Development and initial validation of the anti-racism behavioral inventory (ARBI)

This investigation reports on the development and initial validation of the anti-racism behavioral inventory, a measure designed to assess anti-racism awareness and behavior among students in counseling and counseling psychology programs within the United States (US). Data from 513 participants were collected over three related studies. Factor analyses suggested that the 21-item scale was best represented as a bifactor model with one general anti-racism behavior factor and three domain-specific factors, namely individual advocacy, awareness of racism, and institutional advocacy. Additional validity was supported through inverse associations with measures of symbolic racism and color-blind racial attitudes, as well as positive associations with scores on the Quick Discrimination Index. Potential utility of the measure and future directions for ongoing development is discussed.     

Newborn Screening for Lysosomal Storage Disorders: Views of Genetic Healthcare Providers

Lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs), lysosomal enzyme deficiencies causing multi-system organ damage, have come to the forefront in newborn screening (NBS) initiatives due to new screening technologies and emerging treatments. We developed a qualitative discussion tool to explore opinions of genetic healthcare providers (HCPs) regarding population-based NBS for MPS types 1 and 2, Pompe, Gaucher, Fabry, and Krabbe diseases. Thirty-eight telephone interviews conducted by a single researcher were analyzed and coded for thematic trends. Six major themes emerged: 1) treatment availability and efficacy is crucial; 2) early age of disease onset is important; 3) ambiguity regarding prognosis is undesirable; 4) parents’ ability to make reproductive decisions is seen by some as a benefit of NBS; 5) paucity of resources for follow-up exists; and 6) the decision-making process for adding conditions to mandated NBS is concerning to HCPs. Among the LSDs discussed, Pompe was considered most appropriate, and Krabbe least appropriate, for NBS. MPS1 and MPS2 were overall considered favorably for screening, but MPS1 ranked higher, due to a perception of better efficacy of therapeutic options. Fabry and Gaucher diseases were viewed less favorably due to later age of onset. The themes identified in this study must be addressed by decision-makers in expanding NBS for LSDs and may be applied to many diseases being considered for NBS in the future.     

Exploring the Experiences of Newcomer Women with Insecure Housing in Montréal Canada

The objective of this study was to explore housing insecurity among women newcomers to Montreal, Canada. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 newcomer women who had experienced housing insecurity and five women’s shelter service providers. The primary cause of housing insecurity for newcomer women was inadequate income in the face of rapidly rising housing costs, coupled with unfamiliarity with the dominant culture and the local housing system. Specific events often served as tipping points for immigrant women—incidents that forced women into less secure housing. To avoid absolute homelessness, most women stayed with family, couch surfed, used women’s or educational residences, shared a room or an apartment, lived in hotels, single rented rooms, or transitional housing. These arrangements were often problematic, as crowded conditions, financial dependency, differing expectations and interpersonal conflicts made for stressful or exploitive relationships, which sometimes ended abruptly. Only two of the 26 women interviewed described their current living situation as stable. Based on the findings on the study, we recommend training for housing and immigration service providers, wrap-around services in terms of health, housing and immigration settlement programs that take into account a broad range of immigration statuses and transitional housing that caters to the specific needs of migrant women.     

Examining effects of training duration on humans' resurgence and variability using a novel touchscreen procedure

Resurgence occurs when a previously reinforced and then extinguished target response increases due to reducing/eliminating an alternative source of reinforcement or punishing an alternative response. We evaluated whether duration of reinforcement history for a target response (1) affects the degree to which resurgence is observed in humans and (2) produces different gradients of response generalization around target responding during extinction testing. We arranged a novel touchscreen interface in which university students could swipe a 3D soccer ball to spin any direction. In Phase 1, the first direction swiped became the target and produced points exchangeable for money for 3 or 1 min across 2 groups. The first swipe was recorded but had no programmed consequence in a third group. In Phase 2, swipes 180-degrees from the target resulted in points for 3 min in all groups. Point deliveries ceased for 2 min to test for resurgence in Phase 3. Target responses resurged during testing to a relatively greater extent with longer Phase-1 training but gradients of response generalization did not differ among groups. These findings extend prior research on the role of training duration on resurgence. We discuss methodological and conceptual issues surrounding the assessment of response generalization in resurgence.     

Creating Personal Dispositions for a Professional Counseling Program

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs requires counselor training programs to undergo systematic evaluation of trainees. This evaluation can be challenging at times. The authors posit the use of dispositions as a tool for ongoing assessment of student development by detailing the process used to establish dispositions in a counselor training program. Using an N= 1 intensive case study approach, they provide information about the relevance of dispositions in counselor training, the origin of dispositions for the program, and ongoing efforts to evaluate the dispositions in terms of their relevance to student growth. Implications for counselor training and curriculum development are discussed.     

The effects of threatened social evaluation of the physique on cortisol activity

Social self preservation theory asserts that situations high in social-evaluative threat elicit increases in cortisol, a hormone released by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Most tests of the theory have examined threats associated with social evaluation of a performance. Two experiments examined the effects of threatened social evaluation of one's physique. In Experiments 1 (n?=?50) and 2 (n?=?40), participants allocated to an experimental (threat) condition had significantly higher post-manipulation cortisol than participants in a control (no threat) condition. In Experiment 1, perceptions of social-evaluative threat were significantly correlated with post-manipulation cortisol levels. These results suggest that the threatened social evaluation of one's body can activate the cortisol response. Women who frequently experience such threats may be at increased risk for a variety of health conditions associated with chronic cortisol exposure.     

The impact of category separation on unsupervised categorization

Most previous research on unsupervised categorization has used unconstrained tasks in which no instructions are provided about the underlying category structure or in which the stimuli are not clustered into categories. Few studies have investigated constrained tasks in which the goal is to learn predefined stimulus clusters in the absence of feedback. These studies have generally reported good performance when the stimulus clusters could be separated by a one-dimensional rule. In the present study, we investigated the limits of this ability. Results suggest that even when two stimulus clusters are as widely separated, as in previous studies, performance is poor if within-category variance on the relevant dimension is nonnegligible. In fact, under these conditions, many participants failed even to identify the single relevant stimulus dimension. This poor performance is generally incompatible with all current models of unsupervised category learning.     

Characteristics and Correlates of Cigarette Use Among Recent U.S. Veterans

Little is known about the smoking habits and cessation efforts of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom will seek health care services in the public sector. This project documents rates of smoking and quit attempts among veterans receiving Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) health care and describes the relationship between current smoking use/cessation and demographic characteristics, quality of life, and potential alcohol misuse.

A large representative sample of Iraq/Afghanistan era veterans was surveyed using the VA Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients (Wright, Craig, Campbell, Schafer, &; Humble, 2006 Wright, S. M., Craig, T., Campbell, S., Schaefer, J. and Humble, C. 2006. Patient satisfaction of female and male users of Veterans Health Administration services. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21(Suppl. 3): S26–S32. [Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar]). One third of respondents reported smoking during the past year and 24% reported currently smoking. Current smoking status was more prevalent among those who reported less education and lower household income. Current smoking status was also related to lower mental and physical health quality of life and higher potential alcohol misuse scores. Quit attempts were significantly less common among reserve component veterans and quitters reported higher incomes and were slightly older. The frequency of cigarette smoking among recent veterans underscores the importance of addressing smoking cessation efforts within this population. Individual characteristics associated with current smoking, cessation efforts, and relapse may help tailor cessation treatment for this growing cohort of new veterans.