Adult day care: Psychological practice and evaluation.

The unnecessary institutionalization of frail adults most often occurs when emotional factors exhaust the relationship between the caretaker and the frail adult. 14 60–93 yr olds with diagnoses of depression, chronic schizophrenia, or organic brain syndrome participated in a program that attempted to remediate depression and enrich affective involvement with caretakers. The program met twice weekly for 6 hrs and provided an intervention structured around familylike relationships, group psychotherapy, and task activity. Salient themes for the group were family relations, fear of institutionalization, and grief. Analysis of pre- and posttest scores on the Life Satisfaction Index (Form A), Mental Status Questionnaire, and the Self-Rating Depression Scale showed a reduction in depression, improved life satisfaction, increased knowledge of community resources, and a broader range of community activities. The role of psychology in adult daycare and the usefulness of linking evaluation to service delivery are discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Becoming a sibling: "With a little help from my friends."

The qualities of children's friendships that may promote the development of positive sibling relationships were examined. 30 3- to 5-yr-old 1st-born children whose families were expecting a 2nd child participated in longitudinal assessments of parent–child, sibling, and best-friend peer relationships. Families were studied from the last trimester of pregnancy to 14 mo following the new child's birth. Peer relationship variables, particularly, the overall quality of peer play, engagement in fantasy play, and conflict management were found to be significant predictors of the quality of children's interactions with their 6- and 14-mo-old siblings. Results are discussed in terms of the functions friendships may hold for helping children make the transition to the sibling role. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward more meaningful clinical research: Taking context into account in coding psychotherapy interaction.

Examines the practical and theoretical problems of failing to take context into account in observational coding during the course of psychotherapy process research. Six content levels are considered: culture, the psychological situation, the therapist–client relationship, the event, immediate communicative context, and the private unconscious context. Phenomenological, objective-inferential, and objective-explicit strategies are described and evaluated for taking context into account. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instructional effects on children's use of two levels of standards for evaluating their comprehension.

This study investigated whether providing children with instruction in the use of specific standards for evaluating their comprehension would generalize to their use of other standards and whether the instructional effects would be maintained over time. Eighty 4th graders, average and above-average readers, received instruction in using either 3 higher level "macrostructure" standards or 3 lower level "microstructure" standards, or else they received no instruction. On both an immediate and a delayed posttest, subjects read and evaluated passages containing problems requiring the use of all 6 standards. Children were more likely to identify problems of the types on which they were instructed, but both trained groups identified more noninstructed problems than the control group, indicating generalization of training. Moreover, the training advantage was maintained over time. Although better readers outperformed average readers, the benefits of instruction were equivalent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exposure to a cat produces opioid analgesia in rats.

Two experiments tested the prediction that rats should react with reduced sensitivity/reactivity to nociceptive stimulation in the presence of a cat. In Exp I, naloxone (110 mg/kg) or saline was administered intraperitoneally to 90 female Sprague-Dawley rats before they were exposed to no stimulus, a novel stimulus, or a cat. In Exp II, 50 male rats were administered saline or naltrexone (7 mg/kg) and were exposed to either no stimulus or a cat. In both experiments, rats tested in the presence of the cat showed a significant reduction in sensitivity/reactivity to a skin-irritating formalin injection. Naltrexone reversed this analgesia, while naloxone produced only a weak trend toward shorter latencies. Findings are discussed in relation to the perceptual-defensive-recuperative model presented by R. C. Bolles and the 2nd author (see record 1981-25138-001), which depicts fear and pain as competing motivational systems that serve different biological functions. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in adults' prose recall: Aging or cognitive demands?

When memory performance of old and young is tested, young participants are almost always students, whereas older adults are rarely enrolled in school. Thus, the two groups differ not only in age but also in current demands to remember. In order to assess the contributions of each group, older adults' text recall and study strategies were compared with those of two groups of young adults. One group was enrolled in college classes, and the other group was not. Verbal ability was equivalent for the two groups. The college students outperformed both out-of-school groups; the out-of-school groups performed similarly to one another. These findings suggest that memory differences between old and young may result as much from cultural factors as from the inevitable consequences of biological deterioration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)