Implementing a triangulation protocol in bereavement research: a methodological discussion

Triangulation is a comparative strategy for examining data that strengthens qualitative and multi-method research. Despite the benefits of triangulation noted in the research methods literature, few concrete models for operationalization of protocols exist. Lack of documentation of explicit triangulation procedures is especially true in the area of bereavement research. This article describes how an interdisciplinary research team implemented a triangulation protocol in a study of the needs of bereaved parents. Triangulation enabled the integration of diverse data sources, methods, and disciplinary perspectives. These processes yielded a more meaningful typology of bereaved parents' needs than would have otherwise been possible. Extending the use of triangulation will enhance multi-faceted understandings of bereavement.     

A Leadership Training Group for at Risk Fifth & Seventh Graders: Results from A Brief Strength-Based Group Program

ABSTRACT

An increasing number of youth are exhibiting social, emotional, and behavioral problems that hinder their ability to function at grade level. Subsequently, school mental health services have not been able to address the need for services particularly among students who are minority and poor. A mixed methodology study was conducted to determine the treatment outcomes from a brief strength-based leadership training group for primarily students who are African American and poor. Pre–post scores on three scales and focus group data revealed significant positive changes in regard to internal areas of functioning and social skills, anger management skills, and school attitude. Gender and age significantly impacted outcomes.     

The relationship between financial strain,perceived stress,psychological symptoms,and academic and social integration in undergraduate students

ABSTRACT

Objective: Financial strain may directly or indirectly (i.e., through perceived stress) impact students’ psychological symptoms and academic and social integration, yet few studies have tested these relationships. The authors explored the mediating effect of perceived stress on the relationship between financial strain and 2 important outcomes: psychological symptomology and academic and social integration. Participants: Participants were 157 undergraduate students. Data were collected from December 2013 to March 2014. Methods: Cross-sectional data collection conducted using online survey software. Results: It was found that perceived stress mediated the relationship between financial strain and (a) psychological symptomology and (b) academic and social integration. Both models included first-generation status as a covariate. Conclusions: Results suggest that perceived stress is an important intervention target for reducing psychological symptoms and improving academic and social integration for undergraduate students. Implications for university health centers and mental health professionals include incorporating a public health model to minimize stress risk.     

Improving body image and sexual health behaviors among college women

ABSTRACT

Objective: To conduct a pilot test to determine if the Body Project, an eating disorder prevention program, was able to reduce risky sexual behaviors. Participants: Twenty college-age women ages 18–21 (in March, 2015) who endorsed both body image dissatisfaction and previous or current sexual activity. Methods: Participants were randomized to the Body Project or psychoeducational control group, and completed baseline, post-test, and 6-month follow-up measures assessing body image concerns, eating behaviors, and sexual behaviors and attitudes. Results: An intervention manipulation check demonstrated that body image variables were in expected directions, though were not significant by group. There was a significant interaction across group and time for “unanticipated sexual encounters,” which decreased in the Body Project group. Conclusions: This pilot study supports the feasibility of using an eating disorder prevention program to reduce other risky behaviors, specifically risky sexual behaviors.     

“See Media”: Coco Fusco’s Direct Address and the Performance of In/Security

Abstract

A Room of One’s Own: Women and Power in the New America (2006–2008) is a multi-media performance art piece by visual artist Coco Fusco. In a lecture style performance staged at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) as part of their 2007 symposium The Feminist Future: Theory and Practice in the Visual Arts, Fusco explores the use of women in US military interrogation efforts during the height of the War on Terror and – problematic and violent as it may be – mounts a parallel attack against the art world itself. Although invited to speak, Fusco speaks (performs) out of turn – and out of sync in order to level a critique at the very establishment in which the symposium was held. In doing so, Fusco directs our attention towards the interwoven workings of power, surveillance, silence, and the making and the performances of particular kinds of citizen/subjects/enemy combatants/art objects/interrogators/artists. This article seeks to address how visual culture and US military security discourses are inextricably linked through interwoven histories and unsettling relationships between race and national security, national security and feminism, as well as race and feminism.     

Utilization of Advice from Face-to-Face and Internet-Mediated Advisors

Advice is increasingly sought and shared online, but advisory professionals debate the utility of such methods. Variations in recipients' perceptions of elements of traditional face-to-face (FTF) advice and Internet-mediated (IM) advice may influence its utilization. The present research investigated whether communication format (FTF vs. IM) and an advisor's level of expertise influence perceptions and utilization of advice. Participants played 30 rounds of a prisoner's dilemma game after receiving advice about the best strategy. There was a significant tendency for advice to be followed, but the advice format and advisor expertise had no significant influence on advice utilization and only minor influences on self-reported perceptions of the advice and the advisor. This has worrying implications, and could indicate a lack of critical awareness of advisors' expertise when deciding whether to follow advice or not. Implications for the professional advice field and further research possibilities are discussed.     

Parental Speech at 6 Months Predicts Joint Attention at 12 Months

In a prospective longitudinal study of a representative community sample (N = 264), mothers' references to infants' mental states were coded during a topic‐sharing task in the home at 6 months. Joint attention behaviour was assessed in the laboratory at 12 months. Individual joint attention skills (gaze following, gaze alternating, and declarative pointing) were significantly inter‐correlated, with a single factor accounting for 68% of the variance. Mothers' references to infants' mental states at 6 months predicted infants' joint attention at 12 months. The association was not explained by sociodemographic characteristics of the family, the mother's mental state, or by the quantity or acoustic properties of her speech. However, variability in pitch of maternal speech was an independent predictor of the infants' later joint attention skills. Taken together, these findings suggest that mothers' infant‐directed speech fosters infants' attentive participation in topic‐sharing interactions, which in turn provide an important arena in which joint attention skills develop over the first year of life.     

Infants' Transitions out of a Fussing/Crying State Are Modifiable and Are Related to Weight Status

Currently, about 10% of infants have a weight for length greater than the 95th percentile for their age and sex, which puts them at risk for obesity as they grow. In a pilot obesity prevention study, primiparous mothers and their newborn infants were randomly assigned to a control group or a Soothe/Sleep intervention. Previously, it has been demonstrated that this intervention contributed to lower weight‐for‐length percentiles at 1 year; the aim of the present study was to examine infant behavior diary data collected during the intervention. Markov modeling was used to characterize infants' patterns of behavioral transitions at ages 3 and 16 weeks. Results showed that heavier mothers were more likely to follow their infants' fussing/crying episodes with a feeding. The intervention increased infants' likelihood of transitioning from a fussing/crying state to an awake/calm state. A shorter latency to feed in response to fussing/crying was associated with a higher subsequent weight status. This study provides preliminary evidence that infants' transitions out of fussing/crying are characterized by inter‐individual differences, are modifiable, and are linked to weight outcomes, suggesting that they may be promising targets for early behavioral obesity interventions, and highlighting the methodology used in this study as an appropriate and innovative tool to assess the impact of such interventions.