Efficacy of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy with Parents with Intellectual Disability

Parents with intellectual disability (ID) face many parenting challenges that may affect their ability to parent effectively, and such deficits are often associated with various poor child outcomes. Research findings are inconsistent for interventions targeting systematic skills for parents with ID. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an empirically supported treatment that incorporates performance-based training to enhance parenting ability. This study evaluated implementation of PCIT with parents with ID using a multiple baseline design across behaviors. Results suggest increases in positive parenting behaviors and consistent discipline. However, limitations related to poor maintenance and generalization warrant the need for future research.     

The effects of mindful learning on pro-environmental behavior: A self-expansion perspective

This current article explores the differential effects of mindful learning on pro-environmental behavior from the perspective of self-expansion. A total of 253 participants were recruited for four experiments. In Study 1, the mindful-learning group reported greater levels of pro-environmental behavioral intentions compared to a randomized control. In Study 2, we utilized different learning materials focusing on self, humans, or the biosphere in three sub-experiments. Study 2a manipulated mindsets by a self-related focus and revealed participants in a mindfulness condition had lower pro-environmental behavioral intentions than those in the mindlessness group. Study 2b centered on “humans” and results showed that participants in a mindfulness group reported higher levels of pro-environmental behavioral intentions. Finally, Study 2c induced mindsets with a biospheric focus, showing participants in the mindful-learning condition had greater pro-environmental behavioral intentions. Combined, the studies provide empirical evidence that mindful learning could influence self-reported pro-environmental behavioral intentions both positively and negatively.     

Treating Depression Among Adolescent Perinatal Women With a Dialectical Behavior Therapy–Informed Skills Group

Depression is a prevalent and impairing problem affecting both women and offspring during the perinatal (pregnancy and the postpartum) period. Despite this, few studies have examined treatments for perinatal adolescents with depressive symptoms. The present study examined the feasibility and preliminary outcomes of a dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) informed skills group among depressed adolescent perinatal women (N = 25) recruited from both a public health parent education program and an adolescent obstetric clinic. A brief composite case example is included to illustrate how DBT skills were taught, practiced, and applied. Findings suggest the intervention was credible, acceptable, and associated with improvement in depression. Challenges with feasibility of enrolling and retaining adolescent perinatal women were evident, as approximately half of the enrolled participants did not complete the study. This study provides preliminary evidence that a DBT-informed skills group may be a promising intervention for depressed adolescent perinatal women and points to important directions for clinical practice and research, including treatment engagement and retention.     

Fast screening of eating disorders among patients with bipolar disorder: Validation of the French version of BEDS questionnaire

IntroductionThe prevalence and morbidity of eating disorders (ED) is high in patients with bipolar disorder (BD). Simple tools are necessary to easily and rapidly screen for ED in bipolar patients.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to validate the French version of Bipolar Eating Disorder Scale (BEDS-F).MethodED and BD diagnoses were established with a structured-interview in 80 patients according to the DSM-IV criteria. The BEDS was translated into French using appropriate methods. Patients were administered the following scales: BEDS-F, SCOFF, Bulimic Investigatory Test Edinburgh (BITE) and Eating Disorder Inventory-two (EDI-2).ResultsBEDS-F score were significantly higher in bipolar patients with ED. The BEDS-F showed high feasibility (no omission response), excellent discriminating abilities (ROC AUC = 0.97) with a sensibility of 98% and specificity of 85% for BEDS ≥ 11, high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.86) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.99). No floor/ceiling effect was observed. The BEDS-F sensitivity was equivalent to that of the BITE and EDI-2 subscale B. The BEDS-F specificity was slightly lower than that of the EDI-2 subscale B, but equivalent to that of BITE.ConclusionThe BEDS-F is a valid scale for fast ED screening in patients with bipolar disorder, and easier to administer than other currently used scales.     

How competent are trainee and newly qualified counsellors to work with Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual clients and what do they perceive as their most effective learning experiences?

Aim: Professional therapy organisations promote the importance of working with difference, yet subtle negative biases towards lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients continue. Issues of competence in this area have only recently been addressed. This research aims to study the effectiveness of training to support therapists working with LGB clients in Britain. Method: Students (past and present) of an integrative counselling diploma course completed questionnaires including: background details, a Sexual Orientation Counselor Competence scale (Bidell, 2005), and two qualitative questions about previous learning relating to LGB issues. Quantitative analysis utilising a one way ANOVA test was used to compare the levels of competence at different times in training, and grounded theory to analyse the qualitative responses. Results: Results show that students have a high level of awareness, although a lower level measured in year two of the programme. The qualitative results indicate the learning value of personal experiences. Further themes describe the ways in which students learnt about LGB issues. Discussion: The reduction in scores for awareness may indicate that training facilitates a deeper understanding of self. Key themes indicate the importance of challenging old internal working models of sexual orientation. Implications for practice: The results will enable competences and effective learning experiences to be mapped in the curriculum.     

Wittgenstein's therapies: From rules to hinges

Recently Wittgenstein's claim to be primarily engaged in a kind of therapy for the problems that trouble people in the grip of a certain picture of how things must be has been strongly emphasized. The form the therapy takes is to display various kinds of grammatical errors in the pathological practice. In Wittgenstein's late work, On Certainty, the role of the concept of rule as the ground of a practice is extended to include a different kind of grounding in “hinges”. I argue that there is a therapeutic role for the work of bringing to light the “hinges” that hold fast when the door of philosophy turns. I contrast examples of Wittgensteinian therapy where the cure is achieved by a display of grammatical rules, to cases in which the cure depends on emphasizing the role of a hinge or hinges in pathological confusions of thought in psychology.     

Validation of the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale (BADS) in a Community Sample with Elevated Depressive Symptoms

The Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale (BADS) was previously developed to measure changes in avoidance and activation over the course of Behavioral Activation for depression. Initial scale development, definition of the factor structure and confirmation of the factor structure was performed with a non-depressed undergraduate sample. These prior results revealed four factors (Activation, Avoidance/Rumination, Work/School Impairment, and Social Impairment) with good factor structure, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the psychometric properties, factor structure and construct validity of the BADS with a community sample with elevated depressive symptoms (N = 193). Results indicated good psychometric properties, additional evidence for construct validity of the total scale and subscales, and adequate fit of the data to the original factor structure. Normative data are also provided separately for depressed men and women, and for Caucasians and African Americans.     

Treatment for Deliberate Self-Harm: Integrating Emotion-Focused Therapy

This article proposes that Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) can be effectively utilized as a treatment modality for deliberate self-harm or integrated with existing treatment approaches. A brief literature review examines evidence suggesting that attachment and emotion regulation are important etiological variables associated with deliberate self-harm. EFT addresses these variables by emphasizing the importance of the therapeutic relationship and assisting clients in the regulation and transformation of negative, maladaptive emotions. The article describes the basic tenets of EFT, comparing and contrasting this approach with therapeutic models most commonly used in the treatment of deliberate self-harm. Finally, it is recommended that future outcome research utilize randomized clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of EFT and compare it with other treatment modalities.     

Findings follow framings: navigating the empirical turn

In this paper, I outline several methodological questions that we need to confront. The chief question is how can we identify the nature of technological change and its varied cultural consequences—including social, political, institutional, and economic dimensions—when our different research methods, using distinct ‘levels’ or ‘scales’ of analysis, yield contradictory results. What can we say, in other words, when our findings about technology follow from the framings of our inquiries? In slightly different terms, can we combine insights from the fine-grained “social shaping of technology” as well as from complementary approaches accenting the “technological shaping of society?” As a way forward, I will suggest conducting multi-scale inquiries into the processes of technological and cultural change. This will involve recognizing and conceptualizing the analytical scales or levels on which we conduct inquiry (very roughly, micro, meso, macro) as well as outlining strategies for moving within and between these scales or levels. Of course we want and need diverse methodologies for analyzing technology and culture. I find myself in sympathy with geographer Brenner (New state spaces: urban governance and the rescaling of statehood, 2004, p. 7), who aspires to a “theoretically precise yet also historically specific conceptualization of [technological change] as a key dimension of social, political and economic life.”