A randomized trial of a representational intervention to decrease cancer pain (RIDcancerPain).

OBJECTIVE: Based on theories regarding cognitive representations of illness and processes of conceptual change, a representational intervention to decrease cancer pain (RIDcancerPain) was developed and its efficacy tested. DESIGN: A two-group RCT (RIDcancerPain versus control) with outcome and mediating variables assessed at baseline (T1) and 1 and 2 months later (T2 and T3). Subjects were 176 adults with pain related to metastatic cancer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcome variables were two pain severity measures (BPI and TPQM), pain interference with life, and overall quality of life. Mediating variables were attitudinal barriers to pain management and coping (medication use). RESULTS: One hundred and fifty subjects completed the study. Subjects in RIDcancerPain (T1-T2 and T1-T3) showed greater decreases in Barrier scores than those in control. Subjects in RIDcancerPain (T1-T3) showed greater decreases in pain severity than those in control. Change in Barriers scores mediated the effect of RIDcancerPain on pain severity. CONCLUSION: RIDcancerPain was efficacious with respect to some outcomes. Further work is needed to strengthen it.     

A Feminist Analysis of Seventeen Magazine: Content Analysis from 1945 to 1995

This study is an extension of the contentanalysis conducted by K. Peirce [(1990) AFeminist Theoretical Perspective on the Socialization ofTeenage Girls Through Seventeen Magazine, SexRoles, Vol. 23, pp. 491-500]. Her study examined thecontent of Seventeen magazine for the years 1961, 1972,and 1985, and the impact of the feminist movement fromthe 1960s through the 1980s. The present study explored the content of Seventeen magazine in the years1945, 1955, 1965, 1975, 1985, and 1995 to determine ifthe articles that are presented have changed in responseto the feminist movement from the 1940s to the present day. These results would supportthe contention that there is a relationship between thecontent of Seventeen magazine, in terms of traditionalvs. feminist messages, and the women's movement. However, these changes are slight and still donot reflect the various roles of teenage girls.Implications for further research arediscussed.     

OPEN ENVIRONMENT DESIGN FOR INFANT AND TODDLER DAY CARE

Group care settings for dependent people must be organized to facilitate delivery of responsive care and to prevent inadvertant neglect or deliberate abuse. Accordingly, in an infant and a toddler day-care center, an open environment was examined as a means to increase the visibility of children to staff and of staff-child interactions to the supervisor, and to investigate potential adverse effects of the open environment on infants' and toddlers' activities. These studies demonstrated that: (1) an open environment markedly decreased the amount of time a child could not be seen by any adult and the amount of time staff members' activities were not visible to the supervisor, and markedly reduced the effort required to supervise those who were not immediately visible; (2) an open environment did not adversely affect the sleep of either infants or toddlers; and (3) an open environment is as conducive to small group pre-academic activities with toddlers as is a separate room. These studies convinced us that infant and toddler day care can and should be accomplished in an open environment.     

Effects of stimulus duration and intensity on the rate and specificity of behavioural habituation

Tone stimuli were presented to rats once per day until habituation was reached. Neither the duration nor the intensity of the stimulus affected the rate of habituation. Habituation was specific to both these stimulus parameters as shown by the distraction produced by either an increase or a decrease in the original stimulus value. It is suggested that some of the discrepancies in the literature might be resolved if a distinction is drawn between habituation of orienting responses and the decrement of more specific responses.     

Does Sex-biased Job Advertising “Aid and Abet” Sex Discrimination?1

Two studies are reported which indicate that both sex-biased wording in job advertisements and the placement of help-wanted ads in sex-segregated newspaper columns discourage men and women from applying for “opposite-sex” jobs for which they might well be qualified. Both studies were originally conducted and presented as part of legal testimony in actual sex discrimination cases.