How a maximizing orientation affects trade-offs between desirability and feasibility: The role of outcome- versus process-focused decision making

This research examines how maximizers make decisions when they must trade-off between desirability and feasibility attributes. Across four studies, we demonstrate that maximizers tend to prefer choices offering more desirability to those offering more feasibility and respond more favorably to a product's advertising when it highlights desirability more than feasibility attributes. Furthermore, we show that maximizers' focus on outcomes rather than processes drives their preference for desirability, such that changing from an outcome to a process focus can redirect their interest from desirability to feasibility. By contrast, satisficers do not prefer products higher in desirability to those higher in feasibility and are not more receptive to ads highlighting desirability attributes. Furthermore, because satisficers may focus on both the outcome and the process, priming either one is redundant and does not alter their preference for desirability or feasibility.     

Effect of Make Parenting a Pleasure on Parenting Skills and Parental Depression

Abstract

This paper explores a feasibility trial examining the effects of the Make Parenting A Pleasure (MPAP), a 12-week parent training program designed to promote family resilience by strengthening the following factors: parental resilience, social connections, concrete support in times of need, knowledge of parenting and child development, and social and emotional competence in children. Fifty-nine (59) participants were assigned to either a treatment group (n?=?32) or a waitlist control group (n?=?27). Results showed that participants in the MPAP treatment group demonstrated an increase in parenting skills and child development knowledge as well as a decrease in parental depression when compared to waitlist control group participants. Results emphasize the importance of promoting resiliency by supporting parents through direct instruction and skill development.     

Improving Interaction Competencies With Children—A Pilot Feasibility Study to Reduce School Corporal Punishment

High prevalence rates of corporal punishment in schools worldwide and the associated negative mental health issues show the need for interventions addressing this problem. Yet, so far there are very few intervention studies aimed at altering corporal punishment administered by teachers, particularly in low- or middle-income countries.

To conduct a feasibility study of the newly developed intervention approach, Interaction Competencies with Children for Teachers (ICC-T)—a training workshop designed to prevent corporal punishment and improve the teacher-student relationship.

The 1-week ICC-T intervention was conducted with 30 teachers in a Tanzanian primary school. Participants filled out a survey before, directly after, and 3 months following the intervention.

The widespread use of corporal punishment indicated strong demand for a preventive intervention. The feasibility of ICC-T was good: Despite challenging conditions, implementation of the training and participants’ acceptance was high. Further, participants reported a good integration of the training’s core elements in their daily working routine, improvements in the teacher-student relationships, and in the students’ behavior.

ICC-T shows a promising feasibility in the Tanzanian teacher sample. These encouraging results highlight the need for further studies testing the efficacy, sustainability, and effects of ICC-T on the students’ well-being.     

The Parent Alienation Syndrome: A Family Therapy and Collaborative Systems Approach to Amelioration,by L. Gottlieb

No abstract available for this article.     

‘Between the woods and frozen lake’: a child psychotherapist’s experiences of developing a grant application for an RCT feasibility study

Drawing on the six stages identified by Henton and Midgley (2012) in the narratives of five child psychotherapists involved in the IMPACT study on their evolving attitudes towards participation in outcome research, this paper explores another child psychotherapist’s internal and external world experiences of writing a National Institute of Health Research grant application for a randomised controlled trial feasibility study. It makes use of the key associations that came to mind on first reading Henton and Midgley’s article, outlines the practical and emotional stages of developing the grant proposal and briefly considers some of the wider implications of this kind of work on a personal, organisational and professional level.     

On the structure of global development goals

The design of global development goals has been beset by deep flaws, inconsistencies, and manifest unfairness to some developing countries. Momentum has now peaked for the creation of Sustainable Development Goals to replace the Millennium Development Goals. This comment addresses three challenges that arise in setting development goals, and recommends feasible development goals that can meaningfully guide development cooperation, and focus the attention of policy makers on the worst-off.     

Shedding Dialectical Tiers: A Social-Epistemic View

Is there a duty to respond to objections in order to present a good argument? Ralph Johnson argues that there is such a duty, which he refers to as the “dialectical tier“ of an argument. I deny the (alleged) duty primarily on grounds that it would exert too great a demand on arguers, harming argumentation practices. The valuable aim of responding to objections, which Johnson 's dialectical tier is meant to satisfy, can be achieved in better ways, as argumentation is a social-epistemic activity.     

Development and Feasibility of a Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Fear of Cancer Recurrence

This paper describes the development, content, and preliminary results of a group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). A manualized CBT intervention was developed and offered to 38 patients with various cancer types and stages in two hospitals. Four weekly group CBT sessions were administered by two licensed psychologists as part of routine care. Patients completed self-report scales before the first treatment session and, a second time, 1 month after the last session.Overall, 33 patients had clinical levels of FCR at baseline. The participants’ satisfaction toward the group CBT for FCR was high. Significant reductions on the total score and most subscales of the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory (FCRI) were observed, as well as significant improvements on most of the other psychological variables measured (i.e., insomnia, anxiety, depression, dysfunctional beliefs about cancer, and intolerance of uncertainty). In addition, 52% of the patients with clinical levels of FCR (FCRI-severity subscale score ≥ 13) at baseline no longer reached this clinical threshold at posttreatment.These preliminary results suggest that our group CBT for FCR is well accepted and feasible, and shows promising efficacy for decreasing FCR and improving other psychological variables among cancer patients. The next step is to investigate the efficacy of this minimal intervention in larger and controlled clinical trials, as well as its usefulness as part of a stepped care approach.This low-cost intervention is easy to implement in various clinical settings and has a strong potential to help large numbers of patients with FCR.