Questions about perceived self-efficacy are used to analyze cognitive processes through which people approach their efficacy for performance. The review indicates that: (a) self-efficacy perceptions generalize across idiosyncratic sets; (b) efficacy-standards discrepancies can create individual negative moods; and (c) distinctions can be made…

Discusses how conceptualizing anger control as a necessary survival skill for angry and aggressive youth is more productive than diagnosing these youth with labels like conduct disorders. Anger management programs should promote the ideas that angry persons need to trust others and that they have the ability to control their lives. (RJM)

Addresses a paradigm shift taking place in the field of substance-abuse prevention for youth. Introduces the youth development and empowerment (YD&E) approach, an innovative program for treating substance abuse and other problem behavior. Discusses the process of implementing the YD&E program. (MKA)

Examines client level of spirituality as a potential moderator for the effectiveness of including spiritual process in the counseling process. Results suggest that a spiritual intervention was perceived similarly to a cognitive-behavioral intervention for all respondents. Those respondents who self-reported higher levels of spirituality rated the…

A survey concerning treatment of children with posttraumatic stress disorder was completed by 77 child psychiatrists and 82 nonmedical therapists. Medical responders reported most preferred treatments included pharmacotherapy, psychodynamic, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Nonmedical respondents preferred cognitive-behavioral, family, and…

A study examined sensitivity to reinforcement in two boys (ages 7-10) with attention deficit hyperactivity using the matching law and evaluated effects of methylphenidate. In the medicated condition, the matching function for both subjects resulted in higher asymptotic values, indicating an overall elevation of behavior rate under these…

Describes a feasibility study conducted to define essential competencies and training methods for diabetic counseling, and to assess whether this approach was practicable in a diabetes resource center. Findings suggest that stages of the change model, motivational interviewing, and behavioral teachings were relevant to working in this area.…

This study compared three methods of stimulus preference assessment for four verbal children (ages six to nine) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, specifically evaluating the utility of a verbal choice procedure for assessing relative reinforcer value. Verbal and pictorial stimulus-choice assessments identified high- and low-preference…

This paper presents a method for distinguishing between extinction and punishment effects. In extinction and punishment, different schedules of reinforcement or punishment are in effect when a given proportion of responses is blocked. Response patterns in treatment of hand mouthing in an adult with profound mental retardation suggest that a…

Describes treatment activities at the Boys Town Emergency Shelter Program for runaway and homeless youths. An examination of data collected from 100 shelter users indicated a high number of teaching interactions between staff and youths high levels of youth satisfaction with the staff; and a low frequency of youth disruptive behaviors in the…

Analysis suggests pharmacotherapy is superior to cognitive-behavior therapy in the treatment of severely depressed outpatients in the National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program (TDCRP). This finding is neither robust across TDCRP sites nor consistent with findings from other studies. Argues that…

Addresses a few of the most important issues raised by N. S. Jacobson and S. D. Hollon and by D. F. Klein about the findings of the National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program (TDCRP). Presents conclusions regarding these issues. Makes recommendations for new areas of investigation using the TDCRP…

Investigated the across-session patterns of session impact in treatments of 117 depressed clients who were randomly allocated to 8 or 16 sessions of cognitive-behavioral or psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy. After each session clients completed the Session Evaluation Questionnaire and 75 of the clients completed the Session Impacts Scale.…

Author recounts his career as a premier bibliographer of group work. He examines the development of his career and points out the importance of making the broad literature on group work easily accessible to practitioners. Stresses the active nature of group leadership and describes his leadership process. (Author/JDM)

Restructuring an existing token economy (TE) in a psychiatric facility for children led to increased point-earning and decreased daily trips to seclusion. Restructuring occurred through operationalization of target behaviors and reduction of time between receipt of reinforcers and opportunity to exchange tokens. Results suggest changes in basic…