COMPARISON OF STAFF TRAINING STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE GENERALIZED TEACHING SKILLS

Two studies compared the effectiveness of different strategies for promoting generalization of staff skills in teaching self-care routines to clients with developmental disabilities. In Study 1, 9 direct-care staff members of group homes were trained sequentially through four conditions: (a) the provision of written instructions, (b) performance-based training using a single client program exemplar and simulated clients (single case training), (c) performance-based training using actual developmentally delayed clients as trainees (common stimuli training), and (d) performance-based training using multiple client program exemplars with simulated clients (general case training). The results indicated that staff members did not reach all generalization criteria until general case training was provided. Because staff members had been trained sequentially through several conditions in Study 1, a second study controlled for potential sequence effects. In Study 2, 7 staff members were trained using only the general case strategy after baseline. All staff members reached generalization criteria with only general case training, replicating the findings of Study 1. Together, the two studies demonstrated that the general case training strategy was more effective at promoting generalized training effects across clients, settings, and client programs than other commonly used staff training approaches.     

TEACHING CHILD-CARE SKILLS TO MOTHERS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

The present study identified and remediated child-care skill deficits in parents with developmental disabilities to reduce their risk of child neglect. Eleven mothers with developmental disabilities who were considered by social service and child welfare agencies to be providing neglectful child care were found in baseline to have several important child-care skill deficits (e.g., bathing, diaper rash treatment, cleaning baby bottles) compared to nonhandicapped mothers. Parent training (consisting of verbal instructions, pictorial manuals, modeling, feedback, and reinforcement) resulted in rapid acquisition and maintenance of child-care skills in all mothers. Mean percentage correct scores increased from 58% in baseline to 90% in training and 91% in follow-up (M = 31 weeks). The latter two scores compare favorably to the mean score (87%) of 20 nonhandicapped mothers on the same skills. Where observable, parent training was associated with corresponding benefits to the children (e.g., elimination of diaper rash and cradle cap, increased weight gain, successful toilet training). These results indicate that parent training may be a viable option to the removal of the child from the home when parenting skill deficits place the child's well-being in jeopardy.     

Religiosity, schizotypal thinking, and schizophrenia

The relationship between religiosity and the incidence of schizotypal thinking was investigated in a normal sample and in acute and chronic schizophrenic samples. The Rust Inventory of Schizotypal Cognitions was administered to measure schizotypal thinking, and two religiosity measures were developed. Religiosity had a significantly negative relationship with schizotypal thinking in normal subjects, while in schizophrenic patients the relationship was positive and significantly different. It is suggested that the process of existential growth of awareness in the normal development of religious belief, which is thought to be associated with schizotypal thinking, may have proceeded differently in persons suffering from schizophrenia.     

Inconsistent communication: A simplified method for selecting messages

In examining the family's role in the development and perpetuation of disordered behavior, studies of inconsistent communication have focused on the frequency and impact of such communications in disturbed versus non-disturbed groups. For these and other lines of study, current methods for defining and selecting inconsistent messages are extremely time-consuming, and as a result, large-scale efforts have been discouraged. To address this problem, the current study attempted to develop and evaluate an efficient procedure for selecting inconsistent communications which would be comparable to the standard method. Most important, it was found that raters are capable of accurately judging affect in a particular channel when presented with several channels simultaneously, and as such, it is unnecessary to artificially separate channels when affect ratings are to be obtained. Future research should be facilitated by the method developed in the current study.     

Sex role orientations,attributions for achievement,and personal goals of Chinese youth

The role of women in the People's Republic of China has changed dramatically in the last 40 years. This study assesses what impact these changes have had on the attitudes of Chinese youth. The sample consisted of 164 subjects (77 men and 87 women) who completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Objective Fear of Success Measure, a locus of control scale, and a personal goals questionnaire. They also evaluated a painting attributed to artists of different gender and status. The results indicate that the sex role orientations of Chinese students were similar to those of American students. On the Bem inventory, the direction of the sex differences on the sex role scales was the same for U.S. and Chinese students, but the latter had a sex role orientation that, in our culture, is regarded as more “traditional.” Chinese women were significantly more likely to endorse statements expressing fear of success than were Chinese men. On the locus of control measures, Chinese women were more likely than men to attribute their achievement successes to luck and failures to a lack of ability. The women students also attributed affiliation outcomes more to luck than did the men. The most important personal goal cited by both men and women was that of career success. Chinese men placed greater importance than women on achieving wealth, and their expectancy of actually becoming wealthy was higher. Finally, in an evaluation of a painting, Chinese men, but not the women, devalued a painting when it was supposedly the work of a female student artist.     

Illusory figures: Individual differences apparent depth and lightness

When the luminance of a pattern that induces a sharp-edged illusory circle was decreased, both illusory contrast with the surround and the illusory depth difference between that circular area and the inducing elements reliably increased. Thus, changes in both of these effects apparently participate in (contribute to) the increased overall salience that had previously been found with decreased luminance. However, among individuals, the correlation between this improvement in contrast and this increase in depth was exceedingly small.