Psychological Bulletin: Correction to Logan et al. (2002).

Reports errors in the original article by T. K. Logan et al (Psychological Bulletin, 2002, Vol 128[6], 851-885). Errors in Table 1 (p. 862), Table 2 (p. 863), and Table 4 (p. 865) are noted and corrected. Errors in the text on page 869 and page 871 also are corrected. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record record 2002-18663-001). This article is focused on examining social and contextual factors related to HIV-risk behavior for women. Specifically, this article has three main purposes: to review the literature on selected social and contextual factors that contribute to the risk for the heterosexual transmission of HIV and AIDS, to review and conduct a meta-analysis of HIV-prevention interventions targeting adult heterosexual populations, and to suggest future directions for HIV-prevention intervention research and practice. Results suggest that the HIV-prevention interventions reviewed for this article had little impact on sexual risk behavior, that social and contextual factors are often minimally addressed, and that there was a large gap between research and practice of HIV-prevention intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding concerns about interventions to promote forgiveness: A review of the literature.

A new area in psychotherapy practice and research has arisen addressing therapeutic interventions to explicitly promote forgiveness. There is wide variation in the response to this new area including enthusiastic acceptance, wary openness, and vigorous opposition. Unfortunately, these reactions are not often based on a thorough understanding of the empirical literature and result in concerns about using forgiveness interventions in therapy that may or may not be warranted. The authors identify these potential concerns, framing them as concerns about the impact on clients, concerns related to therapist skill or knowledge, and concerns about the effect on the therapy process. The authors address these concerns with a review of the relevant research on forgiveness in therapy. Based on this review, the authors conclude that some skepticism of the new "forgiveness interventions" is warranted, although serious consideration needs to be given to these interventions at appropriate times. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion and cognition in psychotherapy: The transforming power of affect.

Theory and research on emotion in both psychology and psychotherapy are reviewed to demonstrate the importance of emotion in human functioning and psychotherapeutic change. A proposal is made for the importance of integrating empirically supported emotion-focused change processes into psychotherapeutic work. Five principles of change in the emotion domain-emotion awareness; expression; regulation; reflection on emotion; and the more novel principle of emotion transformation, by which emotion is changed by emotion-are offered as processes of change that are rapidly gathering empirical support. The result of emotion coming of age will be the expansion of theories of dysfunction and of treatment to include emotion-focused coping and emotional processes of change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Undereating or eliminating overeating?

Comments on an article titled Medicare's Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not the Answer, by Mann et al (see record 2007-04834-008). The current authors state that on the basis of their review of studies of long-term outcomes of calorie-restricting diets, Mann et al. concluded that dieting does not lead to lasting weight loss. Although this conclusion is hardly new--see Stunkard's (1975, p. 196) famous verdict: "Of those who do lose weight, most will regain it"--it is still valuable in view of recent more optimistic claims that "the success rate for long-term weight loss is closer to 20%" (Fletcher, 2003, p. 822). Mann et al.'s (2007) indictment of dieting as a treatment for obesity seems warranted, but that indictment ought not to extend to efforts to eliminate overeating. No one denies the benefits of exercise, for which Mann et al. (2007) are strong advocates. An exercise regimen, however, does not address overeating tendencies and therefore may be ineffective or even counterproductive (insofar as exercise may "justify" overeating). Further, we must acknowledge that exercise may improve health without necessarily lowering weight. Muscle weighs more than fat does, so losing fat is not necessarily the same as losing weight. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of social support on success of therapeutic interventions: A meta-analytic review.

Researchers view social support as an important extratherapeutic factor in the field of psychotherapeutic research. In an effort to verify the accuracy of this view, and to determine the degree to which social support influences the outcome of psychotherapeutic interventions, the authors conducted an exhaustive review of studies published until 2007. This search yielded 27 studies, including 29 independent samples that composed a meta-analysis. The results demonstrated a small mean correlation of r = .13 between social support and psychotherapy outcome on an almost homogeneous data set. Different operationalizations of social support and forms of interventions did not result in different effect sizes on a statistically significant level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence-based interventions in school psychology: An illustration of Task Force coding criteria using single-participant research design.

Illustrates the application of the Task Force on Evidence-Based Interventions in School Psychology coding criteria using a single-participant research design study. Specifically, the authors review and evaluate a study by M. L. Kelley and A. P. McCain (1995) according to the Procedural and Coding Manual for Review of Evidence-Based Interventions (T. R. Kratochwill and K. C. Stoiber, this issue; see record 2003-01789-005). Following application of the Procedural and Coding Manual to the Kelley and McCain study, the authors conclude that this study possessed several important strengths, including a strong research design, identifiable intervention components, and strong intervention effects for several participants. Limitations to the study, in addition to issues regarding the evaluation of the single-participant investigation are discussed within the context of the coding criteria. Challenges in coding single-participant studies are presented in the context of future work for the Task Force on Evidence-Based Interventions in School Psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phase contrasts for multiphase single case intervention designs.

The movement toward evidence-based interventions (EBI) in school psychology places new expectations on scientist-practitioners for evaluating intervention effectiveness (Kratochwill & Stoiber, 2000, 2002). Many such interventions in the school context are conducted for individual students, requiring single case designs. In this paper we provide school psychologists with a technique for assessing intervention effectiveness within complex (multiphase) single case designs, including multiple baseline designs. Phase contrasts can provide the researcher with one or more effect sizes which together summarize the elements of a multiphase design. Phase contrasts can be flexibly specified to match expectations for client performance during particular phases. Additional topics addressed are multiple baseline designs, confidence intervals around effect sizes, and autocorrelation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

"I finally have words!" Integrating a psychodynamic psychotherapeutic approach with principles of emotional intelligence training in treating trauma survivors.

This paper has as its focus the special characteristics of working with trauma survivors who present with premorbid difficulties in identifying and articulating feelings. The challenge described is the dialectic need to revisit and renarrate the traumatic experience to integrate and symbolize the experience while avoiding retraumatization and negative therapeutic reactions. It is proposed and illustrated through a case that implementing psychoanalytic understanding in the context of the psycho-educational principals of emotional intelligence training can expand patients' ability to articulate their traumatic experience. This egalitarian model is less likely to induce resistance and provides the opportunity for patients to develop the "emotional language" needed for a narration of the traumatic experience, thereby enhancing further analytic exploration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

If practitioners want new and better methods, shop in the public marketplace.

How do most practitioners integrate specific, new, working methods into their repertoire? In general, integration typically consists of adding concrete methods used in other approaches and incorporating or integrating them into one's own expanded approach. The purpose of this article is to propose a significantly broader and richer resource for finding new and better working methods, namely the vast "public marketplace of methods" used in other fields and sciences. In this article, experiential psychotherapy serves as an illustration of how its working methods were found by "shopping" in the public marketplace and integrating or customizing them into this particular psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Guess who's coming to therapy? Getting comfortable with conversations about race and ethnicity in psychotherapy.

Despite the fact that clinical psychology training programs now typically offer course work in multicultural issues, many professional psychologists may continue to feel unsure about how and when to incorporate multicultural awareness into their everyday clinical work. Having open discussions with clients regarding issues of race and ethnicity is one way to actively include a multicultural element into psychotherapy, as well as to strengthen the therapeutic alliance and promote better treatment outcome. The authors make several recommendations designed to provoke thought and stimulate conversation about race and ethnicity in the context of psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)