Work-life balance for early career Canadian psychologists in professional programs.

The authors examine work-life balance issues that apply to all Canadian academics and then focus on issues faced in the early stages of academic careers in professional psychology programs. In addition, the authors discuss the “family track including” timing of pregnancy. The authors identify psychological tasks such as establishing priorities, setting goals and willingness to 'say no.' In the final section, the authors offer suggestions about ways to gather information that will inform career choices, as well as strategies to help achieve work-life balance. Although the majority of psychology graduate students are women and a great deal of the literature on work-life balance is based on women, many of the issues the authors examine are applicable to both women and men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Practicing clinical psychologists’ provision of sexual health care services.

Practicing clinical psychologists are likely to work with sexual health concerns as part of their clinical practice because of high prevalence rates and sexual problems as symptoms of mental or physical health problems and their pharmacological treatment. However, the majority of clinicians do not receive didactic or supervised clinical training. This survey of 188 practicing clinical psychologists in one Canadian city confirmed that, despite lack of training, many clinicians discussed sexual health concerns with their clients and used a variety of sex therapy techniques. This survey also revealed, however, that 60% of clinicians did not ask, or very infrequently asked, clients about sexual health. In general, lack of training affected level of comfort, and both may result in inadequate application of sex therapy techniques and treatment. The results of this survey indicate an ethical imperative to included sexuality training in current graduate curricula to adequately prepare psychologists to assess, refer, and treat sexual health concerns. The inclusion of sexuality-related topics in existing clinical graduate courses, an increase in sexuality-specific courses focused on assessment and intervention in graduate curricula, and broader options for continuing education for practicing clinical psychologists are recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of La baisse du désir sexuel: méthodes d'évaluation et de traitement.

The decrease in sexual desire is considered to be one of the most common sexual dysfunctions, but it is also one of the most difficult to treat. Dr. Trudel's book proposes a cognitive-behavioral treatment as well as a multimodal approach for this problem. Using scientific research as his evidence this book is an essential resource for psychologists and clinicians especially for those which work with French-speaking clients. This book explains both evaluation methods as well as treatment for the loss of sexual desire and considers the multitude of factors that can effect the development, maintenance and exacerbation of these problems paying special attention to cognitive and behavioral factors and the interaction of the two. The goal of the book is to give a detailed presentation of the evaluation and treatment of loss of sexual desire. Trudel presents a study on the treatment in his "laboratory on sexuality and the couple" in the department of psychology at the University of Quebec in Montreal. In the first section of the book, factors that are associated with loss of sexual desire are discussed and Trudel examines the role and interaction of individual and environmental factors. The next section of the book describes the evaluation of the loss of sexual desire. This section includes interviews and psychometric methods which are both practical and useful. The third section of the book reviews studies and the results of treatment for loss of sexual desire. In the last section, various methods of intervention are presented including couples therapy, sex therapy, cognitive therapy and working with one's sexual fantasies. This section ends with a discussion on methods of application, resistance to treatment and prevention of relapse. Overall, this book is very well written and easily accessible to various types of audiences: psychologists, psychiatrists, sexual and general health therapists who are interested in the treatment of sexual dysfunctions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)