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Teaching parents how to forgive transgressions of parenting partners may reduce negative emotions, increase positive emotions, and, thus, decrease parenting stress. We implemented a waiting-list design to investigate the efficacy of a 9-hour psychoeducational group intervention, Forgiveness and Reconciliation through Experiencing Empathy (FREE), presented to 27 parents and caregivers of children 0-9 years old. Participants receiving FREE exhibited increased forgiveness of a target offense by the parenting partner and increased forgiveness of all parenting offenses. This study offers initial evidence that an intervention to promote forgiveness and reconciliation in parents could be beneficial and might improve parenting relations. DOI: 10.1080/01926180902945723

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00586.x Byline: Jack W. Berry (1), David C. Schwebel (1) Abstract: ABSTRACT This study used two configural approaches to understand how temperament factors (surgency/extraversion, negative affect, and effortful control) might predict child injury risk. In the first approach, clustering procedures were applied to trait dimensions to identify discrete personality prototypes. In the second approach, two- and three-way trait interactions were considered dimensionally in regression models predicting injury outcomes. Injury risk was assessed through four measures: lifetime prevalence of injuries requiring professional medical attention, scores on the Injury Behavior Checklist, and frequency and severity of injuries reported in a 2-week injury diary. In the prototype analysis, three temperament clusters were obtained, which resembled resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled types found in previous research. Undercontrolled children had greater risk of injury than children in the other groups. In the dimensional interaction analyses, an interaction between surgency/extraversion and negative affect tended to predict injury, especially when children lacked capacity for effortful control. Author Affiliation: (1)University of Alabama at Birmingham Article note: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jack W. Berry, UAB Injury Control Research Center, Suite 401, 933 19th Street South, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-2041. E-mail: Jack.Berry@ccc.uab.edu.

The Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised Scale (SPSI-R) has been shown to be a reliable and valid self-report measure of social problem-solving abilities. In busy medical and rehabilitation settings, a brief and efficient screening version with psychometric properties similar to the SPSI-R would have numerous benefits including decreased patient and caregiver assessment burden and administration/ scoring time. Thus, the aim of the current study was to identify items from the SPSI-R that would provide for a more efficient assessment of global social problem-solving abilities. This study consisted of three independent samples: 121 persons in low-vision rehabilitation (M age=71 years old, SD=15.53), 301 persons living with diabetes mellitus (M age=58, and SD = 14.85), and 131 family caregivers of persons with severe disabilities (M age = 56 years old, SD = 12.15). All persons completed a version of the SPSI-R, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Using Rasch scaling of the SPSI-R short-form, we identified a subset of 10 items that reflected the five-component model of social problem solving. The 10 items were separately validated on the sample of persons living with diabetes mellitus and the sample of family caregivers of persons with severe disabilities. Results indicate that the efficient 10-item version, analyzed separately for all three samples, demonstrated good reliability and validity characteristics similar to the established SPSI-R short form. The 10-item version of the SPSI-R represents a brief, effective way in which clinicians and researchers in busy health care settings can quickly assess global problem-solving abilities and identify those persons at-risk for complicated adjustment. Implications for the assessment of social problem-solving abilities are discussed. Keywords: social problem solving; rehabilitation; screening; health conditions; medical settings

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2009.03.006 Byline: Timothy R. Elliott (a), Jack W. Berry (b), Joan S. Grant (b) Abstract: To examine the effectiveness of an individualized problem-solving intervention provided to family caregivers of women living with severe disabilities. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Educational Psychology, 4225 TAMU, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845-4225, USA (b) University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA Article History: Received 19 March 2008; Revised 4 March 2009; Accepted 16 March 2009

Our objective was to examine the effectiveness of a brief individualized problem-solving intervention for family with caregivers of persons with recent-onset spinal cord injury (SCI). Family caregivers were randomly assigned to a usual care control group (N = 30) or an intervention group (N = 30) in which participants were to receive three face-to-face problem-solving training sessions (PST), educational materials, and telephone contacts as requested over the first year of caregiving. The participants included 60 caregivers (49 women, 11 men). The Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised, the Inventory to Diagnose Depression, and the SF-36 were administered at baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Caregivers in the intervention group reported a significant decrease in dysfunctional problem-solving styles scores over time; there were no observable effects for PST on caregiver depression. There was also some indication that the intervention had beneficial effects on caregiver social and physical functioning. An intervention for new caregivers featuring brief PST, education, and contact may be associated with lower dysfunctional problem-solving styles over time and may promote certain aspects of caregiver quality of life. We also discuss limitations and implications of the present study. Keywords: caregiver; randomized controlled trial; spinal cord injury; problem solving

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of an individualized problem-solving intervention delivered in videoconferencing sessions with family caregivers of persons living with a spinal cord injury (SCI) and possible contagion effects on care recipients. Design: Family caregivers were randomly assigned to an education-only control group or an intervention group in which participants received problem-solving training (PST) in monthly videoconference session for a year. Participants: Sixty-one caregivers (54 women, 7 men) and their care recipients (40 men, 21 women) consented to participate. Main outcome measures: The Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised was administered to caregivers. Caregivers and care recipients completed the Inventory to Diagnose Depression, the SF-36 and the Satisfaction with Life scale at pre-treatment, 6 months and 12 months. Results: Twenty-eight caregivers discontinued the study and their follow-up data were unavailable at the final assessment. Older caregivers were more likely than younger caregivers to remain in the study. Intent-to-treat analyses projected a significant decrease in depression among caregivers receiving PST; efficacy analyses indicated this effect was pronounced at the 6th month assessment. ITT analyses and efficacy analyses revealed that care recipients of caregivers receiving PST reported gains in social functioning over time. Conclusions: Community-based, telehealth interventions may benefit family caregivers and their care recipients, but the mechanisms of these effects are unclear. Attrition and sample issues should be considered in future studies with these populations. Keywords: Caregiver Randomized controlled trial Spinal cord injury Telehealth Problem-solving

As part of a system-wide university intervention to help build stronger Christian character, an emphasis was placed on helping students become more forgiving. This effort involved chapel programs, newspaper articles, [...]

The need for empirical research that contributes to the prevention and arrest of marital distress is increasing. Factors identified through research as being influential in the stability of marriage include [...]

The authors report the development of the Religious Commitment Inventory--10 (RCI-10), used in 6 studies. Sample sizes were 155, 132, and 150 college students; 240 Christian church-attending married adults; 468 undergraduates including (among others) Buddhists (n = 52), Muslims (n = 12), Hindus (n = 10), and nonreligious (n = 117); and 217 clients and 52 counselors in a secular or 1 of 6 religious counseling agencies. Scores on the RCI-10 had strong estimated internal consistency, 3-week and 5-month test--retest reliability, construct validity, and discriminant validity. Exploratory (Study 1) and confirmatory (Studies 4 and 6) factor analyses identified 2 highly correlated factors, suggesting a 1-factor structure as most parsimonious. Religious commitment predicted response to an imagined robbery (Study 2), marriage (Study 4), and counseling (Study 6).

We describe the development of a new measure to assess guilt related to concern about harming others. The two versions of the Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire, a 45-item and 67-item version, include theoretically-based and clinically relevant categories of guilt: survivor guilt, separation/disloyalty guilt, omnipotent responsibility guilt, and self-hate guilt. Preliminary reliability and validity studies for both versions are presented, based on clinical and nonclinical samples of subjects. Subscales on both versions show good internal consistency; however, the second version, which expanded on the first, is more psychometrically sound overall. Both versions demonstrated predicted correlations with previously published measures of guilt and related affects, such as shame and depression, and with attributional style. Differences between clinical and nonclinical samples are reported and the relevance of survivor guilt and shame to psychopathology is noted.

In all, 39 participants (19 male, 20 female) were classified as either happy (n = 19) or unhappy (n = 20) with a relationship. Baseline salivary cortisol was measured. Participants imagined (for a 5-min duration) scenes typical of their relationship, and salivary cortisol was measured again. Participants in unhappy relationships had higher cortisol reactivity (indicating higher stress) following the imagery. Cortisol reactivity was predicted by relationship variables (high love and liking for the partner, high happiness with the relationship) and personality variables (high forgivingness, low trait anger). Personality had an indirect effect through the relationship variables. Physical health was predicted by personality variables. Mental health was predicted by both personality and relationship variables. Implications of these results for counseling health psychology are discussed.

Forgivingness is the disposition to forgive interpersonal transgressions over time and across situations. There is currently no acceptable measure of forgivingness for use in testing theoretical propositions. The authors describe a five-item scenario-based scale, the Transgression Narrative Test of Forgivingness (TNTF). In five studies examining 518 university students from three disparate universities, the authors assess the item and full-scale functioning of the TNTF and its concurrent and 8-week predictive validity relative to trait anger, rumination, neuroticism, agreeableness, and hostility. Test-retest reliability and stability of item locations were both good. Norms are presented by gender, ethnicity, and religious activity. The TNTF is a brief measure of forgivingness that is not theory dependent and is therefore useful in basic and intervention research from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

Highly religious couples constitute a substantial portion of marital therapy clients in the U.S. Married Christian individuals (N = 211) completed a survey of demographics and religiosity (religious values and Christian beliefs). They rated preferences and expectations for one of four marital therapy situations: Christian therapist using Christian practices (e.g., prayer or reference to Scripture), Christian therapist using psychological practices only, non-Christian therapist willing to use Christian practices, and non-Christian therapist using psychological practices only. High religious values and high Christian beliefs predicted ratings of marital therapy situations, where high was defined as one standard deviation above the mean of standardized norm groups. Low to moderate religious values or Christian beliefs did not predict ratings of marital therapy. It was concluded that highly religious couples present a special situation where the marketing, assessment, and practice of marital therapy might differ from therapy with other types of couples.