An Index for Measuring Agency Involvement in Family Therapy

The Progress Index for Family Therapy Programs, an instrument for measuring the relative level of involvement in family therapy by treatment programs, is presented. It was developed as part of a national survey on the use of family therapy for treating drug abuse and includes data from 500 agencies, 76 of which were Community Mental Health Centers. The Index may be useful for assessing extent of family therapy involvement for differing agencies treating different populations.     

Interpersonal Forgiveness Within the Helping Professions: An Attempt to Resolve Differences of Opinion

Lakatos's (1978) philosophy of science is used as a guide for resolving published authors' differences of opinion about interpersonal forgiveness. We first review the ancient writings and current philosophical works regarding interpersonal forgiveness. With these ideas as a foundation we then critique six published papers on forgiveness, all of which have counseling implications. It is suggested that the works are not yet grounded in the foundational writings on forgiveness. The works, thus, may need some refinement in the area of definition, or proposed consequences for a forgiver, or in the processes used to bring about forgiveness in clients. A process model of interpersonal forgiveness then is described. Implications for the use of interpersonal forgiveness within counseling are drawn.     

RETEST EFFECTS ON IDENTICAL AND PARALLEL FORMS IN CERTIFICATION AND LICENSURE TESTING

Examinees who take credentialing tests and other types of high-stakes assessments are usually provided an opportunity to repeat the test if they are unsuccessful on initial attempts. To prevent examinees from obtaining unfair score increases by memorizing the content of specific test items, testing agencies usually assign an alternate form to repeat examinees. Given that the use of multiple forms presents both practical and psychometric challenges, it is important to determine if unwarranted score gains occur. Most research indicates that repeat examinees realize score gains when taking the same form twice; however, the research is far from conclusive, particularly within the context of credentialing. For the present investigations, two samples of repeat examinees were randomly assigned to receive either the same test form or a different, but parallel, form on the second occasion. Study 1 found score gains of about 0.79 SD units for 71 examinees who repeated a certification examination in computed tomography. Study 2 found gains of 0.48 SD units for 765 examinees who repeated a radiography certification examination. In both studies score gains for examinees receiving the parallel test were nearly indistinguishable from score gains for those who received the same test. Factors are identified that may influence the generalizability of these findings to other assessment contexts.     

The Influence of Relationship Beliefs and Problem-Solving Responses on Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association among dysfunctional relationship beliefs, problem-solving responses, and satisfaction in close relationships. A survey was completed by 322 college students, each of whom was currently involved in a close heterosexual relationship. As hypothesized, dysfunctional relationship beliefs exhibited positive correlations with the destructive problem-solving responses of exit and neglect and negative correlations with the constructive problem-solving response of voice. Canonical correlation analysis suggested that individuals possessing the beliefs that disagreement is destructive and partners cannot change were likely to respond to relational problems with exit and neglect and to eschew responding with voice. Both dysfunctional beliefs and problem-solving responses were associated with relational satisfaction. However, dysfunctional beliefs failed to predict satisfaction when controlling for problem-solving responses. Support was therefore obtained for the prediction that problem-solving responses mediate the association between dysfunctional beliefs and relational satisfaction.     

The Contradictions of Caring: Social Workers,Teachers, and Attributions for Poverty and Welfare Reform

This paper examines the attitudes toward poverty and welfare reform of a sample of social workers and inner‐city school teachers. More specifically, it focuses on the impact of poverty attributions on attitudes toward welfare reform among members of this sample. There is a mystery about attitudes toward welfare reform that the paper attempts to explain. These social workers and teachers rejected most of the 1996 changes to welfare, but they were surprisingly positive about the impact these reforms have on the families with whom they work. This contradictory set of beliefs is explained as a function of the family‐oriented view of poverty that is peculiar to this group.     

What Is the Active Ingredients Equation for Success in Executive Coaching?

In this response, we address commentator concerns about the generalizability of the active ingredients of psychotherapy to the science and practice of executive coaching. We discuss four ingredient that may make a difference: (a) client characteristics, (b) goals or success criteria, (c) role of the organization, and (d) contextual knowledge of the executive coach. We explore how each of these differences is likely to affect the weighting of the four active ingredients in the equation for predicting executive coaching outcomes. From this analysis, we re-affirm our hypotheses that the active ingredients are generalizable to coaching and hold promise for strengthening research and practice. We conclude by highlighting the efforts of several commentators to extend and deepen our hypotheses to other areas of leadership development.     

Information Attributes as Related to Psychological Symptoms and Perceived Control Among Information Seekers in the Aftermath of Technological Disaster

The relationship among information attributes, psychological symptoms, and perceived control was examined among residents in the vicinity of Three Mile island who attended the Three Mile Island Health and Environmental Information Series on cancer, radiation, and epidemiology of cancer 6 years after the nuclear accident that had occurred and shortly before restart of the plant. Among course participants, greater understanding of information was associated with slightly fewer psychological symptoms. Higher rated reliability of information was associated with less perceived control. Findings are discussed with reference to information delivery under conditions of uncertainty.     

Women and Career Competence: A Theoretical and Experiential Model

The authors describe an experiential workshop, developed to help women with career difficulties, that emphasizes freedom and responsibility for choice.