Effect of Make Parenting a Pleasure on Parenting Skills and Parental Depression

Abstract

This paper explores a feasibility trial examining the effects of the Make Parenting A Pleasure (MPAP), a 12-week parent training program designed to promote family resilience by strengthening the following factors: parental resilience, social connections, concrete support in times of need, knowledge of parenting and child development, and social and emotional competence in children. Fifty-nine (59) participants were assigned to either a treatment group (n?=?32) or a waitlist control group (n?=?27). Results showed that participants in the MPAP treatment group demonstrated an increase in parenting skills and child development knowledge as well as a decrease in parental depression when compared to waitlist control group participants. Results emphasize the importance of promoting resiliency by supporting parents through direct instruction and skill development.     

Young Indigenous Australians' Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Practices: A Community‐based Participatory Research Project

National surveillance data indicate marked differences between Indigenous and other Australians in the prevalence of many sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Young Indigenous people bear a particularly high burden of these infections. A collaboration of university researchers, Indigenous health workers and young Indigenous people conducted 45 field interviews to examine how young Indigenous Australians keep themselves healthy and protected against STIs. Our findings emphasise the complexity of health behaviours, where individuals are rarely always ‘risky’ or always ‘safe’, as well as subtle gender differences in health practices. Preventive strategies employed by the young people were contingent on beliefs and knowledge about sexual partners, the type of relationship, the context of the sexual encounter and access to condoms. Tangible strengths such as young Indigenous people's commitments to condoms and STI screening should be celebrated and bolstered to enhance their ability to protect themselves against adverse health outcomes and enhance their resilience against STIs. Focusing on strengths helps to counter the deficit model of health commonly deployed in Indigenous health research and draws attention to health issues facing young Indigenous people and their communities, without reinforcing negative stereotypes or focusing solely on individual risk behaviour. We provide concrete recommendations for health promotion and education. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of lay theories of Feng Shui on consumers' peace of mind: The role of regulatory fit

With its history dating back five millennia, the art of creating harmonious surroundings – commonly referred to as Feng Shui – has become deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Yet despite its significant effect on people's daily lives, a dearth of research is available on how Feng Shui influences consumers' decisions. This study investigates the influence of Feng Shui on customers' attitude based on their regulatory focus, providing suggestions for business opportunities. Three studies examine whether Feng Shui's goals influence participants' decisions and feelings of appropriateness. Study 1 demonstrated that the fit between Feng Shui's suggestions and consumers' regulatory focus impacted decision making. Participants were more likely to adopt the Feng Shui practitioner's suggestions of a goal compatible with the consumers' regulatory focus. Study 2 provided evidence that a regulatory focus also impacts participants' peace of mind. Study 3 tested whether the value experienced from regulatory fit is reflected in the price. Specifically, promotion‐oriented individuals feel more accepting of promotion‐focused Feng Shui that is consistent with an approach goal while prevention‐oriented individuals are more persuaded by prevention‐focused Feng Shui that is consistent with an avoidance goal. When the Feng Shui appeal is compatible with the self‐regulatory focus, individuals demonstrate a greater feeling of appropriateness and produce a higher level of peace of mind.     

Perceived Stress and Comorbid Illness Predict Depressive Symptomatology in People with Coeliac Disease

A high prevalence of depression is found in people with coeliac disease (CD). People with CD who are depressed are less likely to manage their illness effectively, which may lead to complications. Identification of variables associated with depression in people with CD may facilitate early detection and intervention. Participants were 749 members (125 males, 622 females) of the Queensland Coeliac Society (aged 18–88 years), recruited via a mailout. Participants completed the Modified Zung Self‐Rating Depression Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Perceived Consequences Subscale (from the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire). Stress (p = .001) and comorbid medical illness (p = .01) were significantly associated with depression in CD. The current study made an original contribution to the body of literature by identifying stress and comorbid medical illness as predictors of depression in CD.     

Understanding memory impairment with memory models and hierarchical Bayesian analysis

The study of human episodic memory is a topic that interests cognitive and mathematical psychologists as well as clinicians interested in the diagnosis and assessment of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (ADRD). In this paper, we use simple cognitive models for the recognition and recall tasks typically applied in clinical assessments of ADRD to study memory performance in ADRD patients. Our models make use of hierarchical Bayesian methods as a way to model individual differences in patient performance and to facilitate the modeling of performance changes that occur during multiple recall tasks. We show how the models are able to account for different aspects of patient performance, and also discuss some of the predictive capabilities of the model. We conclude with a discussion on the scope to improve on our results by discussing the link between memory theory in psychology and clinical practice.     

Mobilizing Communities to Implement Evidence-Based Practices in Youth Violence Prevention: The State of the Art

Community mobilization can increase the effective implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in youth violence prevention. These strategies bring together people and organizations in a community to try to solve or reduce a problem. They help communities address the challenges of identifying EBPs, disseminating them to local decision-makers, and then implementing and sustaining them if they are successful. Science-based systems for implementing EBPs such as PROSPER and Communities That Care can help to integrate this complex work in communities. Further insight about implementing EBPs in youth violence prevention is being developed through the CDC-funded Academic Centers for Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention. Community mobilization approaches for seven of these programs are discussed, highlighting successful approaches and challenges encountered.     

X-rated material and perpetration of sexually aggressive behavior among children and adolescents: is there a link?

Longitudinal linkages between intentional exposure to x-rated material and sexually aggressive behavior were examined among youth 10-15 year olds surveyed nationally in the United States. At Wave 1 in 2006, participants (n = 1,588) were queried about these exposures and outcomes in the preceding 12 months. Wave 2 data (n = 1,206) were collected approximately 12 months after Wave 1 and Wave 3 data (n = 1,159) were collected approximately 24 months after Wave 1. Thus, data for this project represent a 36-month time frame. A marginal model with generalized estimating equations was used to represent the population-average odds of sexually aggressive behavior over the 36 months as a function of exposure to x-rated material over the same time and to account for clustering in the data within person over time. An average of 5% of youth reported perpetrating sexually aggressive behavior and 23% of youth reported intentional exposure to x-rated material. After adjusting for other potentially influential proximal (i.e., sexual aggression victimization) and distal characteristics (e.g., substance use), we found that intentional exposure to violent x-rated material over time predicted an almost 6-fold increase in the odds of self-reported sexually aggressive behavior (aOR: 5.8, 95% CI: 3.2, 10.5), whereas exposure to nonviolent x-rated material was not statistically significantly related (aOR: 1.7, 95% CI: 0.94, 2.9). Associations were similar for boys and girls (boys nonviolent x-rated material aOR = 2.0, 95% CI: 0.8, 4.7; violent x-rated material aOR = 6.5, 95% CI: 2.7, 15.3; girls nonviolent x-rated material aOR = 1.2, 95% CI: 0.5, 3.2; violet x-rated material aOR = 6.1, 95% CI: 2.5, 14.8).     

Impaired finger dexterity in Parkinson's disease is associated with praxis function

A controversial concept suggests that impaired finger dexterity in Parkinson’s disease may be related to limb kinetic apraxia that is not explained by elemental motor deficits such as bradykinesia. To explore the nature of dexterous difficulties, the aim of the present study was to assess the relationship of finger dexterity with ideomotor praxis function and parkinsonian symptoms. Twenty-five patients with Parkinson’s disease participated in the study. Their left and right arms were tested independently. Testing was done in an OFF and ON state as defined by a modified version of the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS). Finger dexterity was assessed by a coin rotation (CR) task and ideomotor praxis using a novel test of upper limb apraxia (TULIA), in which the patients were requested to imitate and pantomime 48 meaningless, as well as communicative and tool-related gestures. Coin rotation significantly correlated with TULIA irrespective of the motor state and arm involved, but not with the MDS-UPDRS. This association was significantly influenced by Hoehn and Yahr stage.The strong association of finger dexterity with praxis function but not the parkinsonian symptoms indicates that impaired finger dexterity in Parkinson’s disease may be indeed apraxic in nature, yet, predominantly in advanced stages of the disease when cortical pathology is expected to develop. The findings are discussed within a cognitive-motor model of praxis function.     

How emotional pictures influence visuospatial binding in short-term memory in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease?

The present study examines the prediction that emotion can facilitate short-term memory. Nevertheless, emotion also recruits attention to process information, thereby disrupting short-term memory when tasks involve high attentional resources. In this way, we aimed to determine whether there is a differential influence of emotional information on short-term memory in ageing and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Fourteen patients with mild AD, 14 healthy older participants (NC), and 14 younger adults (YA) performed two tasks. In the first task, involving visual short-term memory, participants were asked to remember a picture among four different pictures (negative or neutral) following a brief delay. The second task, a binding memory task, required the recognition by participants of a picture according to its spatial location. The attentional cost involved was higher than for the first task. The pattern of results showed that visual memory performance was better for negative stimuli than for neutral ones, irrespective of the group. In contrast, binding memory performance was essentially poorer for the location of negative pictures in the NC group, and for the location of both negative and neutral stimuli in the AD group, in comparison to the YA group. Taken together, these results show that emotion has beneficial effects on visual short-term memory in ageing and AD. In contrast, emotion does not improve their performances in the binding condition.