Changes in Attachment‐Related Behavioural Problems of Internationally Adopted Toddlers in Finland: Results from the FinAdo Study

This study investigated attachment‐related behavioural problems and their change over time among internationally adopted toddlers (N = 171, boys 40%) in Finland. The parents filled in questionnaires posted in 2007 and again in 2009. At the baseline (on average, 1.9 years from adoption), the mean age of the adoptees was 2.8 years. The comparison group (N = 244, boys 46%) was collected through well‐baby clinics. Results from the paired t‐test and mixed models showed that the adoptees' attachment‐related behavioural problems decreased during the 2‐year follow‐up and that they did not manifest more problems than their age‐mates any more 4 years after adoption. The decrease in behavioural problems was associated with the child's female gender, country of origin and adoptive parents' positive experience about adoption. A child's stereotypic or self‐injurious behaviour was not associated with the change in attachment‐related behaviour over time, although both were associated with behavioural problems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cultivating Multiculturally Competent Counselors Through Movies

Confined by monocultural geographic features or encapsulated life experience, many counselor-training programs or trainees suffer from the lack of a multicultural environment, which could benefit students’ education. Recognizing the limitations in reality, the author introduces the use of movies to counterbalance the disadvantages, while maximizing students’ multicultural counseling competency. Aiming toward helping trainees vicariously reach the culmination of studies in counseling, this article addresses the use of cinemeducation in the context of cross-cultural counseling, via the application of qualitative research methodology. The theoretical underpinning of the movie project, the use of movies to augment students’ multicultural counseling opportunities outside classrooms, and students’ reactions are all discussed.     

What makes for a good break? A diary study on recovery experiences during lunch break

This study investigated the role of four recovery experiences during lunch break for employees’ afternoon well‐being. We hypothesized that lunch‐break recovery experiences (psychological detachment, relaxation, control, and relatedness) reduce afternoon exhaustion and enhance afternoon work engagement via replenished personal resources (i.e., state of being recovered immediately after break and subsequent self‐efficacy regarding the upcoming tasks in the afternoon). One hundred and nine employees provided daily survey data three times a day (i.e., start of work, after lunch break, end of work) over a period of two workweeks. Multilevel path analysis showed that relaxation, control, and relatedness during lunch break negatively predicted afternoon exhaustion and positively predicted afternoon work engagement via state of being recovered. For relaxation and relatedness, we additionally found positive serial indirect effects on afternoon work engagement via state of being recovered and self‐efficacy. Psychological detachment was not related to personal resources and afternoon well‐being. This study demonstrates that experiencing control over lunch break and using the lunch break to relax and to relate to others are indirectly associated with improved afternoon well‐being via replenished personal resources.

Practitioner points

• Relaxation, control, and relatedness constitute lunch‐break recovery experiences that indirectly foster feeling confident, replenished, and engaged in the afternoon.
• Employees should strive to spend their lunch breaks in ways that help them feel relaxed, related, and in control.
• Organizations should provide their employees with sufficient break control and offer environments that facilitate relaxation and socializing during lunch break.

     

Terminal decline of episodic memory and perceptual speed in a biracial population

We compared trajectories of terminal cognitive decline in older Black (n = 3372) and White (n = 1756) persons from a defined population who completed tests of episodic memory and perceptual speed at 3-year intervals for up to 18 years. During a mean of 9.9 years of observation, 1608 Black persons and 902 White persons died. Preterminal decline of episodic memory did not differ by race. Terminal episodic memory decline began earlier in Black persons (mean of 4.3 years before death) than in White persons (mean = 3.9 years) and progressed more slowly. By contrast, terminal decline of perceptual speed began earlier in White persons (mean = 5.0 years) than in Black persons (mean = 4.5 years). Rate of perceptual speed decline was more rapid in White persons than in Black persons in both the preterminal and terminal periods. The results indicate that terminal cognitive decline occurs in Black persons but suggest that the rate of cognitive decline during the terminal period is less rapid in Black persons than in White persons.     

Neuro-feedback intervention efficacy for treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study explored practitioners perceptions of a neuro-feedback intervention in treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorder’s (ASD). Informants were a convenience sample of ten South African neuro-feedback practitioners registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). The data on their views on neuro-feedback treatment efficacy, with children with ASD, were collected by means of semi-structured in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis of the data suggest practitioners to perceive neuro-feedback treatment to enhance the social, mood, behaviour, academic life, and family functioning of children with ASD. Additionally, the practitioners perceived neuro-feedback treatment to assist in reducing anxiety among children with ASD.     

群组发展模型——干预研究的新方法

群组发展模型(group-based trajectory model,GBTM)是一种用于研究群体异质性的新方法,旨在识别群体内遵循不同发展轨迹的亚组,并描绘亚组成员特征。这一模型为干预研究提供了新的研究视角,群组发展模型不仅可以探讨干预是否引起分组比例变化,也关注干预对个体的发展轨迹的影响,并评估干预对不同轨迹组的效果差异。     

Turning students into scholars: using digital methods to teach the critical study of religion

Incorporating digital tools into Religious Studies courses provides experiences and conditions that transform students into scholars. In this essay we discuss two courses we taught in conjunction with the Religious Soundmap Project of the Global Midwest, a collaborative digital humanities project that we co-directed from 2014 to 2016. Engaging students as contributors to a collaborative digital research project helped them to appreciate some of the key practical, theoretical, and ethical challenges that we face as scholars of religion. In particular, our work together brought to the fore critical questions about definition, classification, and representation. Even more, because they knew their work would be accessible to broader audiences outside the classroom, potentially including the very communities whom they were studying, students were able to perceive the stakes of these questions in ways we had not previously experienced. Incorporating digital tools enabled our students to see themselves as scholars of religion.