Classroom-based cognitive-behavioral intervention to prevent aggression: Efficacy and social validity

Classroom teachers need effective, efficient strategies to prevent and/or ameliorate destructive student behaviors and increase socially appropriate ones. During the past two decades, researchers have found that cognitive strategies can decrease student disruption/aggression and strengthen pro-social behavior. Following preliminary pilot work, we conducted a study to determine whether a classwide, social problem-solving curriculum affected measures of knowledge and behavior for 165 4th and 5th grade students at risk for behavior problems. We found significant positive treatment effects on knowledge of problem-solving concepts and teacher ratings of aggression. Outcomes differed across teachers/classrooms, and there was no evidence that booster lessons affected treatment efficacy. Teacher ratings of social validity were generally positive. We discuss issues about classroom-based prevention research and future research directions.     

Further development of measures of early math performance for preschoolers

The purpose of this study was to examine the progress monitoring and screening accuracy for a set of curriculum-based measures (CBM) of early mathematics skills. Measures included counting objects, selecting numbers, naming numbers, counting, and visual discrimination. Measures were designed to be administered with preschoolers in a short period of time using a developmentally appropriate format, and to constitute minimal disruption to the classroom routine. Previous research indicated that each of these measures produced scores with acceptable consistency across alternate forms on consecutive days. Scores yielded on the experimental probes correlated moderately, in most cases, with two commonly used standardized measures (i.e., the Brigance Screens and TEMA-2). Performance on the probes also correlated with teacher rankings and ratings of child performance. In the present study, data were collected in two phases. In the first phase, a cohort of children were administered the early math measures in spring of preschool and were followed into winter of kindergarten where they were administered kindergarten CBM probes to examine the degree to which performance in preschool (as measured by the early math probes) could predict performance on similar tasks in kindergarten. Second, risk criteria were examined and compared to identification by the Brigance Screens. These analyses provided data about the potential accuracy of the probes for screening. In the second phase, sensitivity of the probes to performance differences was examined by comparing mean performance on the probes of preschoolers and kindergartners. The lowest-performing children were provided with seven intervention sessions to examine the degree to which probes could detect growth resulting from intervention. Directions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.     

Using imitation with congenitally deafblind adults: establishing meaningful communication partnerships

All congenitally deafblind people are potential communication partners. The key question for practitioners is how to help them achieve that potential. Imitation offers a particularly powerful means of doing so because it allows both partners to occupy a joint dyadic space, where the process of repairing the damaged communication partnerships that many deafblind people have been forced to function within throughout their lives can begin. I will first outline a brief history of deafblind education over the last 150 years in order to provide a general account of changes in practice and theory and corresponding impacts on interventions. I will then describe some of the difficulties that congenitally deafblind people face in making contact with and being understood by other people before drawing on both practical examples and theoretical accounts on neonatal imitation to examine four key functions that imitation plays in facilitating communicative exchanges between deafblind individuals and their partners: it attracts attention, it stimulates turn‐taking, it allows partners to recognize each other and it reveals the other as ‘just like me’. I will conclude that imitation is simply the starting place for a journey towards a ‘natural’ language for congenitally deafblind people, a language where meanings are jointly negotiated from the actions, gestures and vocalizations that develop between deafblind people and their communication partners. This starting place is the same for congenitally deafblind people as it is for all infants: a companion space where imitation acts a powerful and immediate source of feedback about your value as a fellow human being. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Testing the developmental distinctiveness of male proactive and reactive aggression with a nested longitudinal experimental intervention

An experimental preventive intervention nested into a longitudinal study was used to test the developmental distinctiveness of proactive and reactive aggression. The randomized multimodal preventive intervention targeted a subsample of boys rated disruptive by their teachers. These boys were initially part of a sample of 895 boys, followed from kindergarten to 17 years of age. Semiparametric analyses of developmental trajectories for self‐reported proactive and reactive aggression (between 13 and 17 years of age) indicated three trajectories for each type of aggression that varied in size and shape (Low, Moderate, and High Peaking). Intent‐to‐treat comparisons between the boys in the prevention group and the control group confirmed that the preventive intervention between 7 and 9 years of age, which included parenting skills and social skills training, could impact the development of reactive more than proactive aggression. The intervention effect identified in reactive aggression was related to a reduction in self‐reported coercive parenting. The importance of these results for the distinction between subtypes of aggressive behaviors and the value of longitudinal‐experimental studies from early childhood onward is discussed. Aggr. Behav. 36:127–140, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

帕罗西汀配合心理干预对术后焦虑情绪的影响

研究帕罗西汀配合心理干预对术后焦虑情绪的影响。90例手术患者随机分为三组:A组术后常规治疗,B组常规治疗+帕罗西汀,C组常规治疗+帕罗西汀+心理干预。1周末B、C两组SAS和HAMA得分显著下降(P0.01),HAMA得分比较差异显著(P0.01),与A组比较差异显著(P0.01);2周末A组HAMA评分显著改善(P0.01)。帕罗西汀配合心理干预对术后焦虑情绪有显著而快速的影响。     

左主干或多支冠脉病变的选择:PCI或CABG?

近年来,PCI技术越来越多地实践于左主干和多支冠脉病变,但与CABG相比,其疗效一直受到质疑。本文对近年来PCI和CABG的疗效比较做一总结,发现对于左主干和冠脉多支病变,CABG仍优于PCI。但随着生产力水平的发展和社会需求越来越高的双重作用下,两项技术都必然会有新的发展,两者疗效的比较还会继续,我们将拭目以待。     

When self-help is no help: Traditional cognitive skills training does not prevent depressive symptoms in people who ruminate

A randomized trial was conducted to test the efficacy of three self-directed prevention intervention workbooks for depression. Cognitively at-risk college freshmen were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: traditional cognitive, non-traditional cognitive, and academic skills. Consistent with hypotheses, participants who were high in rumination and experienced stress exhibited significantly greater levels of depressive symptoms after completing the traditional cognitive skills workbook than after completing the other two workbooks. This pattern of results held post-intervention and 4 months later. These findings indicate that rumination may hinder ones ability to identify and dispute negative thoughts (at least without the help of a trained professional). The results underscore the importance of identifying individual difference variables that moderate intervention efficacy. They also raise concerns about the potential benefits of self-help books, an industry that generates billions of dollars each year.     

血管介入治疗与自然力再平衡：从扶持到掣肘

自然力是组织维持稳态的自愈能力,完善的内皮及平滑肌功能构成血管自然力基础。损伤力为打破组织稳态的破坏力。自然力弱于损伤力时,负平衡形成,疾病发生发展,需外援医疗干预扶持恢复自然力平衡。经数代技术革新,介入治疗后的血管事件发生率显著下降,但异物引起慢性炎症及再狭窄问题凸显,介入治疗与血管自然力陷入再狭窄-再介入的"对抗平衡",如何避免这种"掣肘"状态成为血管介入治疗后续的核心问题。生物可吸收支架及可回收支架为适度干预介入理念的新生产物,有望在干预成功后恢复血管自然状态,真正意义上实现自然力再平衡。     

溯因推理视角看妄想信念的生成机制

溯因推理是为事件赋予解释的认知过程,妄想信念可被看作对病态体验赋予的荒谬解释。以溯因推理作为逻辑认知模型,可以分辨妄想信念形成过程中的病态与合理成分。基于该模型,妄想信念的出现需同时满足以下条件:第一,患者产生了虚幻的主观体验,它的产生源自某种生理性病变;第二,患者缺乏对这一解释进行实际验证的动机或能力,因而坚信自己为其赋予的解释。两大因素中前者是与生理反应关系密切的自动过程,后者是与认知能力关系密切的反思过程。