Review of Assessing culturally and linguistically diverse students: A practical guide.

Reviews the book, Assessing culturally and linguistically diverse students: A practical guide by Robert L. Rhodes, Salvador Hector Ochoa, and Samuel O. Ortiz (see record 2006-12379-000). This book provides school practitioners with a practical guide to the assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children that may help reduce inappropriate referral and placement practices. The book is divided the book into three sections, the first of which focuses on the demographic, legal, and educational issues related to CLD students. The second section takes on a practical, "how to" approach to assessment. The final section proposes an integrated format for assessing cognitive and academic ability. This book is unique in that it provides a practical "how to" handbook of multicultural assessment with the culturally and linguistically diverse learner. The book is well-organized and presented in a logical manner. It begins with a clearly defined problem (i.e., disproportionality of CLD students in special education) and provides a comprehensive discussion on related background information. The authors then take the next step by providing suggestions and information that will help the professional take ownership of and change the problem. This book will be a helpful tool for providing the practitioner with information related to the disproportion of CLD students in special education. This book's foundation in current research, practical suggestions, and reproducible materials make it a worthy edition to any practitioner's library. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural assessment in home healthcare

As the nurse becomes adept at performing cultural assessments and culturally competent care, it will become clear that "although it is critical to conduct a cultural assessment with culturally and ethnically diverse groups, it is also important to realize that every client needs a cultural assessment. Every client has values, beliefs, and practices that must be considered when a clinician renders healthcare services. Therefore, cultural assessments are not limited to specific ethnic groups, but rather should be conducted on each individual" (Campinha-Bacote, 1995, p.148). Nurses who have been identified as good transcultural nurses have been found to be empathetic, caring, open, and flexible. They have a positive attitude toward cultural differences and have a genuine interest in learning from the client about the client's culture (Emerson, 1995). Talabere (1996) states that openness, appreciation of another's perspective, holistic communication, genuine interest, and a nonjudgmental attitude are central to cultural sensitivity. When a culturally sensitive nurse develops mutually agreeable goals with a patient from another culture, a kind of cultural synergy occurs, resulting in care that is "meaningful, satisfying and beneficial to clients" (Leininger, 1988, p.155).     

Examining immediate and long-term efficacy of rape prevention programming with racially diverse college men.

The authors investigated the short- and long-term (5-month) effectiveness of a theoretically driven, programmatic rape prevention intervention on a sample of primarily White and Black college men. A racially diverse sample was included, and the potential effectiveness of both a culturally relevant and a traditional "colorblind" intervention was assessed. In contrast to earlier investigations, which have consistently reported an overall rebound of scores at the follow-up assessment, results from a hierarchical cluster analysis indicated 3 patterns of treatment response: improving, deteriorating, and rebounding. Results also indicated that Black students in the culturally relevant treatment condition were more cognitively engaged in the intervention than their peers in the traditional treatment condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Representing personal determinants in causal structures.

Addresses the substantive issues raised by J. E. Staddon's (see record 1985-04009-001) alternative models of causality, in response to Staddon's displeasure with what he claimed to be the present author's (see record 1983-22326-001) formalization of causal structures. The major question at issue is not the formalizability of causal processes but whether cognitive determinants of behavior are reducible to past stimulus inputs in causal structures. Evidence indicates that the residuum of past stimuli cannot serve as an adequate proxy for cognitive processes, which largely involve propositional knowledge and cognitive operations on what one knows. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multicultural trends and toys in play therapy.

Because culture plays an increasingly important role in play therapy, the purpose of this article is to review existing literature on multicultural issues in play therapy and to discuss current trends and toys in play therapy reported from a group of play therapists. A group of play therapists (N = 505) registered with the Association for Play Therapy were asked to respond to two open-ended questions: What trends, if any, do you see in play therapy with your culturally diverse clients? What items do you include in your playroom to specifically represent culturally diverse populations? Responses to these open-ended questions were analyzed using open and axial coping as part of the inductive process. Results of the first question were grouped into five main categories and responses to the second question were categorized based on area and type of play. Based on the results of this study, implications for multicultural play therapy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the primacy of the implicit: Comment on Perruchet and Pacteau.

The various issues that P. Perruchet and C. Pacteau (see record 1991-00329-001) raise in their article on synthetic grammar learning can be condensed into two categories of assertions. The first concerns matters of methodology and interpretation of the data base; the second concerns larger issues of knowledge acquisition and representation. In this comment I raise (a) methodological issues that suggest that the conclusions that Perruchet and Pacteau draw from their experiments may need softening and (b) arguments from several approaches to the study of the cognitive unconscious that question their "model of mind" and give support to an alternative view: the primacy of the implicit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropsychology evolving.

Reviews the book, From neuropsychology to mental structure by Tim Shallice (see record 1989-97122-000). The basic question that the book addresses is "what can be learned about normal function from impaired behaviour?" The author approaches this question in two ways. First, he assumes that cognitive processing is organized into basic processing elements, much like Fodor's modules. The goal is to determine how the modules function together to underlie cognitive processes. Second, Shallice asks how neuropsychological data provide inferences about the nature of the modules. Overall, I liked this book, even if I cannot easily identify with the top-down approach to studying brain function. Nonetheless, this is a volume that will force psychologists of all stripes to think about questions surrounding the study of cognition and brain function. Indeed, one can seriously ask the question of whether cognitive neuropsychology is a natural evolution of Hebb's neuropsychology as opposed to a new and divergent species that will fill a different niche. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological service needs of older women.

Attention to the unique psychological needs of older women will become increasingly important as the "baby boomer" generation enters the retirement years. The present article aims to review some of the salient issues, diagnoses, and themes involved in providing psychological services to older women and to provide recommendations for enhancing their access to mental health care. Areas addressed include caregiving; grief, bereavement, and end-of-life care; psychiatric and cognitive disorders; culturally diverse groups, rural older women, and nursing home residents; barriers to psychological service utilization; and suggestions for improving access to care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The psychoeducational assessment of preschool children.

Reviews the book, The psychoeducational assessment of preschool children edited by Kathleen D. Paget and Bruce A. Bracken (1983). This is is a multidisciplinary text that covers a wide variety of components of preschool assessment. As indicated in the preface, the intent of the editors was to provide a comprehensive book that would reflect the diversity of professions involved with assessment of preschoolers. To achieve this purpose, Paget and Bracken compiled a text that is comprehensive in both breadth and depth. The ambitious range of topics includes history of preschool assessment, legal issues, and the assessment of special preschool groups, such as the mentally handicapped, physically handicapped, gifted, creative, and culturally different. In addition, the assessment of a wide variety of domains of functioning such as cognitive, perceptual-motor, fine and gross motor, and social-emotional, are addressed. The editors intended for the book to be used by advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as by current practitioners in such diverse areas of practice as psychology, education, social work, and medicine. We concur that the text offers new information for established practitioners and provides extensive background for those new to the field of assessment of preschool children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using connectionist models to guide assessment of psycological disorder.

Connectionist models are introduced as promising tools for understanding the nature of psychological disorders and guiding their assessment. Specifically, ways in which connectionist models can guide the following aspects of the assessment process are described: understanding what constructs are relevant to assess, designing approaches to assessing these constructs, and understanding individual differences in data from assessments. Two extended examples are given based on the authors' research on cognitive aspects of depression and Alzheimer's disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transplacentally induced neuronal migration disorders: an animal model for the study of the epilepsies

OBJECTIVES: This investigation examined whether, despite the Tobacco Institute's Voluntary Cigarette Advertising and Promotion Code, current cigarette print advertising communicates culturally positive messages to youth about smoking. METHODS: Nine hundred thirteen students in grades 6-8 (ages 10-15) were shown a sample of four contemporary cigarette print ads (Camel, Marlboro, Newport, and Virginia Slims) and completed structured written assessments designed to capture their perceptions of each ad. RESULTS: Across the four ads, between 37% and 84% of the students reported that the ads communicated to them that smoking will make people popular, cool, successful in life, sexy, attractive, and healthy. Sizeable percentages of students reported that the ads show people using the product in an "exaggerated" way, and that what people in the ads are doing requires "exercise and physical energy." The median estimated age of the models in the ads was under age 25 for four out of the six models. CONCLUSIONS: As perceived by adolescents, current cigarette print advertising violates basic tenets of the Voluntary Code, thus bringing into question the tobacco industry's ability to self-regulate image advertising. These findings suggest that the FDA ruling to prohibit image advertising for tobacco in publications with significant youth readership deserves serious consideration.     

The reliability of lactate measurements during exercise

The study of the epidemiology of dementia, specifically Alzheimer's disease, in developing countries requires specialized instruments and personnel. Cultural and sub-cultural differences among populations are highly relevant to the design of such instruments. Over and above the cultural issues, it is widely recognized that low education and illiteracy pose considerable challenges to reliable and valid cognitive screening. The overall objectives of the Indo-US Cross-National Dementia Epidemiology Study were: a) to determine the prevalence and incidence of, and risk factors for, Alzheimer's and other dementias in a defined Indian community; and b) to compare these results with those found in a defined American community. To achieve these epidemiological objectives, our first task was to develop, systematically and empirically, suitable cognitive and activities assessment screening instruments for use in India, which would 1) be culturally fair, psychometrically sound, and valid for a population with little or no education; 2) be optimally sensitive and specific for dementia; and 3) allow not only the identification but also the more detailed characterization of dementia, and of normal and abnormal cognitive aging. In this paper we address the practical issues involved in the development and administration of the modified cognitive screening battery in our rural Indian context.     

Testing linguistic minorities.

Suggests that psychological and educational testing of members of linguistic minority groups should take into account the diverse social, political, and economic realities currently facing these groups. These realities are moderated by educational opportunities, which in turn are closely linked to various forms of standardized testing. Key conceptual and operational issues underlying concern about this situation are described. Conceptual issues include bilingualism, acculturation, and the "emic–etic" distinction, particularly as the latter applies to the cross-cultural generalizability of cognitive constructs. Operational issues include assessment of language dominance, test translation and development, and the examiner variable. The author appeals for concern with and sensitivity to individual differences in sociocultural and linguistic characteristics. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cigarette brand switching: Relating assessment strategies to the critical issues.

Asserts that the debate regarding what occurs when people switch to low-tar and low-nicotine cigarettes encompasses 3 research issues—risk reduction, nicotine regulation, and compensation. The various assessment strategies related to the critical issues in cigarette brand switching are examined by (a) tracing the development of current assessment strategies and clarifying the relative strengths of mouth-level, machine-based, behavioral, and biochemical measures; (b) reviewing a variety of biochemical assessments including carbon monoxide, thiocyanate, nicotine, and cotinine; and (c) examining the utility of these measures in risk reduction, nicotine regulation, and compensation studies. Selected findings indicate that machine-based estimates of constituent yield are of little value in smoking research unless they are anchored to a direct measure of exposure. The need for new biochemical assessments of harmful smoke constituents other than carbon monoxide and thiocyanate and research to determine what levels of exposure are associated with what degree of health risk is emphasized. It is suggested that studies of nicotine regulation must use measures of nicotine/cotinine but need not assess smoking behavior or risk and that compensation should refer to factors that account for a particular degree of nicotine regulation. (94 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Foundations for a model of knowing: II. Fallible but functional knowledge.

Argues that an evolving theory known as "constructivism" challenges the traditional view of how individuals generate and revise knowledge. Constructivism helps address a major issue raised by modern scholars of the history and philosophy of science and decision theory. The question relates to how to reduce the search and solution space of complex and changing environments to "mind size" (i.e., to fit person's limited memory and computational capacity). One emerging answer is that individuals rely heavily on robust presuppositions and simplified representations of environmental structure. Two issues are addressed: Under what conditions knowledge can be highly fallible and at the same time be highly functional and whether one can make a plausible case, within this constructivist frame of reference, for realism, for knowledge that approximates "reality." (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pain patients show a higher hindsight bias

Research on pain-related cognitions has up to now predominantly relied upon introspective questionnaire data. Experimental cognitive psychology offers an alternative way of access to the cognitive aspects of chronical pain. Building on the assumption that information-processing is in part uncontrolled, automatic and pre-attentive, similar processes are also expected to be relevant for pain-relevant cognitions and to be involved in health-related convictions and in coping strategies that can be assessed with questionnaires. Cognitive-psychological research has established the "hindsight bias" as a robust phenomenon that occurs uncontrolled and automatically in diverse contexts when a prior judgment or prediction is assimilated to information received later on. The hindsight bias may be regarded as a manifestation of a universal cognitive mechanism, meaning that information (including information about emotional states) available at a given time will change the memory of prior judgments or of predictions of future events and results of behavior. Cognitive biases similar to the hindsight effect have been demonstrated in chronical pain patients. The present work elaborates the hypothesis that pain patients differ from other groups in the size of the hindsight bias and in its composition and outlines how it can contribute to the chronification of pain. Data from a hindsight-bias experiment comparing pain patients, psychiatric patients and students are analyzed using alternatively a traditional global hindsight bias score ("Hell-Index") and a multinomial modelling approach. The hindsight-effect was observed in the usual extent in the student control group, but was significantly greater in the pain group and absent in the psychiatric sample. In addition to this global finding, multinomial modelling revealed group differences in specific model parameters. This method of analysis thus proved as promising for the assessment of cognitive aspects of clinical disorders.     

A review of the practice and science of child custody and access assessment in the United States and Canada.

Many psychologists in the United States and Canada provide child custody and access (C&A) assessments as part of their clinical services. There are guidelines based on ethical standards that inform this specialization, which include the recommendation that providers be familiar with the empirical bases of their work. This article provides an overview of guidelines, the assessment process, and the empirical basis for C&A assessment. Although there is limited evidence of traditional standards of direct empirical utility of such assessments, there are relevant research areas that include the impacts of separation and divorce on children, family relationships, and coparenting processes. Each is critical to understanding children's welfare, a parent's capacity to act in the best interests of a child, and the coparenting environment that may follow separation and divorce. Given the importance of minimizing postdivorce conflict within a coparenting environment, the indirect scientific evidence that supports C&A assessment can also be used to pursue more amicable solutions through mediation and parent education. Although research is growing supporting these alternative practices as well as C&A assessment itself, much more is needed. Psychologists who offer these services will find this article to be a useful overview of current practice and science, and for those contemplating involvement in these services, the article highlights issues to be considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)