Developing an emotion-focused therapy model for fear of cancer recurrence: A case-level task analysis

Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) involves anxiety about the possible return or progression of the disease. It is common among people surviving cancer, covering a range of adaptive and maladaptive responses including clinical presentations of FCR, for which different psychological interventions have been developed, most within the cognitive-behavioural paradigm. Recently, emotion-focused therapy (EFT) has been proposed as an alternative and has been the subject of research focusing on the cancer population and cancer-related issues, including FCR. In this study, we looked closely at a successful case from a larger exploratory study, carrying out a discovery-phase task analysis aimed at identifying the main components of EFT–FCR. We found that this approach generally followed the usual structure of an EFT intervention, with four distinct phases. However, we identified some specific secondary processes (e.g., hypervigilance and catastrophising) and clarified the nature of the core pain in this presentation as existential (e.g., fear of dying).     

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and its relationship with negative cognitive schemas in battered women

This study assessed the association between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder symptoms (PTSD) and maladaptive cognitive schemas among intimate partner violence victims. The sample comprised 114 women from specialized services for victims, who completed measures of physical aggression, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, PTSD, and cognitive schemas. Results showed that 67.54% of women met the diagnostic criteria of PTSD. These women endorsed higher levels of schemas related to mistrust/abuse, vulnerability to harm, defectiveness, shame, enmeshment, abandonment and dependence. A structural equation model showed that the relationship between violence and cognitive schemas was fully mediated by the PTSD symptoms. Finally, the clinical implications of the results are discussed.     

Are practitioners incorporating a strengths‐focused approach when working with multi‐problem poor families?

Multi‐problem poor families have been characterized as dysfunctional and chaotic, and problem‐centred interventions have been developed. However, the activation of families' strengths has shown itself to be an important tool for intervention, hence the relevance of promoting the incorporation of a strengths‐focused approach. So, it becomes important to determine to what extent practitioners are thinking of incorporating a strengths‐focused approach when working with these families. To achieve this goal, a semi‐structured interview was administered to 23 practitioners. The findings suggest that practitioners are able to identify strengths but do not think in a strengths‐focused way. The main obstacles are: ambiguity in the definition of strengths, a focus on problems, lack of confidence in the possibility of improvement in the lives of families. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intimate partner violence and depressive symptoms in women: cognitive schemas as moderators and mediators

In this study the role of cognitive schemas as moderators and mediators between intimate partner violence and depressive symptoms was examined. The sample consisted of 312 women who had suffered an abusive relationship. Participants completed measures of physical, psychological and sexual abuse, maladaptive cognitive schemas (disconnection and rejection, autonomy, and other-directedness), and depression. The evidence for a moderation effect was low and mainly restricted to schemas of the impaired autonomy domain. In contrast, the results supported mediational models in which violence was associated to the cognitive schemas, and these in turn were associated to depressive symptoms. Mediation was partial, with the schemas of the disconnection and rejection domain explaining most of the association between violence and depression. Finally, several explanations for these findings are examined, and their implications for the concept and measure of the cognitive schemas are discussed.     

The differentiation of response numerosities in the pigeon

Two experiments examined how pigeons differentiate response patterns along the dimension of number. In Experiment 1, 5 pigeons received food after pecking the left key at least N times and then switching to the right key (Mechner's Fixed Consecutive Number schedule). Parameter N varied across conditions from 4 to 32. Results showed that run length on the left key followed a normal distribution whose mean and standard deviation increased linearly with N; the coefficient of variation approached a constant value (the scalar property). In Experiment 2, 4 pigeons received food with probability p for pecking the left key exactly four times and then switching. If that did not happen, the pigeons still could receive food by returning to the left key and pecking it for a total of at least 16 times and then switching. Parameter p varied across conditions from 1.0 to .25. Results showed that when p= 1.0 or p=.5, pigeons learned two response numerosities within the same condition. When p=.25, each pigeon adapted to the schedule differently. Two of them emitted first runs well described by a mixture of two normal distributions, one with mean close to 4 and the other with mean close to 16 pecks. A mathematical model for the differentiation of response numerosity in Fixed Consecutive Number schedules is proposed.     

Tool-composite reuse in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): archaeologically invisible steps in the technological evolution of early hominins?

Recent etho-archaeological studies of stone-tool use by wild chimpanzees have contributed valuable data towards elucidating the variables that influenced the emergence and development of the first lithic industries among Plio-Pleistocene hominins. Such data help to identify potential behaviours entailed in the first percussive technologies that are invisible in archaeological records. The long-term research site of Bossou in Guinea features a unique chimpanzee community whose members systematically use portable stones as hammers and anvils to crack open nuts in natural as well as in field experimental settings. Here we present the first analysis of repeated reuse of the same tool-composites in wild chimpanzees. Data collected over 5 years of experimental nut-cracking sessions at an “outdoor laboratory” site were assessed for the existence of systematic patterns in the selection of tool-composites, at group and at individual levels. Chimpanzees combined certain stones as hammer and anvil more often than expected by chance, even when taking into account preferences for individual stones by themselves. This may reflect an ability to recognise the nut-cracker as a single tool (composed of two elements, but functional only as a whole), as well as discrimination of tool quality-effectiveness. Through repeatedly combining the same pairs of stones—whether due to preferences for particular composites or for the two elements independently—tool-users may amplify use-wear traces and increase the likelihood of fracturing the stones, and thus of detaching pieces by battering.     

Moving Toward Comprehensiveness and Sustainability in a Social Ecological Approach to Youth Violence Prevention: Lessons from the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center

Youth violence is a serious public health problem affecting communities across the United States. The use of a social ecological approach has helped reduce its prevalence. However, those who have put the approach into practice often face challenges to effective implementation. Addressing social ecology in all its complexity presents one obstacle; the ability of private non-profit and public agencies to sustain such comprehensive efforts presents another. Here, we provide an example of our efforts to prevent youth violence. We worked with the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center (APIYVPC) and two communities on O`ahu. We provide a case example from the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center (APIYVPC) of our work, in collaboration with two communities on O`ahu, to develop and implement a youth violence prevention initiative that is becoming both comprehensive and sustainable. We illustrate the incremental nature of what it means to be comprehensive and we underscore the importance of reaching sustainability as the project unfolds.