A Brief Report on the Ethical and Legal Guides For Technology Use in Marriage and Family Therapy

Marriage and family therapists (MFTs) use ethical codes and state licensure laws/rules as guidelines for best clinical practice. It is important that professional codes reflect the potential exponential use of technology in therapy. However, current standards regarding technology use lack clarity. To explore this gap, a summative content analysis was conducted on state licensure laws/rules and professional ethical codes to find themes and subthemes among the many aspects of therapy in which technology can be utilized. Findings from the content analysis indicated that while there have been efforts by both state and professional organizations to incorporate guidance for technology use in therapy, a clear and comprehensive “roadmap” is still missing. Future scholarship is needed that develops clearer guidelines for therapists.     

Consistency, dummy and independence of irrelevant strategies for strategic games

The relationships between the consistency (CONS) principle and two other axioms, dummy (DUM) and independence of irrelevant strategies (IIS) for solution concepts on families of strategic form games are studied. If a solution satisfies DUM and IIS, then it also satisfies CONS (Peleg and Tijs 1996). The converse of this proposition is not true: CONS implies neither DUM nor IIS as shown in two simple examples, using the concept of coalition-proof Nash equilibrium. The axiom of weak dummy (WDUM) is introduced. WDUM, along with IIS, implies CONS. Moreover, CONS implies WDUM. Received: 13 August 1998/Accepted: 19 January 1999     

A Study of Suicide Risk Using a Cox Cure Model via a Retrospective Sampling and Multiple Imputation

The incidence of suicide is an example of rare event. A Cox cure model is adopted to examine the suicide risk of a cohort study of a sample of 65,000 Personal Emergency Link users over a 10-year observation period. Our objective is to investigate the effect of personal covariates on the failure time to suicide as well as the long-term survival from suicide. Based on the Cox cure model, a new and efficient estimation approach using retrospective sampling and multiple imputation was used. Compared with the standard Cox proportional hazards model, the Cox cure model provides a new perspective on analyzing the suicide data.     

Alternative beta estimation for the market model using partially adaptive techniques

The leptokurtosls of many security market return distributions can contaminate ordinary least squares estimates of the β coefficient of the market model. Partially adaptive estimation techniques accommodate the possibility of fat tailed distributions. this methodology limits the influence of extremely large residuals and yields estimates which are both statistically and practically different from ordinary least squares.     

Health Behavior Change and the College Personal Health Class: A Multifaceted Approach

Abstract

Both the literature review and the results of a behavioral change project conducted at the University of Oregon indicate that health courses can bring about positive lifestyle changes when behavior is made a focus of the class. A multi-faceted behavioral intervention strategy was developed and used with 433 students enrolled in personal health classes during the fall term, 1983. At the end of the term, 23% of the students reported they were 100% successful in obtaining their desired behavioral changes. Another 40% reported they had just missed their goal. Overall, it appears the intervention was highly successful. More research is needed to validate the approach.     

Improved Confidence Statements for the Binomial Parameter

In the computation of two-sided confidence intervals for the binomial parameter p (using the binomial mass function), it is known that such intervals achieve a confidence coefficient that in general is not equal to the confidence level 1 – α, say. In this article we present some general results on the confidence coefficient and tabulate them for selected pairs (α, n = number of trials). We treat only the nominal equal tail probability case because it is the most commonly taught and used.     

Social Support and Career Optimism: Examining the Effectiveness of Network Groups Among Black Managers

As companies look for better ways to managediversity, one of the approaches that is emerging is theuse of female and minoritynetwork groups. These groupsare not well understood, and there has been no quantitative analysis of their impact onminority employees. Social network theory suggests thatnetwork groups should enhance the social resourcesavailable to women and minorities and in that wayenhance their chance of career success, but somecritics of network groups suggest that backlash mightproduce greater social isolation and discrimination. Inthis paper, we analyze a survey of members of theNational Black MBA Association to find out whethernetwork groups have a positive impact on careeroptimism, what specific effects of these groups are mostbeneficial, and whether groups enhance isolation ordiscrimination. Results indicate that network groups have apositive overall impact on career optimism of Blackmanagers, and that this occurs primarily via enhancedmentoring. Network groups have no effect ondiscrimination, either positive or negative. There are someindications of greater isolation, but also someindications of greater contact with Whites.     

A Community Response to Tragedy: Individualized Services for Families

The murder of a 13-year-old young woman mobilized one community to initiate a wraparound service model for their most hard-to-reach families. These families struggled with parental substance abuse, youth at high risk, and associated complex needs cutting across existing categorical programs. The strength and empowerment based program, in which interventions were designed specific to each family, presented challenges in evaluating outcomes with traditional standardized instruments. This paper describes the project, its outcomes for families and youth, and the evaluation design that evolved to measure outcomes in a strength-based program with no uniform intervention.     

On Weighing Gains and Investments at the Margin of Risk Regulation

Analysts have long noted an apparent discrepancy in the level of investment seemingly necessary to meet "acceptable" levels of public safety. At the margin of risk regulation, i.e., where safety determination is judged acceptable, the traditional cost-benefit calculus appears to contribute obvious rationale to the final political decision. Efforts are now being made to introduce a measure of consistency into the application of risk-cost benefit analysis to radiological protection. This paper reviews these efforts from a UK perspective. It also looks at how the issue was treated in a public setting through the Sizewell B Public Inquiry.