The Inter-Life project: researching the potential of art,design and virtual worlds as a vehicle for assisting young people with key life changes and transitions

ABSTRACT

Careers work in the twenty-first century faces a key challenge in terms of digital technologies: to evaluate their potential for careers work in challenging settings. Given the rapidity of developments, technologies require evaluation in research innovations and naturalistic settings. Virtual worlds offer potential for careers and guidance work, and the therapeutic domain. To illustrate this, we present examples in which young people explore their feelings and ideas, plans and difficulties, while preparing for film-making. During this they develop important life transition skills. We argue that the power of virtual worlds – to support emotional and cognitive engagement – could be utilised in practice settings. We conclude that they are serious candidates as digital tools in the careers and guidance domain.     

Natural Mentors, Mental Health, and Risk Behaviors: A Longitudinal Analysis of African American Adolescents Transitioning into Adulthood

Patterns of substance use are examined in a sample of over 1,200 youth in a non-metropolitan region of New England. Self-reported history and frequency of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, pain medications, and other hard drug use was assessed for 9th and 10th grade students. Latent class analyses identified four patterns of substance use: non-users (22%), alcohol experimenters (38%), occasional polysubstance users (29%), and frequent polysubstance users (10%). Contextual risk and protective factors in the individual, family, peer, and community domains predicted substance use patterns. Youth report of peer substance use had the largest effects on substance use class membership. Other individual characteristics (e.g., gender, antisocial behavior, academic performance, perceived harm from use), family characteristics (e.g., parental drinking, parental disapproval of youth use), and community characteristics (e.g., availability of substances) demonstrated consistent effects on substance use classes. Implications for prevention are discussed from a social-ecological perspective.     

Urban residents' subtle prejudice towards rural‐to‐urban migrants in China: The role of socioeconomic status and adaptation styles

The household registration system (Hukou) implemented by the Chinese government divides the Chinese society into two groups: urban residents and rural residents. Since the 1980s, millions of rural residents have migrated to cities without official permission. In this paper, we investigate urban residents' subtle prejudice towards rural‐to‐urban migrants. Specifically, the impacts of urban residents' socioeconomic status (SES) and their perception of migrants' adaptation styles are examined. A sample including 457 Chinese urban residents is taken from four cities in China. Educational and occupational levels are used to indicate urban residents' SES. Four adaptation styles (integration, assimilation, separation and marginalization) are manipulated by using vignettes. The results show that SES has a negative impact on urban residents' subtle prejudice. This link is further moderated by urban residents' perceptions of migrants' adaptations: the negative effect of SES on subtle prejudice holds only under a perception of integration or assimilation and disappears under a perception of separation or marginalization. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Mind-Body Approach to Domestic Violence Perpetrator Treatment: Program Overview and Preliminary Outcomes

Conventional interventions with perpetrators of domestic violence are marginally effective. Given these results, researchers and practitioners are beginning to focus on identifying ways to improve domestic violence treatment outcomes. This article describes how a rural state-sponsored domestic violence offender program utilizes a treatment approach known as Mind-Body Bridging to help its clients overcome their abusive behaviors. Preliminary findings from an ongoing outcome study are also reported. According to these findings, the program has a high completion rate coupled with a low recidivism rate. Ninety-three percent (82 of 88) of the clients who have participated in this program completed the program, and just 7%?(6 of 82) of those who completed the program reoffended during the follow-up period, which ranged from 9 to 27 months.     

Creating Computer-Mediated Communities of Practice in Special Education

Summary

The convergence of theory and research on socially shared cognition represents a promising new direction for understanding how to enhance the intellectual growth of individuals. In this article, we draw upon the metaphor of “apprenticeship” to explain how individual cognitive development of children and adults alike can be enhanced by mentoring relationships within a particular educational “culture.” The view advanced here is that computers and related technologies can be instrumental in creating socially interactive and reflective learning communities. Within these communities there is active transmission of knowledge between individuals as they are guided from the periphery through to the center of the learning enterprise. Examples of communities of learners are provided to illustrate the process of socially shared cognition and development of knowledge networks. Principles for the creation of sustainable learning communities apply equally to traditional educational settings and on-line communities. The concept of the “collective zone of proximal development” is advanced here to explain how cognitive growth progressively occurs for community members who are operating within a socially interactive and reflective learning environment. Finally, principles and recommendations are offered on how to design communities so that all individuals can achieve their optimal functioning level through guided social participation.     

亲子沟通与农村青少年幸福感的关系：基本心理需要满足的中介作用

采用亲子沟通量表、基本心理需要满足量表和牛津幸福感问卷对广西四所农村中小学的1164名学生进行测量。结果表明：（1）农村青少年的基本心理需要满足、幸福感在不同性别、年级和SES上没有显著差异,但亲子沟通存在年级和性别交互作用差异,即五年级和初一女生与父亲的沟通质量显著高于初二女生,对男生而言则此差异不显著;（2）农村青少年的父子沟通、母子沟通与自主、胜任和关系三大基本心理需要满足及其幸福感均呈显著正相关;（3）亲子沟通不仅对农村青少年幸福感有直接预测作用,而且还会通过自主、胜任和关系三种基本心理需要满足的中介对农村青少年幸福感产生间接作用,其中关系需要满足的中介效应最大。     

我国农村地区婴幼儿的喂养问题与对策

喂养不当是导致婴幼儿生长发育不良及营养障碍性疾病的主要原因。婴幼儿的喂养问题在我国农村地区尤为突出,主要表现在喂养方式、添加辅食和喂养行为等方面。文章重点围绕上述3个方面展开分析、提出对策,以期为政府决策、儿童保健人员及喂养者提供参考。     

疾病负担综合性指标DALYs及精神障碍的疾病负担

1990年WHO和世界银行提出了评价疾病负担的综合性指标伤残调整生命年（DALYs）,该指标采用客观定量的方法,综合评价各种疾病因早逝或残疾造成的健康生命年的损失。本文对DALYs的设计思路、主要优缺点、在全球疾病负担（GBD）研究和精神障碍及相关心理行为问题所致疾病负担中的应用情况进行阐述。     

Who says grandparents matter?

Data from the Church Life Profile of 2001 confirm a high proportion of grandparents among churchgoers and demonstrate a link between the religiosity of grandparents and that of their grandchildren. This article presents empirical evidence to show that the importance of this link is acknowledged by rural clergy and taken into account when determining whether to baptise the children of parents who cannot themselves profess the Christian faith.     

Addressing the Mental Health Needs of the Rural Underserved: Findings from a Multiple Case Study of a Behavioral Telehealth Project

Behavioral telehealth is a reasonable solution to the accessibility to mental health care problem that exists in many rural communities. This paper reports the results of a multiple case study of a behavioral telehealth program administered through a marriage and family therapy training program. The results suggest that mental health services can be effectively delivered using existing distance education technology to underserved rural populations. Rural communities have unique barriers to accessing mental health care, some of which can be overcome through the distance delivery of services and some of which cannot. In order to effectively deliver treatment, accommodations to the technology must be made by both therapist and client.