Culture‐ and Immigration‐Related Stress Faced by Chinese American Families with a Patient Having Schizophrenia

The impact of culture and immigration on the experience of Chinese American families with a member having schizophrenia is explored within the frameworks of family systems and stress and coping. This qualitative study was conducted within an intervention study of family psychoeducation using therapists’ session notes from 103 family sessions and 13 relatives’ group sessions from nine patients and 19 relatives. The high stigma attached to mental illness leading to social isolation, and families’ devotion to caregiving exacerbated caregiver burden. Taboo against discussing dating and sexuality and the consideration of arranged marriages caused unique stress. The insecurity as immigrants and shortage of bilingual services were related to greater enmeshment within these families. Implications on research methodology and practice are discussed.     

Examining the Incidence and Clients’ Experiences of Single Session Therapy in Italy: A Feasibility Study

Single session therapy (SST) postulates that one session can be sufficient for a client to take charge of the process and work toward their own solutions. Research has been conducted worldwide corroborating SST assumptions with several mental health conditions, but not in Italy. For the first time in Italy, this paper aims to explore: (1) if the most frequent number of sessions in traditional psychotherapy (not SST) is one (Study 1); and (2) the satisfaction of clients who attend SST services and the number who consider one session sufficient to address their presenting problem (Study 2). In Study 1, the records of 476 voluntary clients referred to three different traditional (not SST) psychological services in the west-central region of Latium, Italy, were retrospectively screened, and the number of sessions attended by each client recorded. In Study 2, 85 consecutive clients who voluntarily asked for SST with seven mental health professionals across Italy received a link to an online ad hoc survey, 1–3 weeks after the consultation, evaluating their experience. Study 1 found that the most frequent number of traditional psychotherapeutic (not intentionally SST) sessions was one (124 out of 476 clients (26%). Study 2 found that 44 out of 85 clients (52%) considered one session to be enough, as they felt better or much better and chose not to attend further sessions. Of those who asked for a second session (41 clients), 33 clients (80.5%) indicated that the first session was not enough and 8 clients (19.5%) wanted to address a new problem. These results converge with previous international studies and provide encouragement for the use of SST in both private and public psychological services to address the demand for timely mental health services in Italy. Further research is needed to support the efficacy of SST and to evaluate its cost-effectiveness.     

Does social modeling increase infants’ willingness to accept unfamiliar foods?

Despite a rich knowledge base about infants’ social learning and studies observing social referencing in other species in food contexts, we know surprisingly little about social learning about food among human infants. This gap in the literature is particularly surprising considering that feeding unfamiliar foods to infants is a very common experience as infants begin to eat solid foods. The present study examines whether parental social modeling influences infants’ willingness to accept unfamiliar foods. In two Zoom sessions, parents will be asked to feed unfamiliar foods to their 6- to 24-month-old infants (different unfamiliar foods in each session). In both sessions, infants’ food acceptance and rejection will be measured. In the first session, parents will be asked to do what they would typically do; spontaneous social modeling will be recorded. In the second session, parents will be instructed to model eating the unfamiliar food. We will examine associations between infants’ willingness to eat unfamiliar foods, parent social modeling, and extant parent and infant characteristics.     

How Routine Patient‐Centered Monitoring Relates to Therapeutic Gains in Family Therapy: A Single‐Case Study

As routine outcome monitoring systems develop, questions emerge about how therapists incorporate feedback into their practice, and how this relates to therapeutic gains. A case of covert grief was monitored in each session with the Personal Questionnaire and the Helpful Aspects of Therapy instruments. At 4 months follow‐up, the Change Interview was administered. Individualized items facilitated access to the private views and needs of each member, which was useful for case formulation and ongoing personalization of the intervention. Qualitative feedback of treatment experiences helped therapists confirm the impacts of interventions, monitor therapeutic alliance, reformulate clinical hypothesis, and plan sessions. Therapists followed a critical triangulation process to decide the clinical meaning of feedback, according to his/her intervention model, expertise, and case‐specific context.     

Using live supervision to teach counselling skills to social work students

This article reports on a research project which explored how anxiety can be managed when social work students receive live supervision as they are learning counselling skills. Eight social work students volunteered to participate in an eight session project in which they role played counselling sessions and received live supervision of their work. Their subjective experience of live supervision was elicited via survey reported surveys over the course of the project. They also submitted pre-and post-project recordings of their counselling role plays which were evaluated for changes in skill level. The participants’ survey results showed that, over the course of the project, each participant became less anxious about live supervision and came to find it a valuable learning experience. Their recorded role plays all showed improvements in skill level across a range of domains. The authors contend the establishment and maintenance of positive and trusting relationships between participants and between participants and the supervisor was crucial to the success of this project, as was attention to power dynamics and differences in learning styles. These results suggest that, under the right conditions, live supervision can be a valuable addition to counselling skills teaching strategies with social work students.     

THE VOICES OF CHILDREN: PREADOLESCENT CHILDREN'S EXPERIENCES IN FAMILY THERAPY

Although family therapists often include children in therapy sessions, they rarely consider the child's wishes regarding participation or ask children for their impressions of therapy. In this study, 16 children between the ages of 5 and 13 who had participated in at least four family therapy sessions were interviewed to determine their perspectives on the experience. The children made it clear that they wished to be involved in a meaningful way in therapy and that they wanted to come to sessions even when they were not the focus. Feedback from these children is used to suggest ways family therapists might enhance their effectiveness with families with children.     

‘Somebody Watching You’: Impact of Reflecting Teams on Hope in Couple Relationships

Reflecting teams (RTs) represent both an epistemological stance and a therapeutic technique. Most commonly associated with narrative and systemic approaches to therapy, RTs offer an outsider perspective that can bring hope and alternative narratives and perspectives for therapists and clients to explore. Relational hope is a little researched concept in the field of couple therapy research. This study explores the experience of RTs in couple relationships and the aspects of the experience that couples describe as connected to a sense of hope for their relationship. The study also considers whether difference in attachment style shows any relationship with hope in couple relationships before and after the clients’ session with a reflecting team. Couples completed questionnaires about their attachment style, demographics, and relational hope and were given the option to complete an interview about their experience with the reflecting team within 1 month of their therapy session. Our findings suggest that RTs contribute positively to hope in couple relationships particularly for clients who present with an anxious attachment style. This direction for research is important because there is very little research about hope in couple relationships despite its importance (Merolla, 2014; Snyder, 2002) and there is no research about what aspects of a reflecting team contribute to hope in couple relationships. Analysis of interviews indicates a number of features of the reflecting team feedback that were valued by clients.     

The Place of Single Session Family Consultations: Five Years’ Experience in Canberra

Open Day, in the form of two half day single session family clinics, has operated weekly in the ACT Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service since April 1993 and over a thousand families have been seen. Clinicians are often resistant to the concept of single sessions and frequently overestimate the amount of assistance that clients feel they require. However in an era of sharply increasing demand for services, selective use of single family sessions for milder problems, screened by a telephone intake process, has value to both families and workers. Telephone follow-ups of 100 families in 1994 and 70 families in 1996 found that single session family interviews were well accepted by the large majority of families seen. Clinicians see the program as reducing pressure from clients for early attention, enhancing client motivation when seen at crisis times, providing readily available consultation support from peers, increasing learning opportunities and building inter-disciplinary team work.     

Preliminary evaluation of contingent meals and telephone use to improve evidence-supported family therapy session attendance in mothers referred by Child Protective Services for substance abuse

Persons referred by Child Protective Services (CPS) for substance abuse evidence high rates of nonattendance to therapy sessions, taxing systems of care and exacerbating outcomes. This study examined the influence of two telephone-based incentive programs on therapy session attendance in mothers who were referred by CPS for substance abuse. After baseline therapy session attendance was established in an evidence-based clinic that incorporated a telephone engagement intervention (Phase I), participants were provided free cellular telephones with limited minutes and permitted to order free meals delivered by the therapist during upcoming sessions (Phase II). The third phase was similar to Phase II, but participants were provided unlimited minutes. Results indicated that participants’ attendance was significantly improved when meals and cellular telephone minutes were contingent on attendance. Although the percentage of sessions attended by participants during Phase III was higher than Phase II, unlimited minutes and meals did not significantly enhance attendance relative to limited minutes and meals. Session attendance for significant others of these participants was significantly higher during Phase III as compared with Phase I. Session attendance of significant others was statistically similar between Phase I and II and between Phase II and Phase III. Study implications and recommendations for future research and practice are discussed in light of the findings.     

Organisationsentwicklung als Thema von Erwachsenenbildung und Supervisionscurricula

This article describes the planification, progress and final evaluation of a group-dynamic seminar for future supervisors in which the topic organization development was presented and introduced. The content of organization development was first defined as a planned social change which is executed based on social sciences in a goal-oriented, strategic way which considers the time perspective of the cooperation between external and internal specialised-, process- and decision competence. Goals of the seminar were to justify that organisation development is a social science tool, to plan organization development steps and to communicate them to peer seminar participants. Further more, the following quality criteria for the seminar were formulated: practice orientation, definition of self-organisation content, self regulation, resources activation, conflict regulation, group process analysis, field competence and behaviour models usage, feedback establishment, coordination and synergy, mutual peer exchange and finding answers to personal questions about organization development. The building blocks and learn places of the seminar were the plenary sessions, the learning partnership, the od-teams, the observer function, the day analysis, the questions and answers session, the case study presentation, the analysis of the work processes as well as transfer and evaluation. The progression of the seminar is commented from the point of view of the seminar leader. Progress observations and participant’s feedback justify the impression that this way to conceptualise provides an intensive learning experience, supports autonomy and provides relevant and practical supervision competence.     

Therapist presence in emotionally focused couple therapy blamer softening events: promoting change through emotional experience

The blamer softening event has been associated with successful treatment outcomes in emotionally focused couple therapy. Previous research has highlighted the critical role of softening events and heightened emotional experience in best sessions of emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT). This study examined the effects of a therapist's emotional presence in predicting heightened levels of client emotional experience in blamer softening events. Findings from a detailed analysis of successful and unsuccessful EFT softening attempts demonstrated that a therapist's emotional presence and corresponding evocative vocal quality were more likely to predict heightened levels of client emotional experience in successful softening attempts. Implications of these findings are reviewed in light of EFT research and practice.     

The Use of the Computer in Counseling College Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of a computer program in helping clients clarify their concerns and identify goals for behavior change, prior to their first session counselor. A counseling treatment consisting of three initial computer-interaction sessions, followed by two sessions with a counselor, was compared to a treatment consisting of five sessions with a counselor and no computer interaction, and to a no-contact control group. Participants were 46 college students. The two treatment groups achieved their self-determined goals, as measured by the Goal Attainment Scale (Kiresuk & Sherman, 1968), and reported similar levels of satisfaction with counseling than students working with the computer-based counseling system. It was concluded that computers may be effectively used as part of the counseling process, allowing for a more efficient use of the counselor's time. However, more research is needed to identify the type of counselor intervention needed to facilitate the acceptance of these systems by students.     

Gavel-to-Gavel Congressional Television Coverage as Political Advertising: The Impact of C-Span on Legislative Sessions

This article examines the effect of television on the length of legislative sessions at the federal level in the United States. Data from the U.S. Congress during the period 1972–96 are employed, during part of which time each house of Congress received significant television coverage by C-SPAN and C-SPAN2. Evidence from a Parks regression suggests that the presence of C-SPAN has increased House sessions by 88–250 hours and the presence of C-SPAN2 has increased Senate sessions by a striking 252–431 hours, other things constant. Additional estimates suggest that House sessions are about two minutes longer per bill introduced under the eye of C-SPAN, and Senate sessions are about four minutes longer per bill introduced in the presence of C-SPAN2. Longer sessions, which represent low-cost forms of advertising for incumbents, are not without costs to taxpayers. We estimate that these costs lie somewhere between $16 million and $392 million in real terms per session of Congress.     

The Effects of Praising Qualifying Autoclitics on the Frequency of Reading

In the current study, tacts with positive qualifying autoclitics for reading were reinforced in order to determine if this procedure would increase the time spent reading by participants. Participants included 5 children, between 9–10 years old. Participants were individually exposed to 4 free operant sessions during which they were instructed to independently choose play activities. During pre- and post-treatment conditions, no consequences were provided for choosing reading. In addition, 4 treatment sessions were conducted on days separate from the free operant session days, during which the experimenter praised each positive reading-related statement emitted by the participant. Following treatment sessions, 4 out of 5 participants increased the time allocated to reading, suggesting that reading could be increased when praise is delivered contingent upon positive reading-related verbalizations.     

An evaluation study of a health education programme for rural women in Bangladesh

In the 1980s, 21 Health and Family Welfare Centres (HFWC) in Munchiganz district in Bangladesh extended health and family planning services and health education to satellite clinics in private homes. A family welfare visitor (FWV) would visit each clinic 2 times/week to conduct health education sessions and treat patients. HFWC also promoted 70 mothers' clubs to promote small family size. Some mothers' clubs even provide basic health services. In March 1985, HFWC designed a study to evaluate the effectiveness of its health education component. Interviews and observations constituted the methodologies used. Interviewers and staff who were to observe health education lessons attended an introductory workshop in which they designed questionnaires. Next participant conducted 1-2 interviews while doing their regular work to pilot test the questionnaires. They then went to another workshop where they received feedback and discussed problems before the main evaluation. The study coordinator made spot check observations while interviewers spoke with women after a session on safe childbirth or diarrhea. The coordinator also held weekly meetings with the interviewers to identify problems and maintain a common base. HFWC managers used the study results to design and implement a simple monitoring system, manageable by supervisors, and others in the same or in a similar position. A very important lesson learned was that any monitoring system should not disrupt the routine of regular supervisory work or the already tight working schedules. The system should be uncomplicated so supervisors can easily monitor the health education component. Finally monitoring standards need to be founded on a common understanding and feedback between planners and health educators.     

The effects of language on judgments of universal facial expressions of emotion

Because of the close connection between culture and language, a number of writers have suggested that bilinguals will differ in their behavior because of differences in the degree of assimilation of different cultures in the same individual. We tested this notion by obtaining data from bilingual (English and Hindi) college students in India using a well-studied cross-cultural research paradigm involving emotional perception. Subjects judged universal facial expressions of emotion in two separate sessions, one conducted entirely in English, the other in Hindi. In each session, they judged which emotion was being portrayed, and how intensely. Subjects recognized anger, fear, and sadness more accurately in English than in Hindi. They also attributed greater intensity to female photos of anger when rating in Hindi, but attributed greater intensity to female photos of sadness when rating in English. These findings were discussed in relation to the theoretical connection between culture and language.     

Beyond disclosure: gambling research,political economy,and incremental reform

Gambling research is beset with vested interests, be they those of the state or the gambling industry. The effect of these on the quality and focus of research has been largely ignored. Full and transparent disclosure policies are a useful first step in identifying possible sources of conflict. Progress in public health tends to be achieved in small, incremental steps, as the experience in tobacco and alcohol research makes plain. The rest of the journey will involve the achievement of the level of independence in gambling research that has been modelled by the alcohol and tobacco research assemblages.     

DIFFERENT LENSES: VARIATIONS IN CLIENTS' PERCEPTION OF FAMILY THERAPY BY RACE AND GENDER

Race and gender have been given extensive theoretical and clinical attention in family therapy in the last decade. However, little empirical work has focused on their effect on therapy. The present study examines the effect of clients' race and therapists' race and gender on male and female partners' assessments of an initial and subsequent family/marital therapy session. One hundred twenty-six individuals, comprising 63 heterosexual adult couples, evaluated both the first and the fourth therapy session using the Session Evaluation Questionnaire (Stiles, 1980). Results indicated a strong effect for race, with black females rating initial sessions more negatively than white females when seeing a white therapist. Black men, however, had a more positive response than white men to the initial session, regardless of the race of the therapist. Over time, these differences decreased. The results suggest not only that race and gender may contribute to differences in partners' perceptions of the same session, but also that these differences are not static.     

Blackmail is Against the Law Part Five: I Have a Waiting List!

This paper reports in detail on the fifth and final session of family therapy which began after both mother and 14-year-old daughter attempted suicide. The work of the previous sessions is reviewed and an attempt is made to delineate the changes which have occurred within the family and the means by which they have been achieved.     

Effects of differential reinforcement and rules with feedback on preference for choice and verbal reports

We evaluated the effects of differential reinforcement and accurate verbal rules with feedback on the preference for choice and the verbal reports of 6 adults. Participants earned points on a probabilistic schedule by completing the terminal links of a concurrent-chains arrangement in a computer-based game of chance. In free-choice terminal links, participants selected 3 numbers from an 8-number array; in restricted-choice terminal links participants selected the order of 3 numbers preselected by a computer program. A pop-up box then informed the participants if the numbers they selected or ordered matched or did not match numbers generated by the computer but not displayed; matching in a trial resulted in one point earned. In baseline sessions, schedules of reinforcement were equal across free- and restricted-choice arrangements and a running tally of points earned was shown each trial. The effects of differentially reinforcing restricted-choice selections were evaluated using a reversal design. For 4 participants, the effects of providing a running tally of points won by arrangement and verbal rules regarding the schedule of reinforcement were also evaluated using a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline-across-participants design. Results varied across participants but generally demonstrated that (a) preference for choice corresponded more closely to verbal reports of the odds of winning than to reinforcement schedules, (b) rules and feedback were correlated with more accurate verbal reports, and (c) preference for choice corresponded more highly to the relative number of reinforcements obtained across free- and restricted-choice arrangements in a session than to the obtained probability of reinforcement or to verbal reports of the odds of winning.