Big Five Personality and Creativity: The Moderating Effect of Motivational Goal Orientation

This study examined the association between the big five personality dimensions and creativity through the moderation of motivational goal orientation. One hundred and ninety students engaged in full‐time employment completed questionnaires, which were used to assess the variables of interest. Regression moderation analyses supported some of the expected hypotheses. The associations between the big five dimensions and creativity were moderated by learning motivational goal orientation. Individuals high in extroversion, emotional stability, and low in conscientiousness, are most creative when they are oriented toward learning. In addition, openness fully predicted creativity, without the moderation of goal orientation. The results are discussed in terms of the interactional nature of personality and goal orientation theory.     

A Study of Student Counselors' Experiences With Meditation

The positive effects of meditation have been shown to be helpful to a variety of client populations and counselors in practice. Researchers analyzed the journals of 60 counselor education students who volunteered to learn Jyoti meditation (JM) over a 6‐week period. Analysis revealed 5 major themes: (a) the scheduling of time for meditation, (b) issues with concentrating, (c) environment for meditation, (d) effects on wellness, and (e) adherence to daily practice. These themes suggest avenues for how counselor educators and supervisors can help student counselors integrate JM as a self‐care strategy.     

Co‐authoring better futures for children and families – Anticipation Dialogue in children’s social care networks

Anticipation Dialogue (AD), in comparison to Open Dialogue, the lesser known form of dialogical network practices introduced by Seikkula and Arnkil, seems not to be used in children’s social care in the UK, and there is little literature about it. In this article I will introduce and explain Anticipation Dialogue and make links to other systemic ideas including Signs of Safety. I will review the literature and give a case example from my children’s social care practice.     

Reexamination of the Five‐Factor Model and College Students' Treatment‐Seeking Attitudes

This study was an attempt to replicate and extend the previous research by Puma ( 1996 ) and Kakhnovets ( 2011 ) on the relationships between the 5‐factor model of personality (FFM) and college students' attitudes toward seeking counseling. With a sample of 458 undergraduate students, the authors found that participant sex, prior treatment experiences, and 3 of the FFM factors (openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) predicted college students' attitudes toward counseling, but there was no evidence of moderator effects.     

The efficacy of a pilot pediatric cognitive remediation summer program to prepare for transition of care

This study assessed the efficacy of a time-sensitive cognitive remediation summer program (CRSP) that provided patients and their families with tools to help mitigate neurocognitive deficits and promote independence to foster precursor transition of medical care skills. A total of 38 participants (aged 9–15) were included in one of the CRSPs offered yearly from 2013 to 2016. A longitudinal design was employed and at each evaluation time point, one week before start of the CRSP (pre-testing) and within three weeks after the end of the program (post-testing)), participants were administered measures of executive functioning in addition to parent ratings of behavior, executive functioning, and adaptive skills (Year 1–Year 4). In Year 4, additional measures were collected, including parenting style and parent engagement and involvement in the program. Results from Year 1 to Year 4 (n = 35) demonstrated that participants in the CRSP showed significant improvement on neuropsychological testing in sustained and selective attention, planning, and cognitive flexibility. Robust changes in parent ratings of adaptive functioning from pre- to post-treatment were also found. Specific to Year 4 (n = 13), results revealed that participants showed improvement in levels of independence with at least one of the individualized goals focused on during the program. This study provided a systematic method to gauge the levels of instruction necessary to reach goals, a crucial tool in skill-teaching. Overall, our study provides evidence for the efficacy of the CRSP and validates a feasible intervention that can be integrated into standard of care for pediatric medical populations.     

Moral injury,coherence, and spiritual repair

In the PTSD literature, moral injury represents dissonance between a person’s beliefs about how they and the world should function, and the trauma event(s) they experienced. Given the association of moral injury with the assumptive world, it is not surprising the concept is closely intertwined with spiritual concerns. This paper reports on a spiritually integrated group intervention designed to help veterans with PTSD in the process of moral and spiritual repair. Qualitative findings are shared from interviews conducted with 18 participants who completed the intervention. Themes are centred around participants’ overall response to their experience in the group; where they are at regarding feelings such as guilt, shame, anger, trust, sense of betrayal, and desire for forgiveness; changes in religious/spiritual beliefs and practices and the experience of moral injury; and if they now find meaning in the trauma. The findings support the need for additional treatment options that address the moral and spiritual aspects of trauma.     

A naturalistic pilot study assessing the impact of assessment pathways and intake methods within Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services

Fast access pathways characterise many Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) services, allowing them to see increasing numbers of referrals year on year. At the same time, emerging research is highlighting potential care inefficiencies, including early treatment disengagement, inappropriate treatment allocation, less than optimal clinical outcomes, and repeat referrals. Integrating more stratified models based on in‐depth and comprehensive assessment techniques which include some therapeutic input could help better target interventions. This could lead to improved engagement and clinical outcomes, while also providing enough therapeutic support to those attending one session only. This pilot study assesses the impact of assessment pathways and intake methods involving a 90‐min face‐to‐face therapeutic consultation, compared with a 45‐min over‐the‐phone assessment session across two IAPT providers in the south of England, and three assessment pathways involving elements of either method and service. Using an observational analysis of routinely collected data across 12 months, intake scores, attendance data and clinical measures of reliable recovery and improvement were considered. The comparisons of intake method reported no significant differences when both services were included; however, there were significant differences in treatment effect sizes and session attendance on an assessment pathway basis. Where assessment sessions were delivered, there was a higher rate of disengagement between sessions one and two, indicating increased attrition. Based on the initial findings and supporting literature, there appears to great promise in exploring pathway modelling and intake processes within IAPT services.     

Clinical Ethicists Awakened: Addressing Two Generations of Clinical Ethics Issues Involving Undocumented Patients

Because the United States has failed to provide a pathway to citizenship for its long-term undocumented population, clinical ethicists have more than 20 years of addressing issues that arise in caring for this population. I illustrate that these challenges fall into two sets of issues. First-generation issues involve finding ethical ways to treat and discharge patients who are uninsured and ineligible for safety-net resources. More recently, ethicists have been invited to help address second-generation issues that involve facilitating the presentation for care of undocumented patients. In the current environment of widespread fear of deportation in the immigrant community, ethicists are working with health care providers to address patient concerns that prevent them from seeking care. I illustrate that in both generations of issues, values implicit within health care, namely, caring, efficiency, and promotion of public health, guide the strategies that are acceptable and recommended.     

Depression in Primary Care: Comorbid Disorders and Related Problems

Identifying and treating depression has been a major focus in primary care over the last decade. Unfortunately, treatments have not been as successful as originally hoped. The current study investigated factors that may contribute to poor outcomes in a sample of VA primary care patients. Results indicate that 15.5% of the patients in this investigation had significant symptoms of depression. The vast majority (89.6%) of these patients also had significant symptoms of at least one additional comorbid psychiatric condition. Furthermore, an association between depression and unhealthy behaviors (smoking, not exercising) was demonstrated. Finally, sexual dysfunction and chronic pain were more frequently observed in individuals with depressive symptoms. These findings illustrate that depression is only one of many problems for most primary care patients identified with depression. A multidisciplinary team in primary care is recommended to provide a coordinated approach to the treatment of depression and its associated problems.