Gender Differences in Smoking Cessation

In recent years researchers have paid particularly close attention to factors that might differentially influence smoking cessation outcomes in men and women. The present paper reviews empirical findings on gender differences in smoking cessation with focus on 1) nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), 2) depression and anxiety factors, 3) post-cessation weight gain and body-shape concerns, 4) post-cessation withdrawal, and 5) the importance of social support during smoking cessation. The findings call for research to examine the effects of 1) booster sessions following the discontinuation of NRT, 2) depression-prevention interventions for smokers with a history of depression, 3) strategies to prevent weight gain and reduce concerns about weight gain, 4) initiating treatment early in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, and 5) social support variables in promoting or hindering smoking cessation success.     

A Critical Review of the Clinical Effects of Therapeutic Irradiation Damage to the Brain: The Roots of Controversy

We critically examined the damaging affects of therapeutic irradiation by comparing results from cross-disciplinary studies of early- and late-delayed radiotherapy effects. Focus is attained by concentrating on clinical treatment issues (volume of brain, dose, timing of effects, age, modality types, and stereotactic treatment techniques), rather than on methodological means or problems, which is necessary to understand the mechanisms and characteristics of radiotherapy-induced behavioral dysfunction including cognition. We make observations and hypotheses about the actual risks from radiotherapy that could be informative in the treatment decision process, and which may lessen the concerns of some patients and their families about the risks they take when receiving radiation. Conditions that predispose to radiation injury are reviewed: (1) higher doses even to part of the brain versus lower doses to the whole brain, (2) combined treatment modalities, (3) malignancy itself, (4) radiation early during postnatal brain development, and (5) late-delayed effects (more than 3 years posttreatment). Current neurocognitive frameworks for understanding cognitive change over time in children and adults are summarized, along with the literature on effects of brain tumors and treatment on depression. No studies have as yet identified candidate brain regions that are more sensitive to radiotherapy. Two studies have provided early, preliminary evidence for a specific vulnerability of visual attention/memory to the early stage of late radiation damage. Furthermore, radiation effects appear severe only in a minority of patients. Risk is related to direct and indirect effects of cancer type, concurrent clinical factors, and premorbid risk factors.     

Facts, interpretations, and explanations: a review of Evelyn Fox Keller's Making sense of life

The job of a researcher is to explain the phenomenon that he or she is seeking to understand. To do this requires the accumulation of facts. These facts are then interpreted to arrive at explanations. However, individual researchers often interpret facts in different ways and arrive at disparate explanations. In her book, Making Sense of Life, Evelyn Fox Keller (2002) outlines various approaches used by developmental biologists to understand the animate systems we call life. In this review, I note several parallels between biology and behavior analysis in how facts are discovered, what is an acceptable interpretation of data, and how explanations are arrived at.     

‘Peer review’ culture

A relatively high incidence of unsatisfactory review decisions is widely recognised and acknowledged as ‘the peer review problem’. Factors contributing to this problem are identified and examined. Specific examples of unreasonable rejection are considered. It is concluded that weaknesses of the ‘peer review’ system are significant and that they are well known or readily recognisable but that necessary counter-measures are not always enforced. Careful management is necessary to discount hollow opinion or error in review comment. Review and referee functions should be quite separate.     

Neuropsychological Sequelae of Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease: A Critical Review

Neuropsychologists are increasingly involved in surgical candidacy evaluations and postoperative neurobehavioral assessments of patients with movement disorders, most notably those with disease (PD). We review here the initial studies regarding neuropsychological outcomes of deep brain stimulation (DBS) within the subthalamic nucleus (STN) for treatment of PD. Overall, these initial investigations provide preliminary support for the cognitive and neurobehavioral safety of STN DBS. Improvements in self-reported symptoms of depression and diminished verbal fluency were the most common findings, whereas changes in global cognitive abilities, memory, attention, and frontal/executive functions were inconsistent and most often described as nominal and/or transient. The generalizability of this literature is hindered by several methodological limitations, including small samples and the absence of appropriate control participants. The clinical and theoretical implications of these initial studies are highlighted and recommendations are offered to guide future research.     

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Stepped Care Psychological Prevention and Treatment Approaches for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Stepped care approaches have been developed to increase treatment accessibility for individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, despite guidelines recommending stepped care, it is currently unclear how the approach compares to other treatments for PTSD in terms of symptom reduction, cost, and client-rated acceptability. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled and open trials evaluating stepped care prevention (i.e., targeting those with recent trauma exposure at risk of developing PTSD) and treatment approaches for adults and adolescents/children with PTSD. Eight prevention and four treatment studies were included. There was considerable variation in the sample types, stepped approaches, and control conditions. Most studies found no significant differences between stepped care (both prevention and treatment) and control (active and usual care) in terms of PTSD severity, loss of PTSD diagnosis, depression severity, and quality of life at the final follow-up. There was some evidence to suggest that stepped care was more cost-effective, and as acceptable or more acceptable compared to controls. Interpretations were tempered by high statistical heterogeneity, risk of bias, and lack of recommended evidence-based treatments. Stepped care can make PTSD treatment more accessible; however, more high-quality research is needed comparing stepped care to active controls.     

Training of interventionists and cultural adaptation procedures: A systematic review of culturally adapted evidence-based parenting programs in Africa

There has been an increase in the implementation of evidence-based parenting programs from high-income countries to several African countries. In this review, we systematically evaluated intervention studies of culturally adapted parenting programs in nine African countries with the objective of examining the quality of training for interventionists and cultural adaptation procedures. A total of 18 studies, obtained from an electronic search of 6 databases, met the inclusion criteria and were evaluated following PRISMA guidelines. The Ecological Validity Model was adopted to organize data on cultural adaptation procedures. Sixteen of the 18 studies reported information regarding the clinical training of interventionists and the cultural adaptations undertaken. Live and interactive workshops were the most common format used to train interventionists in the focal intervention. Overall, cultural adaptations in most studies included translation of intervention protocols into the local language. However, studies varied in the way cultural adaptation procedures were reported with some studies failing to report on cultural adaptation procedures. Concurring with previous literature, attending to issues of culture, power, privilege, access, sustainability, and other relevant concepts to increase the cultural relevance is highly encouraged in parent intervention studies in Africa. This review provides a baseline upon which future training and adaptation procedures can be built.     

Career proactivity: A bibliometric literature review and a future research agenda

Individuals often need to be proactive in order to successfully navigate their career development journeys. To what extent one is vocationally proactive has critical implications for his or her attitudes, behaviors, and other outcomes in career and work-related settings. However, research in career proactivity has been accumulating from divergent perspectives, resulting in a substantially fragmented literature that has not been comprehensively, objectively synthesized to guide the field to move forward. To advance the domain of career proactivity, this paper synthesizes theoretical and empirical literatures using two major bibliometric analyses. We first analyze the intellectual basis of the career proactivity literature by performing document citation analysis. We then review the developmental trends of main conceptual themes in career proactivity literature using a temporal co-word analysis. Informed by these bibliometric findings, we propose a roadmap for future research highlighting the need to clear up concepts, account for context, develop new meso-level theories, and bridge the domains of organizational behavior and vocational development.     

Greeting skills: A systematic review of the literature

Individuals with disabilities often demonstrate difficulty in social communication skills such as greetings. Studies have shown that deficits in greetings may negatively affect social interactions and vocational opportunities. Therefore, previous research has evaluated a variety of teaching procedures to increase greetings for individuals with disabilities with varying efficacy. This review of the literature provides an overview of studies to date in which greetings were taught to individuals with intellectual disabilities. A variety of teaching procedures were identified, and implications of those procedures are discussed. Results suggest that multiple teaching procedures may be effective; however, component analyses, further replication, and modified generalization procedures are necessary. Implications for future researchers include identifying a technological definition of greetings and evaluating effective teaching procedures and generalization strategies. Implications for practitioners include teaching one greeting type at a time, limiting the number of social skills taught simultaneously, identification of effective teaching procedures and generalization considerations.