The Impact of the Within My Reach Relationship Training on Relationship Skills and Outcomes for Low‐Income Individuals

A federal grant was awarded to provide the Within My Reach healthy relationships curriculum to low‐income, at‐risk individuals involved with various social service agencies. The effectiveness of this curriculum was evaluated for 202 participants through measures of training and relationship outcomes pre‐, immediately post‐ and 6 months posttraining. Participants experienced high levels of training satisfaction; significant increases in knowledge, communication/conflict resolution skills, and relationship quality; as well as a trend in the reduction of relationship violence. An important implication of this research is that MFTs may broaden their service delivery to at‐risk individuals by collaborating with community agencies to adapt established relationship enhancement programs, evidence‐based tools, and principles that complement traditional couples therapy.     

新疆阿布达里人渊源考

本文根据国内外有关资料的记载和阿布达里人自己的传说对天山南部的阿布达里聚落进行了分析考证,指出阿布达里人的祖先是10世纪末11世纪初从中亚及西亚来的伊斯兰志愿者。     

Further Effects of Lottery Odds on Responding

Lotteries (i.e., probabilistic bonus contingencies) are an established intervention in Organizational Behavior Management. Although common, there are many permutations of lotteries used in literature and they are often combined with other interventions. One key variable that may influence the effectiveness of lotteries are the odds that the lottery will pay out to those who earn entry. The current investigation evaluated a lottery intervention with varied payout chances (25%, 12%, 6%, or 3%). A 6% chance of winning was the lowest odds of winning where responding was reliably maintained across two participants. Implications of these results and future direction for research are discussed below.     

Lay persons' emotional reactions toward an abused elderly person

This study examined lay persons' emotional reactions to abuse, with special attention to two types of disease: Alzheimer's disease and osteoporosis. A total of 169 adults (mean age = 60) were interviewed face-to-face using a vignette methodology. Although the majority of the participants found the vignette to describe a situation of abuse, one-quarter did not consider it an abusive situation. The person described in the vignette elicited more positive than negative emotions, with a high percentage of participants expressing sympathy, desire to help, and concern. The various emotional reactions to abuse are associated with different correlates.     

Mediation across generations: A tri-generational perspective

The meaning of mediation across generations was examined qualitatively in 20 grandparent–parent–grandchild triads.Parental mediation was the most dominant type of intergenerational mediation. However, evidence was found also regarding grandparent's and grandchild's mediation.The role of the mother as a mediator was recognized and accepted by all generations, although it was not always accepted happily by the mothers. Our results showed that grandparent's mediation is present in intact families, but mostly in cases of family crisis. Finally, grandchild's mediation emerged especially when the bond between the grandparent and the parent was weak or problematic.Findings of this study provide a first insight in examining intergenerational mediation from a tri-generational approach.     

Targeting Threats to the Therapeutic Alliance: A Primer for Marriage and Family Therapy Training

Although theory and research highlight the importance of the client–therapist relationship, marriage and family therapy (MFT) training has historically centered on specific models, consisting of proprietary language and techniques, instead of common factors like the therapeutic alliance. In this article, we begin by making an argument for explicitly focusing on the therapeutic alliance in MFT training programs. Next, we highlight common alliance threats experienced by both faculty members and student therapists. We then integrate research‐informed principles with clinical wisdom to outline specific recommendations and concrete skill‐building exercises for MFT educators and supervisors to use with their students to address these threats and advance training on the therapeutic alliance.