A Model for Peer Experiential and Reciprocal Supervision (PEERS) for Genetic Counselors: Development and Preliminary Evaluation Within Clinical Practice

A model for practising genetic counselors to obtain clinical supervision via reciprocal peer observation and feedback was developed and trialled. The model was developed in response to a perceived lack of opportunity for immediate observational feedback for practising genetic counselors. The aims reached by consensus were to facilitate learning new approaches and skills, to revitalise current ways of practising, and to enhance supervision skills in a two-way process, where the observer learnt from the counselor, and vice-versa. The genetic counselors agreed on a process of paired reciprocal observation whereby the observer was present in the room during the counseling session, and a reflective feedback discussion was arranged within 24 h of the session. Four main themes emerged from analysis of the recorded discussions were (i) “I wasn’t sure if I-”: voicing of doubts or internal questions that occurred during session for the counselor conducting the session, (ii) “I really liked that”: positive feedback and validation from the observer, (iii) “I wonder whether-”: offering of alternative views, insights and strategies by the observer, and (iv) “That’s a real thing for me to take away and think about”: evidence of learning by both observers and counselors.     

Athletes' perceptions of how cognitive interference during competition influences concentration and effort

Abstract

This paper investigates athletes' perception of the relationship between cognitive interference and its effects on concentration and effort during sport performance. The sample consisted of 115 volleyball players that took part in a national university tournament. Three different kinds of thoughts were investigated: ‘performance worries’, ‘situation-irrelevant thoughts’, and ‘thoughts of escape’. Path analysis was used to examine the relationships. All kinds of thoughts were reported to be detrimental to concentration, whereas different patterns of associations emerged between different thoughts and subsequent effort. ‘Performance worries’ were reported to be related to increases in effort for athletes holding higher goal attainment expectancies and decreases in effort for athletes holding lower goal attainment expectancies. ‘Thoughts of escape’ were reported to be related to decreases in effort, while no significant relation between ‘situation irrelevant thoughts’ and effort emerged. Results stress the importance of further examining the role of interfering thoughts athletes experience during competition.     

Males' Reactions to Participating in Research on Dating Violence Victimization and Childhood Abuse

Childhood abuse and dating violence victimization are prevalent and devastating problems. Although there has been an abundance of research on these topics in recent years, researchers and institutional review boards often struggle with determining whether asking respondents questions on previous violence will result in increased emotional distress or other negative research outcomes. Empirical data are therefore needed that examine the research reactions of individuals who participate in research on childhood abuse and dating violence. This study examined this topic among a sample of male college students (N?=?193). Results showed that victims of childhood sexual abuse had more negative emotional reactions and victims of physical dating violence had more negative perceived drawbacks to research participation than nonvictims. However, victims and nonvictims did not differ on positive research reactions. These findings suggest that there are few differences between victims and nonvictims on research reactions.     

Empathy deficits and sexual offending: A model of obstacles to empathy

Theoretical models of the role of empathy in sexual offending agree on five components relevant to the experience of empathy: a respectful and compassionate orientation to others, perspective taking, affective responding, the ability to manage personal distress, and situational factors. We identify overlap between these components of the empathic process and established risk factors for sexual offending and create a model detailing potential blocks to the empathic process during sexual offending. The model has external consistency and useful implications for interventions with sex offenders. Viewed in the light of this model, we argue that current sex offender treatment programs spend a disproportionate amount of time examining empathy for past victims. We recommend, instead, that treatment aims to enhance offenders' abilities in relation to the components of the empathic process more generally, using creative and engaging techniques akin to those used to develop “victim empathy”.     

Emotion at Work: To What Extent are We Expressing,Suppressing, or Faking It?

Emotions and emotion management are a prominent feature of organizational life and the concept of emotional labour was coined to describe the effort required to fake or suppress an emotional display because of the demands of the work role. Although much qualitative work has been conducted to investigate emotional labour, no attempts have been made to measure the degree to which this emotion work occurs. This omission is partly due to the difficulties in defining the construct and dimensions of emotional labour and this article discusses previous attempts at definition and reconceptualizes the concept in order to allow the development of a measurement tool. The process of development and testing of the tool within 12 UK companies is the focus of the remainder of the article and leads directly to the first quantitative answer to the question, to what extent are we expressing, suppressing, and faking emotion at work? Results suggest that emotional labour is performed in almost two-thirds of workplace communications, both at and away from the frontline. Implications for practitioners and researchers are outlined.     

Drive for muscularity and muscularity-oriented disordered eating in men: The role of set shifting difficulties and weak central coherence

Set shifting difficulties and weak central coherence are information-processing biases associated with thinness-oriented eating and body image pathology in women. However, little is known about the relationship between these processing biases and muscularity-oriented eating and body image pathology. We investigated whether set shifting and central coherence were uniquely related to the drive for muscularity and muscularity-oriented disordered eating in a sample of 91 male undergraduates. Participants completed the Wisconsin Card Sort Test, the Matching Familiar Figures Task, the Drive for Muscularity scale, and a modified Eating Disorders Examination-Questionnaire. Results indicated that set shifting difficulties and weak central coherence were both uniquely positively associated with the drive for muscularity, and that set shifting difficulties were uniquely positively associated with muscularity-oriented disordered eating. Results are discussed with regard to the male experience of body image and eating pathology, and in regard to muscle dysmorphia.     

Long‐term Effects of Dieting: Is Weight Loss Related to Health?

“Success” in dieting interventions has traditionally been defined as weight loss. It is implicit in this definition that losing weight will lead to improved health, and yet, health outcomes are not routinely included in studies of diets. In this article, we evaluate whether weight loss improves health by reviewing health outcomes of long‐term randomized controlled diet studies. We examine whether weight‐loss diets lead to improved cholesterol, triglycerides, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose and test whether the amount of weight lost is predictive of these health outcomes. Across all studies, there were minimal improvements in these health outcomes, and none of these correlated with weight change. A few positive effects emerged, however, for hypertension and diabetes medication use and diabetes and stroke incidence. We conclude by discussing factors that potentially confound the relationship between weight loss and health outcomes, such as increased exercise, healthier eating, and engagement with the health care system, and we provide suggestions for future research.     

Vividness of visual imagery and source memory for audio and text

Two groups of high and low vivid imagers heard an audiotape of a crime, read an account of it with both correct and new information, then took recognition and source memory tests. While listening and reading, both groups were told to attend carefully, but one was also instructed to form visual images of the scene. Recognition memory accuracy was greater for material from the text only than from the audio only, whereas source memory accuracy was greater for audio than for text. For source memory of text, high imagers performed more poorly than low imagers under imagery instructions. These results replicate previous work and extend it from an initial film source to an audio source. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.