The effectiveness of workplace counselling: A systematic review

Background: In response to the stresses of the contemporary workplace, the challenges of maintaining satisfactory work-life balance, and the costs to business of employee mental health problems, many organisations have contracted to make counselling services available to their staff. It is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of workplace counselling, in order to maintain standards, and to identify examples of good practice. Objectives: This paper presents a comprehensive, systematic review of the effectiveness of workplace counselling. Findings are analysed in terms of client satisfaction, psychological functioning, the meaning of work, work behaviour, and negative outcomes. Findings: Taken as a whole, the results of research suggest that counselling is generally effective in alleviating psychological problems, has a significant impact on sickness absence, and has a moderate effect on attitudes to work. Discussion: Methodological issues are discussed, and it is recommended that more high-quality research is required in order to reinforce the evidence base for workplace counselling in relation to a number of key questions.     

Procedural learning across the lifespan: A systematic review with implications for atypical development

This systematic review aimed to investigate procedural learning across the lifespan in typical and atypical development. Procedural learning is essential for the development of everyday skills, including language and communication skills. Although procedural learning efficiency has been extensively studied, there is no consensus yet on potential procedural learning changes during development and ageing. Currently, three conflicting models regarding this trajectory exist: (1) a model of age invariance; (2a) a model with a peak in young adulthood; and (2b) a model with a plateau in childhood followed by a decline. The aims of this study were (1) to investigate this debate on procedural learning across the lifespan by systematically reviewing evidence for each model from studies using the serial reaction time task; and (2) to review procedural learning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and specific language impairment (SLI), two developmental disorders characterized by deficits in communication skills, in the light of these models. Our findings on typical development strongly support a model of age-related changes (Model 2a or 2b) and show that mixed findings regarding the developmental trajectory during childhood can be explained by methodological differences across studies. Applying these conclusions to systematic reviews of studies of ASD and SLI makes it clear that there is a strong need for the inclusion of multiple age groups in these clinical studies to model procedural learning in atypical development. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed. Future research should focus on the role of declarative learning in both typical and atypical development.     

Arousal (but not valence) amplifies the impact of salience

Previous findings indicate that negative arousal enhances bottom-up attention biases favouring perceptual salient stimuli over less salient stimuli. The current study tests whether those effects were driven by emotional arousal or by negative valence by comparing how well participants could identify visually presented letters after hearing either a negative arousing, positive arousing or neutral sound. On each trial, some letters were presented in a high contrast font and some in a low contrast font, creating a set of targets that differed in perceptual salience. Sounds rated as more emotionally arousing led to more identification of highly salient letters but not of less salient letters, whereas sounds’ valence ratings did not impact salience biases. Thus, arousal, rather than valence, is a key factor enhancing visual processing of perceptually salient targets.     

Improving specific autobiographical memory in older adults: impacts on mood,social problem solving,and functional limitations

Older adults have difficulty recalling specific autobiographical events. This over-general memory style is a vulnerability factor for depression. Two groups receiving interventions that have previously been successful at reducing over-general memory in depressed populations were compared to a control group. Participants were healthy older adults aged ≥70 years: memory specificity training (MEST; n = 22), life review (n = 22), and control group (n = 22). There were significant improvements in autobiographical memory specificity in the MEST and life review groups at post-training, relative to the control group, suggesting that over-general memory can be reduced in older adults. Change in social problem solving ability and functional limitations were related to change in autobiographical memory specificity, supporting the suggested role of specific retrieval in generating solutions to social problems and maintaining independence. Qualitative analysis of participants’ feedback revealed that life review may be more appropriate for older adults, possibly because it involves integrating specific memories into a positive narrative.     

Effective interactions: Communication and high levels of marital satisfaction

Of all the significant relationships in the lives of human-beings, the marital relationship remains one of the most central and important to their well-being. For this rapid review the authors accessed four online databases (PsycINFO, PsychARTICLES, JSTOR Journals, and ScienceDirect) to examine the evidence on aspects of communication which contribute to high levels of marital satisfaction and to synthesise these findings. The search yielded 103 unique articles, of which 15 were ultimately included. Principal results found the following activities to relate to high marital satisfaction: 1) communication activities such as engaging in small talk and providing verbal and non-verbal messages of affection; 2) “positive” exchanges which include any interactions perceived by both parties as constructive; 3) effective conflict management including the use of responses of recalibration and reaffirmation (R-R response), the use of we-pronouns, and the Listener-Speaker technique; 4) possessing and implementing effective communication skills such as using “I” instead of “you” messages; and 5) using “positive” communication skills such as clarification to elicit “positive” affect such as feeling understood. The evidence suggests that mental health professionals working with married couples should seek to promote quality dyadic communication as part of treatment interventions.     

Successful aging: Social theory,scripture, church teaching

ABSTRACT

Thanks to medical progress and better overall living conditions, a greater number of people are living well into old age, many more than in previous generations. However, we feel instinctively that there must be more to life than longevity and merely living longer. Religious communities and social scientists are both interested in what makes for “successful aging.” The dialogue between them can be enriched by fostering a mutual appreciation for biblical norms and stories, and a better working knowledge of the models and methods of the social sciences. To that end, I offer a sketch of four models of aging: disengagement, activity, continuity, and Tornstam’s theory of gerotranscendence. This sketch serves as a prelude to a discussion of three biblical stories: (1) the story of Barzillai and King David in 2 Samuel, which shows how the elderly can make a positive contribution to the common good, in spite of their limitations; (2) the intertwined stories of Jacob and Joseph in Genesis, which can help us understand the theological significance of life review, forgiveness, reconciliation, and life review in the aging process; and (3) the third phase of the encounter considers John Paul II’s Letter to the Elderly, and builds on several suggestions he makes concerning the life of Moses and successful aging.     

Mental health practitioners' attitudes towards transgender people: A systematic review of the literature

Background: A systematic review was conducted to critically evaluate and synthesize literature investigating mental health practitioners' attitudes towards transgender people.

Objective: Three primary objectives were outlined; first, establish whether overall attitudes are positive or negative. Second, explore whether training, education or experience influences attitudes and finally, examine participant demographics in relation to attitude trends.

Method: A systematic electronic search was carried out in March 2017 using Medline, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, CINAHL, ASSIA, and Web of Science electronic databases. Manual citation and ancestral searches were conducted on identified papers. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed method studies were eligible for inclusion. A total of 13 papers of mixed quality were identified.

Results: Existing literature is limited to cross-sectional, quantitative data and fails to investigate differences between implicit and explicit attitudes. Small to moderate convenience samples reduce the generalizability of data. Overall attitudes were positive although negative attitudes were more frequent in male, Caucasian, heterosexual, religious, conservative mental health professionals.

Conclusions: Refined scales are needed to address the unique heterogeneity within transgender populations. Future research should focus on how attitudes impact care provided and employ longitudinal designs to explore the sustainability of targeted attitudinal training.     

Citizenship’s tangled web: Associations,gaps and tensions in formulations of European youth active citizenship across disciplines

Abstract

How does academic literature across various disciplines conceptualize and empirically address active citizenship? What are the potential benefits and dangers of dominant epistemological and ideological perspectives on ‘good citizenship’? Our paper engages with these questions by drawing on literature across 12 disciplines. We used textual analysis software T-LAB to quantify and visualize co-occurrences, word associations and thematic clusters in the abstracts of 770 texts gathered by eight country teams and original in-depth qualitative analyses of ideological positions and discourses taken up in a selection of key texts across the corpus. Our paper elaborates the findings: that many of the key themes surrounding young people and citizenship in the literature share little or no connection with European citizenship; that there is a significant gap in the literature on young European citizens; and that studies connected to internal, status-based factors connected to citizenship are far more prevalent than those examining external, practice-based factors or dissidence and dissent. Our conclusions examine the potential normative implications of the disjuncture between dominant conceptions and critical accounts of youth active citizenship.     

超越效价和唤醒—— 情绪的动机维度模型述评

情绪的动机维度模型认为, 高动机强度的情绪窄化(narrow)认知加工而低动机强度的情绪扩展(broaden)认知加工。该理论超越了先前对效价和唤醒两大情绪维度的二分法, 证明了情绪的动机维度对注意、记忆等认知加工产生扩展和窄化效应, 深化了积极情绪的扩展-建设理论, 有助于深入理解情绪与认知的交互作用。未来研究应建立动机维度的操作性定义, 并进一步发展出诱发不同动机维度情绪的标准化刺激材料或任务。