Hope for rehabilitation and vice versa.

Objectives: To use Snyder's (1989, 1994b) hope theory as a framework for understanding rehabilitation goals and designing effective interventions. Conclusions: According to this theory, hope reflects the perceived capacity to generate routes to desired goals (called pathway thinking) along with the associated motivational thoughts to use those paths (called agency thinking). Given that higher hope has correlated previously with superior physical and mental functioning, it is suggested that the hope construct may be helpful in fostering adaptive rehabilitation processes through the use of intervention techniques aimed at creating clearer and more sustainable goals, increasing pathways thoughts, and instilling greater agency. Furthermore, teaching patients about approaches for facilitating their recoveries using a hope-based vocabulary may have therapeutic value beyond the treatment team's use of hope theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The potential enrichment of social/personality psychology through feminist research and vice versa.

Defines feminist scholarship and its influence on mainstream social/personality psychology in terms of its potential for enrichment of the field. Such enrichment is viewed as a consequence of critical analysis to uncover androcentric bias in both content and method, the asking of new questions and formulation of new hypotheses and theories that stem from a focus on women's experiences, and the challenge to some of the traditional assumptions about objectivity in science. It is argued that social/personality psychology has the potential to enrich feminist theory by contributing to a central issue: the nature of gender differences and similarities. It is suggested that within-gender differences must also be examined to uncover the relationships between behavior and its antecedents. Because psychologists are best prepared to probe the connections between what people do, feel, and believe and the conditions that make particular behaviors, feelings, and ideas more probable, feminist research is essential to understanding how culture constructs gender. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social neuroscience: Understanding the pieces fosters understanding the whole and vice versa.

Social science and neuroscience perspectives represent two ends of a continuum of levels of organization studied in psychology. Human behavior as a whole unfolds at social levels of organization, whereas much of the research in psychology has focused on cognitive and biological pieces of this whole. Recent evidence underscores the complementary nature of social, cognitive, and biological levels of analysis and how research integrating these levels can foster more comprehensive theories of the mechanisms underlying complex behavior and the mind. This research underscores the unity of psychology and the importance of retaining multilevel integrative research that spans molar and molecular levels of analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From majority to minority and vice versa: The asymmetrical effects of losing and gaining majority position within a group.

Two studies examined the effects of stable, partially changed, and completely changed majority and minority positions within a group on perception and evaluation of the group. It was hypothesized that loss of majority position (majority-to-minority change) would have stronger effects than gain of majority position (minority-to-majority change). The hypothesized asymmetrical effect was demonstrated in that loss of majority position decreased perception of group—self similarity, group attraction, and expectations for positive interactions with the group, whereas a corresponding gain of position did not increase them. Thus immediately following changes, the group is especially fragile because disintegrative forces created by the loss of majority position are stronger than integrative forces created by the gain of majority position. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Screening patients with celiac disease for primary biliary cirrhosis and vice versa

BACKGROUND: An association between celiac disease and primary biliary cirrhosis has been reported in a few cases, mainly as individual case reports. OBJECTIVES: To screen adult patients with celiac disease for primary biliary cirrhosis and patients with primary biliary cirrhosis for intestinal celiac involvement. METHODS: The celiac group consisted of 336 adults (218 women and 118 men; mean age, 36 yr; range 18-74 yr) with celiac disease diagnosed by serological and histological tests, 38 with newly diagnosed celiac disease and 298 with previously diagnosed celiac disease who were consuming a gluten-free diet. The mean follow-up period was 6 yr (range, 1-16 yr). Liver function parameters and autoantibody levels were determined, and, when indicated, histological tests were performed. The biliary cirrhosis group consisted of 65 subjects (58 women and seven men) (mean age, 59 yr; range, 35-67 yr) with primary biliary cirrhosis diagnosed 1-17 years previously (mean, 7 yr) on the basis of the usual biochemical, serological, and histological criteria. Antigliadin and antiendomysium antibody levels were determined, and two biopsy specimens from the distal duodenum obtained during endoscopy were evaluated. RESULTS: In patients with celiac disease, impairment of liver function was frequently found at diagnosis (16 of 38, or 44%), but primary biliary cirrhosis was diagnosed in only one case. In patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, no cases of celiac disease, as currently defined, were found. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that celiac disease and primary biliary cirrhosis are rarely associated and support the hypothesis that the intestinal lesions per se are not responsible for the liver disease.     

When are dysphoric individuals distressing to others and vice versa? Effects of friendship, similarity, and interaction task.

Examined several factors hypothesized to affect how dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals react to each other. 92 pairs of female college students participated in the study. Ss interacted with either a friend or stranger who had a similar or dissimilar dysphoria status in 3 tasks: a casual conversation, disclosure of a personal problem to the partner, and response to the partner's disclosure of a personal problem. Ss' moods, evaluations of their partners, and verbal behaviors were assessed. Dysphoric Ss exhibited characteristic negative mood and verbal content but did not elicit negative reactions from their partners. Negative reactions were most evident in dysphoric Ss' responses to dissimilar (nondysphoric) strangers, underscoring the need for greater attention to dysphoric individuals' perspective on their social interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental coaching for high school teachers: Executive coaching goes to school.

Teachers are in a very real sense the embodiment of leadership, providing direction, guidance, and feedback to their students in addition to acting as role models. Teachers may well thus benefit from developmental coaching that draws on theories of leadership. This study was both an experimental (randomly assigned conditions) and a quasi-experimental (pre–post) study. A randomized controlled design was used to explore the impact of coaching on goal attainment, mental health, workplace well-being, and resilience, and a quasi-experimental (pre–post) design was used to explore the impact of coaching on leadership styles. Forty-four high school teachers were randomly assigned to either coaching or a waitlist control group. The coaching used a cognitive–behavioral, solution-focused approach and was informed by theories of self-leadership and transformational leadership. Participants in the coaching group received multirater feedback on their leadership style and undertook 10 coaching sessions conducted by professional coaches over a 20-week period. Compared with randomly allocated controls, participation in coaching was associated with increased goal attainment, reduced stress, and enhanced workplace well-being and resilience. Pre–post analyses for the coaching group indicated that coaching enhanced self-reported achievement and humanistic–encouraging components of constructive leadership styles and reduced self-reported aggressive/defensive and passive/defensive leadership styles. Findings suggest that coaching, as a professional development methodology, has great potential to contribute to the development and well-being of society beyond the corporate and organizational settings with which leadership coaching and executive coaching are normally associated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring students' connectedness to school, teachers, and family: Validation of three scales.

Connectedness to school, teachers, and family are all significant protective factors in adolescents' lives, yet the measurement of each varies considerably. This article describes the measurement properties of three composite scales of adolescent connectedness, adapted from the Add Health study and the California Healthy Kids Survey. These composite scales are created by either summing or taking the mean of all individual items, measured on an ordinal scale. This approach fails to account for the ordinal, non-normal nature of the data. Using a covariance approach, this article describes the measurement properties of the latent constructs of connectedness to school, teachers, and family and the contribution of each of the items used to compile the relevant composite score. The outcomes of this study will provide researchers and practitioners with information about the validity, reliability, and overall usefulness of each of the measures of adolescents' perception of their connectedness to school, teachers, and family. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Irritation at school: Reasons to initiate strain management earlier.

Organizational research provides many tested stressor–strain relationships in the workforce. To a lesser extent, it has been researched whether strain may already be present before the commencement of employment. The final years of school may be experienced as straining, because the need to perform well to obtain further education and, therefore, job opportunities, is often intense. To explore this, a scale measuring irritation, a well-documented concept of psychological strain at work, was adapted to the situation of school adolescents. Samples from 2 Swiss schools (n = 1,310 and n = 301) were obtained to study (a) the reliability of the adapted irritation scale, (b) the relationships between school stressors and irritation, (c) the moderating influences of self-efficacy on the relationship between stressors and irritation, and (d) the mediating effect of irritation in the relationship between stressors and other psychological impairments. These hypotheses were in line with results from organizational stress research. Results indicate the same mechanisms at play as those found in occupational stress research studies and implications with regard to stress interventions at school are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Home schooling and teaching style: Comparing the motivating styles of home school and public school teachers.

The rapidly growing number of home schooled children in America creates a need for educators to understand the instructional dynamics of home schooling. The authors focus on the motivating styles teachers adopt in home school and public school contexts. Results showed that religiously motivated home educators embraced a relatively more controlling style than did public school teachers. Gender (being male) and frequent church attendance further predicted a preference to motivate children in controlling ways, irrespective of school context. The results illuminate the ideological roots underlying teachers' motivating styles, show that an adherence to a preinstruction agenda explains why teachers adopt a controlling style, and highlight the need for home school researchers to assess children's motivational development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term child-centered play therapy training with Israeli school counselors and teachers.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of short-term intensive child-centered play therapy training with school counselors and teachers in Israel. Results of the analysis of covariance revealed that trainees in the experimental group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in the group’s play therapy knowledge as measured by the Play Therapy Attitude, Knowledge and Skills Survey. The experiential group did not demonstrate statistically significant improvement in their attitudes and beliefs toward children or confidence in applying play therapy skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting school achievement from data on pupils obtained from teachers: Towards a screening device for disadvantage.

Home background, cognitive, and emotional characteristics of 220 5-yr-old disadvantaged Irish children were measured with a questionnaire sent to teachers shortly after Ss entered school. These characteristics were then related to scores on standardized tests of mathematics, English, and intelligence administered after 3 yrs of school. MANOVAs indicated that performance at 8 yrs of age could be predicted with considerable accuracy by a combination of teachers' ratings of Ss' home and personal characteristics at 5 yrs of age. Teachers' ratings of Ss' personal characteristics were better predictors of performance than were their ratings of home background or status. Performances on the English and intelligence tests were better predicted than performance on the mathematics test. The construction of a pilot screening device based on the predictor variables used in the present study is advocated. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of the reciprocal nature of risk behaviors and cognitions in adolescents: What you do shapes what you think, and vice versa.

Adolescents' reckless driving, drinking, and smoking, along with their cognitions about these behaviors, were assessed in a 3-year longitudinal design. Consistent with most models of health behavior, the results indicated that health cognitions predict risk behavior. In addition, the current data demonstrate that increases in risk behavior are accompanied by increases in perceptions of vulnerability and prevalence and by decreases in the influence of concerns about health and safety. Furthermore, the changes in prevalence estimates and concern about health and safety predicted subsequent risk behavior. These results demonstrate reciprocity between risk behaviors and related cognitions and suggest that adolescents are aware of the risks associated with their behavior but modify their thinking about these risks in ways that facilitate continued participation in the behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social relationships and motivation in middle school: The role of parents, teachers, and peers.

Adolescents' supportive relationships with parents, teachers, and peers were examined in relation to motivation at school (school- and class-related interest, academic goal orientations, and social goal pursuit). On the basis of 167 sixth-grade students, relations of perceived support from parents, teachers, and peers to student motivation differed depending on the source of support and motivational outcome: Peer support was a positive predictor of prosocial goal pursuit, teacher support was a positive predictor of both types of interest and of social responsibility goal pursuit, and parent support was a positive predictor of school-related interest and goal orientations. Perceived support from parents and peers also was related to interest in school indirectly by way of negative relations with emotional distress. Pursuit of social responsibility goals and school- and class-related interest in 6th grade partly explained positive relations between social support in 6th grade and classroom grades 1 year later. Continued research on the social origins of classroom motivation in early adolescence is needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improving the instructional supervisory behavior of public school principals by means of time management: Experimental evaluation and social validation.

Nine principals received 9 hrs of instruction in a 3-phase, time-management approach: (1) time management problem analysis, (2) plan development and implementation, and (3) plan evaluation. Results indicate that all Ss increased time spent in instructional supervision following time-management program participation. Classroom and remedial teachers indicated greater supervision satisfaction following Ss' participation in the program. Nine Ss could apply the time-management approach following the program, based on monthly time-management plans submitted to respective consultants, and principals from other school districts rated the instructional package as potentially beneficial to colleagues and themselves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Chinese Ways of Coping Questionnaire: Assessing coping in secondary school teachers and students in Hong Kong.

657 Chinese secondary school students and teachers responded to the Chinese version of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). Factor analysis revealed that their coping activities could be adequately described by 4 relatively independent dimensions: Rational Problem-Solving, Resigned Distancing, Seeking Support and Ventilation, and Passive Wishful Thinking. The 4 scales derived from this emergent 4-factor structure compared favorably with the original 8 WCQ coping scales in internal consistency, interscale associations, and prediction of adaptational outcomes of global and specific psychological distress, suggesting that they are a viable alternative to the 8 original scales for assessing coping in the Chinese population. Gender differences in using a self- vs other-reliant approach in coping, student–teacher differences in using a passive vs active approach in coping, and implications of findings relating coping and adaptational outcomes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children''s return to school after treatment for cancer: study days for teachers

We present a case of benign paradoxical vocal cord adduction' presenting to the emergency department as acute stridor. This patient received direct laryngoscopy at initial presentation documenting inspiratory vocal cord adduction. The syndrome is not well known to emergency physicians and, because it often mimics life-threatening airway compromise, prompt recognition of the benign nature of this syndrome may avert more aggressive airway interventions such as beta agonists, steroids, endotracheal intubation and tracheostomy. Successful treatment has included relaxation, sedatives and speech therapy to abort the acute attack and prevent further recurrence. As direct flexible laryngoscopy is more readily available in the emergency department, goals for the future are more rapid diagnosis and appropriate treatment of this benign syndrome.     

The 120-S minute: using analysis of work activity to prevent psychological distress among elementary school teachers

To avoid exposure to unpleasant or unwanted emotional material, some people may distract themselves by summoning up pleasant thoughts such as happy memories. Manipulation of negative affect might therefore result in heightened accessibility of pleasant thoughts and memories, contrary to hypotheses of mood-congruent recall. In Experiment 1, repressors were faster to recall happy memories after watching an unpleasant film than after watching a neutral film. Nonrepressors showed the opposite effect (i.e., mood-congruent memory). In Experiment 2, after an unpleasant film, repressors were faster to recall a happy memory than to recall a sad memory. In Experiment 3, repressors spontaneously generated pleasant thoughts after watching an unpleasant film, whereas nonrepressors did not. Thus, repressors apparently cope with exposure to negative affective material by accessing pleasant thoughts. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive defenses against emotional distress and the associative structure of repression.