Semi-structured interviews with 29 probation officers were conducted about their experiences addressing youths’ criminogenic needs in accordance with the Risk-Need-Responsivity framework. Probation officers discussed barriers they face at the individual, organizational, and systemic level (‘environmental’ issues that transcend – but impact on – the individual youth). Results revealed that challenges probation officers faced included ambiguity with respect to their role addressing certain risk-need domains, waitlist for services, having to prioritize certain noncriminogenic needs, involving parents, and the prevalence of mental illness (particularly concurrent diagnoses). Probation officers also discussed systemic barriers that they felt were out of their control but significantly impacted youths’ risk. Results are discussed in terms of implications for theory, research, policy, and practice.

The psychological literature on immigrants has identified numerous challenges of resettlement. Research on acculturation indicates that adaptive functioning is characterized as a bicultural prospect in which individuals balance their heritage and the dominant culture within the receiving society. This conceptualization of positive adaptation typically relegates culture to a broad-based and static property circumscribed within ethnicity, neglecting diverse cultural representations and the way specific mechanisms affect the process of adaptation. The current research sought immigrants’ subjective accounts of resilience. The aim of this study was to identify specific markers of significant adversity and corollary positive adaptation that intersect with diverse mechanisms of culture to develop a theory of cultural adaptation. A constructivist grounded theory approach was implemented in data collection and analysis. Eighteen first-generation immigrants, who represented a range of cultural backgrounds and geographic regions, each participated in one semi-structured interview. The overarching theme that emerged from data analysis, Belonging, was found to explicate the meaning of resilience for immigrants in terms of their cultural adaptation. Belonging indicated a process by which immigrants gained a sense of identification with and inclusion in Canadian society. Immigrants’ perception of Belonging was affected by two mid-level themes, Forming Attachments and Feeling Acceptance. Forming Attachments was contextually driven and highlighted a personal process of developing cultural attachments. The advancement of attachments, interpersonally, occupationally and to the larger sociocultural environment, was meaningful to recovery and had implications for Belonging. The second mid-level theme identified a reciprocal process of acceptance that revealed a struggle to accept cultural changes as well as the significance of feeling accepted as an equal member of society. Taken together, Forming Attachments and Feeling Acceptance had a significant effect on immigrants’ sense of Belonging and were contextualized within a range of cultural domains. This study highlights the dynamic role of culture in immigrant adaptation and contributes to both research and health care professionals by offering a framework of immigrant resilience that may promote healthy forms of functioning.

Impaired inhibition is a deficit of several psychopathological disorders, particularly attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In the first study, a meta-analysis was conducted to determine whether impaired inhibition as measured by the Stop Signal Task is specific to ADHD, or whether it could be found in other psychopathological disorders. The meta-analysis found an inhibitory deficit in ADHD, but also in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia (SCZ), suggesting that deficient inhibition is not specific to ADHD. A common neural mechanism may underlie deficient inhibition in ADHD, OCD, and SCZ. Study 2 aimed to determine the neural basis of inhibition using a lesion-deficit approach in children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Only TBI children with white matter lesions in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) region showed impaired inhibition compared with orthopedic injury controls. This suggests that deficient inhibition may stem from frontal lobe white matter damage, particularly in the SFG.

Empirical investigations of the prevalence and associated features of mental health issues in immigrant populations, have implicated acculturative stress as a potentially significant factor (Sam & Berry, 2010). Acculturative stress is associated with unemployment and underemployment among immigrant professional workers. The objective of the current investigation is to examine the prevalence and impact of acculturation, acculturative stress and coping in a sample of adult immigrant professionals. To provide a theoretical foundation for the study, the following conceptualizations were used: Berry’s (2006) four pronged definition of acculturation; The Stress and Coping Model; and the Social Cognitive Career Theory. Using a grounded theory, qualitative approach, in- depth interviews were used to examine the experiences of employment and acculturation among 20 professional immigrant workers in Canada. The findings of this study demonstrate that immigrant professional workers experience high levels of acculturative stress and utilize a number of coping strategies in relation to their employment trajectories.

This study examined the effectiveness of a parenting intervention for abused women and their children called Mothers in MindTM. Based on models of cumulative effects of trauma, it was hypothesized that women who experienced continuous abuse (from childhood to adulthood) would have more parenting difficulties initially and be less receptive to treatment than women whose abuse experiences began later in life (in youth and/or adulthood). Fifty-seven women completed the intervention. Overall, parenting intervention significantly increased women’s parenting competence but did not significantly change mothers’ perceptions of their attachment with their children. Contrary to hypotheses, there were no significant differences in initial parenting difficulties between the two groups and timing of abuse (continuous versus late onset) did not significantly differentiate treatment effects. Contributions of other contextual variables, such as poverty and parental psychopathology, to variation in the effectiveness of intervention for this population of multiply disadvantaged women are discussed.

Impaired inhibition is a deficit of several psychopathological disorders, particularly attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In the first study, a meta-analysis was conducted to determine whether impaired inhibition as measured by the Stop Signal Task is specific to ADHD, or whether it could be found in other psychopathological disorders. The meta-analysis found an inhibitory deficit in ADHD, but also in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia (SCZ), suggesting that deficient inhibition is not specific to ADHD. A common neural mechanism may underlie deficient inhibition in ADHD, OCD, and SCZ. Study 2 aimed to determine the neural basis of inhibition using a lesion-deficit approach in children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Only TBI children with white matter lesions in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) region showed impaired inhibition compared with orthopedic injury controls. This suggests that deficient inhibition may stem from frontal lobe white matter damage, particularly in the SFG.

Empirical investigations of the prevalence and associated features of mental health issues in immigrant populations, have implicated acculturative stress as a potentially significant factor (Sam & Berry, 2010). Acculturative stress is associated with unemployment and underemployment among immigrant professional workers. The objective of the current investigation is to examine the prevalence and impact of acculturation, acculturative stress and coping in a sample of adult immigrant professionals. To provide a theoretical foundation for the study, the following conceptualizations were used: Berry’s (2006) four pronged definition of acculturation; The Stress and Coping Model; and the Social Cognitive Career Theory. Using a grounded theory, qualitative approach, in- depth interviews were used to examine the experiences of employment and acculturation among 20 professional immigrant workers in Canada. The findings of this study demonstrate that immigrant professional workers experience high levels of acculturative stress and utilize a number of coping strategies in relation to their employment trajectories.

The psychological literature on immigrants has identified numerous challenges of resettlement. Research on acculturation indicates that adaptive functioning is characterized as a bicultural prospect in which individuals balance their heritage and the dominant culture within the receiving society. This conceptualization of positive adaptation typically relegates culture to a broad-based and static property circumscribed within ethnicity, neglecting diverse cultural representations and the way specific mechanisms affect the process of adaptation. The current research sought immigrants’ subjective accounts of resilience. The aim of this study was to identify specific markers of significant adversity and corollary positive adaptation that intersect with diverse mechanisms of culture to develop a theory of cultural adaptation. A constructivist grounded theory approach was implemented in data collection and analysis. Eighteen first-generation immigrants, who represented a range of cultural backgrounds and geographic regions, each participated in one semi-structured interview. The overarching theme that emerged from data analysis, Belonging, was found to explicate the meaning of resilience for immigrants in terms of their cultural adaptation. Belonging indicated a process by which immigrants gained a sense of identification with and inclusion in Canadian society. Immigrants’ perception of Belonging was affected by two mid-level themes, Forming Attachments and Feeling Acceptance. Forming Attachments was contextually driven and highlighted a personal process of developing cultural attachments. The advancement of attachments, interpersonally, occupationally and to the larger sociocultural environment, was meaningful to recovery and had implications for Belonging. The second mid-level theme identified a reciprocal process of acceptance that revealed a struggle to accept cultural changes as well as the significance of feeling accepted as an equal member of society. Taken together, Forming Attachments and Feeling Acceptance had a significant effect on immigrants’ sense of Belonging and were contextualized within a range of cultural domains. This study highlights the dynamic role of culture in immigrant adaptation and contributes to both research and health care professionals by offering a framework of immigrant resilience that may promote healthy forms of functioning.

This study examined the effectiveness of a parenting intervention for abused women and their children called Mothers in MindTM. Based on models of cumulative effects of trauma, it was hypothesized that women who experienced continuous abuse (from childhood to adulthood) would have more parenting difficulties initially and be less receptive to treatment than women whose abuse experiences began later in life (in youth and/or adulthood). Fifty-seven women completed the intervention. Overall, parenting intervention significantly increased women’s parenting competence but did not significantly change mothers’ perceptions of their attachment with their children. Contrary to hypotheses, there were no significant differences in initial parenting difficulties between the two groups and timing of abuse (continuous versus late onset) did not significantly differentiate treatment effects. Contributions of other contextual variables, such as poverty and parental psychopathology, to variation in the effectiveness of intervention for this population of multiply disadvantaged women are discussed.

The present study involved an extension and evaluation of a mindfulness-based training program for families of adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). MYmind: Mindfulness training for Youth with ADHD and their parents (Bogels et al., 2008) is an eight-week manualized treatment incorporating elements of mindfulness meditation, ADHD psychoeducation and cognitive behavioural therapy. MYmind focuses on helping families cultivate mindfulness through training in formal meditation practices and integrating this skill into the context of everyday life as a means of managing ADHD symptoms, stress, family relations and difficult emotions. A North American sample of 13 parents and 9 adolescents (ages 13-18) participated in MYmind; during the intervention, parents and adolescents attended separate groups that ran simultaneously. Using a time-series multiple baseline design, constructs of stress, distress from family conflict, ADHD symptomatology and meditation practice were measured via short questionnaires emailed daily to both parents and adolescents throughout baseline, treatment and six months of follow-up. For multiple baseline purposes, intervention was introduced in a time-lagged fashion. Results from parent and adolescent reports indicated reductions in parent and adolescent stress, parent and adolescent distress due to family conflict, and increased frequency and duration of meditation practice. Parent reports suggested a decrease in their adolescents’ inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity symptoms after participating in MYmind, a reduction that was not confirmed by adolescent reports. Most treatment gains were maintained up to six-months following treatment completion. Meditation practice was significantly correlated with reduced stress levels for both groups. Both parents and adolescents reported high satisfaction with the MYmind program overall. Mindfulness training appears to hold considerable potential for improving the multiple difficulties experienced by adolescents with ADHD and their parents.