Efficacy of teacher-implemented good behavior game despite low treatment integrity

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a well-documented group contingency designed to reduce disruptive behavior in classroom settings. However, few studies have evaluated the GBG with students who engage in severe problem behavior in alternative schools, and there are few demonstrations of training teachers in those settings to implement the GBG. In the current study, 3 teachers were trained to implement the GBG in a restrictive setting for students with histories of emotional and behavioral disorders and delinquency. The teachers used the GBG to produce substantial reductions in problem behavior despite low treatment integrity. Clinical implications and future directions for research are discussed.     

军事应激下的认知工效学研究

回顾了近20年来军事应激下的有关认知工效学研究,主要包括五部分：基本理论;应激对认知的影响;研究方法;处理应激的方法;总结。其中在研究方法中重点是对已有事故的分析,竞争性游戏和虚拟现实技术。在减少应激对认知不良影响的方法中值得注意的是：对抗应激人员的选拔、对人员的训练和能够对抗应激的人－机系统的开发。对于我军今后类似研究提供了思路和可能入手点     

Professional Training in Applied Psychology: Towards a Signature Pedagogy for Forensic Psychology Training

Forensic Psychology is a recognised and important sub‐specialty of the Psychology discipline. However, after an expansion in the number of training places that were offered when programmes were first developed, recent years have seen these diminish in response to changes in university policies, resulting from reformulated Federal government funding models. In this article, we argue that it is important for the future of specialist areas of professional psychology to not only articulate the core skills and competencies that are associated with specialist practice but also to develop unique and distinctive approaches to teaching and learning signature pedagogies. Based on the premise that forensic psychological practice is, indeed, a distinctive activity that requires different skills and, importantly, different ways of thinking about the work from other areas of professional psychology, it is suggested that professional training in this area should aim to develop a signature pedagogy which combines methods of teaching and learning that have been developed in legal training programmes with principles of problem‐based learning.     

Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Training for Therapists: Outcomes,Acceptability, and Impact of Support

The objectives of the present study were to assess the effects of online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) training for therapists on measures of CBT knowledge, skills, confidence, and utilisation; to determine what differences might exist between a group supported by regular telephone contact and an independent group who undertook online training without additional support; and to determine the acceptability of CBT online training among rural and remote mental health professionals. Mental health practitioners were randomly allocated to a supported training group (six sessions of 15‐min support) or an independent group. They undertook a 12‐week online CBT training program. The two groups showed similar gains on an objective test of knowledge of CBT, and on self‐report measures of knowledge, skills, confidence levels, and utilisation of skills. However, the supported training group had a significantly higher program completion rate than the independent group. Participants evaluated the program favourably. The results suggest that online CBT training represents a promising and cost‐effective approach to training the mental health workforce, and may be particularly attractive for those who live in regional, rural, and remote communities. A challenge is to determine the most cost‐effective ways to enhance program completion rates and trainee skills.     

Comparing the teaching interaction procedure to social stories for people with autism

This study compared social stories and the teaching interaction procedure to teach social skills to 6 children and adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder. Researchers taught 18 social skills with social stories and 18 social skills with the teaching interaction procedure within a parallel treatment design. The teaching interaction procedure resulted in mastery of all 18 skills across the 6 participants. Social stories, in the same amount of teaching sessions, resulted in mastery of 4 of the 18 social skills across the 6 participants. Participants also displayed more generalization of social skills taught with the teaching interaction procedure to known adults and peers.     

THE EFFECTS OF THE QUESTION “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” ON MAND TRAINING OUTCOMES OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Mands sometimes are taught using the question “What do you want?” as a supplement to the required features of the mand relation: an establishing operation and a related consequence. Although verbal prompts have been used during mand training, they also may result in undesirable stimulus control. However, no direct empirical evidence exists to support this concern. The purpose of the present study was to compare mand training with and without supplemental questions on acquisition rate and maintenance when those questions were no longer presented. The 2 training conditions did not differ substantially in their outcomes for 2 children with autism.     

Unit Social Cohesion in the Israeli Military as a Case Study of “Don't Ask,Don't Tell”

U.S. military policy “Don't Ask Don't Tell” (DADT) restricted integration of gays in the U.S. military based on the premise that knowledge of gay peers would decrease interpersonal bonds among unit members. Despite the heated debate over DADT, this social cohesion thesis, reflecting the tensions of homosocial desire, has not been tested empirically. The Israeli military provides an operative case‐study for this thesis, given its nonexclusionary policy and intensive combat experience. Measures of perceived social cohesion and knowledge of gay peers were obtained from a sample of 417 combat and noncombat male soldiers using an inventory of interpersonal emotions towards unit members. A MANOVA of social cohesion by knowledge of gay peers and combat/noncombat unit yielded the hypothesized increase in cohesion in combat versus noncombat units. Yet contrary to the DADT premise, knowledge of gay peers did not yield decreased social cohesion. Comparisons with the U.S. military are presented, suggesting in both cases a loose coupling between stated policies and soldiers' experience on the ground. Implications of these findings for the reassessment of DADT and its repeal are discussed.     

The Practice of Suicide Assessment and Management by Marriage and Family Therapists

Abstract

Over 90% of mental health providers encounter suicidal clients. However, the majority of marriage and family therapists (MFTs) are not exposed to suicide-specific trainings within their clinical coursework. Due to the lack of consistent training protocols for suicide assessment and management among MFTs, this qualitative study identified common MFT responses to suicidal clients, including assessment of risk severity and intervention modalities. Responses were then compared to best practices for suicidal clients. Participants inconsistently adhered to best practices identified in the larger field of mental health, revealing the need for increased MFT training on suicide to ensure appropriate and effective care.     

自杀“守门人”培训研究述评

在西方国家,自杀“守门人”培训被认为是最有效的自杀预防策略之一.自杀“守门人”培训的具体内容包括传授基础知识、识别自杀征兆、初步评估自杀风险和转介自杀高危个体等4个方面;研究发现自杀“守门人”培训对受训者的知识、态度和干预技能有显著的积极影响,但其对自杀率的影响仍需今后的研究详细探讨;目前的研究存在以下不足:1)随机对照研究少;2)难以评估培训对自杀率的真实影响;3)评价指标单一,缺乏统一的评估工具.未来的研究应弥补现有研究的不足,并重视自杀“守门人”培训的跨文化研究.