REDUCING THE ILLEGAL SALES OF CIGARETTES TO MINORS: ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE ENFORCEMENT SCHEDULES

The majority of adolescent smokers are able to purchase cigarettes even though laws prohibit the sale of cigarettes to minors (Radecki & Zdunich, 1993). The present study focused on merchant licensing, civil penalties, and monitoring of merchant behavior. Several different schedules of enforcement in the city of Chicago were evaluated to determine the optimal schedules to reduce the sale of cigarettes to minors in a major metropolitan area. Schedules of 2, 4, and 6 months were effective in reducing illegal sales, from 86% to 19%, 87% to 34%, and 87% to 42%, respectively. In a control condition, illegal sales remained high (approximately 84%). Cigarette control laws that regularly enforce civil penalties for tobacco sales violations can successfully reduce minors' access to cigarettes.     

In vivo functional assessment and multi-element interventions for problem behaviors of students with disabilities in classroom settings

Persons with developmental disabilities often do not follow instructions or complete tasks in educational settings, thus further disadvantaging themselves as they try to lead more normalized lives. The purpose of this paper was to address the problems of three persons referred for not following instructions and for engaging in associated behavior problems (e.g., crying, hitting, throwing materials) when given instructions. A functional assessment was conducted in the natural school setting without any prescribed conditions as in analogue functional assessments. Results of the assessments showed that problem behaviors for two subjects occurred much more in demand conditions requiring active responses than in demand conditions requiring passive responses. The results for a third subject showed problem behaviors were associated with toileting demands, less so with other demand conditions, but not with conditions in which there were an absence of demands. Individualized multi-element interventions were based on the negative reinforcement hypothesis and were intended to make tasks less aversive and to make instructions easier to understand. Results of the interventions showed increases in task engagement and decreases in problem behaviors during the active tasks and toileting tasks for which interventions were programmed, as well as for the passive tasks and other demand conditions for which no interventions were programmed. Results were discussed in terms of the value of functional assessments in directing therapists to base interventions on hypotheses of the function of the presenting problem.     

Models of burnout: Implications for interventions

Three process models of burnout are discussed, Cherniss' process model, Golembiewski's phase model and Leiter's process model. Empirical support for each model is reported. The models make different contributions to the problem of burnout and its development, and the kind of interventions that follow from each model seem to represent different targets. The strengths and weaknesses of the three models are assessed, and the relative merits of individual versus organizational level interventions are addressed. More model-driven research is necessary to reduce the problem of burnout for individuals and organizations.     

反馈干预及其影响绩效的内部机制

该文首先对反馈干预的定义进行了分析,认为反馈干预是一种由外部动因提供的有意识有目的的外部反馈。接着从反馈干预方式、任务情景、个体差异3个维度说明了反馈干预组合的复杂性。然后探讨了反馈干预作用的内部机制,认为它主要是通过个体的自我效能感、应对策略、内部目标设置等内部调节变量来影响绩效。最后提出了一种反馈干预对绩效施加作用的模型     

An Introduction to Core Competencies for the Use of Mobile Apps in Cognitive and Behavioral Practice

Mobile technologies have become increasingly pervasive and integral in our daily lives. A growing number of mobile applications are focused on health applications with many specifically focused on helping the prevention, treatment, and management of mental health issues. These apps are slowly being introduced into clinical settings, either being brought in by clients who themselves are using these tools or by health systems or providers. Unfortunately, most practicing providers obtained their clinical training before the advent of mobile health tools and methods. Thus, a critical need exists to develop and disseminate resources to develop the essential skills needed to adopt mobile health techniques. We discuss the five core competencies in mobile health care: evidence, integration, security and privacy, ethics, and cultural considerations. Although this paper will not fully prepare a provider to use mobile apps in their practice, it provides an introduction that will helpfully guide a provider to additional resources and additional ways to develop these competencies. Finally, we discuss the future directions of the field, including a growing differentiation of the impact of mobile apps on clinical care and the need for training models and experiences to match this differentiation.     

Felicitas Publica and community well-being: nourishing relational goods through dialogic conversations between deprived and privileged populations

This article discusses the theoretical justifications, presumed relevance and value of using community interventions designed to be appreciative and strengths based, participatory and conversational, context sensitive and value driven, to promote well-being actions and coordinated meaning between privileged persons and those living in impoverished material and social conditions. It stresses the need for the field of positive psychology to incorporate new theoretical models, topics and participants, and to contribute actively to human relatedness and social justice. The authors endorse the significance of a “positive community psychology”, approaching collective well-being in terms of civil economy and Felicitas Publica, addressing innovative economic development while enabling conditions for positive relational goods. These interventions have the potential for resourceful and consequential change, where critical conscientisation is one of the vehicles. We recommend the use of a dialogic perspective coupled with affirmative language as transformational procedures, presupposing that social practices are inextricably bound up in discourse. To elucidate the ideas proposed in this article, we describe an intervention involving a Portuguese community in the Azores Islands, where the World Café method and the Appreciative inquiry principles were integrated and linked to a communication model emerging from the Coordinated Management of Meaning theory.     

Experiences of Support Staff with Expanding and Strengthening Social Networks of People with Mild Intellectual Disabilities

A supportive social network is crucial for facilitating social inclusion. The social networks of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are often small and typically include very little contact with friends and acquaintances who do not have ID. Professionals can play an important role in strengthening and expanding the social networks of clients. In this study, experiences with interventions aimed at doing this were examined. Six group interviews were held with a total of 27 professionals. The results showed interventions to strengthen social networks (e.g. attention to the maintenance of contact with network members) and interventions to expand social networks (e.g. participation in leisure time activities and working with volunteers). However, a large number of impeding factors was mentioned, such as the limited size of the social networks, characteristics of the client, different perceptions and clients falling between the cracks when it comes to leisure time. The large number of impeding factors shows the strengthening and expansion of social networks to be complicated in actual practice. Recommendations are thus made to strengthen and expand the social networks of clients in an innovative manner which also takes these impeding factors into account. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Opening the black box: Presenting a model for evaluating organizational-level interventions

Organizational-level occupational health interventions are often recommended when improvements in working conditions, employee health, and well-being are sought within organizations. Research has revealed that these interventions result in inconsistent effects despite being based on theoretical frameworks. This inconsistency indicates that intervention studies need to be designed to examine directly how and why such interventions bring about change and why they sometimes fail. We argue that intervention studies should include a process evaluation that includes a close examination of the psychological and organizational mechanisms that hinder and facilitate desired intervention outcomes. By drawing on existing intervention literature we present an evidence-based model containing three levels of elements that appear to be crucial in process evaluation. We describe how this model may be applied and developed in future research to identify better the mechanisms that link intervention processes to intervention outcomes.