The role of empathy in training social work students in motivational interviewing

Motivational interviewing (MI), an evidence-based approach with empathy as a key principle, effectively addresses client concerns found in the child welfare population. Training social workers in MI, and to be empathic, would increase the likelihood of better service delivery. Live supervision (LS) is a form of training that provides real-time feedback by clinical supervisors. This randomized comparison trial compared the effectiveness of LS or Teaching as Usual (TAU) on empathy in 54 MSW and BSW social work students. TAU involved students receiving online modules and assigned readings. Data were collected at baseline, after the interventions, and at five months follow-up. Differences in perceived empathy and empathic behaviors were measured by the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) and Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ). The study also assessed whether demographic variables or perceived empathy (TEQ) predicted empathic behaviors (MITI). Results indicate that, while both groups improved on empathy as measured by the MITI and TEQ, the LS group demonstrated more improvement. Demographic variables had no impact on empathy. The TEQ and MITI also did not demonstrate predictability suggesting the complexity of measuring empathy. The implications for social work education and future training are discussed.     

Social Cognitive Predictors of the Career Goals of Korean American Students

Limited empirical study of the career development of Asian Americans in general and Korean Americans in particular has been conducted. The authors present the results of a theory‐based exploration of the career goals of Korean American university students in which ethnic identity, self‐efficacy, outcome expectations, and career interests were used to predict goal intentions for science and nonscience careers. Outcome expectations and career interests predicted a moderate amount of variance in science career goal intentions and a moderate to large amount of variance in nonscience career goal intentions. Korean American students' career goal development seems similar to that of American college students.     

Implications of Ethnic Identity Exploration and Ethnic Identity Affirmation and Belonging for Intergroup Attitudes Among Adolescents

The present paper develops and tests two temporal models of the relationships among adolescents' ethnic identity exploration, ethnic identity affirmation and belonging, and attitudes toward their racial/ethnic ingroup and outgroups. Structural equation models for Euro‐Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos revealed that all hypothesized relationships were positive and significant. The model in which ethnic identity exploration (at Time 1) predicts ethnic identity affirmation and belonging (at Time 2) was superior to the alternative model in which the relationship between them was reversed (i.e., affirmation and belonging at Time 1 predicts exploration at Time 2). Results (1) support the importance of exploration as a basis for establishing a secure attachment to one's ethnic identity, which, in turn, has positive implications for attitudes toward one's own group and other groups and (2) suggest that maintenance of ethnic identity is compatible with positive attitudes toward ethnic outgroups.     

Ecological research can augment restoration practice in urban areas degraded by invasive species—examples from Chicago Wilderness

Urban biodiversity conservation needs a firm scientific foundation, one that draws upon active and regionally calibrated research programs. Until recently this foundation has not existed. In this paper we examine the way in which the emerging discipline of restoration ecology in an urban context can learn from the experiences of ongoing restoration projects and in turn how novel insights from research of urban soils can help these projects define and reach their goals. Limitations on collaboration between academic researchers and practitioners continues be problematic. We discuss a model whereby this impediment may be removed. A case study of Rhamnus cathartica, an invader of Midwestern woodlands which modifies some important soil ecosystem properties will be used to illustrate the potential for engagement between research and practice.     

Active‐controlled,non‐inferiority trials in oncology: arbitrary limits,infeasible sample sizes and uninformative data analysis. Is there another way?

In oncology, it may not always be possible to evaluate the efficacy of new medicines in placebo-controlled trials. Furthermore, while some newer, biologically targeted anti-cancer treatments may be expected to deliver therapeutic benefit in terms of better tolerability or improved symptom control, they may not always be expected to provide increased efficacy relative to existing therapies. This naturally leads to the use of active-control, non-inferiority trials to evaluate such treatments. In recent evaluations of anti-cancer treatments, the non-inferiority margin has often been defined in terms of demonstrating that at least 50% of the active control effect has been retained by the new drug using methods such as those described by Rothmann et al., Statistics in Medicine 2003; 22:239-264 and Wang and Hung Controlled Clinical Trials 2003; 24:147-155. However, this approach can lead to prohibitively large clinical trials and results in a tendency to dichotomize trial outcome as either 'success' or 'failure' and thus oversimplifies interpretation. With relatively modest modification, these methods can be used to define a stepwise approach to design and analysis. In the first design step, the trial is sized to show indirectly that the new drug would have beaten placebo; in the second analysis step, the probability that the new drug is superior to placebo is assessed and, if sufficiently high in the third and final step, the relative efficacy of the new drug to control is assessed on a continuum of effect retention via an 'effect retention likelihood plot'. This stepwise approach is likely to provide a more complete assessment of relative efficacy so that the value of new treatments can be better judged.