Psychosocial correlates of emotional distress and risk behavior in african-american women at risk for hiv infection

We examined a model of stress and coping in 749 African-American women at risk for HIV infection. Women in the sample were either homeless, intravenous drug users (IVDUs) sexual partners of IVDUs, or prostitutes. A model was hypothesized based on stress and coping theory and research. Antecedents studied were personal resources, specifically self-esteem and available support. Mediators were threat appraisal and coping efforts. Outcomes studied were emotional distress and HIV risk behaviors. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to test hypothesized pathways between these variables. Forty-five percent of the variance in emotional distress in these women was explained by the model with self-esteem and avoidant coping the strongest predictors. Ten percent of the variance in risk behavior was explained by the model with emotional distress the strongest predictor. Direct and indirect pathways predicting risk behavior and distress are discussed. Implications of results for intervention and theory building are considered.     

Of pharisees and snark‐hunters: Afro‐Cuban religion as an object of knowledge

Examining some recent publications on Afro‐Cuban religions in the US, this essay argues that some of the evident shortcomings of the literature on this subject may hold important epistemological and methodological lessons for the anthropology of religion in general. These concern the pervasive lack of critical attention to the criteria by which formations of religious knowledge and practice are constituted as objects of study; a failure to acknowledge the historical interaction between theoretical models and public demand structures for authenticated cultural difference; the tendency to treat the relation between observer‐ and insider‐discourses as unproblematic and transparent; and a similarly widespread trend towards over‐systematising and homogenising internally heterogeneous and unbounded aggregates of knowledge and practice. What is suggested instead is an ethnographically informed and actor‐centred sociology of knowledge focussed on mutually articulated universes of meaning, and capable of transcending artificial conceptual boundaries between ‘the religious’ and the sphere of ‘everyday life’.     

School-Wide Discipline and Classroom Ecology

Abstract

Shortages of teachers with specialized skills, coupled with increased difficulty accommodating students with problem behaviors in general education classrooms, create pressures for performance and accountability in schools and with respect to teachers. Matters become increasingly problematic by initiatives that stress high academic competence, high graduation rates, and high performance standards. In addition, heightened cultural and linguistic diversity, diminished public satisfaction, and increased violence and disruptive behavior at school levels suggest a need for effective, easy-to-implement discipline procedures. In this investigation, we describe improvements in classroom ecology after implementation of a school-wide discipline model. These outcomes were positive and provide support for continuing efforts to improve discipline within the schools.     

The efficacy of conjoint behavioral consultation on parents and children in the home setting: Results of a randomized controlled trial

The present study is a large-scale randomized trial testing the effects of a family–school partnership model (i.e., Conjoint Behavioral Consultation, CBC) for promoting behavioral competence and decreasing problem behaviors of children identified by their teachers as disruptive. CBC is a structured approach to problem-solving that involves consultants, parents, and teachers. The effects of CBC on family variables that are commonly associated with important outcomes among school-aged children (i.e., family involvement and parent competence in problem solving), as well as child outcomes at home, were evaluated. Participants were 207 children with disruptive behaviors from 91 classrooms in 21 schools in kindergarten through grade 3 and their parents and teachers. Results indicated that there were significantly different increases in home–school communication and parent competence in problem solving for participants in the CBC relative to control group. Likewise, compared to children in the control group, children in the CBC group showed significantly greater decreases in arguing, defiance, noncompliance, and tantrums. The degree of family risk moderated parents' competence in problem solving and children's total problem behaviors, teasing, and tantrums.     

The left side of courage: Three exploratory studies on the antecedents of social courage

Abstract

Courage has been linked to important workplace outcomes, but little is known about the antecedents of courage. To identify possible methods to develop a more courageous workforce, the current article provides initial evidence regarding the antecedents of behavioral social courage from five broad categories: personality, job characteristics, leadership, culture, and demographic characteristics. Three exploratory studies show that certain antecedents from these categories have a significant relationship with behavioral social courage, including grit, proactive personality (personality), social support (job characteristics), empowering leadership (leadership), power distance (culture), and age (demographics). Perceived courage benefits and risks did not mediate the effect of most antecedents on behavioral social courage. These results suggest that certain antecedents may influence behavioral social courage, but the mediators of these relationships remain unknown. Further implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Eyes wide open: Facilitating student therapists’ experiences with the unfamiliar

Psychotherapists and counsellors work increasingly with culturally different or unfamiliar clients in the context of global migration and relocation. This paper explores the learning processes of trainee therapists within a South African community clinic context which confronts trainees with cultural diversity and a range of complex and traumatic presenting problems. Learning within this context entails interfacing with the ‘unfamiliar’, a process which challenges students both culturally and personally. Drawing upon the ideas of Wilfred Bion we suggest the importance of supervisory reverie in helping students convert raw sensory data into reflective practice. We suggest that working within community clinic contexts prompts personal anxieties as well as context-related anxieties of persecution or annihilation, of narcissistic injury and of contamination. It is hoped that a psychodynamic understanding may prompt further debate regarding the training of therapists working with diverse populations and problems.     

Holistic Psychology: A Brief Primer

This article explicates the foundations, essential themes and healing principles of holistic psychology; an approach which provides a corrective for such trends in modern scientific psychology as disciplinary perspectives, the overemphasis on the economics and politics of professionalism. Holistic psychology emphasizes spiritual healing, multi-cultural counseling, community and ecological interventions. Its core pillars of practice and care stem from the spiritual and wisdom traditions widely applicable to combating illness, injustice, violence, materialism, and technocratic influences so prevalent in contemporary society. As a breath and/or spirit based healing practice, holistic psychology provides a foundational exercise for personal, social and cosmic transformation.     

Les déterminants de la charge de travail perçue dans deux services d’urgence hospitaliers en France

This article gives an account of research carried out the workload of healthcare providers in hospital emergency wards, by focusing on several factors that are both related to the patients and to their activity. Based on 121 observations conducted in two hospitals, coupled with the NASA-TLX scale and an ad hoc questionnaire, this research indicates that the elements which contribute the most to perceived workload are the agitated behavior of patients and communication difficulties linked to handicap. However, variations in the number of tasks do not seem to have an influence on the workload perceived by health care providers which tends to highlight that the relations to patients contribute more to the perception of workload than the number of tasks. In the situation observed, the regulation of workload is made possible by the management of relational factors (physical demand, frustration and effort) which determine, in part, workload perception. In order to reduce or adapt this load, this article suggests basing interventions on the way to deal with difficult patients and not on the regulation of the number of tasks.     

Antecedents and consequences of adolescents' motivations to join the family business

This study investigates the career development of adolescents with a family business background through a motivational lens. Drawing on self-determination theory, antecedents and consequences of three succession motivations (autonomous, e.g., career interest; introjected, e.g., family obligation; external, e.g., job opportunities) were analyzed in a sample of 152 adolescents in family firms. Structural equation modeling revealed that parental relational support and adolescent's perceived entrepreneurial competence predicted autonomous motivation, whereas parental control related to introjected motivation. Moreover, autonomous motivation related positively to offspring's succession likelihood. Findings point to the relevance of parental career-specific behaviors in the early process of career and succession planning in family firms.