Eight rats (Rattus norwegicus) were individually exposed to either closed or open economies in a multioperant experimental setting with a proportional ratio reinforcement contingency imposed. Completion of successive ring pull ratios accrued visually signaled opportunities for access to food and/or water via further ratio completions on distinct levers. Successive pellet or water presentations decreased the remaining available food and water opportunities and when the last opportunity was depleted, subjects were returned to the ring pull option only. Experiment 1 compared the effects of a simple and forced savings proportional schedule. Rats "saved" when required to by the forced trials condition but substantial savings occurred in the simple proportional schedule irrespective of forced trials training. Assessment of responses occurring in the presence of specific discriminative stimuli indicated that the relevant operants were under adequate stimulus control. No systematic differences were observed in savings responses within closed or open economies and subsequent work was conducted in an open economy. Three of the subjects exhibited low rates of extended ring pull runs while five of the subjects emitted moderate to high savings responses. Experiment 2 compared the conditional probabilities of feeding and drinking bouts under a proportional schedule and a "free-choice" condition. Distributions of feeding and drinking bout lengths were similar across all subjects under the free-choice baseline and were not seen to covary in any way with the differences in ring pull run lengths observed among subjects under the proportional schedule conditions. Experiment 3 shifted each subject's baseline distribution of save runs to a higher proportion of extended save runs by increasing the response cost on the terminal food and water ratios following short save runs. Overall, the proportional schedule generated rates of saving, hoarding and putative examples of "self-control" in rats that were substantially greater than those previously reported in operant hoarding or self-control literature. The implications of proportional schedule effects for human performance are discussed.

Eight Vietnam veterans received stress management training in a 5 week, 8 session program. Controls (n = 7) continued routines of no treatment or combinations of varied outpatient treatments. All met DSM-III-R criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, measured by the Impact of Events Scale (IES, Horowitz, 1979), Symptom Checklist, Revised (SCL-90 -R, Derogatis, 1977, 1983) and interview. Subjects were referred by public agencies or recruited by public advertisement. Veteran ages ranged from 36 to 57 years. Educational level ranged from 12 to 18 years. Methods were adapted from Keane, et al. (1985) and stress management training literature. Procedures involved training in deep and applied relaxation, generalization of relaxation skills, cognitive behavioral therapy of affect, control (Meichenbaum, 1983) cognitive restructuring, and self-assertion (Linehan, 1976), and applied relaxation and desensitization by paired subject training. Pretest, posttest, delayed posttest (experimental group) measures were the IES, SCL-90 -R, Profile of Mood States (POMS, McNair, et al., 1981), and Social Adjustment Scale, Self-Report (SASSR, Weissman et al., 1978). Factors used were the Self Administered Alcoholism Survey (SAAS, Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, Revised, 1979) and a profile self-inventory. Treatment subjects showed significant reductions in specific measures of affect, and intrusion and denial/avoidant symptoms (Horowitz, 1976). Control subjects showed nonsignificant changes at posttest. Results suggest PTSD symptoms are influenced by an affective, psychophysiologic dependent state and symptomatic autonomic system arousal. Study significance is that stress management for control of affect arousal seems a significant factor for integrated treatment of PTSD.

The purpose of this study was to decrease the risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) during keyboard entry tasks through a combination of training, self-monitoring, feedback, goal-setting and reinforcement. A multiple baseline across subjects was used to assess subjects' posture and hand-wrist positions as they entered text on a keyboard. Following baseline data subjects received training and self-monitored either posture or hand-wrist positions. Later feedback, goal-setting, and reinforcement were given on both behaviors in a staggered fashion. The results indicate dramatic increases in both the percentage of posture items performed correctly and the percentage of time hand-wrist positions were at neutral for all subjects. Implications of the results are discussed.

Rats given a footshock 2 min after placement in a box subsequently freeze much more in that box than rats given the shock immediately upon placement. This lack of freezing following the immediate-shock is termed the immediate-shock deficit (ISD), and it is presumed to reflect a learning failure. The purpose of my dissertation was to examine possible mechanisms for the ISD and to further characterize one-trial context fear conditioning. Experiment 1a found the ISD data pattern, but freezing was weak in the delay procedure. Experiment 1b used a smaller box and found enhanced freezing only in the delay procedure. Also, for the delay-shock rats, freezing was distributed on the test day such that freezing increased up to about the time that shock was given on the conditioning day and then decreased. Experiments 2a and 2b used the opioid blocker naloxone to see if the ISD was due to a reduced potency of the immediate-shock brought about by opioid analgesia. The results argued no. Also, for the first time, more freezing and defecation was found in immediate rats than in no-shock control rats. This finding was strengthened by the results of Experiment 3 which measured escape, side preference, side and nose crossings, freezing, and defecation. For each measure, the immediate-shock rats behaved more like the delay-shock rats than no-shock rats. The results of Experiments 2a, 2b, and 3 argue that the ISD is not a complete failure of learning, but instead is only a partial reduction in learning. Experiment 4 found that freezing after experiencing an immediate-shock is not an unconditional effect of shock, but instead reflects learning. Experiment 4 also found that rats shocked 2.5, 15, or 405 s after placement in box freeze less than rats shocked 45 or 135 s after placement. These results suggest that the ISD can be subsumed as a specific instance of a more general interstimulus interval (ISI) effect. Experiments 5a, 5b, and 5c, taken together, determined that an immediate-shock, while only weakly conditioning the context in which it was delivered, could condition other cues that enjoy a more favorable ISI with that shock. This result further suggests that the ISD is not due to any reduced shock potency, but due instead to an unfavorable ISI. The parallel between many of the results found here with those seen in more complex but better studied Pavlovian conditioning models argues that the one-trial context fear conditioning preparation can serve as a simple model system for studying Pavlovian conditioning.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The nurse-client relationship is the context in which all nursing care is delivered. Despite changing trends in mental health nursing, authenticity has been identified as an enduring aspect of the therapeutic relationship. A behavioral aspect of therapeutic relationships that expresses authenticity on the part of the clinician is self-disclosure. The decision to self-disclose to clients remains a complex and unexplored area of clinical practice. As healthcare and economic trends push for briefer treatment in mental health, nurses are exploring new ways to build the therapeutic alliance more efficiently. Research from other disciplines indicates that therapist self-disclosure may have therapeutic value. This hermeneutic, phenomenologic study explored the experiences and the meaning that psychiatric nurse clinicians make of self-disclosure, and inevitably, nondisclosure in their therapeutic relationships with clients. Participants included 13 European American nurse practitioners or clinical nurse specialists board-certified in mental health nursing with at least 4 years experience. Data were collected from demographic questionnaires, interviews, written correspondence, and researcher notes. Narrative analysis revealed five types of self-disclosure: (a) environmental; (b) intentional-direct; (c) intentional-indirect; (d) unintentional-direct; and (e) unintentional-indirect. The data also yielded antecedents contributing to decisions by participants for both disclosure and non-disclosure with clients. Goals, benefits, positive experiences, risks and negative outcomes were explored for clinician self-disclosure. The participants’ perceptions of the meaning of self-disclosure were described. Results showed the context that participants developed for actual use of self-disclosure was well developed with specific antecedents. Self-disclosures were usually seen as effective when carefully applied based on assessment of the client’s developmental stage, the length of the relationship, client need, and boundary strength. Self-disclosure, to be effective, seems to be associated with a level of context-dependent discernment and relational skill found in the experienced or expert nurse. Finally, changing patterns in the use of self-disclosure by nurse clinicians emerged from the interview data. Implications for practice include participants’ belief that self-disclosure by the clinician is unavoidable and that it can contribute to strengthening or weakening the therapeutic alliance. As such, self-disclosure by clinicians warrants training and discussion. Further research in the area of nurse clinician self-disclosure, especially client perceptions of the experience and its meaning, is indicated.

<p> The purpose of the study was to determine whether family and peer risk and protective factors predicted alcohol, marijuana and cigarette use as well as alcohol-related problems among 6^th, 8^th, and 10^th grade students. This study also determined whether age moderated the relation between family and peer influences and substance use outcomes. Results demonstrated that peer alcohol use, peer positive alcohol use attitudes, and family history of drug and alcohol problems were associated with higher alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use, as well as alcohol-related problems. Conversely, parental monitoring and peer negative alcohol use attitudes were associated with lower alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use, as well as alcohol dependence. Moderation analyses demonstrated that among older adolescents&rsquo; social risk and protective factors were associated with higher or lower substance use, respectively. However, younger adolescents&rsquo; reported lower substance use, regardless of the level of the social influence. Implications regarding prevention programs are discussed.</p>

<p>Based on Berry&rsquo;s model of acculturation, when immigrants move to a new country, they choose to live according to any one of the following four acculturation modes: assimilation, integration, separation, or marginalization. The specific cultural and psychosocial characteristics of the acculturating individual or group determine what acculturation mode they will most likely follow. Generation, ethnic identity and modernity are few examples of those cultural and psychosocial referents. The present study examined the relationship of generation first and second, ethnic identity and modernity to acculturation among Lebanese American immigrant women living in the metro-Detroit area. Using the snowball technique, ninety women (first generation = 51, second generation = 39) took part in the study. The participants responded on Qualtrics (online survey platform) to the four measures used in this study: (1) a demographic survey, (2) the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), (3) Traditionalism-Modernism Inventory-Revised (TMI-R), and (4) the Acculturation Rating Scale for Arab Americans II (ARSAA-II). Multiple regression was used to analyze the data. Results indicated that generation and ethnic identity had a significant relationship to acculturation, as they were the best predictors of acculturation in Lebanese American women in the metro Detroit area. Unexpectedly, modernity did not contribute significantly to acculturation. The main implication of this research is that if immigrants&rsquo; generation (first, second, etc.) and ethnic identity are known, then professionals can make meaningful determinations of immigrants&rsquo; acculturation. Discussion of the relationships among the variables as stated in the hypothesis is provided. Implications for future research and practice are also provided. </p>