adherence to COVID-19 Mitigation Procedures Depending on Political Ideology: A Comparison Between the USA and New Zealand

Reducing the spread of infectious viruses (e.g., COVID-19) can depend on societal compliance with effective mitigations. Identifying factors that influence adherence can inform public policy. In many cases, public health messaging has become highly moralized, focusing on the need to act for the greater good. In such contexts, a person's moral identity may influence behavior and serve to increase compliance through different mechanisms: if a person sees compliance as the right thing to do (internalization) and/or if a person perceives compliance as something others will notice as the right thing to do (symbolization). We argue that in societies that are more politically polarized, people's political ideology may interact with their moral identity to predict compliance. We hypothesized that where polarization is high (e.g., USA), moral identity should positively predict compliance for liberals to a greater extent than for conservatives. However, this effect would not occur where polarization is low (e.g., New Zealand). Moral identity, political ideology, and support for three different COVID-19 mitigation measures were assessed in both nations (N = 1,980). Results show that while moral identity can influence compliance, the political context of the nation must also be taken into account.     

Determining the influence of tangible items on screaming and handmouthing following an inconclusive functional analysis

A brief experimental analysis was used to compare the effects of the presence of tangible objects in an alone condition following an inconclusive functional analysis of screaming and handmouthing behavior of an 8‐year‐old boy. The alone condition with tangibles involved having toys available throughout the session with no interaction from the therapist and produced a higher percentage of intervals with screaming and handmouthing. The study demonstrates the importance of evaluating the effects of the presence of tangible items during a functional analysis. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Women of Spirit: Leaders in the Counseling Profession

This phenomenological study documents the voices and experiences of 10 female leaders in the counseling profession. Two protégés of each leader were interviewed to gain additional perspectives about these leaders. Leaders described experiences, contexts, processes, and outcomes that characterized their roles as positional and nonpositional leaders. Leaders highlighted themes of opportunity, challenge, unique and common ways of being, and empowerment. Protégés confirmed and enriched the leaders' accounts. Recommendations for personal and professional development are included.     

Forming Composites of Cognitive Ability and Alternative Measures to Predict Job Performance and Reduce Adverse Impact: Corrected Estimates and Realistic Expectations

Although there has been empirical attention paid to the criterion‐related validity of predictor composites, there has been much less attention paid to the standardized ethnic group differences associated with these composites. One important area of inquiry in predictor composite research is the influence of adding predictors to a test of general mental ability. The limited empirical literature on this practice is mixed, but the prevailing expectation is that there is likely to be higher validity and less adverse impact. Unfortunately, much of the previous work is limited by the presence of inaccurate validity and standardized ethnic group difference values. In this analysis we formed meta‐analytic matrices to more accurately estimate the validity and standardized ethnic group differences of several composites that combine a measure of cognitive ability with measures of conscientiousness, a structured interview, or biodata. While results were somewhat complex, we found that adding alternative predictors does not result in a situation in which validity automatically goes up and adverse impact potential automatically goes down. In fact, the reductions in adverse impact (if any) from adding “non‐cognitive” predictors were more modest than much of the literature suggests.