Applying a Theory of Change Approach to Interagency Planning in Child Mental Health

This paper describes the use of a theory of change approach to community-based cross-agency service planning for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families. Public agency planners in Contra Costa County, California used the theory of change approach to organize service planning for a population of youth who had been arrested and involved with juvenile probation. The theory of change process described in this paper links community outcomes with planned activities with the assumptions or principles that underlie the community planning efforts. When complete, a theory of change logic model can serve as a guide for implementation, ensuring that community plans for service delivery remain true to their intent. The theory of change development process includes twelve stages and is based on a step-by-step approach. Theory of change logic models establish a context for articulating a community's shared beliefs and prompt local stakeholders to establish logical connections between the population to be served, expected results, and strategies intended to achieve those results.     

Understanding of the relationship between seeing and knowing by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

The ability of four tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) to recognize the causal connection between seeing and knowing was investigated. The subjects were trained to follow a suggestion about the location of hidden food provided by a trainer who knew where the food was (the knower) in preference to a trainer who did not (the guesser). The experimenter baited one of three opaque containers behind a cardboard screen so that the subjects could not see which of the containers hid the reward. In experiment 1, the knower appeared first in front of the apparatus and looked into each container; next, the guesser appeared but did not look into any containers. Then the knower touched the correct cup while the guesser touched one of the three randomly. The capuchin monkeys gradually learned to reach toward the cup that the knower suggested. In experiment 2, the subjects adapted to a novel variant of the task, in which the guesser touched but did not look into any of the containers. In experiment 3, the monkeys adapted again when the knower and the guesser appeared in a random order. These results suggest that capuchin monkeys can learn to recognize the relationship between seeing and knowing. Accepted after revision: 10 September 2001 Electronic Publication     

Duration-based measures of preference for vocational tasks

We compared results from two preference assessments with data on extended performance of vocational tasks by 4 participants with developmental disabilities. All participants engaged in one task exclusively when seven tasks were available concurrently during a 5-min multiple-stimulus assessment. By contrast, all participants exhibited high levels of engagement in most tasks when the tasks were presented singly for 5 min, and these data showed a high degree of correspondence with those obtained during extended (60-min) vocational assessments.     

A prework assessment of task preferences among adults with autism beginning a supported job

A prework paired-task assessment was evaluated for identifying work preferences among 3 adults with autism beginning a supported job. When the workers began the job, choices were provided between more and less preferred tasks (determined by previous assessment). Results supported the assessment for identifying single task preferences, but did not reveal preferences of 2 workers for alternate tasks. Results are discussed in terms of evaluating other prework assessments that may reveal task-alternation preferences.     

Automatic mimicry reactions as related to differences in emotional empathy

The hypotheses of this investigation were derived by conceiving of automatic mimicking as a component of emotional empathy. Differences between subjects high and low in emotional empathy were investigated. The parameters compared were facial mimicry reactions, as represented by electromyographic (EMG) activity when subjects were exposed to pictures of angry or happy faces, and the degree of correspondence between subjects' facial EMG reactions and their self-reported feelings. The comparisons were made at different stimulus exposure times in order to elicit reactions at different levels of information processing. The high-empathy subjects were found to have a higher degree of mimicking behavior than the low-empathy subjects, a difference that emerged at short exposure times (17-40 ms) that represented automatic reactions. The low-empathy subjects tended already at short exposure times (17-40 ms) to show inverse zygomaticus muscle reactions, namely "smiling" when exposed to an angry face. The high-empathy group was characterized by a significantly higher correspondence between facial expressions and self-reported feelings. No differences were found between the high- and low-empathy subjects in their verbally reported feelings when presented a happy or an angry face. Thus, the differences between the groups in emotional empathy appeared to be related to differences in automatic somatic reactions to facial stimuli rather than to differences in their conscious interpretation of the emotional situation.     

Differentiating anxious,aggressive, and socially competent preschool children: validation of the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation-30 (parent version)

The present study examined the factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity of the parent version of the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation-30 for preschoolers (SCBE-30; LaFreniere, P. J. (1990). Social competence and behavior evaluation-30. Unpublished measure.), an adaptation of the validated teacher version of the same measure (LaFreniere & Dumas, Psychol. Asses. 8 (1996) 369). The parent version of the SCBE-30 is a 30-item Likert rating scale questionnaire designed to assess patterns of anxiety/withdrawal, anger/aggression, and social competence. Principal components analysis was used to identify the factor structure of the parent version of the SCBE-30 (N = 218 preschool children). To assess construct validity, a compliance task was utilized to determine whether children identified as high on anxiety/withdrawal, anger/aggression, or social competence with the parent version of the SCBE-30 (n = 20 for each group) could be distinguished behaviorally on several observational variables. Principal components analysis identified three factors accounting for 44% of the variance. Ten items positively loaded onto each factor and matched conceptual expectations. A between-subjects MANOVA demonstrated significant group differences in observed child behaviors including compliance, noncompliance, subtypes of noncompliance, and aversive behavior. Results of the current study suggested that the parent version of the SCBE-30 demonstrated both internal consistency and construct validity, and findings paralleled many of the results from LaFreniere and Dumas' validation of the teacher version of the SCBE-30.     

The Child Behavior Checklist for Group Care Workers: A Study Regarding the Factor Structure

In this study we examined the factor structure of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) filled out by group care workers. Group care workers' judgements were collected on 846 children and adolescents treated in various residential settings in The Netherlands. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we were able to show that the original CBCL factor model based on parental judgments of child behavior also fits for the judgments of group care workers. This means that the well known 8 narrow-band syndromes (Withdrawn, Somatic Complaints, etc.) as well as the 2 broad-band syndromes (Internalizing and Externalizing) can be used to interpret the CBCL scores of group care workers. This confirmation of the CBCL factor structure is a first step to add a group care worker version to the CBCL family. However, as a second step, normative data need to be gathered to further enhance the use of the CBCL for group care workers.     

MicroCog: Assessment of Cognitive Functioning

MicroCog: Assessment of Cognitive Functioning version 2.1 (Powell, D. H., Kaplan, E. F., Whitla, D., Catlin, R., and Funkenstein, H. H. (1993). The Psychological corporation, San Antonio, TX.) is one of the first computerized assessment batteries commercially developed to detect early signs of cognitive impairment. This paper reviews its psychometric characteristics and relates them to its clinical utility. It concludes that MicroCog provides an accurate, cost-effective screen for early dementia among elderly subjects living in the community and that it can distinguish dementia from depression. Its ability to detect cognitive decline at other ages or to discriminate dementia from other mental disorders has not been established. MicroCog measures different constructs than do traditional neuropsychological tests, making it difficult to relate test performance to current models of cognitive functioning. The review recommends further development of MicroCog and discusses its implications for the future of computer-based neuropsychological assessment.     

A brief computer-based assessment of reinforcer dimensions affecting choice

In an extension of Neef, Shade, and Miller (1994), we used a brief computer-based assessment of differential responsiveness to reinforcer rate, quality, delay, and response effort in affecting the choices of 11 participants. The assessment involved successive presentations of two concurrent sets of math problems, each set associated with competing reinforcer or response dimensions in a counterbalanced fashion. The results showed that the reinforcer and response dimensions differentially affected choice, with time-allocation patterns varying across students.     

The Children's Attributional Style Interview: Developmental Tests of Cognitive Diathesis-Stress Theories of Depression

This paper presents an initial assessment of the Children's Attributional Style Interview (CASI), a newly designed measure for assessing attributional style in young children (age 5 and up). The CASI was used to conduct prospective tests of the reformulated helplessness (L. Y. Abramson, M. Seligman, & J. Teasdale, 1978) and the integrated hopelessness/self-esteem (G. I. Metalsky, T. E. Joiner, Jr., T. S. Hardin, & L. Y. Abramson, 1993) theories of depression in a sample of 147 5–10-year-old children. For comparison, the same tests were also conducted with the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire-Revised (CASQ-R; N. J. Kaslow & S. Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), a commonly used measure for assessing attributional style in older children (age 8 and up). The CASI evidenced support of the reformulated helplessness theory and partial support of the integrated hopelessness/self-esteem theory. The CASI also demonstrated good internal consistency. Thus, our findings provide initial support for the CASI as a methodologically sound measure of attributional style for children as young as 5 years old. Although preliminary, our findings also suggest possible developmental differences in how attributional style interacts with self-esteem and negative life stress. The CASI should prove to be a useful tool in furthering the understanding of the origins and development of attributional style in childhood, as well as its contribution to the understanding of the development and prevention of depressive symptomatology in children.