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Objective: Women assertively resisting sexual aggression have the best chances of avoiding completed rape. Especially with acquaintances, there are significant social and psychological barriers to resistance. Novel vignettes depicting acquaintance rape were designed to enhance self-efficacy, reduce unrealistic optimism, and empower assertive resistance. Participants: The data were collected using a Web-based survey of 449 female college students from multiple universities in August-October 2014. Methods: Between-subjects mixed-methods design. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of four vignettes and complete self-report measures of personal vulnerability, self-efficacy, and beliefs and intention about resistance. Results: Although vignettes did not impact self-efficacy, one vignette enhanced perceived controllability and decreased unrealistic optimism. Women who read about completed acquaintance rape described intention to use physically assertive responses at double the rate of women reading about successful resistance. Conclusions: As low-cost, easily disseminated materials, vignettes about sexual assault may enhance campus prevention efforts.

This study is a preliminary investigation of the efficacy of a brief intervention for recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) via a multiple baseline across subjects design. The intervention consisted of a single 1-hour session including psychoeducation and coaching of breathing retraining; the length, duration, and content of the intervention were designed with a goal of maximum portability to primary-care settings. Five children with recurrent abdominal pain participated in this study, 1 of whom served as a pilot participant. Children received the intervention at 1-week intervals. Parent and child reports of each child's abdominal pain, general somatic complaints, functional disability, and anxiety were collected throughout the study. All children participated in a 3-month follow-up session. Results indicated that this brief intervention was successful in lessening abdominal pain, as demonstrated by decreased Abdominal Pain Index (API) scores in two children and decreased abdominal pain following breathing retraining practice in all children. The intervention was also successful in decreasing some children's general somatic symptoms. Functional disability and anxiety symptoms remained consistent for all children throughout the study, which may be due to low levels of these symptoms pretreatment. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

This article relates how an English teacher in an urban high school described his efforts to listen and to perceive a seemingly disaffected student in his efforts to support her learning. He observed her responding to his efforts in positive and unexpected ways that involved her increased involvement in learning in his class. This teacher described how this student had presented many challenges to his teaching and how difficult attending to her overt anger and sullenness in his class was for him. However, by doing so, he said that his perceptions and understandings of her and subsequently, another student, shifted profoundly in ways that he believed helped him help these two students learn more meaningfully in his classes. This example of open listening on the part of a teacher toward his two students opened up new possibilities for learning for all three and may indicate a cycle of transformative listening which will be defined and discussed in this article. Stuart's experiences in a professional development seminar, facilitated by the author, where teachers' interpretive and evaluative ideas were listened to openly by colleagues and the facilitator may have influenced Stuart in his responses to his students. His involvement in this study group may have contributed to his learning to see his students in new, unique, and fuller ways, which he said he thought helped him help these students learn better in his classes.

Teachers from an urban public high school and from a preK-12 private school in one metropolitan area discussed selections from John Dewey's works on education, art, and experience, in small study groups between 1996 and 1998. I facilitated these study groups as a joint inquiry with teachers about connections between Dewey's aesthetics and thinking about teaching and teachers' thinking about teaching. My purpose in documenting the results of this research is to add to the body of work describing examples of meaningful professional development for in-service teachers and examining what constitutes such experiences. Teacher inquiry through dialogue in these study groups seemed to be an essential method for supporting teacher reflection and learning among these teachers.

Research in recent years has shown decreased rates of rape myth acceptance. This decrease may be due to an actual decline in attitudes, but it may also be fully or in part because such attitudes have become socially undesirable to acknowledge. However, most of the current measures of rape myth acceptance are not sensitive to this issue. The purpose of the current study was to examine this issue by adapting the psychometrically sound items from the most established rape myth acceptance measure (the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, IRMA) and combining those with additional items that may seem less problematic to endorse. Results showed that the revised measure (IRMA-S) elicited higher levels of rape myth acceptance than the original when both were administered to all participants, regardless of the order of administration. This suggests that the decrease may in fact be due more to measurement issues than real declines in rape myth acceptance. However, this difference was very small practically, amounting to the difference between some agreement and some disagreement on a single item. Previous research has found that the measurement method employed in this study has been successful when utilizing other items, so it may be that the IRMA-S was not sensitive enough to detect real-world differences, or that having both measures included in a single administration, even with filler measures between them, affected responses to the IRMA-S. Despite not conclusively resolving that main question, this study moves this important area of research forward in several ways, including adding to the literature on rape myth acceptance results from a more diverse sample than previous ones and providing findings on the impact of different facets of social desirability, as well as pointing the way toward continued research on measurement of rape myth acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author discusses five major priorities that should guide teacher education in preparing teachers for their work in a democratic society. These priorities are of equal importance in preparing teachers to enter schools and do the work necessary to sustain a democratic society. They require purposeful planning and enactment of ideas and practices. Teacher educators therefore need to model and directly teach preservice teachers how to embody all five priorities.

Ninety-six female assault victims with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were randomly assigned to 4 treatment conditions: prolonged exposure (PE), stress inoculation training (SIT), combined treatment (PE-SIT), or wait-list control (WL). Treatment consisted of 9 twice-weekly, individual sessions. Independent evaluations were conducted at pretreatment; posttreatment; and 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups. All 3 active treatments reduced severity of PTSD and depression compared with WL but did not differ significantly from each other, and these gains were maintained throughout the follow-up period. However, in the intent-to-treat sample, PE was superior to SIT and PE-SIT on posttreatment anxiety and global social adjustment at follow-up and had larger effect sizes on PTSD severity, depression, and anxiety. SIT and PE-SIT did not differ significantly from each other on any outcome measure.

The effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral treatment program for trichotillomania was examined in an uncontrolled study. Immediately following treatment, 12 of 14 treatment completers were classified as responders (>50% improvement on NIMH Trichotillomania Severity Scale). However, only 4 of 13 treated patients were classified as responders at follow-up (M = 3 years, 9 months); one posttreatment responder was lost to follow-up. Long-term symptom severity was also assessed in a subset of treatment refusers and dropouts; 4 of 10 available treatment refusers and dropouts were classified as improved at follow-up (M = 3 years, 2 months). Our findings suggest a significant risk for relapse following successful cognitive behavioral treatment of trichotillomania. Recommendations to address this problem include extending treatment length to achieve greater initial symptom reduction and expanding the focus on relapse prevention strategies.

This study examined premature termination from couples' group treatment for panic disorder with agoraphobia. Patients were classified as either treatment noncompleters or treatment completers. Comparisons of pretreatment self-report and clinician-rated measures of anxiety and depression indicated no differences between groups. On communication measures, however, partners of noncompleters rated themselves as less communicative about panic-related issues. Of noncompleters, the majority reported 'getting to treatment sessions' as problematic and indicated dissatisfaction with the cognitive-behavioral treatment approach. Results are discussed in terms of these issues and their impact on the treatment of these patients.

Excellent, democratic education that furthers each person's potential, success and happiness for her own and others' well-being is not yet widespread in the U.S. today. Dewey's The Public and Its Problems has much to say about the possibilities and challenges of achieving this goal. This paper examines Dewey's ideas about how a public for widespread, excellent education can form through the development of sound public opinion based on widely disseminated, accurate and relevant information and through the restructuring of associations among people. The crucial role of the educator in the formation of a public emerges through this examination.

According to John Dewey, what do people need to learn, and how should teachers be educated in order to teach what people in a democracy need to learn? People first need to learn the subject matter, knowledge, and skills that are necessary to succeed socially and economically in our less-than-perfect democratic society as it now exists. Second, all people need to learn subject matter that will support them in developing their talents and potentials to contribute to both their individual happiness and the well-being of others in a democratic society. Third, people need to learn to think critically about all issues and, most of all, to think deeply about what is necessary in order to achieve and sustain a real democracy. Teacher education needs to focus on helping teachers learn how to work toward accomplishing these three aspects of this curriculum geared toward achieving and sustaining a truly democratic society. Lisa Delpit criticizes progressive education, based on Dewey's ideas, for inadequately preparing poor and minority youth to participate in, benefit from, and contribute to U.S. society. She offers necessary, Deweyan corrections to Dewey's vision of education in a democracy. Together, their ideas offer us a powerful way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights on the study "Reforming Trollope: Race, Gender, and Englishness in the Novels of Anthony Trollope," by author Deborah Denenholz Morse. The author states that Morse proposes a view of novelist Anthony Trollope as a reformer. In addition, the author notes that Morse explores different novels written by Trollope including "The Small House at Allington," "Lady Anna," and "He Knew He Was Right."

How can teachers in a democracy help people value, listen to and understand ideas and perspectives that differ from their own through the use of interpretive discussions and why is this important? Interpretive discussions engage participants in collaborative inquiry about the meaning of a text. In Dewey’s view inDemocracy and Education, and in the author’s view, learning to listen with respect and interest to views different from one’s own is essential in a democracy. Democratic practices available through participation in interpretive discussion can help people learn to listen to differences in these ways. These practices are described in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers need to be prepared to cultivate the dispositions and attitudes that are necessary for individual and societal learning and growth in a democracy. In this article I describe how Dewey thought about teacher educators and creating a living democracy through the cultivation of curiosity, open-mindedness, and reflective and active thinking. Curiosity is the desire to continue learning about one's interests in ways that fulfill one's potential and contribute to society; open-mindedness is welcoming of a variety of ideas and perspectives; and reflective and active inquiry is geared toward constantly improving democracy and the quality of people's experiences. Teacher educators need to attend to the cultivation of these attitudes in their students by providing learning environments wherein new teachers' curiosities are fostered, where open-mindedness to views different from their own is nurtured, and where capabilities to think about matters important to the education of K-12 students in a democracy are cultivated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among young adults, nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a common emotion regulation (ER), or coping, strategy. Most studies have sought to clarify the role of self-injury as a coping strategy, and while this research is central to the understanding of those who self-injure, factors that influence coping behaviors may affect treatment and prevention efforts. This study examined the mediational effect of coping self-efficacy (CSE) on the relationship between emotion dysregulation and frequency of NSSI. The sample included 187 self-injuring university students between the ages of 18-26, and was predominately female (76.5%) and Caucasian (67.4%). Participants completed the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale, the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Assessment Tool. Results indicated that CSE did not act as a mediator between difficulty with ER and frequency of NSSI. However, greater difficulty with ER predicted increased frequency in NSSI. These results highlight the importance of ER skills in the prevention and cessation of NSSI. It is imperative that mental health practitioners working with young adults focus on actual skill building rather than increasing CSE, as increased ER skills are likely to both increase CSE and reduce NSSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]