Internationalizing counselling: A Southeast Asian perspective

To learn about our Southeast Asian colleagues’ views on internationalizing counselling psychology to Asian cultures, we interviewed eight counselling psychologists who had received their doctoral training in the United States. Four of the participants were currently practicing and teaching in their native countries and four in the United States. Using the basic principles of Grounded Theory [Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago, IL: Aldine.], we derived two themes from the data: (1) major assumptions in US counselling psychology that may limit its transferability to Southeast Asian cultures and (2) practices in learning, training, and cultural adjusting for future development and internationalization of counselling psychology. The participants emphasized the need for indigenization and knowledge sharing in the efforts to internationalize counselling psychology.     

Primary care decision making in response to psychological complaints: the influence of patient race

Eighteen general practitioners indicated diagnostic and treatment decisions in response to patient vignettes. Results indicated that White patients were more likely to be correctly diagnosed as having anxiety than any other complaint. Asians were just as likely to receive a physical diagnosis as they were to receive one of anxiety. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive/Behavior Therapy for Agoraphobic Women

No abstract available for this article.     

I Listen,Therefore I Am: An Asian American Approach to Post‐Materialist Living

Abstract : Consumerism is a cultural atmosphere that permeates societies when they are saturated with market‐driven values at the expense of social values. It prioritizes personal needs over the common good and reduces even religion to a “brand” that people wear like an emblem. It simultaneously approaches the world itself as a resource to be managed, forgetful of the fact that all living beings are songs and stories worth hearing. As Christianity becomes a post‐western religion, opportunities emerge for Christians to develop cross‐cultural poetics that are conducive to post‐materialist ways of living in the world. Poetics are not theologies, but rather outlooks on life or, perhaps more appropriately, ways of listening to the voices of people and other living beings. The purpose of this essay is to propose one such Asian American theology that can be a commitment to deep listening: that is, to dwelling musically in the world. This manner of dwelling can recognize that even the heart of the universe—even God—is a listening presence at the heart of the universe.     

Context and culture in the socialization and development of personal achievement values: Comparing Latino immigrant families,European American families,and elementary school teachers

We documented cross-cultural similarities and differences in values concerning personal achievement between Latino immigrant parents, a group of multiethnic teachers, and European American parents. We also explored intergenerational similarities and differences between parents and their fifth-grade children. The theoretical premise was that sociodemographic factors, such as education, drive cultural values, with more formal education associated with individualistic values and less formal education associated with collectivistic/familistic values. Responding to open-ended social dilemmas relevant to family life, Latino immigrant parents, averaging a fifth-grade education, responded more familistically than the more highly educated multiethnic teachers or European American parents. In contrast, no group differences in values showed up in situations where school practices do not directly impact family life. Intergenerational differences were few; but, in family-centered scenarios, European American fifth graders were significantly more collectivistic than European American parents, a finding that suggested the possibility that, in an individualistic culture, individualism is socialized with age.     

An experimental analysis of electricity conservation procedures

Daily electricity consumption of four families was recorded for 106 days. A reversal design, consisting of various experimental conditions interspersed between repeated baseline conditions, was used. During experimental conditions, daily prompts (written conservation slogans attached to front doors) and/or daily feedback (daily kilowatts consumed and daily cost information) were in effect. Maximum consumption occurred during the initial baseline; minimum consumption occurred during different experimental conditions for different families. The mean decrease from the maximum to the minimum for all families was 35%. Reversals in consumption were demonstrated in three families, although successive baselines tended to decrease. No clear differences in effectiveness between prompting and feedback conditions were apparent. The procedures used resulted in considerable dollar savings for the families.     

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills for Families of Individuals With Behavioral Disorders: Initial Feasibility and Outcomes

Family members of individuals with behavioral disorders are a valuable source of logistical and emotional support for patients. Family members may take on tremendous financial and/or psychological responsibility to care for their loved ones, which can result in poor psychological outcomes for the family and, in turn, impede the recovery of the patient. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills training is an effective treatment that has been utilized with numerous populations, including family members of individuals with behavioral problems, and has shown efficacy in improving various interpersonal outcomes; however, no study has examined feasibility and outcomes of delivering all four unabridged DBT skills modules to this population. Twenty participants attended weekly DBT skills classes for 6 months, where they acquired skills in mindfulness, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance. There were significant pre-post improvements for emotion dysregulation, stress reactivity, and various interpersonal outcomes; there were no significant changes in depression or anxiety. These results suggest that DBT skills may be effective at improving broad clinical domains in a sample of family members of individuals with behavioral problems. This research is the first step in demonstrating that DBT skills might benefit family members of patients with heterogeneous mental health problems and, therefore, fits in to the field’s growing interest in cost-effective transdiagnostic interventions.     

Protective Factors and the Development of Resilience in the Context of Neighborhood Disadvantage

The purpose of the present study was to examine relations among multiple child and family protective factors, neighborhood disadvantage, and positive social adjustment in a sample of 226 urban, low SES boys followed from infancy to early adolescence. The results indicated that child IQ, nurturant parenting, and parent-child relationship quality, measured in early childhood, were all significantly associated with a composite measure tapping low levels of antisocial behavior and high levels of social skills at ages 11 and 12. Parental romantic partner relationship quality (RPRQ) was only significantly related to positive social adjustment in the context of low levels of neighborhood disadvantage. Results suggest that with the exception of RPRQ, these protective factors operate in a comparable manner with respect to positive social adjustment for this predominantly low-income urban sample of boys.     

Reexamining models of healthy families

This paper presents the perceptions of members of an alternative family form concerning the strengths of their family type, the functions of family, family models, and traits of a healthy families in general. The concepts presented are the product of a qualitative research study of shared home families.     

Differential patterns of post-shelter placement as a function of problem type and severity

Changes in placement restrictiveness, as a function of problem type and severity, were examined in a sample of 154 children departing a shelter for runaway and homeless youth. Six problem types were identified using a principal components analysis of youth-reported personal and family problems. Four of the six factors obtained represented youth problem types interpreted as reflecting antisocial/conduct problems, victimization by abuse, risk of suicide, and rebellious youth behaviors. The two remaining problem types were interpreted as a chaotic/aggressive family type and a mixed pattern of youth aggression and parental skill deficiency. An analysis of the problem types indicated that youth at higher risk for suicide, and those who came from more dysfunctional families, departed to living environments that were more restrictive than their placements at entry.