Managed care and informed consent

Arguments for efficiency in health care delivery have been used to support some level of withholding of information about available treatment options from patients in managed care systems. To the extent that such arguments prevail, they may necessitate changes in the established understanding of and commitment to informed consent and the disclosure of information to patients.     

Semantic priming in visual word recognition: Activation blocking and domains of processing

The fact that letter search on a prime eliminates the typically robust semantic priming effect in lexical decision is often attributed to the “shallowness” of the prime-processing task. In three experiments we investigated this claim by using two different “shallow” prime-processing tasks: letter search and color identification. Consistent with previous reports, lexical decisions to semantically related targets were not facilitated when subjects searched the prime for a probe letter. In contrast, semantic priming was observed following a color discrimination task on the prime. We suggest that a levels-of-processing interpretation is not an adequate framework for understanding these data. Instead, a domain-specific processing account is offered in which explicit processing at the letter level (as in letter search) makes demands on resources (e.g., activation) that drives processing at the semantic level. This competition is resolved by establishing a temporary activation block at the lexical-semantic interface, which results in the elimination or attenuation of semantic priming. In contrast, global judgment of color is viewed as a domain that does not make demands on the resources that drive the visual word recognition machinery. There is therefore no need for an activation block, and semantic priming is not prevented.     

Disclosure and Self-Advocacy Regarding Disability-Related Needs: Strategies to Maximize Integration in Postsecondary Education

This article reviews issues related to disclosure of disability and disability related needs by students in postsecondary education. The first section familiarizes counselors with research related to disclosure; to benefits and concerns regarding disclosure: and to attitudes that are relevant to the issue of disclosure. The second section provides counseling and systems change strategies to enhance the disclosure and self-advocacy skills of students with disabilities regarding disabilily-related needs.     

Cognitive behavioral grief therapy

From a REBT perspective, loss through death is viewed as an intense negative and traumatic Activating event which effects the Belief system and related emotional and behavioral Consequences. Grief, then, is seen as a normal reaction and the process that follows is a necessary one characterized by the bereaved attempting to reorganize a shattered belief system. In the present paper a distinction between functional and dysfunctional grief is made. Based on Ellis' differentiation between iB's and RB's, typical irrational grief-related beliefs are identified (with specific focus on pain related ones). Various REBT interventions aimed at facilitating a more functional, healthier course of grief are suggested.     

Reducing work/home conflicts in employed couples: A proposed program to balance job and family demands

Work/home conflict is a dominant stress for workers in industrialized countries, particularly in dual-employment families. Interindividual (husband/wife) and interrole (work/home) conflicts in such families are a unique source of stress and adversely affect family and marital relationships as well as performance at work. Neither family therapy nor the stress literature have reported any interventions directed specifically at reducing work/home conflicts in employed couples or parents, although many workplaces today offer stress prevention programs aimed at individual workers. This paper discusses the underlying theoretical rationale for a marital enhancement intervention currently being developed for prevention of distress associated with work/home conflicts. The program combines marital enrichment and training principles with stress management techniques and aims at reinforcing shared coping resources. It focuses on four main variables associated with interpersonal processes: unrealistic expectations based on irrational beliefs, social undermining, shared decision control, and social support.     

Word association and availability of response in an aphasic subject

Confirmation of the claim that verbal responses are elicited more easily in aphasia when the range of possible responses is restricted was obtained by comparing stimulus words from a Word Association Test to which an aphasic subject gave three types of responses and those to which she made no response. Contrary to expectation, words of lower frequency in the language did not present more difficulty as stimuli and were given more often as responses than are such words in the norms. It is suggested that a generative model of semantics may be better able to account for such findings than an interpretive dictionary model.This work was assisted by a grant from the Stroke Research Fund.