Collective Efficacy as a Key Context in Neighborhood Support for Urban Youth

Neighborhood context, including the physical and social environment, has been implicated as important contributors to positive youth development. A transactional approach to neighborhood asserts that place and people are mutually constitutive; negative perceptions of place are intrinsically bound with negative portrayals of stigmatized groups, including youth. Adult perceptions of neighborhood youth may contribute to an increased sense of alienation and youth antisocial behavior. This study uses street‐intercept interviews with adults (N = 408) to examine the relationship between neighborhood conditions and adult support for neighborhood youth. A path model was used to examine the direct and indirect relationship of neighborhood constructs (safety, aesthetic quality, and walkability) on adult support for neighborhood youth. Neighborhood aesthetic quality and the walking environment were directly associated with adult support for youth, whereas perceived safety was indirectly associated. Collective efficacy partially explained these relationships. Findings support theorized relationships between people and places; improvements to neighborhood physical environment may directly impact resident adults’ perceptions of neighborhood young people.     

Couple therapy,family therapy and systemic interventions for adult‐focused problems: the current evidence base

This paper updates previous similar reviews published in JFT in 2000, 2009 and 2014. It presents evidence from meta‐analyses, systematic literature reviews and controlled trials for the effectiveness of couple therapy, family therapy, and systemic interventions for adults with a range or relationship and mental health problems. The evidence supports the effectiveness of systemic interventions, either alone or as part of multimodal programmes, for relationship distress, psychosexual problems, intimate partner violence, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, alcohol problems, psychosis and adjustment to chronic physical illness.     

Family therapy and systemic interventions for child‐focused problems: the current evidence base

This review updates previous similar papers published in JFT in 2000, 2009 and 2014. It presents evidence from meta‐analyses, systematic literature reviews, narrative literature reviews and controlled trials for the effectiveness of systemic interventions for families of children and adolescents with common mental health problems and other difficulties. In this context, systemic interventions include both family therapy and other family‐based approaches such as parent training, or parent implemented behavioural programmes. The evidence supports the effectiveness of systemic interventions either alone or as part of multimodal programmes for sleep, feeding and attachment problems in infancy; recovery from child abuse and neglect; conduct problems, emotional problems, eating disorders, somatic problems, and first episode psychosis.     

When the Evidence Says, "Yes, No, and Maybe So": Attending to and Interpreting Inconsistent Findings Among Evidence-Based Interventions

ABSTRACT— An international, multidisciplinary effort aims to identify evidence-based treatments (EBTs) or interventions. The goal of this effort is to identify specific techniques or programs that successfully target and change specific behaviors. In clinical psychology, EBTs are identified based on the outcomes of randomized controlled trials examining whether treatments outperform control or alternative treatment conditions. Treatment outcomes are measured in multiple ways. Consistently, different ways of gauging outcomes yield inconsistent conclusions. Historically, EBT research has not accounted for these inconsistencies. In this paper we highlight the implications of inconsistencies, describe a framework for redressing inconsistent findings, and illustrate how the framework can guide future research on how to administer and combine treatments to maximize treatment effects and how to study treatments via quantitative review.     

为什么无效的药物治疗会被认为有效？

把无效的治疗误认为有效,不仅在大众中非常普遍,而且很多医生也常如此。造成这种疗效假象有许多原因,主要由于疾病的自愈或自发缓解、药物和治疗的安慰效应、缺乏严格的评价疗效标准以及诊断不确实,以及把良性疾病误诊为严重或恶性疾病所造成的。对传统医疗的信仰也是原因之一。因此,对任何药物或医疗的效果必须进行严格的随机对照临床试验,并且得到同行的检验和公认。     

Tests of behavioral-economic assessments of relative reinforcer efficacy: economic substitutes

This experiment was conducted to test predictions of two behavioral-economic approaches to quantifying relative reinforcer efficacy. According to the first of these approaches, characteristics of averaged normalized demand curves may be used to predict progressive-ratio breakpoints and peak responding. The second approach, the demand analysis, rejects the concept of reinforcer efficacy, arguing instead that traditional measures of relative reinforcer efficacy (breakpoint, peak response rate, and choice) correspond to specific characteristics of non-normalized demand curves. The accuracy of these predictions was evaluated in rats' responding for food or fat: two reinforcers known to function as partial substitutes. Consistent with the first approach, predicted peak normalized response output values (Omax) obtained under single-schedule conditions ordinally predicted progressive-ratio breakpoints and peak responding. Predictions of the demand analysis had mixed success. Pmax and Omax were significantly correlated with PR breakpoints and peak responding (respectively) when fat, but not when food, was the reinforcer. Relative consumption of food and fat under single schedules of reinforcement did not predict preference better than chance. The normalized demand analysis is supplemented with the economic concept of diminishing marginal utility, to predict preference shifts across the range of food and fat prices examined.     

虚拟团队学习效能研究:社会认知因素的影响

本研究采用现场研究的方法,对21个虚拟团队学习的效能进行了实证研究。研究对社会认知因素中的效能感和目标取向对虚拟团队学习效能(技能改变、工作任务和团队健康水平)的影响进行了研究,并探讨了对虚拟团队的态度在中间所起的作用。研究发现,虚拟团队效能感和学习取向对虚拟团队的学习效能产生作用,而对虚拟团队学习的态度、团队信任对虚拟团队学习的效能起着中介或直接的作用。     

A Multilevel Contextual Model of Neighborhood Collective Efficacy

Different data sources were used to examine hypothesized relations among neighborhood-, family-, and individual-level variables, and perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy. Data were from 1,105 individuals (56% female, 42% African American, and 58% White) nested within 55 neighborhoods and 392 families, analyzed within a multilevel design using a 3-level model. At the neighborhood level, the study examined relations between Census, police, and neighborhood representative indicators. At the family level, the model examined the influence of marital status and family income. At the individual level, gender and age were examined. Results indicated that age at the individual level, marital status at the family level, and poverty and perceived gang activity at the neighborhood level predicted levels of neighborhood collective efficacy. The study illustrated significant variation across neighborhoods and families, and demonstrates the utility of combining different sources of neighborhood data to examine relations of interest within a multilevel framework.