<p>The purpose of this study was to assess comparable or differential effects of a therapeutic art (AT) intervention, a cognitive behavioral (CBT) intervention, and no treatment (NT) on levels of Mood, Stress, and perceived Quality of Life in a sample of adult women. Positive results could add to the empirical research on the use of expressive arts in the therapeutic setting. Fifty four non clinical adult women from the Northern Arizona University community were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups. Data were collected electronically through questionnaires pretreatment, post treatment, and at three week post treatment follow up. Measures used were the International Positive and Negative Affect Scales - Short Form (IPANAS-SF), for mood, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales - 21 (DASS-21) for stress, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Form (WHOQOL-BREF) for quality of life. All three measures are reliable and have been validated in numerous studies with thousands of subjects. Mixed ANOVAs were calculated with General Linear Model in SPSS on raw scores and on Change Scores by group over time. Overall findings show that, for a one time brief intervention, art provided an immediate improvement in mood, stress, and perceived quality of life for the participants and was comparable to (or exceeded) the effects of the CBT intervention and the results from the NT group. Longer studies with other non-clinical adult women are recommended to further substantiate the findings.

<p> Many forms of distance clinical supervision (DCS) have been used in the last decade, but a sparse amount of research addressing (DCS) in counselor education exists to date. The author used random and snowball sampling to survey American Counseling Association members, with a analytic sample total of 96 participants. In the sample, 54.2% of participants were licensed counseling professionals and 39.6% were student or post-masters level interns. The average participant age was 43, ranging from 23 to 74 years. Participants had a mean of 8.1 years of experience. A total of 37.5% of participants had used DCS at some point for supervision sessions. Overall, participants have a positive attitude toward DCS, agreeing most that DCS is a valid form of supervision and that they are interested in learning about DCS. Overall, participants are being minimally exposed to DCS (<i>x&macr;</i> = 1.61). A moderate, negative relationship (<i>r</i> = -.39, p &lt; .001) exists between individuals whom have used DCS and attitudes toward DCS (Cohen, Cohen, West, &amp; Aiken, 2003, p. 52). Also, a weak, negative relationship (<i>r</i> = -.23, p &lt; .05) was found between individuals who have used DCS and their level of exposure to DCS. There is a limited amount of literature related to DCS and counseling professionals are being minimally exposed to distance clinical supervision. Despite limited exposure and literature, professionals are still using DCS to conduct supervision sessions. Therefore, it would seem important to increase research focused on DCS and develop relevant practices in order for DCS to be an effective form of supervision.</p>

<p> This study explored the benefits of providing 8 weeks of self-compassion training to graduate students working in helping professions. The single-participant multiple baseline across individuals design included two measures, the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Sixteen volunteer graduate students were asked to fill out online measures 2 weeks prior to the intervention, weekly throughout the 8-week trainings, and again at 1 week and 1 month after the conclusion of the intervention. Participants were also asked to complete a one-time background questionnaire to extract personal demographic and current stress-related information utilizing the Holmes and Rae scale. The results suggested a functional relationship between the teaching of self-compassion and the decrease in perceived stress of the participants. These effects continued to show marked decreases, especially in the last half of SCI training, and remained below baseline levels during follow-up. Self-Compassion Scale scores improved after the initial training. The results of this study suggest that participants who are taught self-compassion can experience decreased stress and increased well-being. Training in self-compassion shows promise as a technique for helping graduate students who are experiencing high levels of stress.</p>

<p> The primary purpose of this study was to explore ways migration experiences and cultural factors influence how sub-Saharan African-born immigrants diagnosed with HIV access medical and psychological health services in the United States. The study was conducted with African-born immigrants diagnosed with HIV. The participants were all members of a support group. The data was obtained through two focus group interviews. Qualitative methodology with thematic analysis was used. The findings of the study yielded six salient themes: (a) factors contributing to healthcare disparities; (b) emotional distress and psychosocial adjustment; (c) positive emotional wellness and support; (d) education as criteria to eliminate disparities; (e) stigmatization by interpreters; and (f) belief in God. Based on these findings, the following recommendations for reducing healthcare disparities among sub-Saharan African-born immigrants diagnosed with HIV were suggested: (a) provide culturally sensitive services that meet the needs of the population; (2) include clients in selecting their interpreters; and (3) provide in-depth education to clients and patients about their mental health with consideration for cultural meaning. Mental health providers are encouraged to seek some level of understanding about their patients&rsquo; perceptions of mental health symptoms and use culturally sensitive resources as an aid in providing services. The use of a collaborative and multidisciplinary team approach to care is likely to improve health seeking behaviors. Suggestions for mental health clinicians and implication for future research are discussed in the last section. </p><p> Key Words: healthcare disparities, stigma, HIV/AIDS, African-born immigrants, mental health, support, interpreters, refugees.</p>

<p> The concept of attraction and couple satisfaction has been of great interest in the field of psychology. However, there is limited research in relation to the factors of marital happiness and opposite personalities, particularly in how these are expressed through after dating or their relationship when evaluation through a time-span approach. This study attempted to fill this gap. The research question for this study was: What is the experience of being happily married among couples who have been together for at least five years and consider themselves as opposite from each other? This study used a generic qualitative inquiry, purposive sampling, and thematic analysis of the data. The generic qualitative study focused on six opposite-in-personality, happily married couples, most of whom were African American. These couples provided a rich description of their experiences of being married to their spouse, whom they believed to be opposite in personality. The 12 participants had the average age of 46.83 years, and couples were married an average of 14.33 years. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to describe the experience of happily married couples who considered themselves opposites in terms of personalities. The major themes that emerged from the data were accepting the differences, complementary traits, foundation of the relationship, wanting a partner who is different, being around each other, conflict resolution, and communication is key. It is the hope of the researcher that this study will spark additional research that utilizes personality inventories and evaluate how personality differences impact marital satisfaction over time.</p><p>

<p> Empirical literature indicated that marriage and family therapists are not comfortable discussing sexual topics with clients. The purpose of this cross-sectional correlational study was to examine the variables that may influence or predict a therapist&rsquo;s willingness to discuss sexual topics with clients. The research questions focused on understanding the predictive relationship between the independent variables of therapists&rsquo; (a) attitudes, (b) knowledge, (c) training, (d) supervision experience, (e) clinical experience, (f) sex, (g) age, (h) strength of religion, (i) sexual orientation, (j) practice experience, (k) practice setting, and (l) graduate specialization, and the dependent variables of therapists&rsquo; (a) willingness to discuss sexual topics with clients and (b) comfort discussing sexual topics with clients. Bowenian theory provided the framework for the study. Survey data were collected from 90 state-licensed marriage and family therapists in the United States. Findings from correlational and stepwise logistic regression analyses indicated that supervision experience was the strongest predictor of a therapist&rsquo;s willingness to discuss sexual topics with a client. The second strongest predictor was clinical experience. Therapists&rsquo; attitudes and knowledge were not predictors of comfort or willingness to discuss sexual topics with clients. Increasing the number of clinical and supervisory opportunities for marriage and family therapists may increase their willingness to discuss sexual topics and may decrease the number of clients who cannot receive help, which may improve quality of life for therapists, clients, and their families. </p><p>

<p> The set of behaviors known as Autoerotic Asphyxiation (AeA) have been studied, by contemporary scientific standards, for the better part of sixty years. Within that time, an inadequate amount of research has been completed on a far too narrow sample of the population, namely those who have died from the practice. AeA as a practice has been understudied to this point despite statistics that would note the potential for an unknown number of individuals to currently be practicing these behaviors. There is a paucity of both quantitative and qualitative data about living AeA practitioners. The present study uses Sex Positivity to acknowledge and approach the Kink community from a position of social justice, wellness, and resilience within the community (Burnes, Singh, &amp; Witherspoon, 2017). Sex Positivity, as utilized in the present study, assumes validity and wellness in the varying forms of pleasure-seeking behaviors noted above that include concepts of consent, mutual respect, and communication between partners (Queen &amp; Schimel, 1997; Richards &amp; Barker, 2013). Due to the aforementioned general lack of extant data on oxygen restriction enthusiasts, the present study focuses primarily upon identifying similarities and differences between living AeA and Airplay with a Partner (APP) enthusiasts. The study attempted to identify demographics, methods, preparations, and practices of AeA and APP. The study identified several demographic information pieces, which stand in contrast to extant literature. </p><p>

<p> While having a calling can produce great results, in recent studies on calling the key to reaping the rewards has been closely linked to being able to live out the call. For pastors in particular, &ldquo;The Call&rdquo; is fundamental to their lives and work. Most enter the ministry because of a deep sense of calling from God. A pastor&rsquo;s relationship with God is also key in this experience and was hypothesized to be a factor in the calling model for this career subgroup. The goal of this study was to explore how pastors experience calling in their lives and work; specifically, the relation between belief in their calling, fulfillment of that calling, life satisfaction, and how satisfaction in their relationship with God might interplay throughout the process. After accounting for missing data and outliers, the study sample consisted of 144 pastors enrolled in an online leadership development tool. Participants ranged in age from 23 to 98, 80% identified as male, and 98.6% were Protestant. Regression analyses were performed using the PROCESS macro in SPSS to estimate a moderated mediation (Model 58). The proposed mediated relationship was significant, with calling fulfillment mediating the relationship between calling belief and life satisfaction for pastors in this sample (<i> R</i>² = 0.215, <i>F</i>(2, 141) = 19.274, <i> p</i> &lt; .001). The proposed moderating role of satisfaction in relationship with God was not a significant predictor at either proposed stage. Overall, these results reveal that for pastors, the key in the relationship from calling to life satisfaction is living out the calling.</p><p>

<p> <i>Objective:</i> Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder associated with Streptococcal infections (PANDAS) are relatively new diagnoses steeped in interest and debate. While much of the research has been conducted in the medical &ndash; particularly neurological &ndash; field, little has been researched through the psychology field. Despite the fact that symptoms consist of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), tic and movement disorders, Autism Spectrum features, and more, the psychology field appears to be lacking in educating psychologists of PANS/PANDAS. This lack of knowledge puts children at risk as the presentation of symptoms look similar to purely psychiatric disorders. Having this knowledge is important as the treatment for PANS/PANDAS differs significantly from the psychiatric treatments for the symptoms. A wrong diagnosis can lead to delays in treatment, putting children at risk for further possible neurological damage.</p><p>

<p> The author presents the lack of deliverance ministry in the Evangelical church world as being incongruent with biblical, theological and historical underpinnings and, as such, forms a significant hindrance to its effective mission. To demonstrate the efficacy of deliverance, the author surveyed 46 Christian leaders on 98 possible effects of their personal deliverance experience. The author concluded that deliverance renders significant and broad positive effects in the individual leader and makes numerous recommendations pertaining to the inclusion of deliverance in ongoing church ministry, discipleship strategies and global mission.</p><p>