Cognitive-behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: review of treatment techniques

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic, impairing condition with an estimated lifetime prevalence in adults of 2.5%. Controlled treatment trials have demonstrated that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective intervention for OCD. However, many individuals diagnosed with OCD do not receive appropriate, empirically validated interventions, perhaps due to limited knowledge of CBT among mental health practitioners. This article provides a review of CBT for OCD. Issues related to treatment delivery and assessment are presented and highlighted by an individual example.     

Undergraduate Women in Science and Engineering: Effects of Faculty,Fields, and Institutions Over Time*

Objective. Taking an institutional approach to the determinants of outcomes for women in science and engineering, we examine the effects on women's percentages among undergraduate majors and among degree recipients of four basic factors: (1) the percentage of faculty who are women in the students' major science/engineering area; (2) the students' disciplines (biology, physical sciences, and engineering); (3) the type of institution in which students are enrolled (“Research I” vs. others); and (4) a time trend (1984–2000). Method. We use longitudinal, multivariate, and multi‐institutional data from the Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS) and from a mail survey of registrars. Results. Over the observation period, the women's percentages have risen steadily. The effects of disciplines and departments are stronger than those of institutions. Especially notable is that the percentages of women among undergraduate science/engineering majors and degree recipients are associated with the percentages of women among the faculty in these fields. Conclusion. The findings contribute empirically to the discussion about the effects of “role models” for the participation and performance of women in science and engineering—and point to the strong effects of departments, compared to institutions, in accounting for degrees awarded to undergraduate women.     

A Risk Assessment Method for Biological Introductions

This article describes an application of a method for assessing risks associated with the introduction of an organism into a new environment. The test organism was a binucleate Rhizoctonia fungal isolate that has potential for commercial development as a biological control agent for damping-off diseases in bedding plants. A test sample of host plant species was selected using the centrifugal phylogenetic host range principles, but with an emphasis on economic species. The effect of the fungus on the plant was measured for each species and expressed on a logarithmic scale. The effects on weights of shoots and roots per container were not normally distributed, nor were the effects on the number of plants standing (those which survived). Statements about the effect on the number standing and the shoot weight per container involved using the observed (empirical) distribution. This is illustrated with an example. Problems were encountered in defining the population of species at risk, and in deciding how this population should be formally sampled. The limitations of the method are discussed.     

Discharge planning with pathological gamblers: An ongoing process

Criteria for a diagnosis of pathological gambling include gambling related disruption or damage in legal, financial, family, vocational and personal areas. Therefore, discharge planning with a pathological gambler is much more than a placement problem at the end of an inpatient treatment stay. In fact, discharge planning incorporates and continues a holistic treatment approach at the Cleveland Veterans Administration Medical Center, Brecksville Gambling Treatment Program. This paper discusses all areas of the gambler's life which have been disrupted and need to be considered when working on a discharge and recovery plan.     

Examining individual‐level academic risk and protective factors for foster youth: School engagement,behaviors, self‐esteem,and social skills

Students' school engagement is widely regarded as critical for positive school adjustment and overall academic success. Foster youth persistently face poorer educational outcomes than peers and demonstrate lower levels of school engagement and higher levels of academically threatening behaviors. The goals of the present study were (a) to explore relationships amongst various child‐level correlates of school engagement and problem behaviors—namely, self‐esteem and social skills—and (b) to respectively investigate the protective potential of self‐esteem and social skills in the association between school engagement and behavior problems that threaten educational trajectories. Results indicate significant associations between school engagement and problem behaviors, as well as between self‐esteem, social skills, and school engagement. Further, self‐esteem mediated the association between school engagement and both youth‐ and foster parent‐reported externalizing behavior, and social skills mediated the association between school engagement and both youth‐ and foster parent‐reported externalizing behavior. Implications for future practice, research, and policy are discussed.     

Societal development and the shifting influence of the genome on status attainment

This paper builds on consensus areas within the study of societal development to theorize variation in the strength of genetic influence on status across primary societal types. Its thesis is developed by first constructing a general model of the genome → status relationship positing the strength of genetic influence on status attainment to be a function of specific structural elements of the society. The model is supported by two primary premises: (a) as inequality levels increase, the characteristics and abilities intrinsically useful in status attainment are increasingly influenced by individuals’ social backgrounds and decreasingly determined by their genomes; (b) as social closure and inequality increase, the utility of these characteristics and abilities to status attainment is diminished. After the model is elaborated, it is applied to assess the relative strength of genome → status relationship for each of the major phases of societal development. The results indicate that genetic influence on status attainment has followed a reverse ‘J’ curve, with the genome → status relationship being relatively strong among hunter-gatherers, sharply declining among horticultural and agrarian groups, and then moderately increasing among advanced industrial societies.     

The construction and psychometric properties of an instrument measuring support for sexual rights

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an attempt to construct and examine the psychometric properties of an instrument that measures support for the 11 sexual rights formulated by the World Association of Sexology. Since international conferences held in the mid-1990s, a new approach to sexual issues has been promoted by health professionals, sex educators, and human rights advocates. This approach emphasizes the empowerment of individuals and examines sexual health concerns within a human rights framework. Goals of a sexual rights approach have been to promote awareness and advocacy of sexual issues and especially to facilitate the work toward better sex education and sexual health services. Analysis of reliability and validity data from two university samples (n = 388 and n = 175) indicated that the majority of the sexual rights scales have acceptable psychometric properties. This paper concludes with a discussion of ways to improve the scales for future use and the need to validate the scales using samples that allow generalizability of findings.     

Improving the Writing Skills of Social Work Students

This article discusses the declining ability of social work students to write proficiently and offers a brief historical review of different approaches to the writing problems of American students. It describes the development of a writing assistance program at a graduate school and the program’s outcomes after its initial year. Using a global writing assessment, the authors found that 1/3 of entering MSW students had inadequate writing skills, and only 57% of these took advantage of the writing assistance offered.     

Deterministic models for premature and postponed replacement

We examine the possibilities of premature and postponed replacement in a deterministic infinite horizon model when there is technological progress. Both revenue and operating cost deteriorate with age, but at different rates. The optimal deterministic replacement time is an implicit solution from the timing boundary obtained for the equivalent real option model using a dynamic programming framework, and then by setting the underlying volatilities equal to zero. A step change improvement characterizing technological progress in the initial operating cost level for the successor occurring during the economic lifetime of the incumbent justifies premature replacement, compared to the traditional present value approach. This finding can be extended to step change improvements in the initial revenue level for the successor and for the re-investment cost. In contrast, if the technological progress can be characterized by a constant declining rate for the initial operating cost level for the successor, then the replacement is postponed for certain parameter values. This finding can be extended to different assumed improvement rates in the initial revenue level for the successor and for the re-investment cost.