Transformation on the Pacific Crest Trail: A Review of Cheryl Strayed’s Narrative “Wild”

Cheryl Strayed shares her experience of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in her book, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed’s narrative provides readers with insights into her arduous adventure and offers occupational therapy practitioners some understanding of personal transformation through her daily mundane occupations and exceptional accomplishments. Strayed transforms her self-identity, acknowledges the “gifts” given to her during the trek, and shares the epiphanies she discovers.     

Effects of classroom context on university students’ judgments about cheating: mediating and moderating processes

Hypothetical vignettes were used to examine the effects of classroom context variables (pedagogical quality and classroom goal structure) on undergraduate (study 1) and graduate (study 2) students’ judgments about cheating. Consistent with attribution theory and previous findings, poor (versus good) pedagogy and performance (versus mastery) goals structures resulted in more teacher blame and less student blame for cheating, and cheating was rated as more acceptable and more likely in these situations. Participants’ own prior cheating history but not their experience as a classroom teacher also affected these judgments. Relations between classroom context variables and assigned blame for cheating were mediated by students’ assessments of the fairness of the classroom situation.     

The Biobehavioral Model of Persuasion: Generating Challenge Appraisals to Promote Health1

By borrowing from the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat, we may understand when health communications adequately motivate behavior change or when they are overly distressing and inhibit behavior change. The present studies were guided by the biobehavioral model of persuasion, which predicts that different health appeals should evoke different appraisals, as well as psychological and physiological responses that motivate the adoption or rejection of health behaviors. Challenging messages should be associated with approach motivational tendencies, whereas threatening messages should be linked to avoidance. Findings from 2 experiments support the biobehavioral model of persuasion and offer mechanisms that confer message effectiveness. By understanding the psychological and physiological processes that drive message effectiveness, message designers can create more effective health appeals.     

Development and Validation of a New Measure of Intuition: The Types of Intuition Scale

The Types of Intuition Scale (TIntS) measures three types of intuition identified in a literature review by Pretz and Totz (2007): holistic, inferential, and affective. Holistic intuitions integrate diverse sources of information in a Gestalt‐like, non‐analytical manner; inferential intuitions are based on previously analytical processes that have become automatic; and affective intuitions are based on feelings. Current intuition measures inadequately assess these distinct types. We report four validity studies: Study 1 reports the reliability and factor structure of the TIntS and correlations with extant intuition and personality measures. Study 2 presents a confirmatory factor analysis. Studies 3 and 4 examine the predictive validity of the TIntS with respect to clinical decision making in occupational therapy and musical performance. Scales were internally consistent and stable over time, and factor analyses supported the predicted distinctions among them. Correlations with existing measures of intuition, personality, and behavior showed that the TIntS is unique in its assessment of all three types of intuition in one measure. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring Women's Perspectives of Overcoming Intimate Partner Violence: A Phenomenological Study

Research in occupational therapy with women overcoming Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) focuses primarily on role acquisition; however, a broader lens in which to understand recovery may support more client-centered practice. The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the perspectives of women overcoming Intimate Partner Violence. Six women, residents at a domestic violence shelter, volunteered to participate in this phenomenological study. Relationships, Starting Over, Spirituality, and Expansion of Self emerged as major themes with an overarching theme of Forward Movement as the women continued on their journey in recovery.     

The dynamic nature of the stress appraisal process and the infusion of affect

Very little is known about the process in which people reappraise a stressful environment or the factors that may influence this process. In the current study, we address the several limitations to previous research regarding stress reappraisals and explore the role of affect on this process. A total of 320 participants (mean age = 20 years, 60% male) completed an increasingly demanding team-based coordination task. Mood and stress appraisals were assessed at three time points using self-report surveys during four different waves of data collection. The longitudinal design enabled us to assess primary and secondary reappraisals (change in appraisals during the experiment), task-irrelevant affect (affect assessed prior to experiment participation), and task-relevant affect (change in affect experienced during the experiment). Guided by the Transactional Theory of Stress, we argue that the relationship between primary reappraisal and secondary reappraisal is an accurate representation of a dynamic stress appraisal process. We found that participants were more likely to engage in the stress appraisal process when they experienced less task-irrelevant positive affect and greater task-relevant positive affect. Both task-irrelevant and task-relevant negative affect were not found to influence the stress appraisal process.     

Matching health messages to health locus of control beliefs for promoting mammography utilization

This field experiment examined the persuasiveness of matching health messages to individuals’ health locus of control beliefs in an effort to promote screening mammography. Women (N = 499) who called the New England regional office of the Cancer Information Service were stratified by their health locus of control and randomly assigned to receive a telephone message and follow-up print materials matched to either an internal or external health locus of control orientation. As expected, women who received information consistent with their health locus of control beliefs generally were more likely to obtain a mammogram 6 and 12 months after the intervention than women who received information that was not consistent with their health locus of control orientation.     

The moderation of conscientiousness by cognitive ability when predicting workplace safety behavior

Research and industry practice emphasize the usefulness of personality-based assessment, particularly measures of conscientiousness, for predicting workplace rule compliance and safety behavior. However, recent research suggests that it may also be valuable to consider potential moderators of the personality – safety relationship. Accordingly, this study uses a field sample (N = 219) to examine the degree to which cognitive ability moderates conscientiousness when predicting workplace safety behavior. As hypothesized, we found that those individuals with higher levels of cognitive ability were more likely to demonstrate higher safety behavior regardless of level of conscientiousness. In contrast, conscientiousness was a stronger predictor of safety behavior for individuals with lower levels of cognitive ability. Implications for understanding the way cognitive ability and conscientiousness interact are discussed.     

Correlates of African American Men’s Sexual Schemas

Sexual schemas are cognitive representations of oneself as a sexual being and aid in the processing of sexually relevant information. We examined the relationship between sociosexuality (attitudes about casual sex), masculine ideology (attitudes toward traditional men and male roles), and cultural centrality (strength of identity with racial group) as significant psychosocial and sociocultural predictors in shaping young, heterosexual African American men??s sexual schemas. A community sample (n?=?133) of men in a southeastern city of the United States completed quantitative self-report measures examining their attitudes and behavior related to casual sex, beliefs about masculinity, racial and cultural identity, and self-views of various sexual aspects of themselves. Results indicated that masculine ideology and cultural centrality were both positively related to men??s sexual schemas. Cultural centrality explained 12?% of the variance in level of sexual schema, and had the strongest correlation of the predictor variables with sexual schema (r?=?.36). The need for more attention to the bidirectional relationships between masculinity, racial/cultural identity, and sexual schemas in prevention, intervention, and public health efforts for African American men is discussed.     

Exploring Women's Expectations of Recovery From Intimate Partner Violence: A Phenomenological Study

Occupational therapy literature related to intimate partner violence primarily focuses on clients' pragmatic concerns. The purpose of this study was to explore women's recovery needs for the first six months after leaving the abusive relationship. Specifically, the focus explored how women experiencing intimate partner violence anticipate their recovery process to progress and explored their perceptions regarding the obstructions and challenges that influence that process. As part of an ongoing, multiyear study, in-depth interviews based on Kawa Model river drawings were conducted at a domestic violence center with eight women. Multiple themes were identified highlighting pragmatic and personal objectives.