The aim of this project was to examine key medical and behavioral health issues identified in the context of integrated wellness visits. Specifically, this study sought to examine the role of psychologists in pediatric wellness visits, including the early identification of behavioral, developmental, and learning problems, as well as the delivery of brief, effective interventions. The study was conducted at Cherokee Health Systems, a fully integrated pediatric practice in East Tennessee, which follows a fully integrated model of integrated primary care. Data was obtained from a record review of 100 participants, providing a total of 373 well visits. Outcomes demonstrate that behavioral and developmental concerns are raised at a higher rate than in non-integrated practices. Specifically, visits in which the psychologist was present, 44.42% resulted in some concern being raised. Further, 36.24% of visits resulted in psychosocial concern(s) being raised. This figure is significant given that 22% of well visits typically result in discussion of some psychosocial concern consistently found in the research literature. Additionally, of concerns raised, 81.87% were raised directly with/by the psychologist on staff, who is able to offer immediate interventions when concerns are raised.

The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 2004 have placed increased demands on all educators and administrators. School psychologists find themselves charged with addressing a broad range of issues today, and there is an emphasis on leadership in the effective provision of services. Although the literature is replete with examples of the centrality of leadership in regards to the educational experience of students, there have not been sufficient studies that have studied this topic in school psychology. The purpose of this study was to discover, understand, and describe in rich detail the lived experience of school psychologists exercising leadership. The researcher interviewed school psychologists within a mid-size school district in Central Florida who were nominated by district administrators that supervise of them. Additionally, this study sought to identify the contexts, domains of practice, universal structures, and opportunities utilized in their experiences. School psychologists demonstrated leadership through collaboration and consultation, professional expertise, student-oriented needs, expert-problem solvers, and communication skills. The contexts of their leadership experiences varied due to the diverse roles taken on by the individual, however they were all demonstrated at the district level, school level, and with their peers. The leadership experiences identified by the study participants correspond to most of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) domains of practice and also correspond to transformational leadership. The results are particularly salient to school psychologist, as the information comes from the perspective of school psychologists who were noted to be "effective" and displays "leadership" and are now exercising leadership. Future research is encourage to examine leadership experiences across multiple school districts to identify experiences of other leaders across various settings.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) introduced Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) into United States law in 1990, and the reauthorization of IDEIA occurred in 2004. Even though BIPs have been codified into law, school personnel struggle to meet BIP mandates due to poor implementation fidelity. Barriers for BIP implementation are varied, but there is little research regarding whether practitioner competence and confidence through teaching experience is a factor. School psychologists (N = 122) from eight states completed a self-evaluation survey using the tailored design method. Results from the survey compared responses from school psychologists with and without teaching experience on BIP writing, implementation, and staff support. There were no differences in responses noted between the two groups for competence or confidence. However, school psychologists received substantially more training in writing BIPs than implementation or methods to support staff, and experience directly implementing BIPs provided the strongest correlation to confidence. This suggests that additional research surrounding the concept of training to practice for BIP implementation may be beneficial in identifying methods for improving BIP implementation fidelity as well as school psychologists' competence and confidence in BIP creation and implementation support.

No description available.

Fastän psykologer och psykologins ställning i samhället ofta sägs ha förändrats så finns det väldigt lite forskning gjord på yrket. Särskilt saknas det studier som inriktar sig på att undersöka omdaningar i den svenska psykologprofessionen över tid. Syftet med uppsatsen är att granska, beskriva och analysera den svenska psykologprofessionen mellan åren 1990 och 2010. Studien empiriska material utgörs av de nummer av Psykologtidningen, vilket är Svenska Psykologförbundets officiella tidning, som utgivits under dessa år. Dessa har analyserats med hjälp av en diskursanalytisk ansats som utgår från de metoder och teorier som den franska historikern och filosofen Michel Foucault utarbetade. Som analysredskap har även Foucaults begrepp styrningsmentalitet (eng.governmentality) använts för att kunna positionera fynden i ett större historiskt perspektiv.   Resultatet visar på att diskursen om psykologprofessionen har genomgått ett antal förändringar sedan början av nittiotalet. Den dominanta ställning som psykoterapeutpositionen haft sedan 1980-talet har börjat luckras upp och i dess ställe har nya yrkesuppgifter såsom testning, handledning och chefskap vuxit fram med konsekvensen att yrket blivit mer heterogent. Det har även skett en förskjutning i fokus från vikten av att inrikta sig på att behandla psykisk ohälsa till att främja hälsa, vilket medfört att man börjat röra sig bort från de psykiatriska verksamheterna. Istället framhävs vikten av att arbeta inom förebyggande verksamheter såsom vårdcentraler, skolor och företagshälsor.  Utöver detta har yrket omformulerat sitt förhållande till det omgivande samhället. Sedan mitten på 1990-talet så har det börjat ses allt mindre självklart att psykologer skall arbeta inom den offentliga sektorn. Psykologkåren har även försökt anpassa yrkesrollen till att bli mer gångbar i media. Dessutom har man börjat uttrycka psykologins förtjänster i mer ekonomiska termer, i syfte att konkret kunna visa på ens nytta för samhället. Slutligen har synen på yrkets kunskapsgrund skiftat då psykoanalysen tappat i inflytande. Istället har en mängd andra teorier och modeller brett ut sig med implikationer för yrkets vetenskapsfilosofiska antaganden. Samtidigt har det skett en mer praktisk och politisk kodifiering av vilka former av kunskap som ses som trovärdiga, i och med etablerandet av en specialistordning samt den omskakande debatten om evidensbasering. Dessa händelser har påverkat vilken forskning som ses som tillförlitlig för psykologens arbetsutövning.   Förändringarna gällande diskursen kring psykologyrket kan förstås i ljuset av en förskjutning i den dominerande styrningsmentaliteten i det svenska samhället, från en välfärdbaserad till en neoliberal styrningsform. Detta har medfört att psykologprofessionen har haft nya samhälleliga krav och behov att förhålla sig till, mot vilka man har artikulerat sin samtida yrkesutövning.

The identification of personality adequacy includes complete research of a person. There are various psycho diagnostic testing methods for such researches. The most testing methods are being created abroad, therefore it takes a lot of time to evaluate the results and to adapt them to the Lithuanians situation. This means that the psychologist have to make a lot of tests of different patient’s groups as well. At the moment, there is no program in Lithuania, which would be helpful by creating computerized version of tests and able to collect all data related to the patient and to the process of theinvestigation. Such program would be able to computerize confidential methods as well. All data related to the patient and the method of research, has to be protected. The information system of personality adequacy identification gives a possibility for the psychologists to register the investigative persons and the process of this investigation. It also helps to create textual and visual tests, to test the investigative persons, to accumulate the diagnosis and the experience of the applied methodic. The created system of programs helps the psychologists to work more efficiently and to generalize the date of Lithuanian’s patients groups as well. This program is going to ensure the required grade of confidentially and security of tests data.

No description available.

Magister Educationis - MEd / Current debates in education and education support focus on the importance of schools needing to facilitate the holistic development of learners and also ensuring the achievement of educational objectives. This study focused on the need for counsellors to support teaching and learning in Schools of Skills and investigated challenges that emerged when school counsellors facilitate school development. The research question which framed this study was, what is the role school counsellors play in supporting teaching and learning and school development? A mixed methods approach that employed both qualitative and quantitative techniques was adopted in an attempt to construct a rich and meaningful picture of school counselling practice within School of Skills. Participants included principals, counsellors and educators at four schools of skills situated in the Western Cape. The data collection process included interviews and questionnaires. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with the four principals and the four school counsellors and questionnaires including both open-ended and closed questions were completed by educators. The findings illuminate the psycho-social barriers experienced by learners and how school counsellors can support learners. Roles of school counsellors are varied and involve the provision of support to various members of the school community in addition to teaching and administration. Challenges faced by school counsellors were highlighted as lack of human resources, lack of support and workload. The recommendations are presented as suggestions for consideration at various levels in the system, from micro (level of the individual) to macro (level of the state).

Background: Attachment styles involve perceptions of the self and others and influence how individuals relate to other people. Insecure attachment styles have been strongly associated with the life experiences, criminal behaviour and mental health presentations common to patients in forensic settings. Therefore, challenging interactions associated with patients’ insecure attachment styles and contact with traumatising material are considered common for psychologists working within these settings. However, previous research has also indicated that a significant number of psychologists may also have insecure attachment styles. Forensic settings have been associated with stress and burnout amongst health care professionals. However, no previous research has explored how psychologists’ attachment styles may impact their levels of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction or influence their self-care in this setting. Aims: This is an exploratory study which addresses a gap in the literature. It aims to explore the attachment styles and prevalence of compassion fatigue (burnout and secondary traumatic stress) and compassion satisfaction amongst psychologists in forensic settings. It will also qualitatively explore how psychologists manage negative feelings that arise in relation to their work and their use of self-care strategies in a range of situations. Finally, it will explore differences in the self-care strategies used by psychologists with different attachment styles. Methodology: An online survey was used to gather data from 66 psychologists currently working in forensic settings in the United Kingdom. Quantitative measures of attachment style, compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue were combined with qualitative questions regarding psychologists’ self-care strategies. This provided data which was analysed using a mixed methodology, including correlational statistical analysis and qualitative content analysis. Attachment style groups were identified from the quantitative data and qualitative content analysis was applied to explore group similarities and differences in psychologists’ self-care strategies. Results: The results indicated that participating psychologists had a range of attachment styles. Compassion fatigue was not found to be as prevalent as suggested by previous research. Positive correlations were found between attachment related anxiety and burnout, and attachment related avoidance and burnout. Compassion satisfaction was found to be common within the present sample. A negative correlation was found between attachment related avoidance and compassion satisfaction. Similarities and differences in psychologists’ self-care were highlighted between different attachment style groups. Implications: A potential vulnerability was identified for psychologists with insecure attachment styles, in relation to burnout and reduced compassion satisfaction. Furthermore, there appeared to be a lack of knowledge and understanding of attachment theory and how this applies to clinical work. Therefore, a key implication is the development of training for psychologists in relation to this topic. Use of multiple self-care strategies was common and self-care was perceived as important to clinical practice by the majority of the present sample. However, a training need for skills to be taught early in the psychologists’ career and a need for self-care to be more widely supported at an organisational level regardless of stage of career was identified. The study concludes with a review of methodological considerations and the limitations these may present to the current findings.

Executive functioning is an umbrella term used to describe abilities that include self-monitoring, goal-setting, planning, organization, attention, and working memory. Broadband behavior rating scales are commonly used by school psychologists and the instruments often now include an executive functioning scale. It is unknown, however, how these scales, based on a few items, compare to more extensive rating scales that solely measure executive functioning. The current study examined the overall consistency between the executive functioning scale on one broadband instrument to another instrument that assesses multiple areas of executive functioning by having teachers complete both instruments at the same point in time. The comparisons revealed statistically significant correlations, but significantly different mean scores between the executive functioning CAB-T score and the overall BRIEF score. Furthermore, classification consistency (i.e., scores from the two scales are both in the average range or clinically significant range) only occurred approximately two-thirds of the time. Thus, concerns were raised about the use of the scale from the broadband instrument as a general measure of executive functioning.