Expanding Possibilities: Flexibility and Solidarity with Under-resourced Immigrant Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The novel coronavirus has added new anxieties and forms of grieving to the myriad practical and emotional burdens already present in the lives of underserved and uninsured immigrant families and communities. In this article, we relate our experiences since the COVID-19 crisis to the lessons we have learned over time as mental health professionals working with families in no-cost, student-managed community comprehensive health clinics in academic-community partnerships. We compare and contrast the learnings of flexibility of time, space, procedures, or attendance we acquired in this clinical community setting during regular times, with the new challenges families and therapists face, and the adaptations needed to continue to work with our clients in culturally responsive and empowering ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe families, students, professionals, promotoras (community links), and IT support staff joining together in solidarity as the creative problem solvers of new possibilities when families do not have access to Wi-Fi, smartphones, or computers, or suffer overcrowding and lack of privacy. We describe many anxieties related to economic insecurity or fear of facing death alone, but also how to visualize expanding possibilities in styles of parenting or types of emotional support among family members as elements of hope that may endure beyond these unprecedented tragic times of loss and uncertainty.     

Accompagner et instrumenter l’intervention dans une organisation en transition (SCOP) : quand l’intervenant doit prendre et trouver sa place

Our contribution is based on the observation in immersion of a collective of workers engaged in the struggle to take back its factory in Scop. We seek to understand, from the analysis of this intervention, what is the place and the role that the psychologist of work takes or is given in this context of transformation. From this perspective, the use of the intervention method has produced a large body of data that we have chosen to analyze according to the job four-dimensional model (Clot, 2008). We seek then to make visible our slippages in the use of this method, the interferences that may be the cause, the way in which they affect us, and what we can make of it. As we believe that these affects, however uncomfortable, can be transformed into objects of analysis to the benefit of the collective and its current activity.     

Semantic categorization and event-related potentials

The N400 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) was examined by presenting subjects with a series of words belonging to the same category and a series of declarative sentences. Half of the word series ended with a semantically unrelated word, while half of the sentences ended with a semantically inappropriate word. In the first experiment, subjects were instructed to read the word series and sentences, while in the second experiment they were instructed to indicate whether the word series or sentences ended appropriately or not with a button-press response. Word series and sentences with semantically incongruous endings produced a robust negative component at 400 msec followed by a positive-going wave for both the reading and decision tasks. When the subjects were required to categorize the word series and sentences endings, the negative component was followed by a robust P3 in both conditions. Analysis of scalp amplitude distributions for each task taken in conjunction with previous findings suggests that the semantically induced N400 component is most likely a "generic" N2. The relationship between the N2, N400, and P3 is discussed.     

Comparative validity of traditional versus S-R format inventories of interpersonal behavior

The comparative validity of two “S-R format” inventories of interpersonal behavior, Kinnane et al.'s (1969) Schedule of Interpersonal Response and a newly developed Rational S-R Inventory, and two “traditional” inventories, the Personality Research Form and the Interpersonal Check List, was examined with respect to 14 self-report and peer rating criteria selected to broadly tap the interpersonal domain. Sixty-four male and female high school seniors served as Ss.In spite of the situational specificity inherent in the S-R inventories, the traditional inventories substantially outperformed the S-R inventories and, in contrast to previous findings, also outperformed simple self-ratings. The results are discussed not only in terms of the relative advantages of various inventory construction strategies but also in reference to the problem of criterion measurement and theoretical and methodological issues in the assessment of situational parameters.     

Visual and verbal modes of information processing and cognitively-based coping strategies: An extension and replication

This study was designed to investigate the interaction between the use of an imaginallybased vs a verbally-based coping strategy with subjects who were selected on the basis of strong preferences for either visual or verbal modes of information processing. Forty-eight female students were subjected to a cold-pressor task. Measures of pain tolerance, pain threshold and a pain rating were obtained. The findings indicated that there was not a significant relationship between preferred cognitive style and the types of coping strategy provided. However, the treatments combined were found to be significantly more effective than the no-treatment condition on all three dependent measures. A structured debriefing revealed that use of visual vs verbal coping strategies did not differ as a function of treatment type or preferred cognitive style. It was concluded that individuals may demonstrate considerable flexibility in adapting to different types of cognitively-based coping strategies.     

The precision fluency shaping program: Replication and evaluation

The purpose of this article is to present the results of a two-year project to evaluate the Precision Fluency Shaping Program (Webster, 1980) in a community speech and hearing center. Fifty stutterers participated in therapy. Results indicated that Precision Fluency Shaping was an effective therapy for the treatment of stuttering. In addition, stutterer's perception of their speech changed from pre to post therapy. Follow-up data are presented on 28 clients. Advantages of conducting Precision Fluency Shaping, meeting accountability standards, and procedures for collecting follow-up data are discussed.