Psychometric Properties of Parent–Child (0–5 years) Interaction Outcome Measures as Used in Randomized Controlled Trials of Parent Programs: A Systematic Review

This systematic review sought to identify observational measures of parent–child interactions commonly implemented in parenting program research, and to assess the level of psychometric evidence available for their use with this age group. Two separate searches of the same databases were conducted; firstly, to identify eligible instruments, and secondly to identify studies reporting on the psychometric properties of the identified measures. Five commercial platforms hosting 19 electronic databases were searched from their inception to conducted search dates. Fourteen measures were identified from Search 1; a systematic search of randomized controlled trial evaluations of parenting programs. For Search 2, inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied to 1327 retrieved papers that described the development and/or validation of the 14 measures identified in Search 1. Seventeen articles met the inclusion criteria, resulting in five observational measures for the final review. Data were extracted and synthesized using the COSMIN rating system to describe the methodological quality of each article alongside the overall quality rating of the psychometric property reported for each measure using the Terwee checklist. Measure reliability was categorized into four domains (internal consistency, test-re-test, inter-rater, and intra-rater). Measure validity was categorized into four domains (content, structural, convergent/divergent, and discriminant). Results indicated that the majority of psychometric evidence related to children aged from birth the three with internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and structural validity the most commonly reported properties, although this evidence was often weak. The findings suggest further validation of the included measures is required to establish acceptability for the whole target age group.

     

Anger, Fear, or Sadness: Faculty Members' Emotional Reactions to Collective Pay Disadvantage

As part of a mail survey about their work experiences, university faculty members reported their specific emotional reactions to group inequities in faculty pay and benefits. The results indicate that sadness, fear, and anger are distinct emotional responses to a collective disadvantage. Group-based anger mediated the relationship between collective disadvantage and willingness to protest whereas group-based sadness mediated the relationship between collective disadvantage and organizational loyalty. Based on an integration of cognitive appraisal models of emotion with RD theory, four other predictors of intergroup emotions—(1) the legitimacy of the process that produced the deprivation, (2) whether another agent was responsible, (3) group efficacy, and (4) whether the situation would improve or become worse—were identified and tested. The measurement of specific emotional reactions to perceived collective disadvantage extends and refines RD approaches to collective action and organizational loyalty.     

Neurocognitive aspects of pain perception

The perception of pain is sensitive to various mental processes such as the feelings and beliefs that someone has about pain. It is therefore not exclusively driven by the noxious input. Attentional modulation involving the descending pain modulatory system has been examined extensively in neuroimaging studies. However, the investigation of neural mechanisms underlying more complex cognitive modulation is an emerging field in pain research. Recent findings indicate an engagement of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during more complex modulation, leading to a change or reappraisal of the emotional significance of pain. Taking placebo-induced analgesia as an example, we discuss the contribution of attention, expectation and reappraisal as three basic mechanisms that are important for the cognitive modulation of pain.     

Can CORE assessment data identify those clients less likely to benefit from brief counselling in primary care?

Studies show that counsellors in primary care see many clients with difficulties of a severity similar to those found in secondary care services. Evidence from both RCTs and studies of routinely collected data indicates that many of these ‘clinical’ clients benefit from brief counselling intervention. However, little is known about why some benefit while others fail to do so despite completing their counselling contract. This paper considers client characteristics recorded at assessment and aims, using logistic regression analysis, to identify those characteristics predictive of a poor outcome. Results indicate that a number of characteristics are associated with poor outcome; the most important predictors are economic inactivity and aspects of the patient's condition, particularly continuous/recurrent depression, with some differences between genders. However, the models produced were not acceptable in their predictive power. This may be partly due to data quality issues or important characteristics not being available in the data. The paper concludes that being unemployed or on state benefits may be a proxy measure of severity that has an important impact on outcome for all patients, and particularly for males. Some reasons are suggested and areas of future research are identified.     

Agency and Communion in People with Rheumatoid Arthritis

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the previously found relations among the gender-linked personality orientations of agency, communion, unmitigated agency, and unmitigated communion, and health outcomes existed within a sample of adults with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic disease that is more prevalent among women than among men. We obtained self-report data from 158 participants on the gender-linked personality orientations, psychological distress, disability, pain, and life satisfaction. As hypothesized, regression analyses indicated that agency was significantly associated with better health outcomes, whereas unmitigated communion was associated with poorer health outcomes. Assessment of these personality variables in people with rheumatoid arthritis may help to identify those at high risk for adverse outcomes.     

Noncompetition Agreements: How Informed Are Counselors?

A noncompetition agreement is a contract between employer and employee prohibiting the practice of a trade or profession for a specified time or within a specified region upon an employee's leaving an employer's hire (A. Valiulis, 1985). The authors assessed American Mental Health Counselor Association members' knowledge of the legal bases for these contracts and their agreement with the legal opinions and also assessed the degree of similarity and dissimilarity between members' knowledge of and agreement with the legal opinions. Results showed that counselors are better prepared to look after the welfare of their clients than their own employment interests. Implications for counselor training are discussed.     

Divine Gifts to the Secular Desert

Being Reconciled: Ontology and Pardon , John Milbank, Routledge 2003 (0-415-30525-x), pp. xiii +242, Pb £17.99, Hb £55     

Type D Personality and Chronic Pain: Construct and Concurrent Validity of the DS14

A body of research has demonstrated that the Type D personality is a risk factor among cardiac patients. Previous studies validating the Type D Scale (DS14) across other clinical groups have not included chronic pain patients in their samples. The purpose of this study was to investigate the construct and concurrent validity of the DS14 using the MMPI-2. The DS14 and its two component subscales demonstrated strong internal consistency among chronic pain patients. The two subscales of the DS14 were found to be related to similar clinical scales on the MMPI-2, and significant differences were found in the MMPI-2 profiles of individuals with and without the Type D personality. Considerations for clinical practice and research are discussed.     

An experimental analysis of aversive imagery versus electrical aversive conditioning in the treatment of chronic alcoholics

A series of three experiments is described comparing an aversive imagery and an electrical escape conditioning procedure in the treatment of chronic alcoholics. Treatment effects were objectively measured by recording subjects' alcohol consumption in a semi-naturalistic laboratory setting. In contrast to conventional group outcome studies, the use of single-subject methodology provided a fine-grained analysis of individual response patterns. The aversive imagery and escape conditioning methods did not differ from each other, and were relatively ineffective in suppressing alcohol intake. In contrast, a punishment procedure in which shock was contingent on drinking did effectively suppress drinking. The data suggest that alcoholics can control their drinking by self-administered shock. The implications for the analysis and treatment of alcoholics are discussed.     

Reactions to internal and external criticism of outgroups: social convention in the intergroup sensitivity effect

Recent research has documented the intergroup sensitivity effect (ISE) whereby people respond more favorably to internal versus external criticism of their group. The present studies examine the reactions of bystanders who do not belong to the criticized group and whose reactions are therefore more likely to be informed by social conventions than by defensiveness. Studies 1 and 2 presented British participants with criticisms of Australians, manipulating their ostensible source. These British bystanders exhibited the ISE, responding more favorably to the speaker and comments when the critic was Australian rather than non-Australian. These responses were driven by the perceived motives of speakers rather than their level of experience with the group (Study 2). Study 3 provides direct evidence that internal criticism is more conventionally acceptable than is external criticism.