Privacy and behavioral research.

There is a "conflict of… scientific research with the right… of private personality." Traditional methods of behavioral research may, on occasion, involve a violation of the individual claim to private personality. 2 central ethical issues are the degree of individual consent that exists and the degree of confidentiality that is maintained. Whenever possible, "both consent and anonymity should be sought in behavioral research." 7 principles are suggested for inclusion in a general code of ethics for behavioral research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The science game: An introduction to research in the behavioral sciences.

Reviews the book, The science game: An introduction to research in the behavioral sciences by Neil Mck. Agnew and Sandra W. Pyke (see record 2007-07794-000). This book is an attempt to introduce a student or beginning researcher to the concepts and methods associated with doing good research in the behavioural sciences. The book is divided into six major parts, dealing in turn with the nature of science and observation; experimental methods; survey, archival and developmental methods; statistics; report writing and ethics; and theory building. The book is well produced and well organized. Specific exemplars of topics under consideration are included in boxes which give typical case reports, experimental designs, sample findings, and so forth. These boxed materials are good illustrations of and extrapolations from the material which the main body of the chapter tends to deal with. The writing style is clear and generally concise. Occasionally there are sparks of fantasy and humour which help to enliven long methodological passages. Overall, this is a well written and useful text. It is a difficult task to sustain interest and continuity in a book which deals almost completely with methodological and statistical issues. The authors have done a remarkably good job in this regard, and I would probably rate this as one of the better books in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior in a nonexperiment: The effects of behavioral field research on the work performance of factory employees.

To determine whether a field research process itself has an influence on employee productivity which might become confounded with the influence of more legitimate independent variables, 73 male workers in 1 department of a factory were studied. Field research operations, consisting of observational and survey techniques, were employed during the middle 2 wk. of the 6-wk "before," "during," and "after" experimental design. Research effects on the total department and the 8 work groups were negligible. Hypothesized moderator influences for age, authoritarianism, rural-urban background and union activity level, although small, were found thus demonstrating that research operations can affect different people in different ways on a productivity criterion. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral treatment for smokers with a history of alcoholism: Predictors of successful outcome.

This study examined baseline predictors associated with smoking abstinence among 205 smokers (113 men, 92 women) with a past history of alcoholism. Their mean age was 41.8 years, and 93% were Caucasian. Participants were randomly assigned to standard treatment (ST), behavioral counseling plus exercise (BEX), or behavioral counseling plus nicotine gum (BNIC). Factors multivariately associated with point-prevalence smoking abstinence at posttreatment (1 week after target quit date) were a longer duration of prior smoking abstinence and an interaction between treatment group and having an active 12-step sponsor. ST was more effective for those with an active sponsor, whereas both BEX and BNIC were more effective for those without an active sponsor. At 1-year follow-up, independent predictors of point-prevalence smoking abstinence were a lower Fagerstr6m Tolerance Questionnaire score (K. O. Fagerstrom, 1978) and fewer years of smoking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of What’s behind the research? Discovering hidden assumptions in the behavioral sciences.

Reviews the book, What’s behind the research? Discovering hidden assumptions in the behavioral sciences by Brent D. Slife and Richard N. Williams (1995). As the book's subtitle indicates, the authors' purpose is to assist the reader in Discovering hidden assumptions in the behavioral sciences, a worthy objective not likely to be realized simply through a love affair with "information" and its packaging. Slife and Williams state their mission clearly: "Presenting (behavioral sciences') hidden assumptions, along with their costs and consequences, is our task in this book. Whether you are a student of the behavioral sciences, therapist, educator, businessperson, or simply a consumer of behavioral science information, you will need to know the implicit ideas in that information. What are the main interpretations of the data by scientists? What alternative methods are available for gathering knowledge? What ideas are embedded in the usual approaches to abnormality and treatment? Are there other ideas available for generating solutions to human problems? Do conventional approaches to business or education include assumptions about the world or human nature that are questionable or unacceptable to the people who use them? We attempt to answer these and many other questions." In most respects, Slife and Williams do a splendid job at this. Many of the central conceptual issues Slife and Williams have raised have been treated before (by, among others, the mentor of both authors and the scholar to whom they have dedicated their work, Joseph Rychlak, but I know of no work the equal of this one in presenting the material in a way so accessible to previously uninitiated students and the intelligent and interested lay public. Surely this book will be welcomed by those scholars and educators who would wish to move psychology and the other behavioral sciences into the 21st century shorne of their positivistic leanings and empiricist pretensions, and re-oriented toward a more apposite science of human nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A research paradigm for the study of interpersonal learning.

A research paradigm is introduced to investigate the process whereby 1 person learns to predict the behavior of another person. The paradigm is derived from Brunswik's probabilistic functionalism and his "lens model" of behavior. Methods of analysis are applied to data provided by an illustrative experiment. Results of the experiment show that interpersonal learning occurs; the results are also shown to have implications for problems inherited from studies of interpersonal perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community-based participatory research: Partnering with communities for effective and sustainable behavioral health interventions.

The present issue contains one of the first studies published in Health Psychology—by Resnicow and colleagues—that uses elements of community-based participatory research (CBPR) (Resnicow et al., 2009). The authors engaged community partners (three health maintenance organizations or HMOs) to develop and implement a fruit and vegetable promotion intervention (Tolsma et al., 2009). African American HMO patients (the intervention targets) participated in formative work (i.e., focus groups) on survey items and intervention content and in survey pilot testing. A diverse group of researcher and nonresearcher expert stakeholders (e.g., African American health plan staff; consultants with expertise in Black identity theory, on which the intervention was based) was engaged in major project decisions regarding the measures and intervention design. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping skills and treatment outcomes in cognitive-behavioral and interactional group therapy for alcoholism.

In the present study 128 alcohol dependent men and women received 26 weeks of group treatment in one of two modalities: Cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) intended specifically to develop coping skills or interactional therapy intended to examine interpersonal relationships. Coping skills and drinking were assessed prior to and after treatment and up to 18 months after intake. Results indicated that both treatments yielded very good drinking outcomes throughout the follow-up period. Increased coping skills was a significant predictor of outcome. However, neither treatment effected greater increases in coping than the other. Specific coping-skills training was not essential for increasing the use of coping skills. The results raise questions about the efficacy of specific treatment elements of CBT in treatment of alcohol dependence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bridging the gap between alcoholism treatment research and practice: Identifying what works and why.

Despite the proliferation of alcoholism treatment research over the past 2 decades, there is a continued gap between what has been shown to be promising in the extant literature and what is commonly practiced by clinicians in the alcohol treatment field. The present article is an effort to bridge this gap by examining findings from the broad body of alcoholism treatment outcome research to determine how these findings may optimally be used by treatment providers. To this end, the authors provide clinicians with a succinct review of the current alcoholism treatment outcome literature and identify hallmarks of the most empirically supported treatments. Clinical implications of this literature for practitioners working with client with alcohol use disorders are discussed, with a focus on factors underlying effective treatments and on how these factors can be transferred from research to practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue on behavioral medicine: An update for the 1990s.

The current issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology represents a 10-year update on a previous 1982 special issue devoted to behavioral medicine. Research, especially treatment research since 1981, is summarized across a number of topics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies.

Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing cognitive behavioral therapy and integrated cognitive behavioral therapy/psychodynamic therapy in group treatment for partner violent men.

This was a pilot study comparing the effectiveness of cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT; n = 18) with integrated CBT and psychodynamic therapy (CBT/PT; n = 27) in reducing partner violence. The study examined differences between the two treatment groups at posttreatment with regard to attachment dimensions, interpersonal problems, psychological/behavioral functioning, and general symptom and relationship distress. Results indicated that the CBT/PT groups showed significantly more improvement than the CBT groups on measures of partner violence, attachment, and interpersonal problems at posttreatment. Conversely, the CBT groups showed significantly more improvement than the CBT/PT groups on measures of psychological/behavioral functioning and general symptom and relationship distress. Finally, there was a significant difference between the treatment groups on recidivism rate, with the CBT/PT groups having the lowest rate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The science game: An introduction to research in the behavioral and social sciences, seventh edition.

Reviews the book, The science game: An introduction to research in the behavioral and social sciences, seventh edition by Neil McKinnon Agnew and Sandra W. Pyke (2007). In 1969, Neil Agnew and Sandra Pyke published the first edition of The Science Game, a 182-page survey of the major components of what they call the game of sciencing, a game, they claim, that like all other games of consequence, is a mixture of art, enterprise, and invention held loosely together by man-made rules. Using the same quirky but engaging style as in the original, in the seventh and latest edition, Agnew and Pyke dedicate a full 471 pages to the task, tackling a host of topics bearing on the activities of science, ranging from the strengths and weaknesses of humans' cognitive capacity for problem solving to debates in the philosophy of science regarding the nature of knowledge. Although this most recent edition elaborates on many of the same themes presented in earlier versions, it is much grander in scope and includes a number of new features, including the introduction of a central theme and memory aid throughout the book (i.e., a puzzle-solving theme), the inclusion of statements of chapter goals, and chapter-end summaries and self-test quizzes. The Science Game provides a fairly comprehensive set of sound bites pertaining to the techniques, procedures, and conventions adopted by social science researchers and is accessible to either students encountering these topics for the first time or more advanced students in need of a refresher. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incorporating a mulitilevel perspective into occupational stress research: Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications.

In recent years, scholars in organizational behavior and public health have recognized the value of multilevel modeling. This article draws from both of these fields to illustrate the benefits of incorporating a multilevel perspective into the study of occupational stress. The authors identify key multilevel issues in occupational stress in terms of (a) individual-level analyses, (b) group-level analyses, and (c) cross-level analyses. They integrate the theoretical points with statistical models to help illustrate how one can test multilevel occupational stress propositions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integration of the brief behavioral activation treatment for depression (BATD) into a college orientation program: Depression and alcohol outcomes.

College freshmen face a variety of academic and social challenges as they adjust to college life that can place them at risk for a number of negative outcomes, including depression and alcohol-related problems. Orientation classes that focus on teaching incoming students how to better cope with college-oriented stress may provide an opportunity to prevent the development of these adjustment problems. This article outlines a program based on behavioral activation that can be integrated into college orientation programs to provide a more comprehensive orientation experience. Data are presented from an initial pilot study in which 71 first-semester freshman at the University of Maryland participated in a 15-week, 2 hr per week orientation class (n = 37 in the behavioral activation-enhanced orientation classes and n = 34 in the control orientation as usual classes). Students' depression and alcohol use were evaluated at the beginning, middle, and end of the course. Results indicated a Time × Group interaction such that problem drinking (but not consumption) was significantly reduced across assessments in the behavioral activation classes and largely unchanged in the standard classes. No difference was observed in depression scores; however, fairly low depression scores across the 3 time points may have limited the opportunity to observe any meaningful impact of the orientation classes on depression. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of their findings for preventing adjustment problems among incoming college students and future directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transforming odds ratios into correlations for meta-analytic research.

Comments on an article by Block and Crain (see record 2007-04834-015) in which they stated, "There is no data transformation that converts an odds ratio or relative risk into a correlation. One needs more data". The purpose of this comment is to explain how an odds ratio or relative risk can be transformed to approximate a product-moment correlation. Such transformations have important applications in meta-analytic research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coming to terms with coming out: Review and recommendations for family systems-focused research.

For lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adolescents and young adults, coming out to family members, especially parents, is a major psychological decision and hurdle due to both perceived fears and actual negative consequences. But beyond the literature on factors associated with the decision to come out and parents' initial reactions to the disclosure, empirical studies of what unfolds afterward, and how the family adjusts to the LGB adolescent's identity over time, are sparse and scattered. This article reviews and integrates findings from studies of the individual-, dyadic-, and family-level variables associated with positive outcomes, focusing particularly on relationship variables. Methodological concerns within this body of research are discussed, and research recommendations are offered. A preliminary working model of how families successfully come to terms with coming out is proposed to guide future research that will advance theory and clinical work with LGB youth and their families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological factors in end-stage renal disease: An emerging context for behavioral medicine research.

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a chronic, life-threatening condition afflicting over 300,000 Americans. Patient nonadherence and psychological distress are highly prevalent among ESRD patients, and both have been found to contribute to greater morbidity and earlier mortality in this population. A range of factors have been examined as potential determinants of adherence and adjustment. Evidence suggests that adherence and adjustment are maximized when a patient's preferred style of coping is consistent with the contextual features or demands of the renal intervention the patient is undergoing. Challenges for future clinical research include refining methodologies for the assessment of depression and adherence, more clearly evaluating the efficacy of psychological interventions, and clarifying the role that depression and social support play in influencing patient mortality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, and control mastery prototypes to predict change: A new look at an old paradigm for long-term single-case research.

This article illustrates a method of testing models of change in individual long-term psychotherapy cases. A depressed client was treated with 208 sessions of control mastery therapy (CMT), an unmanualized approach that integrates elements of psychodynamic therapy (PDT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Panels of experts developed prototypes of ideal PDT, CBT, and CMT process using the Psychotherapy Process Q-set (PQS; J. S. Ablon & E. E. Jones, 1999; E. E. Jones, L. A. Parke, & S. Pulos, 1992; E. E. Jones & S. M. Pulos, 1993). Independent observers rated every 4th session (N = 53) with the PQS. Using correlations between ideal and actual PQS ratings followed by paired t tests, the authors compared adherence to the CMT prototype with adherence to plausible alternative models advocated by the PDT and CBT experts. Bivariate time series analyses determined whether prototype adherence predicted an estimated index of symptom change. Results showed that the therapist's behavior was most consistent with the CMT prototype and that this aspect of the CMT prototype along with particular aspects of the other prototypes influenced estimated symptom change. The results, which replicate and extend earlier findings, support the validity of this approach to studying long-term therapies but also highlight its limitations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating positive emotions into theory, research, and practice: A new challenge for psychotherapy.

This article elaborates on the themes and directions that emerged from a dialogue on the potential usefulness of positive emotions in psychotherapy. In defining a positive emotion, the authors propose that there are two intersecting axes of interest. The axes are emotional experience--whether something feels good or bad to the client--and therapeutic value--how helpful the emotion is to the therapeutic process. Three of the four quadrants formed by the intersection of these axes potentially contain positive emotions. Special consideration is given to the quadrant of positive experience/positive value, which has been relatively neglected until now. In this quadrant, positive emotions generate change either in their facilitating role--often in the therapeutic relationship--or as central agents of the change process. The authors conclude by considering how positive and negative emotions interact and call for careful theorizing and research to clearly understand positive emotions in psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)