Early childhood mental health consultation: Care providers’ experiences of the consultative relationship

This article presents findings from a qualitative research study exploring child care teachers’ experiences receiving early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC). As an emerging intervention in early childhood education, ECMHC is already yielding promising results, namely in helping teachers better address challenging behaviors in their classroom and promote a more nurturing classroom environment. However, there remains a lack of personal testimony from teachers who receive this intervention. Considering that teachers are the primary focus of most ECMHC interventions, the purpose of this study was to examine child care teachers’ personal experiences receiving consultation. Eight child care teachers were interviewed for this study. Results from this study illuminate key interpersonal processes in the development of the consultant–consultee relationship, indicate what teachers consider to be the most helpful components of consultation, and speak to the challenges that teachers experience in consultation. By examining the personal testimony of child care teachers who have received ECMHC services, consultants and researchers can consider ways to expand and improve future implementation of ECMHC.     

Promoting parent–infant responsiveness in families experiencing homelessness

My Baby's First Teacher is an intervention designed specifically for parents with infants staying in emergency homeless shelters. Infants are overrepresented in shelter populations and face considerable risk to their development, including mental health. We utilized a randomized controlled design across three family shelters to evaluate the program's effectiveness with 24 dyads assigned to the intervention compared to 21 dyads in care-as-usual. Dyads were randomized by round at each site to account for shelter effects. We used path analysis to illustrate change over time and in relation to intervention assignment.     

Antenatal caregiving representations and perinatal behavior in mothers with severe lifetime psychopathology

Psychopathology poses a risk for optimal parenting. The current study explored antenatal caregiving representations as markers for later risk of nonoptimal maternal behavior among mothers with severe mental illness. Sixty-five mothers diagnosed with psychosis, bipolar disorder, depression (psychopathology group), and nonclinical controls participated in a longitudinal study from pregnancy to 16 weeks after birth. Mental health diagnoses and caregiving representations were assessed during pregnancy. Maternal behavior was assessed during the 5-min recovery phase of the still-face paradigm at 16 weeks. Mothers with psychopathology reported significantly higher levels of “heightened” caregiving representations (i.e., separation anxiety from the child) than did controls. The only significant diagnostic group difference in perinatal maternal behavior was that mothers diagnosed with depression exhibited more overriding-intrusive behavior than did nonclinical control mothers. Regression modeling results showed that antenatal caregiving representations of “role reversal” predicted significantly lower levels of sensitivity and higher levels of overriding-intrusive behavior independent of the effect of psychopathology. The findings can be interpreted in the context of representational transformation to motherhood during pregnancy. The results provide preliminary evidence for the potential of a new questionnaire measure of caregiving representations as a screening instrument for antenatal representational risk.     

Metacognitive components of writing: Construction and validation of the Metacognitive Components of Planning Writing Self-inventory (MCPW-I)

IntroductionWriting and metacognition play an essential function in the learning process, in that writers engage arduous cognitive efforts by selecting and organizing ideas, then reviewing and readjusting them.ObjectiveThe present research aimed to construct and validate a self-report instrument to measure some specific metacognitive processes implicated in writing planning. Two categories of metacognitive components were considered: metacognitive knowledge and self-regulation strategies.MethodBased on exploratory and confirmatory analyses, the Metacognitive Components of Planning Writing Self-inventory (MCPW-I) was constructed and validated. This instrument is composed of three factors: Metacognitive Conditional Knowledge – MCK (6 items), Covert Self-regulation – CSF (4 items), and Environmental self-regulation – ESF (5 items). 1022 undergraduates students engaged in various programs of a French university filled in the inventory.ResultsThe alpha coefficients indicated a reliable internal consistency and the test-retest reliability showed a good temporal stability. Correlational analyses revealed that the CRS factor was related to ESR and MCK factors, and these last two were not correlated with each other. After the analysis of variance, the responses relative to ESR and MCK dimensions differed according to gender, but no differences relatively to the academic disciplines considered was found. Concerning the predictive validity, CSF and MCK were correlated with writing performance.ConclusionThe results confirm the validity and reliability of the MCPW-I which constitutes a new research tool for the study of metacognitive processes of writing.     

Investigating route learning,metacognition, and beacon-based strategies using virtual environments

IntroductionDominant theories of wayfinding may have underestimated the ease with which adults can learn a route, even with minimal exposure to that route.ObjectivesIn this paper we present three different experiments to provide a comprehensive picture of whether adults can learn complex routes consisting of a number of choicepoints, and if so, what strategies they might be employing to do so.Methodand results We found that adults could learn a 15-junction route after only a single experience of the route (Experiment 1) but that they underestimated how good they would be at learning the 15-junction route (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, we found that when learning a route made up of “T” shaped junctions, participants relied on a “beacon” strategy based on visual matching.ConclusionsCollectively, these findings suggest that adults can learn complex routes, even with as many as 15 choicepoints, very quickly and without the need for repeated exposure. These findings have implications for theories of wayfinding and call into question the need for repeated exposure.     

Personal values and unsanctioned aggression inherent in contact sports: The role of self-regulatory mechanisms,aggressiveness, and demographic variables

IntroductionTo date, research-examining factors related to the sociocognitive self-regulatory mechanisms governing unsanctioned aggression have received scant attention in applied sport psychology.ObjectiveA mediating model as influenced by various demographic variables was applied to explore the relationships between athletes’ personal values and their unsanctioned aggression directly and indirectly through the mediating role of resistive self-regulatory efficacy, moral disengagement, and aggressiveness.MethodA sample of 301 French competitors of different age (young: n = 200 and adult: n = 101), gender (male: n = 172 and female: n = 129), type of sport (high: n = 131 and low contact: n = 170), level of competition (beginner: n = 115, intermediate: n = 110, and advanced: n = 76), and length of practice (brief: n = 109, intermediate: n = 49, and extensive: n = 143) completed a questionnaire assessing the aforementioned variables.ResultsStructural equation modelling demonstrates that self-transcendence and self-enhancement values have only indirect negative and positive effects, respectively, on unsanctioned aggression through the full mediating effect of the mediators. Also, age, gender, and type of sport were predictive only of some personal values and mediators.ConclusionThese findings offer evidence that resistive self-regulatory efficacy, moral disengagement, and aggressiveness are mediators that fully govern the impact of athletes’ personal values and certain demographic variables on their unsanctioned aggression. Several limitations, implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Network change point detection in resting-state functional connectivity dynamics of mild cognitive impairment patients

Background/Objective: This study aims to characterize the differences on the short-term temporal network dynamics of the undirected and weighted whole-brain functional connectivity between healthy aging individuals and people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The Network Change Point Detection algorithm was applied to identify the significant change points in the resting-state fMRI register, and we analyzed the fluctuations in the topological properties of the sub-networks between significant change points. Method: Ten MCI patients matched by gender and age in 1:1 ratio to healthy controls screened during patient recruitment. A neuropsychological evaluation was done to both groups as well as functional magnetic images were obtained with a Philips 3.0T. All the images were preprocessed and statistically analyzed through dynamic point estimation tools. Results: No statistically significant differences were found between groups in the number of significant change points in the functional connectivity networks. However, an interaction effect of age and state was detected on the intra-participant variability of the network strength. Conclusions: The progression of states was associated to higher variability in the patient's group. Additionally, higher performance in the prospective and retrospective memory scale was associated with higher median network strength.     

Influence de la composition de la fratrie sur les pratiques éducatives parentales déclarées et sur la représentation de l'éducation chez les préadolescents

The aim of our study is to analyze the influence of the make up of the siblings on the parents' educational practices and also on the meaning of education to preadolescents. The results gathered from a sample of 88 preadolescents and their mothers show a difference of parental educational practices according to the make up of the siblings (relaxation of the practices with the youngest). The study of the meaning of education to preadolescents shows that only children are the most in accordance with their mothers. Children from large families imagine a future education further from mothers' educational practices.     

Temporality and the torments of time

Immersion in time gives birth to consciousness, as well as conflict and torment. When human beings developed a sense of future, they also gained the ability to anticipate threats from nature or their fellow beings. They thereby created cultures that are bastions of survival, as well as places of poetry, art and religion where they could band together and reflect upon their common plight. The practice of psychoanalysis is in many ways a temporal process, a process of remembering, for owning and elaborating a past that gives us substance, thereby providing a basis for reflective consciousness. Stimulated by Freud's early writings, Lacan, Laplanche and their successors in particular have focussed extensively on time and psychoanalysis, and their views are a central point of this discussion. A substantial case study is offered that provides concrete examples of these perspectives. A multi‐faceted view of temporality emerges, one that is more syncopated than linear or teleological. In conclusion, I will briefly discuss recent findings in the neuroscience of memory and ‘time travel’ that underpin contemporary psychoanalytic ideas in surprising ways. It is important to remember that acceptance of the contradictory nature of temporal experience can open space for increased freedom and playfulness.