Social competence group intervention (SOCO) for children with autism spectrum disorder: A pilot study

This study aimed to describe concept of social competence as a theoretical background for social skills group intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A model of social competence comprised of three components: social skills, social performance, and social adjustment. We also examined the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the manualized Social Competence group intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (SOCO) using a variety of outcome measures. The nine-month intervention included children groups, parental support groups and co-operation with teachers. A pilot study involved 23 children aged 7 to 12 years (n = 16 intervention, n = 7 control) and intervention outcomes were measured with questionnaires for parents and teachers, neuropsychological tests, and observations. The parents of the intervention group reported improvements in social skills and social adjustment, whereas the teachers reported increases in social performance. Findings also indicated that affect recognition skills, social overtures, and reactions to peers were improved in the intervention group. Although the evidence of the pilot study should be considered as preliminary, it gives some indication of the feasibility of the SOCO group intervention and supports the usability of the theoretical background and approach for multiple outcome measures.     

Coping strategies used by middle-aged males with noise-induced hearing loss,with and without tinnitus

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between general coping strategies and specific communication strategies, adopted by males with noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in order to deal with stressful events and demanding auditory situations. The sample included 72 males with NIHL; 22 without tinnitus, 26 with mild tinnitus, and 24 with severe tinnitus. The following variables were measured: “active coping” “escape coping” and “passive acceptance” (general coping strategies), and “maladaptive behaviours”, “verbal strategies” and “nonverbal strategies” (specific communication strategies). The results showed that males without tinnitus or with mild tinnitus combined “active coping” and “passive acceptance”, whereas males with severe tinnitus supplemented these strategies with “escape coping”. The relationship between general coping and specific communication strategies was weak, although giving a significant correlation between “escape coping” and “maladaptive behaviours”. The results indicate that the hypothesis that a person's general pattern of coping has influence on his/her ability to cope effectively with a hearing impairment can not be supported. Further research should concentrate on the contribution of personality factors as well as environmental factors to the variance in coping with NIHL and tinnitus.     

Diagnosis and treatment of respiratory tract infections in primary health care by the nurse versus the physician: Efficacy and patient attitudes

Abstract

Five district physicians and one registered nurse were compared regarding their effectiveness in diagnosing and treating acute upper respiratory tract infections in patients (n=186) at a Swedish community health centre. Attitudes and views of the patient, or of the accompanying adult when the patient was a child, regarding the consultation itself, as well as more general aspects of health care were investigated (n=99) using a questionnaire. The questionnaire included 42 propositions of a “fuzzy” type to be judged on a 100-point truth-value scale, 18 of them concerning the consultation and 24 the more general aspects. No differences between the physicians and the nurse were found in their efficacy of diagosis and treatment. Subjects' overall attitudes were found to be positive toward both the physicians and the nurse. Results of multivariate analyses of variance performed for the consultation and general aspects of health care items separately and concerning type of persons providing health care (physician/nurse), treatment (antibiotics/no antibiotics) and patient age (child/adult), revealed overall differences in questionnaire response as regards patient age in relation to the consultation items.     

Effects of different psychological interventions on neck,shoulder and low back pain in female hospital staff

Abstract

One hundred and eleven females volunteered to take part in this intervention study of musculoskeletal pain. They all completed a survey of pain among five hundred and eighty-six female hospital staff and presented mild to severe pain in the neck, shoulder and/or low back. They were randomly assigned to one of the following groups; Focus on job-stress and psychosocial coping (Cognitive), relaxation training (Relaxation), the combination of the two (Combined) or to a control group (Control). Musculoskeletal pain (intensity and duration) was assessed by self-report prior to interventions, immediately after interventions, and at a four months follow-up. Results from multivariate analyses of variance as well as covariance (pre-intervention levels of pain as covariate) showed that magnitude of pain reduction was dependent upon the interaction between area of the back and type of intervention. These trends were more significant for intensity than for duration scores. They were due to reductions of pain in (1) neck and shoulders for the Cognitive and Combined groups and (2) in the low back and shoulders for the Relaxation group. The four month follow-up assessment revealed a significant risk of relapse only for duration of low back pain among subjects in the Combined group. Results from the Cognitive approach to intervention may reflect a causal role for ability to cope with psychosocial job stress in the development of neck and shoulder pain in female hospital staff.     

Blockage Contraction

Blockage contraction is an operation of belief contraction that acts directly on the outcome set, i.e. the set of logically closed subsets of the original belief set K that are potential contraction outcomes. Blocking is represented by a binary relation on the outcome set. If a potential outcome X blocks another potential outcome Y, and X does not imply the sentence p to be contracted, then Y?≠?K ÷ p. The contraction outcome K ÷ p is equal to the (unique) inclusion-maximal unblocked element of the outcome set that does not imply p. Conditions on the blocking relation are specified that ensure the existence of such a unique inclusion-maximal set for all sentences p. Blockage contraction is axiomatically characterized and its relations to AGM-style operations are investigated. In a finite-based framework, every transitively relational partial meet contraction is also a blockage contraction.     

Superordinate identities and intergroup conflict: The ingroup projection model

This chapter summarises results from a research programme on the psychological basis of tolerance and discrimination in intergroup relations, with particular consideration of the role of superordinate identities. According to the ingroup projection model, a relevant superordinate group provides dimensions and norms for comparisons between ingroup and outgroup. Groups gain positive value or status when they are considered prototypical for the (positively valued) superordinate group. Group members tend to generalise (project) distinct ingroup characteristics onto the superordinate category, implying the relative prototypicality of their ingroup. To the extent that outgroup difference is regarded as a deviation from the ethnocentrically construed prototype it is evaluated negatively. Our research studied consequences and determinants of ingroup projection, as well as moderators of its implications. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the processes involved in intergroup discrimination and indicate new pathways for the reduction of prejudice, towards mutual intergroup appreciation and tolerance.     

Identification of fragmented object outlines: A dynamic interplay between different component processes

The speed of fragmented picture identification depends on a large number of factors whose effects might change in time during an identification attempt. Using survival analysis and fixed fragmentation levels, previous research has shown that effects of complexity, fragment curvature, and time interact. Here, we study the effects of presentation duration and dynamic fragmentation levels. Fragmented object outlines were presented repetitively every 2.25 s, and at each presentation longer fragments were shown (possibly until closure). We recorded the lowest presentation number (minimum 1, maximum 10) that resulted in correct naming by the participants (N=84). Survival analysis was employed to investigate whether and when different factors like presentation duration, complexity, object category (natural vs. artifactual), symmetry, proximity, and fragment curvature influence correct identification. The results confirm and extend previous findings, and are interpreted within a dynamic, interactive processing framework.     

Transsaccadic integration of bystander locations

The present study investigated whether and how the location of bystander objects is encoded, maintained, and integrated across an eye movement. Bystander objects are objects that remain unfixated directly before and after the saccade for which transsaccadic integration is being examined. Three experiments are reported that examine location coding of bystander objects relative to the future saccade target object, relative to the saccade source object, and relative to other bystander objects. Participants were presented with a random‐dot pattern and made a saccade from a central source to a designated saccade target. During this saccade the position of a single bystander was changed on half of the trials and participants had to detect the displacement. Postsaccadically the presence of the target, source, and other bystanders was manipulated. Results indicated that the location of bystander objects could be integrated across a saccade, and that this relied on configurational coding. Furthermore the present data provide evidence for the view that transsaccadic perception of spatial layout is not inevitably tied to the saccade target or the saccade source, that it makes use of objects and object configurations in a flexible manner that is partly governed by the task relevance of the various display items, and that it exploits the incidental configurational structure in the display's layout in order to increase its capacity limits.     

Masking misfit in confirmatory factor analysis by increasing unique variances: a cautionary note on the usefulness of cutoff values of fit indices

Fit indices are widely used in order to test the model fit for structural equation models. In a highly influential study, Hu and Bentler (1999) showed that certain cutoff values for these indices could be derived, which, over time, has led to the reification of these suggested thresholds as "golden rules" for establishing the fit or other aspects of structural equation models. The current study shows how differences in unique variances influence the value of the global chi-square model test and the most commonly used fit indices: Root-mean-square error of approximation, standardized root-mean-square residual, and the comparative fit index. Using data simulation, the authors illustrate how the value of the chi-square test, the root-mean-square error of approximation, and the standardized root-mean-square residual are decreased when unique variances are increased although model misspecification is present. For a broader understanding of the phenomenon, the authors used different sample sizes, number of observed variables per factor, and types of misspecification. A theoretical explanation is provided, and implications for the application of structural equation modeling are discussed.