Validity of Treatment Target Progress Ratings as Indicators of Youth Improvement

We examined whether clinical progress ratings on the Monthly Treatment and Progress Summary form (MTPS), an idiographic treatment progress measure, were meaningfully related to changes measured by two separate standardized instruments; the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) and the Child and Adolescent Level of Care Utilization System (CALOCUS). Validity coefficients were examined at intake and three-, six-, and nine-month follow-up periods. Samples were selected for each measure and follow-up period from the population of youth receiving services through the Hawaii Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division’s (CAMHD) system of care. Significant youth improvement was evident on all three measures across all follow-up intervals. The type of changes measured by the MTPS and CAFAS were more alike over longer follow-up intervals than changes measured by the CALOCUS. The MTPS captures distinct aspects of client change that overlaps somewhat with CAFAS and CALOCUS measures. The MTPS is a brief client-tailored measure that seems to provide valid, sensitive, and nonredundant client specific treatment outcome information that can be collected on a frequent basis within a complex system of care.     

Family Empowerment as a Mediator between Family-Centered Systems of Care and Changes in Child Functioning: Identifying an Important Mechanism of Change

We investigated the associations among perceived fidelity to family-centered systems of care, family empowerment, and improvements in children's problem behaviors. Participants included 79 families, interviewed at two time points across a one-year period. Paired samples t-tests indicated that problem behaviors decreased significantly across a one-year period. Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that both fidelity to family-centered systems of care and family empowerment independently predicted positive change in children's problem behavior over a one-year period. However, when family empowerment is entered first in the regression, the relationship between fidelity to family-centered systems of care and change in children's problem behavior drops out, indicating that family empowerment mediates the relationship between family-centered care and positive changes in problem behaviors. Consistent with other literature on help-giving practices, family empowerment appears to be an important mechanism of change within the system of care philosophy of service delivery. Implications for practice and staff training are discussed.     

Concurrent Validity of the Multidimensional Health Profile—Health Functioning Scales (MHP-H) in the Pre-operative Assessment of Applicants for Gastric Bypass Surgery

The concurrent validity of a brief screening test, the Multidimensional Health Profile-Health Functioning (MHP-H) was examined in conjunction with a much more lengthy pre-operative assessment procedure in 449 applicants for gastric bypass surgery (GBS). The MHP-H is a 69-item screening inventory that assesses five areas of health functioning: Adult Health History, Health Habits, Health Care Utilization, Health Beliefs and Attitudes, and Response to Illness. The more lengthy procedure included a comprehensive 273-item structured interview plus the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), Basic Personality Inventory (BPI), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The MHP-H showed significant correspondence with the more comprehensive assessment on measures of potential relevance to outcome in GBS, supporting the use of the MHP-H as a low-cost alternative to the more extensive procedure. The utility of the MHP-Psychosocial Functioning (MHP-P), a companion instrument to the MHP-H, was demonstrated in an earlier study.     

Compatible Functions in Algebras Associated to Extensions of Positive Logic

In [4], Caicedo and Cignoli study compatible functions on Heytingalgebras and the corresponding logical properties of connectivesdefined on intuitionistic propositional calculus. In this paperwe study some aspects of compatible functions on the algebrasassociated to positive propositional calculus and successiveextensions of it: intuitionistic calculus itself, the modalsymmetric propositional calculus of Moisil and n-valued ukasiewiczpropositional calculus.     

运动性心理疲劳问题的研究现状

通过对运动性心理疲劳概念和检测评价方法等问题的国内外研究现状及其局限性和不足进行的综述讨论,作者分析指出目前关于运动性心理疲劳问题的有关研究成果满足不了中国训练体系下训练实践的需要,提出有必要系统进行运动性心理疲劳问题的实证研究。就心理疲劳问题的研究方向和研究切入点,作者认为应综合开展运动性心理疲劳神经生理与心理机制的探索性研究。研究的主要切入点包括：（1）研究建立适合中国运动训练体制与环境的运动性心理疲劳概念,构建运动性心理疲劳概念模型;（2）基于此模型研究建立多维检测评价方法系统和运动性心理疲劳问卷。研究过程中要将神经生理方法与心理测量、行为观察等方法结合起来同步测量,在训练过程中开展纵向追踪与横向调查综合性的实证研究     

合作数学问题解决与心理模型建构关系研究

合作学习研究者很早就开始关注合作互动中解释的作用。Chi关于自我解释的研究表明解释是一种非常有效果的学习现象,能够起到修补和建立学习者的心理模型的作用。本研究以28名高一学生为被试,采取了两种程序的合作学习任务,研究中虽然没有发现两种程序在问题解决结果上的显著差异,但是却表现出在心理模型建构方面互动效果上的差异,或表现为同等效果下的互动次数有显著性差异。     

有限理性信任观:对理性计算和非理性态度的整合

信任是理性的还是非理性的,一直是信任研究中争论的焦点。在对理性信任观和非理性信任观进行比较分析之后,在"有限理性"和"心智成本"的框架下,提出了信任的有限理性观点,对信任的理性观和非理性观点做一整合。     

父母离异对子心理发展的影响:计票式文献分析途径的研究

采用计票式文献分析技术对国内1994-2005年间关于离异家庭子女心理特点的35篇研究进行了系统回顾,发现所有研究都报告了父母离异对子女心理发展存在消极影响。他们存在更多躯体化、强迫、焦虑、敌对、孤独、冲动等心理健康问题;行为问题发生率高于完整家庭对照组,主要表现为孤僻、退缩、抑郁、社交不良等行为问题;在人格方面更具神经质特征,表现出更强的掩饰性,人格倾向性容易出现过分内向或过分外向的两极化趋势;在自我意识方面更消极;在学业方面表现较差;知觉到更强的压力而且采用更消极的应对方式,有着更高的犯罪率和自杀意念。对目前研究方法上的不足之处进行了探讨,对国内外研究内容和结果上的差异进行了分析,对未来的研究方向提出了意见和建议。     

Comparing Quality of Life Instruments in a Population of Abused Women

The SF-36 Health Survey and the WHO Quality of Life Index—BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) were used to study quality of life among women who had experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). The aim was to determine how these instruments correlated with each other and with physical and psychological IPV, in order to find the best instrument to use. IPV was measured using the Severity of Violence against Women Scale (SVAWS) and the Psychological Maltreatment of Women Index (PMWI). A self-administrated questionnaire was given to women able to understand Norwegian who were staying at a women’s shelter in Norway for more than 1 week. 87 of 212 women asked to participate completed the questionnaire. The physical acts of violence in SVAWS correlated significantly (P<0.001) with both the general health and bodily pain dimensions in SF-36 and global overall health (OH) in WHOQOL-BREF. Most correlations between WHOQOL-BREF and SF-36 were moderate. The WHOQOL-BREF domains explained 46% of the variance in OH and 40% of the variance in the global overall quality of life (OQOL). The SF-36 domains explained 66% of the variance in OH and 27% of OQOL. The mean WHOQOL-BREF and SF-36 scores were all low. The SF-36 correlated better with physical and psychological IPV in this population than the WHOQOL-BREF. The significant correlations between the OH, general health and bodily pain domains and acts of violence show the importance of including questions concerning bodily symptoms in determining the quality of life in a population of abused women.     

Nanotechnology Bound: Evaluating the Case for More Regulation

In continuing news, there is a growing debate on whether current laws and regulations, both in the US and abroad, need to be strengthened as they relate to nanotechnology. On one side, experts argue that nanomaterials, which are making their way into the marketplace today, are possibly harmful to consumers and the environment, so stronger and new laws are needed to ensure they are safe. On the other side, different experts argue that more regulation will slow down the pace of business and innovation in nanotechnology, or that self-regulation is the answer, or other opposing positions. This paper will draw out the core issues behind the debate and explain that there is more at stake than merely environmental, health and safety (EHS) worries or business interests, as it first appears. We will also suggest an alternative solution to stricter laws, since stricter laws would face formidable practical challenges, even if they are warranted.