Dyadic Coping in Couple Therapy Process: An Exploratory Study

This study aimed at moving beyond previous research on couple therapy efficacy by examining moment‐by‐moment proximal couple and therapist interactions as well as final treatment outcomes and their reciprocal association. Seven hundred four episodes of dyadic coping within 56 early therapy sessions, taken from 28 married couples in treatment, were intensively analyzed and processed using a mixed‐methods software (T‐LAB). Results showed that negative dyadic coping was self‐perpetuating, and therapists tended to passively observe the negative couple interaction; on the contrary, positive dyadic coping appeared to require a therapist's intervention to be maintained, and successful interventions mainly included information gathering as well as interpreting. Couples who dropped out of treatment were not actively engaged from the outset of therapy, and they used more negative dyadic coping, whereas couples who successfully completed treatment showed more positive dyadic coping very early in therapy. Results highlight the role of therapist action and control as critical to establishing rapport and credibility in couple therapy and suggest that dyadic coping patterns early in therapy may contribute to variable treatment response.     

The efficacy of systemic therapy with adult patients: a meta-content analysis of 38 randomized controlled trials

Systemic therapy is a widely used psychotherapy approach. Yet there exist few systematic reviews on its efficacy. A meta-content analysis was performed to analyze the efficacy of systemic therapy for the treatment of mental disorders in adulthood. All randomized (or matched) controlled trials (RCT) evaluating systemic/systems oriented therapy in various settings (family, couple, individual, group, multifamily group therapy) with adult index patients suffering from mental disorders were identified by database searches and cross-references in other reviews. Inclusion criteria were: index patient diagnosed with a DSM or ICD listed mental disorder, trial published in any language up to the end of 2008. The RCTs were content analyzed according to their research methodology, interventions applied, and results. Thirty-eight trials published in English, German, Spanish, and Chinese were identified, 34 of them showing systemic therapy to be efficacious for the treatment of mood disorders, eating disorders, substance use disorders, mental and social factors related to medical conditions and physical disorders, and schizophrenia. Systemic therapy may also be efficacious for anxiety disorders. Results were stable across follow-up periods of up to 5 years. There is a sound evidence-base for the efficacy of systemic therapy for adult index patients with mental disorders in at least five diagnostic groups.     

An exploratory assessment of cultural sensitivity in the practices of Lebanese researchers in the field of psychology: implications for national development efforts

The inclusion of the social and cultural characteristics of groups in the concept of national development highlights the contributions that culturally sensitive psychological research can make to development efforts. It also highlights the relevance of assessing and promoting such research, especially in majority world countries where development needs are pressing. In the current study, a content analysis was conducted to assess the degree to which Lebanese psychological researchers in post-civil war Lebanon have engaged in culturally sensitive research practices. The Cultural Sensitivity Measure for Published Research, which was inspired by Adair, Puhan, and Vohra's ( 1993 ) measure of indigenization, was applied to 54 peer-reviewed English- and French-language empirical studies conducted by Lebanese researchers on Lebanese samples within Lebanon. The results suggest that while cultural sensitivity levels were generally low, the sampled researchers engaged in more sensitive practices compared to researchers in the region. For example, they used qualitative methods more often, made more efforts to ensure the cultural compatibility of their methods, and engaged in more complex conceptualizations of culture and its relationship with psychological processes. Furthermore, certain practices, such as studying diverse groups or using findings to suggest real-life applications, were found to be predictive of higher general levels of cultural sensitivity in the sampled articles. These research practices could be fostered in institutional and intellectual contexts, and such initiatives would go a long way in supporting a locally appropriate research infrastructure that contributes to national development efforts.     

Evidence‐Based Human Trafficking Policy: Opportunities to Invest in Trauma‐Informed Strategies

Human trafficking is a critical social issue characterized by chronic trauma among victims, and frequently preceded by traumatic experiences that contribute to risk of victimization. Therefore, the research‐based practice of trauma‐informed care is a highly appropriate lens for both prevention and intervention. This work examines federal legislation in the United States related to human trafficking for references to trauma, as well as how the use of research could implicitly direct public policy responses toward trauma‐informed approaches. Legislation on human trafficking has risen substantially since 1989, and the use of research and trauma language within these policies has also observed substantial increases. While the use of trauma language was associated with limited progression in the policy process, legislation using research language was more likely to pass out of Committee and become enacted. Moreover, legislation may leverage research in ways that have the potential to bolster trauma‐informed practice among human trafficking victims. Specifically, research can be used to describe the problem and causal mechanisms (e.g., impact of trauma), guide “best practice” for service delivery, and generate knowledge through studies and evaluations that guide future policy. Therefore, human trafficking legislation that implicitly guides trauma‐informed practice via the use of research may be particularly promising for the field.     

Spirituality in adolescence and young adulthood: A method for a qualitative study

This paper discusses an ongoing research project on contemporary forms of youth and young adult spirituality, highlighting issues in the history and definition of spirituality and in development of appropriate qualitative methods of investigation. Previous research on the topic has been bedevilled by difficulties of definition. 'Spirit' and 'spirituality' have a long history in both philosophy and religion and surviving senses of the terms include both religious and non-religious meanings. This paper suggests that 'lexical' definitions based on usage prove unwieldy because of widely varying and conflicting contents. Only a 'stipulative' definition will serve to provide a research project with a clear focus; our definition of spirituality as 'a conscious way of life based on a transcendent referent' is explained and defended. Next, we outline the distinctive features of our methodology: no direct mention of the term spirituality, an emphasis on personal narration and the use of evocative techniques. We conclude by outlining the 10 dimensions of spirituality which we have developed from our initial investigations.     

The translation and introduction of Mo Yan's works based on neurolinguistics

As an advanced function of the cognitive neural mechanism of human brain, inductive reasoning is an important skill in language communication. Under the background of the development of information intelligence, it is a new research field to effectively display the cognitive neural function of inductive reasoning with the advantage of the logic operation of artificial intelligence algorithm. Therefore, in this paper, based on the neurolinguistics, the translation and introduction of Mo Yan's works were studied. And on the basis of the analysis of the characteristics of the cognitive neural mechanism of sentence inductive reasoning, by using fMR and ERP techniques, the narrowing characteristics of the semantic integrated components in the induction were investigated, and the dual processing model of inductive reasoning was discussed. After that, artificial intelligence particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was introduced, and the problem of alignment in the translation of English and Chinese sentences in Mo Yan's works was transformed into the problem of finding the optimal solution for the corresponding fitness function in Chinese and English sentences in bilingual space. Thus, a scientific mathematical model was used to improve the accuracy of translation. The simulation experiments show that this study can effectively improve the accuracy of the translation and introduction of Mo Yan's works.