Effects of Adlerian Play Therapy on Reducing Students' Disruptive Behaviors

This randomized controlled study examined the effectiveness of Adlerian play therapy (AdPT) with 58 elementary school students (48% Latino, 33% European American, 19% African American) exhibiting disruptive classroom behaviors. Teachers and raters blinded to treatment group assignment reported that children in the experimental group demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in behavior problems and that AdPT demonstrated moderate to large treatment effects. Teachers also reported a statistically significant reduction in stress in their relationships with students receiving AdPT.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Self‐Administered Interview© for Witnesses with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The widely used evidence‐based police interviewing technique, the Cognitive Interview, is not effective for witnesses with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study examined whether a modification of the Cognitive Interview that removes the social element, the Self‐Administered Interview^©, is more useful in facilitating recall by ASD witnesses. One of the main components of the Cognitive Interview is context reinstatement, where the witness follows verbal instructions from the interviewer to mentally recreate the personal and physical context that they experienced during the event. The present findings showed that this procedure is not effective for witnesses with ASD in SAI format in which the social component of its administration is removed. However, the SAI sketch plan component did elicit more correct details from the ASD group, although to a lesser degree than for the comparison group. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Authorship Matrix: A Rational Approach to Quantify Individual Contributions and Responsibilities in Multi-Author Scientific Articles

We propose a rational method for addressing an important question—who deserves to be an author of a scientific article? We review various contentious issues associated with this question and recommend that the scientific community should view authorship in terms of contributions and responsibilities, rather than credits. We propose a new paradigm that conceptually divides a scientific article into four basic elements: ideas, work, writing, and stewardship. We employ these four fundamental elements to modify the well-known International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines. The modified ICMJE guidelines are then used as the basis to develop an approach to quantify individual contributions and responsibilities in multi-author articles. The outcome of the approach is an authorship matrix, which can be used to answer several nagging questions related to authorship.     

The role of feedback and dot presentation format in younger and older adults’ number estimation

Numerosity estimation, the rapid assessment of the number of items in a visual scene, is historically inaccurate. We assessed whether providing feedback regarding the correct numerosity on either 0%, 50%, or 100% of the trials would affect younger and older adults’ estimation accuracy for randomized, clustered (i.e., groups of 3 or 7 dots), and stacked (i.e., column) dot formats. Participants provided estimates and confidence ratings in six blocks, each containing 48 trials (16 numerosities shown in each format). Feedback frequency was manipulated between participants during blocks 1–4; no feedback was provided during blocks 5 and 6, which contained old and new numerosities and previously estimated presentations rotated 90°. Estimation accuracy was age equivalent across blocks despite younger adults initially being more accurate than older adults. Feedback improved both age groups’ accuracy. Stacked presentations were most accurately estimated but were more likely to be over-estimated than clustered and randomized presentations. Older adults gave lower confidence ratings than younger adults despite both age groups showing increased confidence across blocks, for more structured presentation formats, and as feedback frequency increased. These results expand our understanding of the role of presentation format and feedback in producing age equivalence or age-related differences in numerosity estimation.     

“Putting One Foot in Front of the Other”: A Qualitative Study of Emotional Experiences and Help-Seeking in Women with Multiple Sclerosis

Treatments for depression and anxiety in multiple sclerosis (MS) are effective but evidence suggests that individuals do not always seek help for emotional difficulties. This study explored how ten women with MS (aged 30–64), recruited via a hospital based MS clinic, coped with and understood their emotions. The semi-structured interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Eight participants discussed the analytic process and themes. Four overarching themes emerged: Disclosure stress, Uncomfortable dependence, Facing deterioration and One step at a time. The women struggled emotionally with many aspects of living with MS yet coping alone provided a way of defying MS and maintaining independence and control. The women needed emotional support but reported thinking others either did not notice or understand; their emotions often felt invisible. More holistic care from services was desired. Non help-seeking for distress was partially influenced by a desire to keep things “normal” and a lack of knowledge regarding service provision.     

A Meta‐Analytic Review of Child‐Centered Play Therapy Approaches

The authors explored the overall effectiveness of child‐centered play therapy (CCPT) approaches through a meta‐analytic review of 52 controlled outcome studies between 1995 and 2010. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques estimated a statistically significant moderate treatment effect size (.47) for CCPT, as well as statistically significant relationships between effect size and study characteristics, including child's age, child's ethnicity, caregiver involvement, treatment integrity, publication status, and presenting issue.