Effects of sleep inertia on cognitive performance following a 1-hour nap

This study investigated the effects of a 1-h nap on subsequent performance in spatial memory (SM) and logical reasoning (LR) tasks. The objective was to evaluate the duration of the effects of sleep inertia (SI). The performance was measured in two independent groups of subjects. The 1-h nap took place at 00:00 h in group 1 and at 03:00 h in group 2. In each task, the experimental design comprised one no-nap condition in which subjects had no sleep before the night tests, and a nap condition that comprised the 1-h nap followed by the test sessions. To measure the duration of SI effects, the subjects were tested in two 30-min sessions and the data in each session were analysed in sub-units of time of 3 min each. In each task the results showed no effects on accuracy, and no circadian effects of napping were found. In each task, analyses of pooled data of the two groups showed that the performance in the 1-h nap condition exhibited significant reductions of speed immediately following awakening, when compared with no-nap, reflecting SI effects. In SM, the slowing lasted 24 min, and 27 min in LR. Practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Intracultural and Intercultural Dialogue in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

This paper explores some of the history of psychoanalysis as it has been influenced by and has influenced the cultures in which it exists. There was a time when the profession was almost antagonistic to considering that which lay outside of the intrapsychic. Partly in response to a sense of crisis, today it is busy incorporating a 'fourth leg into its training programs: the sociocultural surround. Those who would bring about these modifications are moving from an individualist model toward one in which self is the product of relationships, that is, toward a universal model.     

Brief Communications Analysis of a Casino's Self-Exclusion Program

As gambling facilities become more available, the number of pathological gamblers increases. Effective therapeutic and preventive interventions should be developed and systematically evaluated. Self-exclusion programs may be a useful means to facilitate self-control among problem gamblers. This paper describes the characteristics of individuals who decided to bar themselves from a Canadian casino. Two hundred twenty individuals participated in the present study and completed a questionnaire including four sections: (1) socio-demographic data, (2) the South Oaks Gambling Screen, (3) gambling habits, and (4) prior experiences with the self-exclusion program. According to the SOGS, 95% of the participants were classified as severe pathological gamblers on the SOGS (Mean score = 9.87). Furthermore, based on self-reported observation, 30% of the participants completely stopped gambling once enrolled in this program. No one scored within the interval of non-problem gamblers. Suggestions to improve self-exclusion programs are discussed.     

Psychotropic medication management for youth in state care: consent, oversight, and policy considerations

The use of psychotropic medications in youth with emotional disturbances in state custody is increasing and presents unique challenges concerning consent and oversight. We examine various means that state child welfare agencies use to provide consent for and oversight of psychotropic medications for children in state custody and describe benefits of a consent process that provides for expert consultation to the child welfare agency and prescribing clinicians, case-specific and systemic oversight of psychotropic medication use, and education for stakeholders.     

The Government–Third Sector Interface in Québec

In this paper, the authors analyze different forms of interface between the government and third sector organizations in Québec. In order to do so, they studied relationships in eight different fields of activity: homeless youth services, housing for intellectually deficient people, support organizations for natural caregivers, community leisure centers, community housing for the elderly, daycare centers, social economy organizations for domestic assistance, and services specializing in employment for handicapped people. Following a review of international literature on the relationship between the government and the third sector, the paper analyzes these relationships on the basis of the typology developed by Jennifer M. Coston, which is adapted to the Québécois context. In the eight activity sectors studied, the authors found the presence of four different types of interface between the government and the third sector: “subcontracting,” “coexistence,” “supplementarity,” and “co-construction” relationships.

Cross-state variation in conceptions of quality of nursing facility long-term care for the elderly

We address two issues in this exploratory study. First, to what degree do variables prominent in explaining cross-state variation in the generosity of other public assistance programs also help to explain the resources states devote to nursing facility long-term care for the elderly, a service supported largely by states' Medicaid programs? Second, to what degree do the resources that states commit to this purpose influence the quality of state nursing facility processes and, in turn, translate into state nursing facility residents' quality-of-life outcomes? We find unusual features to the pattern of factors explaining state resource levels. We also find surprises in relations among the three aspects of quality, but overall, raising resource adequacy improves nursing facility process quality, which, in turn, bolsters nursing facility residents' quality-of-life outcomes. We close with suggestions for further improvement.     

Exercise behavior in older adults: a test of the transtheoretical model

The transtheoretical model (TTM) was developed as a guide for understanding behavior change. Little attention has been given, however, to the appropriateness of the TTM for explaining the adoption of exercise behavior in older adults. The purposes of this study were to determine the reliability of the TTM instruments and validate TTM predictions in 86 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 75.1 +/- 7.0 years, 87% women) who were participants in a 16-week walking program. TTM construct scales--self-efficacy, decisional balance (pros and cons), and processes of change (behavioral and cognitive)--were generally reliable (all>.78). Behavioral processes of change increased from baseline to follow-up, but pros, cons, and cognitive processes did not change among participants who became regular exercisers. Stage of change did not predict exercise adoption, but baseline self-efficacy predicted walking behavior. These results lend partial support to the TTM in predicting exercise behavior.     

Refusing to make sense: mapping the in-coherences of 'trans'

This article moves from the premise that 'lesbian' is a gendered embodiment marked and put in flux by century-long sexual politics and semiotics and asks how do we begin to map not only its own terrain but the incoherence generated by its intersections with transsexuality/transgender? The author suggests that it is precisely the power of Trans to not make sense that provides it with its most provocative power to disrupt and displace epistemological regimes and asks that we shift our attention from what we teach in Lesbian-Trans Studies to how we teach these studies. The article concludes by suggesting that it is in surprising our students with the failure to 'know' that we can reveal how knowledge is really a regime of received ideas, ideologies, prejudices and opinions, a way of not knowing that one does not know.     

Women in the driver's seat: Trends in sex differences in driving and death

The social meanings associated with the control of automobiles, involving among other things power, prestige, and independence, have led to driving being defined traditionally as within the masculine purview. One consequence of changing sex roles has been women's gradual usurpation of this formerly male prerogative. The proportion of women licensed to drive has increased markedly, a difference especially pronounced among the younger age groups. Male drivers log more miles than female drivers, and male accident rates have traditionally been higher than female rates. However, controlling for exposure to risk, the sex difference in accident rates has declined, and female mortality from traffic accidents has increased markedly. The possibility of sex differences in driving style is discussed. If driver-education programs and other attempts at intervention are to be effective, then it is important to become cognizant of women, especially young women, as a new population-at-risk, and to modify efforts so as to reach this new target group.Women in the Driver's Seat is part of a larger study of sex roles: Dying To Be Equal: Accelerating Trends in Female Mortality, coauthored with Ellen Gee, in preparation. A preliminary version was presented to the Society for the Study of Social Problems at their annual meeting in New York City, August, 1980.