The Influence of Person Traits on Lawyer Selection Among British Adults

The present study examined selection criteria for lawyers among British adults, which begins to overturn a dearth of studies examining this issue among legal professions. A total of 122 participants were asked to rate eight lawyers dichotomized along lawyer origin (Britain versus South Asia), gender (women versus men), and age (younger versus older). A mixed-design analysis of variance showed that there was a main effect of lawyer origin, with British lawyers preferred over the South Asian counterparts. There were also a number of significant interactions between lawyer variables, as well as participant gender and age. The effect sizes of these interactions were generally smaller (η_p ² = .07?.24) than the main effect lawyer origin (η_p ² = .54). Limitations and practical implications are discussed in conclusion.     

探讨三级综合医院基于信息交互体系的双向转诊

建立基于信息交互体系的双向转诊信息平台,通过大连市某三级综合医院与社区卫生服务中心双向转诊研究,着重于探索临床路径这一研究方向对双向转诊的意义。用同期非随机对照试验,收集大连市黄河路社区上转患者人次和医院下转患者人次,以及分别比较转诊费用和医患转诊认知度。结果,上转患者402人,下转患者179人,上转服务明显好于下转,试验组和对照组患者医疗费用（除诊疗费）差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）,双向转诊认知度差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。目前双向转诊还处于单向流动状态,上转率明显高于下转率,双向转诊节省了医疗费用,在医患对其认知度方面,前者明显高于后者,制度上的支持是双向转诊顺利实施的关键。     

Toward a further understanding of assent

Arranging assent opportunities is an increasingly common strategy for involving clients in therapeutic decisions within behavior analysis. Recent behavior-analytic articles have helped create a basic behavioral definition and conceptualization of assent, but much more guidance is needed for practitioners and researchers interested in embedding assent into their practices. The purpose of this article is to advance the conceptualization and understanding of assent and assent practices by refining previous definitions and conceptualizations of assent and providing six essential considerations for embedding assent into practice. The six considerations consist of determining the applicability and feasibility of assent, assessing assent-related skills, arranging assent procedures and teaching assent-related skills, arranging fair choices, selecting opportunities to assess assent, and informally assessing assent. Following the discussion of the considerations for assent practices, we issue a call for specific topics of research on assent.     

School-Based Intervention for Social Skills in Children from Divorced Families

Divorce is an increasingly prevalent occurrence in society that has the potential to result in many adverse short- and long-term consequences for children and their parents. Social skills, such as those with peers, are one of the problems that may emerge for children of divorce. Despite this growing problem, there is a paucity of research available to effectively address the social skills needed to build and maintain positive peer interactions and subsequent relationships in students whose parents are no longer married. It was hypothesized that a social skills training program would be effective in remediating social skill deficits related to building relationships with peers in students from divorced families. The purpose of this study was to employ COPE, a school-based social skills program, to examine the effect on social skills in elementary students whose parents are divorced. Results of the social skills intervention indicated that the treatment was effective for most participants, but generalization of the COPE program had mixed results.     

Help-Seeking Behaviors in Non-Offending Caregivers of Abused Children in the Philippines

The help-seeking process among non-offending caregivers (NOCs) of abused children particularly in the non-Western context has yet to be elucidated. The objective of the current study was to investigate what proportion of Filipino NOCs of abused children sought professional support services within 12 months following child abuse disclosure (T1) and at 12 months (T2) follow-up in the Philippines. Two further aims were to investigate NOCs’ preferred service providers and settings and to explore barriers to help-seeking. A comparison group of Filipino parents without an abused child were also recruited to compare preferences and potential barriers to help seeking for child and family problems. A total of 47 NOCs and 70 comparison parents/guardians completed questionnaires, which assessed help-seeking preferences and barriers as well as parental stress. The majority of NOCs reported seeking help, which was perceived to be helpful. Almost two thirds of NOCs indicated preference for in-person counseling relative to the comparison group of parents. The majority of NOCs preferred seeking help from social workers and psychologists. Almost one third of both parental samples reported being judged as an unfit parent as a key barrier to seeking help for family problems. The findings have implications for psychological and allied health service providers in facilitating the adjustment for families of recently abused children.     

Mental Health Collaboration: A Survey of Practicing School Psychologists

Schools have become the primary setting for mental health service among youth. However, school-based providers are sometimes limited by lack of time, training, and other resources. Furthermore, problem-solving models emphasize the importance of developing partnerships with other professionals and agencies. Thus, it is critical to engage in collaborative practice with non–school-based, community mental health providers (CMHPs). The purpose of this study was to survey practicing school psychologists about their experiences in communicating and collaborating with CMHPs. Participants (n = 194) indicated their frequency of communication and collaboration with CMHPs; although communication (i.e., release and receipt of information) was typical, fewer school psychologists reported engaging in ongoing collaboration. Benefits and barriers to collaboration were identified, and implications for practice are discussed.     

Monitoring and Fostering Elementary School Students' Life Satisfaction: A Case Study

Research on the importance of complete mental health has led to increased focus on students' subjective well-being (i.e., happiness and life satisfaction) coupled with the traditional attention to psychopathology. Although screeners for psychopathology abound, the present project is novel in applying best practices in universal screening to grade level-wide assessment of children's life satisfaction, followed by implementation of a positive psychology intervention for students identified through the screener. In this case study of 375 third- to fifth-grade students in one elementary school, 93.6% participated in the screening, 11.2% qualified for supplemental services based on screening cutoff scores, and 4.8% took part in the targeted intervention to improve subjective well-being. Repeated measures analysis of mean scores revealed the intervention increased children's life satisfaction, lending support for the value of universal screeners in the process of service delivery. Implications for practice regarding universal screening and intervention for life satisfaction are discussed.     

Social support and emotional adjustment during and after a severe life event: A study of wives of myocardial infarction patients

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between quantitative and qualitative indicators of social support and anxiety. depression and use of health services in a sample of 37 wives of myocardial infarction (MI) patients. In a prospective design, the wives were interviewed during the acute phase of the illness, three months and 10 years post index-MI. Congruent with previous research, the quantitative aspect of social support, defined as number of persons giving help, was unrelated to adjustment, whereas qualitative aspect of social support, defined as the wives' dissatisfaction with social support, was associated with depression and use of health services. The observed association indicated, however, an effect in the opposite direction of the social support model. The findings were unexpected and may be due to a small sample. An alternative explanation is that long-term relationship between depression and social support is more complex, and more long-term studies are needed in this field.     

A randomized trial to evaluate the course of effects of a program to prevent adolescent depressive symptoms over 12 months

Although few prevention studies have been designed to investigate the course of prevention effects over time, it seems that the effects on depressive symptoms increase from post-intervention to 6-month follow-up but then decrease with longer lags to follow-up. Furthermore, previous prevention studies have found differential intervention effects for boys and girls without testing possible explanations for this effect. The present randomized control group study with 301 8th-grade students examined the effects of a depression prevention program from baseline until 12-month follow-up. As expected, while positive intervention effects were found on girls’ depressive symptoms, no such effects were found on boys’ depressive symptoms. Further, the positive intervention effects on girls’ depressive symptoms increased to the 6-month follow-up and remained stable through the 12-month follow-up, while depression symptoms in control-group girls increased from 6-month to 12-month follow-up. Further exploratory analyses revealed that neither baseline conduct problems nor cognitive or social knowledge of the prevention program at 12-month follow-up alone explained the sex effect. However, some limited evidence was found indicating that total knowledge (cognitive and social) might partially explain the effect but there was significant variability remaining to be explained.     

Black churches and HIV/AIDS: factors influencing congregations’ responsiveness to social issues

The ambivalent response of many black churches to current social issues has caused some scholars to question the centrality of black churches within African-American communities. Using a nationally representative sample of black congregations, this study engages the debate about the institutional centrality of black churches by focusing on their response to HIV/AIDS. Although many congregational studies treat black churches as a monolithic whole, this analysis identifies heterogeneity among black churches that shapes their responsiveness to social issues. Contrary to prior claims, a congregation's liberal-conservative ideological orientation does not significantly affect its likelihood of having an HIV/AIDS program. Beyond assessing churches’ internal characteristics, this study uses institutional theory to analyze churches as open systems that can be influenced by their surrounding environment. It demonstrates that externally engaged congregations are significantly more likely to have a program. These results indicate that black churches maintain institutional centrality by engaging their external environment.