Constructing We‐ness: A Communal Coping Intervention for Couples Facing Chronic Illness

Communal coping occurs when relationship partners view a stressful health problem as “ours,” rather than yours or mine, and take collaborative action to deal with it. Although research employing linguistic (we‐talk) and other measures of communal coping demonstrates relevance to a variety of chronic illnesses, the literature offers little about how clinicians can actively promote we‐ness and teamwork to help patients and their partners achieve the health benefits this appears to confer. This paper highlights clinical and supporting scientific features of a narrative intervention designed to foster communal coping by couples in which one partner has a chronic illness. The illustrative illness is diabetes, but with modification the protocol is suitable for other chronic conditions as well. Grounded in systemic and narrative models of problem maintenance and change, the communal coping intervention represents a distillation of research and clinical experience with family consultation over several decades. In contrast to more directive and educational approaches, the intervention consists entirely of questions, with no direct suggestions or instruction about how patients, partners, or couples should change. These questions comprise 8 sequential modules (Coping Challenges, Trajectory and Focus, Illness as External Invader, You as a Couple, Past Teamwork in Overcoming Adversity, Present and Future Teamwork, Obstacles to Teamwork, and Wrap‐Up), described here in manual‐like detail.     

A community led approach to delivery of the Parents Plus Children's Programme for the parents of children aged 6–11

Childhood internalising and externalising disorders tend to persist when left untreated and place affected individuals at higher risk of compromised outcomes. The social costs include school dropout, unemployment, family breakdown and substance abuse. Effective preventive interventions require a public health approach. The aim of this experimental study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Parents Plus Children's Programme (PPCP) delivered in community and school contexts by frontline professionals from diverse backgrounds. Participating parents with children aged 6 to 11 were randomly assigned to a Treatment Group (n = 44) or a no treatment Control Group (n = 31). The efficacy of training was assessed using self-report questionnaires completed by participants in both Treatment and Control groups. Significant post treatment improvements were recorded on measures of parenting-related stress, child problem behaviour and parent satisfaction with medium to large effect sizes. Treatment group results were maintained at six-month follow-up. These results support the efficacy of the PPCP as a community led intervention with potential to prevent and interrupt child behaviour problems through supported parenting practice, before problems become critical and entrenched.     

Variable Structure of Cultural Capital and Implications for Multicultural Counseling

The purpose of this study was to identify the latent variable structure of a measure of cultural capital in the community college field. The community college was used based on its emergence as both a gateway and a gatekeeper to higher education, and as a power structure that can afford both social and economic opportunities through degree attainment for underrepresented groups. Therefore, implications for counselors in various settings were highlighted, along with implications for future research. El propósito de este estudio fue identificar la estructura de la variable latente de una medida de capital cultural en el campo de los colegios comunitarios. Se usó el colegio comunitario por su surgimiento como ambos filtro y puerta de entrada a la educación superior, así como una estructura de poder que puede ofrecer oportunidades sociales y económicas a grupos infrarrepresentados a través de la obtención de grados. Por lo tanto, se destacaron las implicaciones para consejeros en entornos variados, junto con las implicaciones para investigaciones futuras.     

Evidence-based treatments for adolescents with cannabis use disorders in the Spanish Public Health System

The goal of the present study is to describe the implementation of two Evidence-based treatments (EBT) for adolescent Cannabis Use Disorders (CUD) in the Spanish Public Health System, and its main clinical outcomes. Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) and Contingency Management (CM) were chosen as the most efficacious treatment programs for this population. A total of 26 adolescent cannabis users entered the study (91.7% male; age = 16.50) at two outpatient clinical facilities in Spain. A quasi-experimental design was utilized, with one group receiving A-CRA only and the other A-CRA + CM. Implementation of both EBTs resulted feasible, with positive clinical outcomes. Results indicated that A-CRA has positive retention (81.3%) and abstinence rates (68.8%). Results for the group receiving A-CRA + CM were not significantly better than A-CRA in retention (100%) or abstinence (75.5%), although sample is too small to establish firm conclusions. Cannabis-related problems and depressive symptomatology also decreased during treatment. Several limitations prevent us from determining the clinical efficacy of A-CRA in this study. The process of translating EBT's to clinical contexts presented with many difficulties that need to be overcome. Recommendations are made for further attempts to implement EBTs in these contexts.