Roth and Pilling's competence framework for clinical supervision: How generalisable is it?

Background: Roth and Pilling's (2009) competence framework for the supervision of psychological therapies was commissioned as a training resource for the UK Government's ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) programme. Aims: This paper considers the extent to which it reflects current supervisory practice in the UK. Method: Supervisors' opinions of the non‐modality‐specific competences were surveyed using an online survey form and two emailed survey forms. Findings: Regardless of their professional background, participants felt able to identify with the majority of competences surveyed; however, a minority elicited disagreement. Here, findings suggest that those who drew on cognitive and/or behavioural theory, and were members of the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) might be more confident in their ownership than others. However, small sample sizes in the email surveys prevent firm conclusions from being drawn. Conclusions: Regardless of the theoretical approach they subscribe to, supervisors should find the framework helpful as a guide to best practice.     

The Process by Which Relative Autonomous Motivation Affects Intentional Behavior: Comparing Effects Across Dieting and Exercise Behaviors

A motivational model integrating self-deter-mination theory and the theory of planned behavior was tested in two samples for exercise and dieting behavior respectively. Relative autonomous motivation from self-determination theory was hypothesized to predict intentions to exercise or diet via the mediation of attitudes and perceived behavioral control (PBC) from the theory of planned behavior. It was also expected that attitudes and PBC would predict actual levels of exercise and dieting behavior via the mediation of intentions. Relations in the proposed model were expected to be invariant across the behaviors. Two samples of participants (N = 511) completed measures of the autonomous motives, attitudes, subjective norms, PBC, and intentions with respect to exercise and dieting behavior. Four weeks later, participants self-reported their behavior. Structural equation models supported the replicability of the proposed model in both behaviors. Findings supported the majority of the hypothesized effects in the proposed model across the two health behaviors. However, four effects were significantly different across the two behaviors: the effect of autonomous motives on intentions, subjective norms and PBC on intentions, and intentions on behavior. Findings extend knowledge of the processes by which psychological antecedents from the theories affect health behaviors integral to the maintenance of energy balance.

Testing indirect effect with a complete or incomplete dichotomous mediator

Past methodological research on mediation analysis mainly focused on situations where all variables were complete and continuous. When issues of categorical data occur combined with missing data, more methodological considerations are involved. Specifically, appropriate decisions need to be made on estimation methods of the indirect effects and on confidence intervals for testing the indirect effects with accommodations of missing data. We compare strategies that address these issues based on a model with a dichotomous mediator, aiming to provide guidelines for researchers facing such challenges in practice.     

On the Logical Positivists' Theory of Truth: The Fundamental Problem and a New Perspective

The present article purports to show that the protocol sentence debate, pursued by some leading members of the Vienna Circle in the mid-1930s, was essentially a controversy over the explanation and the real significance of the concept of truth. It is further shown that the fundamental issue underlying the discussions about the concept of truth was the relationship between form and content, as well as between logic/language and the world. R. Carnap was the philosopher who most explicitly and systematically attempted to come to grips with this problem. It is shown that the form-content distinction pervades the three most important phases of Carnap's philosophical development: the structuralist (in Der logische Aufbau der Welt), the syntactical and the semantical. His final semantical stance is essentially determined by the concept of linguistic frameworks. The article purports to demonstrate that this concept cannot be dispensed with in philosophy, but that Carnap failed to work out its ontological implications. Finally, the concept of an internal ontology is briefly delineated. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A Systematic Framework for Integrating Psychological Evaluations and Interventions

A systematic framework for an integrative approach to psychological evaluations and interventions is proposed based on the executive system model of intelligence, the transactional processes of stress and coping, and the field properties of the personal domain. The executive system of intelligence is a comprehensive model that helps to explain the active components of various types of psychotherapies. We are proposing that psychotherapies facilitate clients' uses of their executive functions to develop coping strategies in their transactions with the environment and the events in their life space. A clinical case is presented to illustrate our systematic approach to psychological evaluation and intervention.     

Towards an Alternative Approach to Personhood in the End of Life Questions

Within the Western bioethical framework, we make adistinction between two dominant interpretations of the meaning of moral personhood: thenaturalist and the humanist one. While both interpretations of moral personhood claim topromote individual autonomy and rights, they end up with very different normativeviews on the practical and legal measures needed to realize these values in every daylife. Particularly when we talk about the end of life issues it appears that in general thearguments for euthanasia are drawn from the naturalist interpretation of moral personhoodwhile the arguments against euthanasia, for their part, are derived from the idealistand/or humanist understanding of the same concept. This article focuses onexamining the metaphysical assumptions and internal contradiction found behind the opposingarguments presented by two prominent philosophers of these two traditions:Peter Singer and Ludger Honnefelder. The author claims that neither side of thedebate succeeds in defending its normative position without reconsidering how to takethe social aspects of moral personhood into account. The author holds that, despite ourneed to set individual's decision making into social context, the currentcommunitarian narrative concept of personhood fails to offer a convincing alternative.Instead of merely trying to replace psychological and atomistic view of personhood with acollective understanding of an individual's moral identity, we need to discuss thenormative relation between the concept of `moral personhood' and the demand for respect ofindividual autonomy in Western bioethics within a wider philosophical perspective.     

Pedagogical cliff‐jumping

This article chronicles how Introduction to the Study of Religion has become my favorite course to teach. In it, I narrate my process of pedagogical reinvention and syllabus redesign. Framed by professional and personal backstories, I share my pedagogical desires, list some pedagogical cues I took, and articulate pedagogical decisions and associated wagers. (Along the way, I draw on a range of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and pedagogical materials as guides.) Then I tell how my Intro course realized these elements in its design and its execution. By doing so, I make a case for taking pedagogical risks and for reinventing Intro courses as performative responses to the practical and disciplinary question “how might we study religion?”     

Are there Local Differences in Support for Violent Radicalization? A Study on College Students in the Province of Quebec,Canada

Support for violent radicalization (VR) is a multidimensional phenomenon determined by individual, social, and contextual variables. However, how local contexts influence the configurations of risk and protective factors leading to the process of VR remains an open question. In line with a socioecological framework, this study aims to investigate local differences in support for VR and its associated risk factors (i.e., immigrant status, social adversity, depression, and collective identity) among college students in Quebec, a Canadian province with a variety of social and political contexts (i.e., Francophone Montreal, Quebec City, rural/suburban areas, and Anglophone communities). A total of 1765 college students (71% women; 73% aged between 16 and 21 years) completed an online survey. Mixed-effects models were implemented to test local differences in support for VR and its risk factors. Results showed that the association between social adversity (i.e., discrimination and exposure to violence) and support for VR varied by local context. Specifically, social adversity was a risk factor across all contexts but Quebec City. Although prevention programs may target common determinants of support for VR, they need to be tailored according to local realities, and in particular the level of social diversity and the relative prevalence of mainstream radical discourses.     

Reducing Binge Drinking in Adolescents through Implementation of the Strategic Prevention Framework

The Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) is a conceptual model that supports coalition‐driven efforts to address underage drinking and related consequences. Although the SPF has been promoted by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and implemented in multiple U.S. states and territories, there is limited research on the SPF's effectiveness on improving targeted outcomes and associated influencing factors. The present quasi‐experimental study examines the effects of SPF implementation on binge drinking and enforcement of existing underage drinking laws as an influencing factor. The intervention group encompassed 11 school districts that were implementing the SPF with local prevention coalitions across eight Kansas communities. The comparison group consisted of 14 school districts that were matched based on demographic variables. The intervention districts collectively facilitated 137 community‐level changes, including new or modified programs, policies, and practices. SPF implementation supported significant improvements in binge drinking and enforcement outcomes over time (p < .001), although there were no significant differences in improvements between the intervention and matched comparison groups (p > .05). Overall, the findings provide a basis for guiding future research and community‐based prevention practice in implementing and evaluating the SPF.     

艾滋病污名的形成机制、负面影响与干预

艾滋病污名主要包括实际污名、感知污名和自我污名, 这些不同形式的污名给艾滋病患者带来了精神上的痛苦、社会资源的剥夺等一系列的负面影响。归因理论、社会文化理论和道德理论分别从社会心理学、社会不平等和文化道德的角度阐述了艾滋病污名的形成机制。从这些机制出发, 减少艾滋病污名可以结合接触假设、知识传播以及认知行为疗法, 并注意改变艾滋病患者的自身观念。未来的艾滋病污名研究应更多地从社会文化以及道德的角度进行跨文化的量化研究。