Reactions to a partner-assisted emotional disclosure intervention: direct observation and self-report of patient and partner communication

Partner-assisted emotional disclosure is a couple-based intervention designed to help patients disclose cancer-related concerns to their spouses-partners. We previously found that, compared with an education/support control condition, partner-assisted emotional disclosure led to significant improvements in relationship quality and intimacy for couples in which the patient initially reported holding back from discussing cancer-related concerns (Porter et al., 2009, Cancer, 115, 4326-4338). The purpose of this study was to examine the process data from couples who participated in the disclosure sessions including (a) observational ratings of couples' communication during the sessions; (b) couples' ratings of their communication during the sessions; and (c) associations between participants' observed communication and their baseline psychological/relationship functioning. As rated by trained observers, couples' communication was in the moderate range of adaptive skills. Self-report data indicated that participants had positive perceptions of their communication. Observational and self-report ratings were weakly associated. Patients reporting lower levels of relationship quality, higher levels of holding back, and higher partner avoidance at baseline were rated by observers as more expressive during the sessions. Overall, these findings suggest that the intervention was acceptable to couples and was particularly helpful for patients who had difficulty talking with their partners on their own without skills training.     

Measuring Attitudes Toward Empirically Supported Treatment in Real-World Addiction Services

Mental health workers with favorable attitudes toward empirically supported treatments (ESTs) are more likely to break through implementation barriers. The Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale has been shown to be reliable for mental health workers, but it has not been validated with addiction workers. This study investigates the use of the scale with a convenience sample of addiction workers from 4 agencies in 1 city. Results show that compared to mental health providers, addiction workers were more likely to view ESTs favorably if they were mandated and intuitively appealing. They also tended to rely more heavily on practical experience in forming attitudes toward treatment options. These results might help addiction agencies understand which types of workers are more likely to implement ESTs and inform effective engagement approaches specific to addiction workers.     

Social network analysis for assessing college-aged adults' health: A systematic review

Objective: Social network analysis (SNA) is a useful, emerging method for studying health. College students are especially prone to social influence when it comes to health. This review aimed to identify network variables related to college student health and determine how SNA was used in the literature. Participants: A systematic review of relevant literature was conducted in October 2015. Methods: Studies employing egocentric or whole network analysis to study college student health were included. We used Garrard's Matrix Method to extract data from reviewed articles (n = 15). Results: Drinking, smoking, aggression, homesickness, and stress were predicted by network variables in the reviewed literature. Methodological inconsistencies concerning boundary specification, data collection, nomination limits, and statistical analyses were revealed across studies. Conclusions: Results show the consistent relationship between network variables and college health outcomes, justifying further use of SNA to research college health. Suggestions and considerations for future use of SNA are provided.     

The Burden of Sexual Problems: Perceived Effects on Men’s and Women’s Sexual Partners

Sexual dysfunction sometimes negatively affects the individual, his or her partner, and the relationship. We investigated the relationship between the distress experienced by men and women with orgasmic phase difficulties and the perceived distress of their partner(s). We also identified predictors of perceived partner distress, and related self and partner distress to severity of the problem and relationship quality. Data were drawn from 374 men with premature ejaculation (PE) and 377 women with anorgasmia who responded to a survey regarding their sexual functioning, including their distress about their condition and the perceived distress of their partners. Results yielded an overall distress score consisting of combined self and perceived partners distress, with women showing a higher overall score and higher perceived partner distress than men. For men, significant predictors of perceived partner distress included self-distress, relationship quality, interest in sex, and arousal difficulty; for women, only the level of self-distress significantly predicted perceived partner distress. These findings indicate the burden of experiencing sexual difficulty, identify factors related to perceived partner distress, and demonstrate differences in self versus partner distress across men and women. Overall, such findings reiterate the strong need for the inclusion of the partner in any attempted remediation of a sexual problem.     

The Black catalyst to tweet: the role of discrimination experience,group identification,and racial agency in Black Americans’ instrumental use of Twitter

The strong presence of Blacks on Twitter has attracted scholarly attention, but few empirical studies have provided a clear, theory-driven answer to the question of how Blacks use Twitter. Drawing on the uses and gratifications framework and the rejection-identification model, we examined how discrimination experience, group identification, and racial agency influence Black Americans’ instrumental use of Twitter. An online survey conducted with a national adult sample of 323 Black American Twitter users showed that the experience of discrimination in everyday settings indirectly predicted three types of instrumental use of Twitter (information seeking, opinion expression, and social networking) through serial mediation of group identification and racial agency. The direct effects of discrimination experience on the three types of instrumental use were not significant, nor were the indirect effects of discrimination experience on instrumental use only through group identification and only through racial agency. These results indicate that Black Americans’ goal-driven, purposeful use of Twitter may be understood as a form of problem-focused coping with discrimination experience. The current findings also suggest that Black users’ identification with their racial group and desire to make a positive difference in the Black community constitute a pivotal mechanism underlying their instrumental use of Twitter.     

Connecting the young and the young at heart: an intergenerational music program

Due to its universal appeal, music can bridge intergenerational gaps and improve overall quality of life. Many intergenerational programs have thus increasingly incorporated music into their design; however, the Hamilton Intergenerational Music Program (HIMP) is unique in that it focuses on general music participation as opposed to singing-only programming. Three elementary schools and long-term care homes were contacted and matched based on proximity to one another. Program facilitators ran four successive weeks of intergenerational music sessions. Activities included training the children how to interact with elderly participants, facilitating conversation with icebreakers, and performing music together. Qualitative feedback was gathered after each visit and comprised of observations from program facilitators and participants. Several benefits were observed following program visits such as the reduction of age-related stereotypes, improved participant morale, enhanced cognitive function, and development of meaningful relationships. While leaving the sessions, children recall positive interactions with the seniors, lament that their time together ended too quickly, and express excitement for the next session. The older adults articulate similar sentiments and ask children to return soon. With the countless lessons learned from the current program, much can be drawn to inform future expansion and implementation to other communities.     

Institutional Predictors of and Complements to Industry Self‐regulation with Regard to Labor Practices

In recent years, there has been increasing managerial and academic attention given to a variety of mechanisms for companies to respond to stakeholder concerns about global business ethics. One area that merits further analysis is the role of industry‐level cooperation regarding issues in global business ethics such as labor practices. There are two main issues that we will address in this article: institutional pressures that predict when an industry will create a code of conduct and institutional complements for an industry‐level code of conduct to be “successful” with regard to responding to stakeholder concerns about international business operations. We offer a number of propositions—bringing together work from both the corporate social responsibility and (neo)institutional theory literatures—with regard to both predictors and complements of industry self‐regulation in reference to labor practices.