An Evaluation of Simulations in Developmental Disabilities (SIDD): Instructional Software that Provides Practice in Behavioral Assessment and Treatment Decisions

ABSTRACT

Simulations in Developmental Disabilities (SIDD) is a multimedia computer program designed to provide undergraduate psychology students with practice in making assessment and treatment decisions. Eighteen undergraduate psychology students participated in an experiment to test the instructional effectiveness of SIDD. Post-test scores were significantly higher in the experimental group who received training with SIDD than in a control group who did not receive training. The students also rated the software positively. Future strategies to further evaluate the software are discussed.     

A Qualitative Analysis of College Women's Leaving Processes in Abusive Relationships

Abstract

Objective: This study assessed the process of leaving an abusive dating relationship utilizing a qualitative design. Methods: Participants included 123 college women in abusive dating relationships who participated at the beginning and end of a 10-week academic quarter. Results: Qualitative content analyses were used to analyze the transcribed responses to an open-ended question about women's leaving processes over the interim period. A variety of categories and themes emerged for women in different stages of the leaving process, consistent with the Transtheoretical Model of Change and Investment Model. Data also underscored women's lack of acknowledgment, minimization, and normalization of abuse. Conclusions: These data demonstrate the importance of dating violence intervention and prevention programming on college campuses and offer information that may be useful to college health providers who assist women in abusive dating relationships.     

Comparison of causal effect estimators under exposure misclassification

Over the past decades, various principles for causal effect estimation have been proposed, all differing in terms of how they adjust for measured confounders: either via traditional regression adjustment, by adjusting for the expected exposure given those confounders (e.g., the propensity score), or by inversely weighting each subject's data by the likelihood of the observed exposure, given those confounders. When the exposure is measured with error, this raises the question whether these different estimation strategies might be differently affected and whether one of them is to be preferred for that reason. In this article, we investigate this by comparing inverse probability of treatment weighted (IPTW) estimators and doubly robust estimators for the exposure effect in linear marginal structural mean models (MSM) with G-estimators, propensity score (PS) adjusted estimators and ordinary least squares (OLS) estimators for the exposure effect in linear regression models. We find analytically that these estimators are equally affected when exposure misclassification is independent of the confounders, but not otherwise. Simulation studies reveal similar results for time-varying exposures and when the model of interest includes a logistic link.     

Austin Turk,stratification reinforcers and reversals,and traffic ticket decisions by Boston police during April and May of 2001

Austin Turk theorizes that places in stratification hierarchies affect police–citizen encounters by reinforcing or reversing the positional authority of police officers. To this point, however, there have been only three direct tests of the stratification portions of Turk's theory. Two examined overt conflict and all represented Turk's concepts using aggregated measures. The results are mixed. The present research adds a fourth test to the stratification and policing literatures by examining the effects of aggregated as well as disaggregated measures of stratification reinforcers and reversals on traffic ticket decisions by Boston police officers during April and May of 2001. Net of important control measures, there is no support for Turk's theory using the aggregated stratification measures employed in previous research. However, support for Turk's theory is clearly visible when viewed through the lens of some of the disaggregated stratification measures advanced for the first time in present research. We conclude that more research is needed to determine whether stratification reinforcers and reversals are among the factors affecting people in police blue and the people they police, with a sustained focus on both aggregated and disaggregated measures.     

Narratives of Low-Income Mothers in Addiction Recovery Centers: Motherhood and the Treatment Experience

ABSTRACT

This study examines the narratives shared by low-income women in addiction recovery centers about the meaning they attach to being a parent in recovery and how they view current program models that include children in daily treatment. Their stories reflect the centrality of the mothering role to women in recovery and offer insights that can guide treatment and program planning with families.     

Standards of Care for the Treatment of Adult Sex Offenders

Summary

A proposed version of these standards was first produced and published in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation through input from professional meetings (Coleman and Dwyer, 1990). Since that time, The Standards of Care were reviewed and revised by a group of professionals and unanimously endorsed by voice vote by the participants in the Third International Congress on the Treatment of Sex Offenders held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 20–22, 1994. These Standards were again published in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation (Coleman, Dwyer, Abel, Berner, Breiling, Hindman, Honey-Knopp, Langevin, and Pfäfflin, 1996). Those Standards have been subsequently reviewed by the current authors at the Fifth International Conference on the Treatment of Sex Offenders held in Caracas, Venezuela, March 22–27, 1998 and minor modifications and changes were incorporated into this version. The authors invite feedback from readers. Further revisions are anticipated and will be reviewed by current committee members and at future International Conferences on the Treatment of Sexual Offenders.     

Religiosity as a Predictor of Successful Post-Treatment Abstinence for African-American Clients

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of religiosity as a predictor of post-treatment abstinence. A sample of 96 African-American clients receiving community-based outpatient alcoholism treatment were interviewed at treatment entry and three months later. Achieving complete abstinence was predicted from client gender and 17 other predictors, including 6 substance-related factors, 7 psychosocial and health variables, and 4 religiosity/spirituality measures. Bivariate analyses showed that abstainers drank less prior to treatment, had more prior formal treatment and AA involvement, practiced their religion more regularly, and scored higher on measures of both spirituality and extrinsic religiosity. In addition, women were more likely to achieve abstinence. Forward entry binary logistic regression revealed that, controlling for client gender and pre-treatment consumption, only regular practice of one's religion/faith significantly predicted abstinence. Recommendations include (1) the need for research to evaluate if the current findings can be generalized across race/ethnicity and religious affiliation and (2) directing more attention to clients' religiosity in alcoholism treatment.     

Theoretical Factors Influencing Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Evidence from a Rural Sample Living in Poverty

ABSTRACT

This study of 414 adolescents who resided in rural Arkansas families receiving AFDC was designed to investigate what theoretical factors predicted frequency of sexual intercourse in the past year prior to the study and number of lifetime sexual partners among males and females. Multivariate analyses indicated that elements of bonding were important to the sexual behavior of females, but not males. On the other hand, feelings of frustration influenced male sexual behavior only. The number of sex partners was increased by associations with sexually active peers for both genders while only females made excuses. The only factor which was associated with both sexual behaviors among both genders was having sex to have a baby to love or to draw a partner closer. The family social work implications of these findings were discussed.     

Victim's Response Cycle: A Model for Understanding the Incestuous Victim-Offender Relationship

ABSTRACT

The victim-response cycle is a theoretical and clinical model that can be utilized to assist victims in their healing from the trauma of sexual abuse. This model focuses on the specific aspects of the relationship that victims have with their offenders, particularly in incest cases, which contribute to the degree of trauma that victims experience. This relationship can also become the model for other relationships as the victim matures, and the victim-response cycle can be used to assist these adult survivors in understanding their difficulties with adult intimate relationships. This model addresses aspects of attachment and learned coping responses to assist clinicians in treating symptomatic behavior. While severe trauma is rarely treatable with a short-term approach, this model can assist in providing clients and clinicians with tools for symptomatic relief, which may be achievable in a short-term setting. This model has not been examined empirically, but it has been utilized in several outpatient practices in the Midwest with positive clinical results. A case example demonstrating the use of this model is also presented.     

Assessing the Long-Term Effects of EMDR: Results from an 18-Month Follow-Up Study with Adult Female Survivors of CSA

ABSTRACT

This 18-month follow-up study builds on the findings of a randomized experimental evaluation that found qualified support for the short-term effectiveness of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in reducing trauma symptoms among adult female survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The current study provides preliminary evidence that the therapeutic benefits of EMDR for adult female survivors of CSA can be maintained over an 18-month period. Furthermore, there is some support for the suggestion that EMDR did so more efficiently and provided a greater sense of trauma resolution than did routine individual therapy.