Theory in Child Psychosocial Treatment Research: Have It or Had It? A Pragmatic Alternative

In the area of child psychosocial intervention research, substantial progress in addressing challenging methodological issues has been made. In this article we suggest that continued movement forward requires maintaining a balance between methodological and theoretical issues, and that it would be advantageous to begin to think about matching advances in methodological sophistication by similar advances in theoretical sophistication. The need to advance our understanding of theoretical issues is especially important in light of the challenges raised by postmodernism, particularly as these challenges relate to knowledge development. We discuss these challenges and describe how a pragmatic orientation may be a useful way to respond to them. We also describe how a pragmatic orientation has been useful in our work in developing, implementing and evaluating psychosocial interventions for children with phobic and anxiety disorders.     

Effects of Different Telephone Intervention Styles with Suicidal Callers at Two Suicide Prevention Centers: An Empirical Investigation

To determine the relative effectiveness of telephone intervention styles with suicidal callers, researchers listened unobtrusively to 617 calls by suicidal persons at two suicide prevention centers and categorized all 66,953 responses by the 110 volunteer helpers according to a reliable 20-category checklist. Outcome measures showed observer evaluations of decreased depressive mood from the beginning to the end in 14% of calls, decreased suicidal urgency ratings from the beginning to the end in 27% of calls, and reaching a contract in 68% of calls, of which 54% of contracts were upheld according to follow-up data. Within the context of relatively directive interventions, a greater proportion of Rogerian nondirective responses was related to significantly more decreases in depression. Reduction in urgency and reaching a contract were related to greater use of Rogerian response categories only with nonchronic callers.     

Data Smoothing: Prediction of Human Behavior, Detection of Behavioral Patterns, and Monitoring Treatment Effectiveness in Single-Subject Behavioral Studies

Data-smoothing can be particularly useful in predicting human behavior, detecting behavioral patterns, and monitoring treatment effectiveness in highly variable single-subject behavioral experiments that cannot be determined by only visual inspection of their graphs. Using an example from the applied behavior analytic literature, the use of moving-average and exponential data-smoothing aided the detection of the unique behavioral patterns of a child with autism across different treatments. Furthermore, the utility of the data-smoothing procedures to monitor and control the effectiveness of an intervention is discussed. The ease of their calculations suggest use of data-smoothing by behavior analysts whenever the effects of particular interventions are questionable.     

LEVEL OF INTERACTIVITY OF VIDEODISC INSTRUCTION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS' RECALL OF AIDS INFORMATION

Experiment 1 confirmed the greater effectiveness of constructed-response interactive videodisc instruction when compared to a click-to-continue or passive viewing formats on posttest recall of AIDS information by 101 college students. Experiment 2 extended the analysis using a counterbalanced (ABAB-BABA) intrasubject design with 4 students in each of three ability groups. The necessity of constructing answers appears to be an important factor in the effectiveness of instructional programs.     

A preventive,psychoeducational approach to increase perceived social support

Investigated the effects of a 13-week preventive, psychoeducational intervention program to improve perceived social support. Fifty-one, low-perceived support, community residents were randomly assigned to an intervention or wait-list control condition. Intervention subjects received training in social skills and cognitive reframing regarding the self and social relations. The intervention led to increased perceived social support from family, but not from friends. As hypothesized by social cognition models, increases in perceived support appeared to be mediated by changes in self-esteem and frequency of self-reinforcement. Further, such changes in cognition about the self were larger than the changes observed for perceived support, suggesting that it may be easier to change cognition about the self than perceptions of support.     

An advocacy intervention program for women with abusive partners: Six-month follow-up

Presented the 6-month follow-up findings of an experimental intervention designed to provide postshelter advocacy services to women with abusive partners. The intervention involved randomly assigning half the research participants to receive the free services of an advocate, 4 to 6 hours per week, for the first 10 weeks postshelter. One hundred forty-one battered women were interviewed about their experiences immediately upon their exit from a domestic violence shelter: 95% of the sample were interviewed 10 weeks thereafter (postintervention), and 93% were successfully tracked and interviewed 6 months later. At the 6-month follow-up, participants in both groups reported increased social support, increased quality of life, less depression, less emotional attachment to their assailants, and an increased sense of personal power. Although women in both groups reported some decrease in physical abuse over time, there were no statistically significant differences between those with and those without advocates, and abuse continued to be a problem for many women. Those who were still involved with their assailants continued to experience higher levels of abuse and had been more economically dependent upon the men prior to entering the shelter. Women who had worked with advocates continued to report being more satisfied with their overall quality of life than did the women in the control group. The authors thank the Editor and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Thanks also to all present and past staff of the Community Advocacy Project, who helped in data collection and analyses. This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant 1R01 MH 44849.     

Performance of typical and superior face recognizers on a novel interactive face matching procedure

Unfamiliar simultaneous face matching is error prone. Reducing incorrect identification decisions will positively benefit forensic and security contexts. The absence of view-independent information in static images likely contributes to the difficulty of unfamiliar face matching. We tested whether a novel interactive viewing procedure that provides the user with 3D structural information as they rotate a facial image to different orientations would improve face matching accuracy. We tested the performance of ‘typical’ (Experiment 1) and ‘superior’ (Experiment 2) face recognizers, comparing their performance using high-quality (Experiment 3) and pixelated (Experiment 4) Facebook profile images. In each trial, participants responded whether two images featured the same person with one of these images being either a static face, a video providing orientation information, or an interactive image. Taken together, the results show that fluid orientation information and interactivity prompt shifts in criterion and support matching performance. Because typical and superior face recognizers both benefited from the structural information provided by the novel viewing procedures, our results point to qualitatively similar reliance on pictorial encoding in these groups. This also suggests that interactive viewing tools can be valuable in assisting face matching in high-performing practitioner groups.     

Collaborative competence,social capital,and mental health: A cross‐sectional analysis of a community‐based intervention for older adults

Social capital interventions for the mental health of older adults have been inconclusive to date, and have rarely investigated the psychological resources that are important to having social capital. This study focused on the “Neighborhoods in Solidarity” (NS), which are a series of Swiss community‐based interventions that aim to empower older adults to participate in their communities. Our goal was to understand whether the NS were associated with collaborative competence, social capital, and subsequently, symptoms of depression. Cross‐sectional data were collected from 947 individuals aged 55 and over (M_age = 68.66, SD = 9.04) in 10 Swiss neighbourhoods (five with the NS [n = 479] and five control neighbourhoods [n = 468]). Structural equation modelling was used to model the relationship between the NS intervention, collaborative competence, cognitive and structural dimensions of social capital, and symptoms of depression (measured by the CESD‐R‐10). Individual participation in the NS had total and indirect effects on symptoms of depression via collaborative competence and both social capitals. These findings suggest that existing community‐based interventions can be indirectly associated with better mental health outcomes in the ageing population.     

Interpersonal Psychotherapy—Adolescent Skills Training With Youth From Asian American and Immigrant Families: Cultural Considerations and Intervention Process

Although research has identified effective evidence-based depression prevention interventions for diverse youth, little is known about how the intervention process unfolds with immigrant family youth. This study utilized a qualitative approach to explore cultural and clinical differences in the implementation of Interpersonal Psychotherapy–Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST) in two schools, one serving youth from primarily immigrant, Asian American families and the second, youth from mostly nonimmigrant, non-Hispanic White families. A total of 131 IPT–AST sessions were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded for presence and patterns of cultural and clinical constructs. Results revealed that sessions with immigrant family youth were more likely to contain discussions of interpersonal problems characterized by estrangement, goals of spending time together with important others, mentions of emotion suppression and academic achievement expectations, conversations about acculturation, differences in value orientation, and discomfort with implementing new intervention skills. Dialogue from interventionist and youth exchanges is presented to illustrate how these themes emerged and were addressed by interventionists in a culturally responsive manner. The study highlights how IPT–AST with immigrant family and Asian American youth may unfold differently compared to youth from nonimmigrant families. Implications of findings for providers are discussed.     

The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group intervention on depression and anxiety in patients with type II diabetes

IntroductionDepression and anxiety are important risk factors for diabetes and high blood pressure.ObjectiveThis study investigated the effectiveness of the Cognitive-Behavioral Group Intervention for Diabetes Disease (CBGI-DD) in reducing depression and anxiety in female patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D).MethodThe CBGI-DD program includes 12 weekly 2.5 h sessions, spread weekly over the course of 3 months. The present study was semi-experimental and controlled, with assessments at pre-test and post-test. It included diagnostic criteria for the diagnosis of T2D in the patient's medical records by a diabetes specialist. Participants (62 female volunteers aged 25 to 75 years) were randomly allocated to a control or test group. Both groups responded to the Second edition of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) before (pretest) and immediately after the intervention (posttest). Participants in the test group received CBGI-DD (from April up to the end of September 2018) at Mashhad Diabetes Center. The control group received only medical care during this period.ResultsAn analysis of covariance showed that compared to the control group, the test group had a significant reduction in anxiety and depression from pre-test to post-test (p < 0.05). It was compared post-test scores between the two groups, controlling for pre-test scores.ConclusionThe CBGI-DD program seems to be effective in reducing anxiety and depression in female patients with T2D. However, further research exploring the potential for long-term improvements in depression and anxiety is needed.