An automated test development of parallel tests from a seed test

Binary programming models are presented to generate parallel tests from an itembank. The parallel tests are created to match item for item an existing seed test and match user supplied taxonomic specifications. The taxonomic specifications may be either obtained from the seed test or from some other user requirement. An algorithm is presented along with computational results to indicate the overall efficiency of the process. Empirical findings based on an itembank for the Arithmetic Reasoning section of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery are given.The Office of Naval Research, Program in Cognitive Science, N00014-87-C-0696 partially supported the work of Douglas H. Jones. The Rutgers Research Resource Committee of the Graduate School of Management partially supported the work of Douglas H. Jones and Ing-Long Wu. A Thomas and Betts research fellowship partially supported the work of Ing-Long Wu. The Human Resources Laboratory, United States Air Force, partially supported the work of Ronald Armstrong. The authors benefited from conversations with Dr. Wayne Shore, Operational Technologies, San Antonio, Texas. The order of authors' names is alphabetical and denotes equal authorship.     

Three intensive community-based programs for children and youth with serious emotional disturbance and their families

Systems of care for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families have generally lacked intensive community-based programs. We describe three types of newly established community-based programs in New York State and present a general evaluation plan for determining which programs work for various children and their families. The three community-based programs are Intensive Case Management, Family-Based Treatment, and Family-Centered Intensive Case Management. Process and outcome evaluations are being conducted for each of these programs. These evaluations make use of common intake and termination instruments, based on a minimum data set, standardized assessment instruments, and a common logic model, thus facilitating the comparison of findings across evaluations.     

Attenuation of Hippocampal 11beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 1 by Chronic Psychosocial Stress in the Tree Shrew

11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD-1) catalyses the interconversion of active cortisol and corticosterone with inert cortisone and 11-dehydrocorticosterone, thus regulating glucocorticoid access to intracellular receptors. In rats, chronic glucocorticoid excess or stress increases 11beta-HSD-1 in the hippocampus, producing suggestions that it may attenuate the deleterious effects of chronic glucocorticoid excess. However, 11beta-HSD-1 predominantly catalyses 11beta-reduction in the intact liver and hippocampal cells, thus regenerating active glucocorticoids from inert substrate. We studied 11beta-HSD activity in the tissues of male tree shrews following 28 days of sustained psychosocial stress or exogenous administration of cortisol. In the hippocampus, chronic psychosocial stress attenuated 11-HSD-1 activity (69 +/- 9% of control), whereas cortisol alone had no effect. In the liver, both chronic stress and cortisol administration decreased 11beta-HSD-1 activity (47 +/- 11% and 49 +/- 4% fall, resp.). Attenuation of 11beta-HSD-1 within tissues may reflect a homeostatic mechanism designed to minimise the adverse effects of prolonged stress and/or glucocorticoid excess.     

The spiritual dynamics of chronic post traumatic stress disorder

Although there have been numerous articles and books written about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), relatively little has been written about the spiritual dynamics of this disorder. The authors of this article suggest that the spiritual components of PTSD should be addressed in treatment because they may have profound impact on chronic PTSD patients. A framework for treatment involving eight Rs—Risking and Revealing, Responding and Releasing, Reflecting and Reconciling, and Resurrecting and Rebuilding—is described.J. LeBron McBride, Ph.D. is Coordinator of Behavioral Science and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at the Georgia Baptist Family Practice Residency Program in Morrow, Georgia. Gloria Armstrong, M.Div., M.A. is licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist and Professional Counselor and works at the Pastoral Institute in Columbus, Georgia.     

Family-centered intensive case management: A step toward understanding individualized care

New York State's initial attempt at individualizing services occurred within the context of an experiment. We randomly assigned children 5–12 years old who were referred for out-of-home placement in treatment foster care to either treatment foster care, Family-Based Treatment (n=15), or to Family-Centered Intensive Case Management (FCICM) (n=27). FCICM used teams of case managers and parent advocates to provide in-home services. Flexible service dollars, respite care, and behavior management skills training were available to assist teams in individualizing care. Preliminary outcomes indicate that children in FCICM are doing as well or better than children assigned to FBT in their functioning and symptom reduction. Parents of children in FCICM have made gains, although not at a statistically significant level, in behavior management skills and family strengths that allow them to provide care for their children at home.     

Controlled comparison of aversive therapy and covert sensitization in compulsive homosexuality

Ethical objections to the use of behaviour therapy in homosexuality are discussed. It is pointed out that these objections were often based on a limited view of the aims of the therapy. The need for evaluating such therapy, as it is currently used, is elaborated.Twenty subjects requesting behaviour therapy to reduce compulsive homosexual urges were randomly allocated, half to receive aversive therapy using electric shocks and half to receive covert sensitization. Both groups were studied for one year. There was no consistent trend for one therapy to be more effective than the other in reducing the strength of compulsive homosexual urges, and the response to both was similar to that reported in previous studies. It was considered that aversive therapies in homosexuality do not act by establishing a conditioned aversion, nor by altering the subjects' sexual orientation. They reduce aversive arousal produced by behaviour completion mechanisms when subjects attempt to refrain from homosexual behaviour in response to stimuli which have repeatedly provoked such behaviour in the past.