The power of rituals in dealing with traumatic stress symptoms: cleansing rituals for former child soldiers in Northern Uganda

International guidelines for emergency response note the importance of cultural adaptions and facilitation of local spiritual and religious healing practices when appropriate. Deciding whether traditional medicine is safe, effective and appropriate is a complex matter. This study explores the therapeutic factors of a local cleansing ritual in Northern Uganda aimed at healing former child soldiers. The components of the ritual are analysed and compared with research-based therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. Participant observation was used during the ritual, followed by qualitative in-depth interviews and follow-up interviews over three years. The key informant is a former child soldier participating in the ritual. He was abducted and forced to commit several killings during a three-year period. The collective mobilisation of social support, the collective forgiveness and the strength of the psycho-education appear central for the effect of the ritual. In addition, the ritual draws on common therapeutic factors. The findings indicate that such a ritual involves elements that safely and effectively deal with symptoms in accordance with modern research on trauma therapy, perhaps more powerfully than Western-style therapy. Implications for collaboration with local healers in emergency settings are indicated.     

多水平IRT的发展与应用述评

阶层线性模型是处理阶层结构数据的高级统计方法, 项目反应理论是精确测量被试能力的现代测量理论。多水平项目反应理论将阶层线性模型和项目反应理论相结合, 将项目反应模型嵌套在阶层线性模型内, 实现了项目参数和不同水平能力参数的估计, 对回归系数和误差项变异的估计也更加精确。作者概述了多水平项目反应理论的发展历程, 并从项目功能差异、测验等值、学校效能研究等方面评述了多水平项目反应理论在心理与教育测量中的应用, 总结了多水平项目反应理论的价值, 同时展望了今后的研究趋势。     

Developing Transdiagnostic Internalizing Disorder Prognostic Indices for Outpatient Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

A growing literature is devoted to understanding and predicting heterogeneity in response to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), including using supervised machine learning to develop prognostic models that could be used to inform treatment planning. The current study developed CBT prognostic models using data from a broad dimensionally oriented pretreatment assessment (324 predictors) of 1,210 outpatients with internalizing psychopathology. Super learning was implemented to develop prognostic indices for three outcomes assessed at 12-month follow-up: principal diagnosis improvement (attained by 65.8% of patients), principal diagnosis remission (56.8%), and transdiagnostic full remission (14.3%). The models for principal diagnosis remission and transdiagnostic remission performed best (AUROCs = 0.71–0.73). Calibration was modest for all three models. Three-quarters (77.3%) of patients in the top tertile of the predicted probability distribution achieved principal diagnosis remission, compared to 35.0% in the bottom tertile. One-third (35.3%) of patients in the top two deciles of predicted probabilities for transdiagnostic complete remission achieved this outcome, compared to 2.7% in the bottom tertile. Key predictors included principal diagnosis severity, social anxiety diagnosis/severity, hopelessness, temperament, and global impairment. While additional work is needed to improve performance, integration of CBT prognostic models ultimately could lead to more effective and efficient treatment of patients with internalizing psychopathology.     

On the asymptotic distribution of Pearson’s X 2 in cross-validation samples

In categorical data analysis, two-sample cross-validation is used not only for model selection but also to obtain a realistic impression of the overall predictive effectiveness of the model. The latter is of particular importance in the case of highly parametrized models capable of capturing every idiosyncracy of the calibrating sample. We show that for maximum likelihood estimators or other asymptotically efficient estimators Pearson's X ² is not asymptotically chi-square in the two-sample cross-validation framework due to extra variability induced by using different samples for estimation and goodness-of-fit testing. We propose an alternative test statistic, X _xval ², obtained as a modification of X ² which is asymptotically chi-square with C−1 degrees of freedom in cross-validation samples. Stochastically, X _xval ² ≤ X ². Furthermore, the use of X ² instead of X _xval ² with a χ _C −1² reference distribution may provide an unduly poor impression of fit of the model in the cross-validation sample. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Michael V. Levine. Requests for reprints should be sent to Albert Maydeu-Olivares, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, P. Valle de Hebrón, 171, 0835 Barcelona, Spain.     

Limited Information Goodness-of-fit Testing in Multidimensional Contingency Tables

We introduce a family of goodness-of-fit statistics for testing composite null hypotheses in multidimensional contingency tables. These statistics are quadratic forms in marginal residuals up to order r. They are asymptotically chi-square under the null hypothesis when parameters are estimated using any asymptotically normal consistent estimator. For a widely used item response model, when r is small and multidimensional tables are sparse, the proposed statistics have accurate empirical Type I errors, unlike Pearson's X ². For this model in nonsparse situations, the proposed statistics are also more powerful than X ². In addition, the proposed statistics are asymptotically chi-square when applied to subtables, and can be used for a piecewise goodness-of-fit assessment to determine the source of misfit in poorly fitting models. This research has been supported by the Department of Universities, Research, and Information Society (DURSI) of the Catalan Government, by grant BSO2003-08507 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, and an NSERC Canada grant. We are grateful to the referees for comments leading to improvements.     

Time of supplemental feeding alters the effects of cocaine on lever pressing of rats

The present experiment assessed the effects of cocaine on the lever pressing of 4 rats maintained during 15-min sessions by a fixed-ratio 50 schedule of food reinforcement. Across phases, supplemental food was provided either immediately or 2 hr after sessions. Two rats began the experiment in the delayed-feeding condition, and 2 began the experiment in the immediate-feeding condition. Rates of lever pressing of 2 rats sometimes decreased to low levels near the ends of sessions when supplemental feeding was provided immediately, but were consistently high throughout sessions when supplemental feeding was delayed. Cocaine (1.0 to 17.0 or 30.0 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally 15 min prior to test sessions. In most cases, cocaine suppressed response rates at lower doses under immediate-feeding conditions. Decreases in overall response rates were correlated with dosedependent increases in the time rats spent not responding. It is suggested that delaying the time of postsession feeding increased response strength, as indicated by greater resistance to the rate-suppressive effects of cocaine.     

Social stimuli increase physiological reactivity but not defensive responses

Emotional reactions are crucial in survival because they provide approach and withdrawal behaviors. However, an unsolved question is whether the social content of the affective stimuli has a specific effect on emotional responses. We studied whether the social content of affective pictures influenced the defensive response and response mobilization. For this purpose, we recorded startle blink reflex (a defensive response) and skin conductance responses (a measure of unspecific physiological reactivity or arousal) in 73 participants while they viewed a series of 81 pictures of varying affective valence and social content. Our results revealed that defense response, as indicated by increases in the magnitude of the startle blink reflex, was mainly dependent on threatening or unpleasant cues, but was unrelated to the social content of the pictures. The social content, however, had an influence on pleasant stimuli, provoking an increase in resource mobilization, as reflected by changes in electrodermal activity. Hence, the social content of the affective stimuli may increase the physiological arousal elicited by pleasant stimuli, and it appears to be unrelated to the defense reactivity provoked by unpleasant stimuli.     

干预-应答模式鉴别学习障碍的有效性及其调节因素:20年研究的元分析

本研究采用元分析方法探讨在学习障碍的鉴别中兴起的干预-应答（Response to Intervention,RTI）模式鉴别学习障碍内部亚组的有效性及其调节因素。通过系统检索1996-2015年的文献,获得了34项研究,包括6127名学生的45个样本、261个效应值。元分析结果表明,RTI模式可有效区分学习障碍风险儿童的内部亚组,对干预无应答和有应答的学生在学业成就、认知技能、行为等多方面存在系统、显著和持久的差异,但仍存在个体应答状态的进一步分化。RTI模式对于学习障碍风险儿童内部变异的区分效果受到干预对象、干预层次、干预时间、应答指标选择、测量方法和切分点等因素的影响。本元分析结果不仅为认识RTI模式鉴别学习障碍的有效性提供了进一步证据,更重要的是通过系列调节效应分析,为合理实施RTI模式鉴别学习障碍提供了直接依据。     

主观评分中多面Rasch模型的应用

主观评分中存在的不一致性导致主观评分的信度降低。多面Rasch模型基于项目反应理论,可以应用于评分员效应的识别和消除,从而提高主观评分的信度。该文介绍多面Rasch模型的理论和应用框架,介绍了国外相关的典型应用,并且讨论了该模型的应用条件。     

阈下情绪启动效应的衰退和反应竞争模型

研究包含两个实验,均采用反应时测量的方法。第一个实验考查并验证了阈下情绪启动效应衰退的现象;第二个实验的结果则支持反应时指标测量情绪启动效应发生机制的反应竞争的观点,并提出阈下情绪启动效应的内在机制模型。文章最后用反应竞争的观点对第一个实验中的现象进行了解释,提示内隐学习可能在效应衰退现象中发挥作用。