Search results

There is growing literature on the application of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) with adults with intellectual disabilities (IDs). To draw upon the evidence-base from mainstream approaches, adapted interventions must remain true to their theoretical foundations and retain key components. The purpose of this paper was to establish the extent to which DBT has been adapted for adults with ID, and whether existing adapted protocols can still be considered DBT.

The theoretical underpinnings and key components of DBT were identified. Six DBT studies were critiqued according to these criteria.

In terms of content, only one intervention comprised all necessary elements. All of the remaining interventions included a skills group; two included individual therapy and another two included group consultation. None of the remaining interventions provided 24-h telephone support. Furthermore, none of the studies explicitly described using dialectical strategies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to critically examine the evidence-base for the use of DBT in ID, particularly its fidelity.

There is limited evidence regarding clinical effectiveness of therapeutic interventions for people with intellectual disabilities (ID). Previous research has highlighted challenges regarding adaptation of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for people with ID. Central to ACT is a focus on living in congruence with individual core values. The concept of values is abstract and difficult for people with a limited verbal understanding to comprehend, and yet this approach holds much promise for people with ID. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The current study outlines the adaptations undertaken to facilitate making the concept of values more accessible to people with ID. It also explores the feasibility of the adapted approach to the values component.

This trial has shown that it is possible to isolate a single component of ACT and adapt it for use with people with ID. The findings highlight the potential feasibility of a value-based approach for people with ID augmented through the use of participant-produced photography to enhance conceptual understanding of the values component of ACT.

Findings were reliant on self-report data, which may result in inaccurate reporting and may be influenced by social demands. Given the diverse and unique presentations of people with ID, the inclusion and exclusion criteria limits the extent to which the current findings may be generalised to people with ID more widely.

Participant-produced photography may be directly applied to clinical practice, with implied benefits of improving access to, and meaningful engagement with psychological therapies for people with ID. Development of (and ability to articulate) a readily available and easily accessible values system, during times of adversity, represents a key implication arising from the current trial.

The current study shows that people with intellectual disability can be helped to appreciate abstract concepts such as personal core values. It also shows the potential to work through the medium of personal photography to explore the feasibility of the adapted approach to the values component – potentially a logical preliminary step towards an ACT-ID evidence base. To the authors’ knowledge, this novel approach is the first of its kind in the ID literature.

While a return to work following trauma exposure can be therapeutic, this is not always so. As with many topics related to traumatic stress in organizations, several contingency factors complicate the effort to draw an overarching conclusion about whether returning to work is therapeutic. The purpose of this paper is to present important determinants of whether work is therapeutic or triggering for those with traumatic stress conditions. The need for contingency approaches in the study of traumatic stress in organizations is illustrated.

Literature on traumatic stress in organizations is reviewed.

Three of the key determinants of whether a return to work is therapeutic or triggering for traumatic stress sufferers are trauma-type contingencies, condition-type contingencies and work-setting contingencies. For instance, human-caused and task-related traumas are more likely than natural disasters to make a return-to-work triggering. Additionally, the time since developing a traumatic stress condition is inversely related to the degree of improvement in that condition through the experience of working. Moreover, managerial actions can affect how therapeutic an employee’s return to work is.

These findings suggest the challenges of reintegrating a traumatized employee to the workplace can be highly situation-specific. Careful consideration of the traumatic event suffered by each traumatic stress victim, their traumatic stress condition, and the work setting to which they would return are recommended.

Promoting mental health in organizations can contribute to employers’ social performance.

Examination of the factors that complicate predicting whether work is therapeutic posttrauma demonstrates how contingency approaches can advance research on trauma in organizations.

This paper examines the cost and profit productivity of European co‐operative banks between 1996 and 2003 using the parametric productivity decomposition suggested by Berger and Mester (2003). We find that over the period co‐operative banks benefited from substantial gains in both profit and cost productivity. Annual profit improvements range between 4% and 8% for the majority of co‐operative banks, with even larger cost productivity gains. These productivity improvements have predominantly been generated by the enhanced performance of best practice banks relative to other banks. This means that the best practice co‐operative banks have moved further away from other banks in terms of increasing profits and reducing costs.

Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels, considered at first a children’s book, has been for a long time the subject of a debate among philosophers, political scientists, and literary critics. Apart from its keen political satire, Gulliver’s Travels approaches in a very non‐standard way interesting socioeconomic topics such as the legal system, political science, and colonisation. Moreover, Swift provides interesting insights about human nature and behaviour when describing the nations visited by Captain Gulliver. This paper examines to what extent economic philosophy can contribute to the understanding of Gulliver’s Travels, and what economists can learn from Swift’s extravagant digressions.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the experiences of acquired brain injury (ABI) family caregivers who attended an acceptance based group intervention.

A qualitative design and interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology were used.

Five key themes were identified: increasing personal awareness; the dialectic of emotional acceptance vs emotional avoidance; integration of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) principles; peer support; and moving forward after the group. It seemed that some individuals found the ACT exercises distressing, whereas others reported benefits. All participants described experiences of acceptance vs avoidant means of coping, and attempts to integrate new approaches into existing belief systems.

This study is the first to explore the experiences of ABI caregivers undertaking an ACT group intervention.

The purpose of this paper is to deflate some of the pressure-orienting teachers toward following a curricular script.

The authors connect effective classroom teaching and learning practices to a dialogic instructional stance that values local resources and student perspectives and contributions. The authors argue that effective teachers have agency to make decisions about content and pacing adjustments (they call this agentive flow) and that they practice response-able talk. Response-able talk practices are responsive to what is happening in the classroom, responsibly nurture joint purposes and multiple perspectives, and cultivate longer exchanges of student exploratory talk. These talk practices are not easily scripted.

The authors show what these effective, local and dialogic instructional practices look like in a second-grade urban classroom.

The authors call upon every teacher to robustly find their local ways of working.

In this paper, the authors argue that harnessing the local is an essential aspect of dialogic instruction and a critical component of a dialogic instructional stance.

The paper aims to address the question, “What is the impact of web-based video via webcams on virtual team trust and effectiveness?” Change and evolution in team perceptions over time are described. The result is the creation of a theoretical model describing the effect of webcams on virtual team development.

A qualitative phenomenological heuristic case study was used to explore the individual expectations and experiences of the team members over a six-week period. To strengthen reliability and validity, two qualitative methods, content analysis and constant comparative analysis — a means of grounded theory, were used to both test the historic basis of the existing literature on trust and effectiveness in virtual teams and to explore how the use of webcams influenced the work, interactions and effectiveness of a virtual team. Both qualitative methods involved different pairs of researchers using inter-rater coefficients to address coding reliability and validity. Results from the two methods were then compared and contrasted.

The resulting model highlights the importance of ongoing, formal differentiated training on new technology. This research also suggests careful management of technology change and its deployment to enhance outcomes of various organization forms.

Given the nature of the qualitative study, the findings are not generalizable, but may illumine the understanding of webcams and technology adaptation in similar virtual teams.

The resulting model highlights the importance of ongoing, formal differentiated training on new technology. This research also suggests careful management of technology change and its deployment to enhance outcomes of various organization forms. The study incorporates Technology Acceptance Theory and applications of the Kirton Adaptation-Innovation Inventory.

With the increase in bandwidth on the Internet, technologies such as webcams have become more viable for use in virtual teams.