EVALUATION OF A TRAINING MANUAL FOR THE ACQUISITION OF BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT INTERVIEWING SKILLS

Two procedures were used to teach behavioral assessment interviewing skills: a training manual and one-to-one instruction that included modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. Two graduate students and two advanced undergraduates were trained with each procedure. Interviewing skills were recorded in simulated assessment interviews conducted by each student across baseline and treatment conditions. Each training procedure was evaluated in a multiple baseline across students design. The results showed that both procedures were effective for training behavioral interviewing skills, with all students reaching a level of 90%-100% correct responding. Finally, a group of experts in behavior analysis rated each interviewing skill as relevant to the conduct of an assessment interview and a group of behavioral clinicians socially validated the outcomes of the two procedures.     

Synthesized clustering: A method for amalgamating alternative clustering bases with differential weighting of variables

In the application of clustering methods to real world data sets, two problems frequently arise: (a) how can the various contributory variables in a specific battery be weighted so as to enhance some cluster structure that may be present, and (b) how can various alternative batteries be combined to produce a single clustering that best incorporates each contributory set. A new method is proposed (SYNCLUS, SYNthesizedCLUStering) for dealing with these two problems.We wish to thank Anne Freeny and Deborah Art for their computer assistance, and Ed Fowlkes for his helpful technical discussion. We would also like to acknowledge the insightful and helpful comments from the editor and reviewers.     

Health counseling competencies needed by the minister

The purpose of this study was to characterize current health counseling practices of the Church of Christ minister and to identify areas of needed health counseling competencies which should be addressed during professional preparation of the minister. The subjects who made up the sample for this study came from the population of active local ministers of the Churches of Christ who resided in the states of Arkansas, California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.Specifically, it was found that the Church of Christ minister is most frequently called upon to offer counsel in the health-related areas of marital problems, patient counseling, death education, alcohol problems, drug use or abuse, and aging, respectively. It was also found that the majority of the ministers surveyed felt that their training for the ministry had not adequately prepared them to offer health counsel. The majority of the sample indicated that all health topics listed on the questionnaire should be required during initial preparation for the ministry. Other findings were also noted.     

Treatment of incest and pedophilic offenders: A pilot study

Twenty-nine incest and 22 heterosexual pedophilic offenders, under sentence, participated in a study of therapeutic outcome. Results showed the two groups were remarkably similar in their pretreatment level of psychosocial functioning. However, pedophiles had a significantly higher recidivism rate than incestuous men. Incest offenders, on the whole, changed most relative to single or married pedophiles. Pedophiles appeared more treatment resistant in dealing with their disturbed family relations, verbal hostility, irritability, and feelings of anger that, in part, underlie their sexual anomaly. At follow-up 36 months later, only 2 incest and 4 pedophilic men had recidivated. The discussion links these findings with earlier research and proposes a multimodal, group-oriented approach to treating sex offenders.     

Technical flaws in the coherence theory

Conclusion We have argued that Lehrer's definitions of coherence and justification have serious technical defects. As a result, the definition of justification is both too weak and too strong. We have suggested solutions for some of the problems, but others seem irremediable. We would also argue more generally that if coherence is anything like what Lehrer's theory says it is, then coherence is neither necessary nor sufficient for justification. While our current objections are directed at the letter of Lehrer's theory, other criticisms can be aimed at its very spirit. We would argue that coherence is unnecessary for justification because of the existence of basic beliefs, those about self-presenting states (I have a tingling sensation in my leg) or self-evident truths (All men are men). Such beliefs may be justified even though there are no other propositions in the subject's acceptance system that makes them more probable than competitors. Coherence is, moreover, insufficient for justification, because it ignores the inferential structure of the subject's acceptance system, and requires no justification of any kind for the subject's acceptance system itself. But we must develop these more fundamental objections on another occasion.     

Gender differences in distributive justice preferences: The impact of domain

Past research has found that distributive justice preferences vary markedly both as a function of gender of allocator and the domain in which outcomes or rewards are allocated (e.g., relationships vs. work contexts). This study examined the interaction of these two factors in determining distributive justice preferences. Subjects were asked to fill out two scales designed to assess the degree to which their general distributive preferences in work contexts and in relationships were benevolent (prefer inputs to exceed outcomes), equity sensitive (prefer outcome/input ratios to be equal), or entitled (prefer outcomes to exceed inputs). Results revealed that women's preferences were significantly more benevolent (or less entitled) than men's in work domains, but that men's and women's distributive preferences did not differ significantly in relationships. In addition, both sexes indicated significantly more entitled preferences in work domains than in relationships, but the difference between domains was much greater for men than for women. These results suggest that, when considering issues of justice, men make a greater distinction between domains than do women, and that previously observed gender differences in distributive justice preferences may be specific to the work domain.     

A COMPARISON OF TWO APPROACHES FOR IDENTIFYING REINFORCERS FOR PERSONS WITH SEVERE AND PROFOUND DISABILITIES

The development of effective training programs for persons with profound mental retardation remains one of the greatest challenges for behavior analysts working in the field of developmental disabilities. One significant advancement for this population has been the reinforcer assessment procedure developed by Pace, Ivancic, Edwards, Iwata, and Page (1985), which involves repeatedly presenting a variety of stimuli to the client and then measuring approach behaviors to differentiate preferred from nonpreferred stimuli. One potential limitation of this procedure is that some clients consistently approach most or all of the stimuli on each presentation, making it difficult to differentiate among these stimuli. In this study, we used a concurrent operants paradigm to compare the Pace et al. (1985) procedure with a modified procedure wherein clients were presented with two stimuli simultaneously and were given access only to the first stimulus approached. The results revealed that this forced-choice stimulus preference assessment resulted in greater differentiation among stimuli and better predicted which stimuli would result in higher levels of responding when presented contingently in a concurrent operants paradigm.     

A theological perspective on social exchange theory

This article provides a brief review of the basic principles of social exchange theory with an emphasis on a social exchange model of conflict. The key concepts of justice, reciprocity, and equity comprised in social exchange theory are addressed from a social and theological perspective.     

At-risk children in Christian families concerning alcohol use

Health educators proposing alcohol prevention programs for a church setting face a variety of problems. Information only preventive types of alcohol programs are being increasingly criticized. The purpose of this study was to identify variables that best predict use of alcohol for children in fundamentalist Protestant Christian families. Three hundred and two students currently enrolled in a mandatory health course at a fundamentalist Protestant Christian university responded to a questionnaire designed to identify contextual or environmental risk factors for alcohol use. A significant difference was found in five of 15 established environmental factors. This paper suggests that an alcohol education program that focused on these differences would be advantageous for the health educator to carry out in the church setting.