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Introduction Social anxiety disorder (SAD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) often co-occur; however, there is limited research evaluating how cognitive-affective and behavioral factors maintain SAD and MDD for specific individuals. Evidence suggests that individuals exhibit symptom-level heterogeneity, necessitating a person-specific approach to assessment and intervention. We compared group and person-specific models of SAD-MDD comorbidity and hypothesized that individuals would demonstrate person-specific patterns of comorbidity factors that differed from the group. Methods Cisgender women (N = 35) with SAD and a current or past major depressive episode were recruited. Ages ranged from 18 to 37 years old and a majority of women were White (n = 18; 51.43%). Brief ecological momentary assessment surveys related to SAD-MDD comorbidity were administered five times a day for a month (T = 4,357). Results Multilevel and person-specific network analyses were used to examine between-, within-, and person-specific patterns. Intra-daily depressed mood demonstrated the strongest connections to other variables and exhibited additional, unexpected temporal effects. All models demonstrated person-specific patterns relevant to SAD-MDD comorbidity. Limitations These results are descriptive in nature from women with a similar psychiatric profile. Future research integrating intensive EMA and personalized modeling within the context of experimental design is needed to determine the extent to which individuals truly differ from the group. Conclusions Patterns of SAD-MDD comorbidity varied substantially across women, underscoring the potential for results from person-specific (idiographic) networks to inform the development and implementation of personalized directives for clinical assessment and intervention.

OBJECTIVE The Patient Generated Index (PGI) is a personalized quality of life (QOL) measure. This secondary analysis examined its psychometric properties with people with severe mental illness. METHODS Three hundred and eleven people with severe mental illness participated in structured interviews at baseline, 9 months, and 18 months. RESULTS The PGI captured a range of self-defined life areas. PGI scores were correlated with measures of QOL, hope, and functioning, indicating concurrent (criterion) validity. The correlation with QOL, with the finding that PGI scores were significantly higher for people who were employed (n = 42) versus unemployed (n = 269) and for people without substance use disorder (n = 269) versus those with substance use disorder (n = 42), is indicative of construct validity. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE The results support the suitability of the PGI as an idiographic measure for monitoring personalized QOL of people with severe mental illness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Personality changes across the lifespan, but strong evidence regarding the mechanisms responsible for personality change remains elusive. Studies of personality change and life events, for example, suggest that personality is difficult to change. But there are two key issues with assessing personality change. First, most change models optimize population-level, not individual-level, effects, which ignores heterogeneity in patterns of change. Second, optimizing change as mean-levels of self-reports fails to incorporate methods for assessing personality dynamics, such as using changes in variances of and correlations in multivariate time series data that often proceed changes in mean-levels, making variance change detection a promising technique for the study of change. Using a sample of N = 388 participants (total N = 21,790) assessed weekly over 60 weeks, we test a permutation-based approach for detecting individual-level personality changes in multivariate time series and compare the results to event-based methods for assessing change. We find that a non-trivial number of participants show change over the course of the year but that there was little association between these change points and life events they experienced. We conclude by highlighting the importance in idiographic and dynamic investigations of change.

Questionnaires are a common method in healthcare and clinical research to collect self-reported data on patients’ behaviour and outcomes rather than the clinician’s perspective. As a consequence there is a plethora of questionnaires and rating forms developed to measure a range of concepts such as health-related quality of life and health status. Given that these measures have been developed within a nomothetic paradigm to enhance our understanding of peoples self-perceived health status by translating complex personal feelings and experiences into a simple numeric score, the patient’s illness narrative is lost along the way. This commentary discusses the limitations of the nomothetic approach as completion of a questionnaire is a social and contextually orientated activity and that their development is best viewed within the philosophical tradition of pragmatism, based on sound qualitative methods and rigorous psychometric testing. The commentary discusses the philosophical orientation underpinning PROM development and argues the case for a pragmatic epistemology based on a mixed methods research paradigm which goes beyond the current practice of informing the content validity of a PROM in the early phase of its development but to work towards developing a more composite and holistic picture through mixed methods in the interpretation of a patient’s PROM score. Therefore, it is argued that the quality of data obtained will be enhanced but, also importantly and rightly places the participant at the centre of the research.

Self-determination theory proposes that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs is equally beneficial for everyone – the Universal Hypothesis. Equally, there are intra-individual differences in how the satisfaction of differentially important needs might be differentially beneficial, which we term the Intra-individual Hypothesis. We aimed to reconcile these positions. Across four cross-sectional studies (ns = 300 rock climbers, 323 sportspeople, 394 UK and Chinese adults, 320 UK adults), we investigated the needs of individuals with varying dimensions to their identity, and their motivation and self-esteem. In Studies 1, 2, and 4, when individuals strongly related their sense of identity to investment in a specific activity, the association between need satisfaction and self-esteem (and motivation in Studies 1–2) depended on their intra-individual need importance, supporting the Intra-individual Hypothesis. In Studies 3 and 4, for individuals with a multidimensional identity, the association between need satisfaction and self-esteem did not depend on the importance of each need, supporting the Universal Hypothesis. The satisfaction of basic psychological needs is not always uniform in its link with motivation and well-being. The degree to which individuals have a unidimensional or multidimensional self-concept appears fruitful in predicting the relative value of the Universal Hypothesis and the Intra-individual Hypothesis.

For decades, cognitive and behavioral therapies (CBTs) have been tested in randomized controlled trials for specific psychiatric syndromes that were assumed to represent expressions of latent diseases. Although these protocols were more effective as compared to psychological control conditions, placebo treatments, and even active pharmacotherapies, further advancement in efficacy and dissemination has been inhibited by a failure to focus on processes of change. This picture appears now to be evolving, due both to a collapse of the idea that mental disorders can be classified into distinct, discrete categories, and to the more central attention given to processes of change in newer, so-called "third-wave" CBTs. Here we review the context for this historic progress and evaluate the impact of these newer methods and models, not as protocols for treating syndromes, but as ways of targeting an expanded range of processes of change. Five key features of "third-wave" therapies are underlined: a focus on context and function; the view that new models and methods should build on other strands of CBT; a focus on broad and flexible repertoires vs. an approach to signs and symptoms; applying processes to the clinician, not just the client; and expanding into more complex issues historically more characteristic of humanistic, existential, analytic, or system-oriented approaches. We argue that these newer methods can be considered in the context of an idiographic approach to process-based functional analysis. Psychological processes of change can be organized into six dimensions: cognition, affect, attention, self, motivation and overt behavior. Several important processes of change combine two or more of these dimensions. Tailoring intervention strategies to target the appropriate processes in a given individual would be a major advance in psychiatry and an important step toward precision mental health care.

Introduction: Identification and attainment of the goals of cancer patients is an important aspect of personalized treatment. Aim of the study: The study aimed to assess the following aspects in patients treated surgically for endometrial cancer: 1) level of satisfaction with hospitalization using the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 nomothetic questionnaire; 2) degree of goals attainment using the Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) idiographic questionnaire; 3) correlation between these evaluation methods. Material and method: The study included 123 patients with endometrial cancer (FIGO I–II) treated surgically at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Rzeszów in 2012–2014. EORTC IN-PATSAT32 and GAS questionnaires were used. The collected material was analyzed using the Statistica 10.0 software. Results: The overall level of satisfaction measured with the IN-PATSAT32 scale was 72.2 ± 20.5. The technical skills were rated the highest in nurses (74.5 ± 17.6) and doctors (69.3 ± 17.8), while the lowest score was awarded for hospital assess (54.7 ± 23.3). The overall satisfaction with care was 72.2 ± 20.5. In the personalized GAS scale, the patients listed individual expectations before the surgery, assigning ranks to their importance. For most of them, it was a very high (A) or high (B) rank. The patients assigned the highest ranks to quick mobilization, success of the operation, and willingness to be healthy. The average value of the level of goal attainment on the discharge date was 63.7 ± 9.4 points. Statistically significant correlations between the questionnaires were found for the level of goal attainment and the assessment of various aspects of hospital care. Conclusions: The study proved that the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 questionnaire was correlated with GAS questionnaire, and additionally provided knowledge about individual goals of care and the degree of their attainment. The use of nomothetic and idiographic tools gives wider possibilities in the planning and implementation of personalized care.

The aim of the paper is an attempt to sum up the social teaching of popes on sport. The authors analyse the fundamental issues concerning human involvement in sport, focusing, among others, on the need for the presence of the Church in sport or on the significant role of sport in the harmonious development of young people. The following methods were used in the study: literature review, comparative, and axiological methods, as well as idiographic and nomothetic methods. The conducted analyzes show that the highest Church leaders invariably demand respect for fundamental human values, which also applies to sport, which, if properly directed, can play an important role in the process of education and promote propagation of Christian values.

The aim of this paper is to report our notes from the field on using movement toward goals at an aggregate level as an inference of service effectiveness. Analysis of routinely collected data from UK youth mental health services was conducted (N = 8,172, age M = 13.8, 67% female, 32% male) to explore the impact of including goal-based outcome data in combined calculations of standardized measures based on the principles of reliable change ("measurable change"). Due to the broad nature of standardized measures, inferred validity becomes diluted in any team or service level aggregate analysis. To make inferences that are closer to the person's interpretation of their difficulties, we argue that Idiographic Patient Reported Outcome Measures (I-PROMs) counterbalance these limitations. This is supported by our findings. The measurable change metric is the first step towards enabling national analysis of aggregated I-PROMs. I-PROMs, supplemented by standardized measures should be used to consider service evaluation.

We agree with Arocha that the common and exclusive focus on aggregate results of psychological studies creates problems. While a paradigm shift toward idiographic approaches or control theory might help, we argue that traditional approaches can accomplish more if measures of variability are taken seriously. We discuss three kinds of studies: within-person treatment studies, questionnaire-based studies, and replication studies. For each of these, we suggest ways to improve psychological meaningfulness by investigating variability surrounding aggregate results, without ending up in an either–or choice between aggregate results and separate, individual results.

Although the application of network theory to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has yielded promising insights, the lack of equivalence between inter- and intraindividual variation limits the generalizability of these findings to any one individual with PTSD. Instead, a better understanding of how PTSD symptoms occur and vary over time within an individual requires exploring the idiographic network structure of PTSD. To do so, the present study used an intensive repeated-measures design to estimate intraindividual networks of PTSD symptoms on a person-by-person basis. Participants were 20 individuals who met criteria for PTSD and completed daily surveys assessing PTSD symptoms; surveys were completed four times per day for approximately 30 days. Employing a recently validated method provided by Fisher, Reeves, Lawyer, Medaglia, and Rubel (2017), we used these data to estimate a contemporaneous and temporal network of PTSD symptoms for individuals on a person-by-person basis. We then calculated centrality metrics to determine the relative importance of each symptom in each idiographic network. Across all contemporaneous networks, negative trauma-related cognitions and emotions were most commonly the most central symptoms. Further, across all temporal networks, (a) negative trauma-related emotions were the most common driver of variation in other symptoms over time and (b) distressing trauma-related dreams and sleep disturbance were the most common downstream consequences of variation in other PTSD symptoms over time. We also reviewed data from two randomly selected participants to illustrate how this approach could be used to identify maintenance factors of PTSD for each individual and guide individual treatment planning.

Resumo O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a produção científica em Educação Física de dissertações e teses de programas de pós-graduação stricto sensu, no período de 2001 a 2010, com enfoque em suas abordagens metodológicas. Os PPGEF selecionados foram: USP, UNESP, UFRGS, UNICAMP e UGF. A análise dos dados pautou-se na abordagem metodológica proposta por Gaya (2008). Os resultados apontaram predominância da abordagem nomotética, seguida da interpretativa e ausência da intervenção social. Conclui-se, com base em Bourdieu, que as regras do jogo científico têm influenciado a orientação metodológica da produção de conhecimento da área, o que pode repercutir na reprodução de modos hegemônicos de ciência no campo. Abstract The aim of this study was to analyze scientific production in Physical Education from theses and dissertations of post graduation programs, since 2001 to 2010, focusing on their methodological approaches. The Physical Education’s post graduation programs selected were: USP, UNESP, UFRGS, UNICAMP and UGF. The data analysis was based on the methodological approach proposed by Gaya (2008). The results points the nomothetic approach’s predominance, followed by interpretive and absence of social intervention. To conclude, based on Bourdieu, the rules of the scientific game have been influencing the methodological orientation of the production of knowledge in the area, which may reverberate on the reproduction of hegemonic ways of Science in the field. Resumen El objetivo fue analizar la producción científica en Educación Física desde tesis y disertaciones de programas de posgrado (maestría y doctorado), entre 2001 y 2010, concentrándose em sus enfoques metodológicos. Los programas de posgrado em Educación Física selecionados fueron: USP, UNESP, UFRGS, UNICAMP y UGF. El análisis de datos se basó en el enfoque metodológico propuesto por Gaya (2008). Los resultados apuntaron predominancia del enfoque nomotético, seguido de lo interpretativo y ausencia de la intervención social. Se concluye, con base en Bourdieu, que las reglas del juego científico han influenciado la orientación metodológica de la producción de conocimiento del área, lo que puede repercutir en la reproducción de modos hegemónicos de ciencia en el campo.

This thesis aimed to develop an understanding of the concept of emergency preparedness through the lived experiences of paramedics, utilising an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology. Emergency preparedness is a developing speciality, with a limited evidence base. Current research is mainly atheoretical, with the majority of literature comprising of anecdotal reports, government guidance, clinical protocols, audit and clinical policy. The published literature offers little more than opinion and a retrospective view of experience, with few studies examining and understanding the individual lived experience within this area. To address the identified gaps in the literature and in line with the idiographic focus of IPA, thirteen paramedics were recruited and face-to-face interviews explored their individual experiences of emergency preparedness. Through data analysis, the following superordinate themes were identified for further discussion:- self determination, control and experience-based practice. Participants appeared to value their role and the unpredictable environment that they worked in. Personal resilience, an area that they suggested is not covered effectively within individual preparation, was viewed as important. The participants articulated that risk, threat, uncertainty, safety, trust and control were important concepts within individual preparedness. These paramedics valued practice-based knowledge and education as credible and transferrable to their clinical work. Additionally, storytelling appeared as a preferred method of conveying knowledge in an area with minimal real-life experience. Dimensions of individual preparedness are presented, with the paramedic central to the experience within a conceptual model (the DiEP model), creating a new form of emergency preparedness that reflects the individual paramedic’s experience.

BackgroundA personalized computer-adaptive system for clinical feedback and routine outcome monitoring in mental health, Norse Feedback aims to bridge the needs for standardized and idiographic measures in ordinary practice.MethodsItem response theory analyses of completed treatment processes (n = 800) informed a qualitative study comprising individual in-depth interviews and focus groups with patients (n = 9) and clinicians (n = 10). The research question was: How do clinicians and patients contribute to developing a clinical feedback system in a continuous process aimed at refining its clinical usefulness?ResultsWe conducted thematic analyses and found five themes: 1. Added clinical needs, 2. Needs for re-organizing the clinician report, 3.Needs for differentiation of clinical content, 4. User-interface needs, and 5. Item level suggestions.ConclusionIn this article, we detail resulting needs for continuous adaptation to practice, and discuss implications of the concrete experiences with the Norse action research program for the larger field of ROM/CFS implementation.

Objective While the overlap between personality and psychopathology is well documented, few studies examine how the two overlap at a lower, moment-to-moment level. We took an idiographic approach to examine personality and psychopathology processes at the individual level. Doing so offers a unique perspective by incorporating both dynamic time and structural analysis, two components that are traditionally examined separately when investigating the overlap between personality and psychopathology. Method Two experience sample studies measured personality states and personality problems up to four-times a day over a two-week period (Study 1 N = 349, observations = 11,124; Study 2 N = 161, observations = 8,261). Results For some, personality states and personality problems are deeply intertwined, mirroring existing between-person findings. But for others the two are separate, indicating it is possible to separate personality (states) from a person's problems. Between-person differences in levels of depression had no association with the idiographic structure, indicating that between-person constructs operate separately from within-person processes. Finally, situations that are more likely to bring out personality problems did not alter the association between personality states and personality problems. Conclusions This method provides a novel conceptualization of personality-psychopathology overlap, bringing the focus beyond mostly static, between-person models to more dynamic, individual-level models.

In this study, the researchers propose a complementary methodological approach to determine how much participants may benefit from a psychoeducation program based on emotion-focused therapy (EFT). We designed the project as a multiple quantitative case study conducted with eight participants enrolled at a university in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey. All participants were undergraduates in a psychological counselling and guidance program in the 2018–2019 spring semester. We collected research data through the repertory grid technique, which is a semi-structured interview method. We detected the distance between the elements (actual self, ideal self, me before the psychoeducation program started) by calculating the standardized Euclidean distance coefficient. Our findings showed that the distance between the elements of actual self and me before the psychoeducation program started was significant. Findings at the phenomenon level showed that the psychoeducation program applied in this study was successful. Findings indicated that therapeutic success could be measured through the idiographic findings at the individual level.

Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents are prevalent and, if left untreated, can lead to comorbid psychological disorders, substance use, poor socioemotional functioning, and academic and occupational underachievement. Subthreshold presentations of anxiety in youth could become problematic if overlooked, resulting in the aforementioned negative outcomes. Thus, it is important to treat such presentations, including with evidence-based treatments such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). However, because of not meeting the diagnostic criteria for which many CBT protocols were developed, subthreshold presentations of emotional problems could be an especially good match for transdiagnostic treatments like the Unified Protocol for Children (UP-C). Few studies have addressed this application of the UP-C to subthreshold emotion disorders; thus, this study aimed to preliminarily examine in a systemic case analysis (a) the efficacy of the UP-C for a preadolescent patient with mild anxiety/depression, and (b) the clinical utility of assessing both nomothetic and idiographic outcomes. Pre-post and time series outcome data demonstrated significant decreases in symptoms of depression, irritability, and negative reactions to events and significant increases in emotion identification and ownership of emotions. A network analysis of time series data described dynamics between parent and child ratings as well as the importance of child-rated anxiety and parent ratings of child's ownership of emotions. This case study provides evidence for the efficacy of the UP-C with a preadolescent who displayed subclinical symptoms of an emotional disorder. Furthermore, this case study demonstrates the usefulness of nomothetic and idiographic assessments for treating psychological disorders in youth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The psychology of everyday life is one of the actively developing areas of modern Russian psychology. The leading theoretical and methodological sources of its development are history, anthropology and sociology of everyday life at the general scientific level of knowledge. Sources at the specific scientific level are the psychopathology of everyday life by Sigmund Freud, the field theory of Kurt Lewin, and the psychological concept of Hans Thomae. The demand for the ideas of Lewin is determined today by transformations of modernity, bringing to the fore the issues of socio-cultural dynamics and polymotivation of an individual, the clash of values and the subject’s conscious choice of a life path, formation of identity in changing life situations, and diversity of lifestyles in a complicated society. Everyday life is multi-layered, variegated, and heterogeneous. It presents the dynamics of the visible and invisible, real and surreal, modern and archaic. To detect gradual and imperceptible changes, it is often necessary to change the methodological toolkit. Lewin’s construct of “life space” in the context of the psychology of everyday life allows one to configure various aspects of human development in a situation of sociocultural transformations where social space can be both supportive and suppressive, and the spheres of private and public, personal and professional, mix. This results in a loss of normative boundaries. Cultural-psychological time in a common geographic space flows differently for people and communities, which not only creates risks of potential conflicts by drawing fault lines in the social fabric, but also poses the problem of a description language capable of combining nomothetic (revealing trends and patterns) and idiographic (directed analysis of unique cases) discourses. Lewin solved similar methodological and socio-political problems. It seems that his approach is very productive for the diagnosis and treatment of cultural and psychological trauma in Russian society. In the article, it is emphasized that the strategy of Lewin’s “action research” is close to the social constructivism of the Russian intellectual tradition, which makes it possible to comprehend the work of a psychologist as a solution to the problems of humanizing society and the education system.

The support received by novice teachers in their first-year impacts staff retention and overall teaching quality. Thus, a smooth transition into the profession has long-term, positive benefits for ...

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a poorly understood condition, with an unclear aetiology. Due to diagnostic difficulty, CFS has frequently been dismissed by medical professionals as an untreatable “psychological issue” leading to patients not receiving adequate care for extended periods of time. This situation has led to patients feeling isolated, neglected, and misunderstood. CFS is more common in women than men, in an approximate ratio of 4:1; accordingly, we explore seven (7) women’s experiences of CFS and by adopting an idiographic approach seek to amplify the voices of a group of patients who have long been marginalized, and often dismissed. Findings are presented using a narrative research technique called poetic representation, wherein participants’ interview transcripts are cast into poetic forms. The condensed encapsulation of participants’ experiences through carefully crafted poetry adds an intensity that focuses readers’ attention more tightly than merely telling their stories. A small sample size commensurate with the study’s aim, enabled an in-depth exploration of each individual’s experiences. In the context of CFS, themes surrounding illness, diagnosis, treatment, wellbeing, and recovery were explored, focusing particularly on the potential for the recovery of a new life achieved through participants’ self-agentic psychosocial endeavors. The emerging poetic representations were clustered together in themes using a temporal framework, as follows: 1) Downhill to diagnosis; 2) From diagnosis to despair; 3) From despair to hope; 4) Looking back to move forward; 5) And, now. This research not only sheds light on the experiences of a puzzling illness, but also seeks to drive improvements in patient care through a more authentic understanding of the CFS lived experience.

Основна мета дослідження полягає у з’ясуванні ролі інструментальної музики у середньовічній системі духовних та культурних цінностей населення Західної Європи шляхом дослідження її відображень у філософських та музичних трактатах. Методологія роботи включає в себе пошук та збір інформації про секулярну музичну творчість шляхом вивчення й аналізу музичних трактатів, а також церковних та інших історичних документів, які здійснені з використанням ідіографічного, гіпотетико-індуктивного, логічного методів і контентного аналізу документів. Наукова новизна дослідження полягає в переосмисленні існуючої в історії музики концепції про другорядне й прикладне значення середньовічної інструментальної музики, шляхом виявлення нових граней її морально-етичної та художньої цінності. Результати дослідження вказують на глибокий зв’язок інструментальної музики з народними традиціями та їхню стійку невикорінюваність, незважаючи на багаточисленні церковні інтердикти. Висновки. Виявлено нерівнозначне ставлення духовенства до музикантів, які мали різний рід занять та різний соціальний статус, а також проявляли різний ступінь конформізму щодо доктрин та політики офіційної церкви. Аналіз деяких трактатів того часу дав підстави висловити думку про космічну роль музики в системі середньовічного світогляду, про що свідчить спроба середньовічних мислителів пояснити за допомогою музичної гармонії взаємозв’язок частин всесвіту (макрокосму) та людського єства (мікрокосму). У цих же трактатах чітко простежується зародження теорії афектів, яка згодом остаточно сформується в музичній естетиці високого Відродження. В результаті вивчення деяких середньовічних музичних жанрів висунуто гіпотезу про існування вже у XIII ст. самостійної (не прикладної) інструментальної музики.

Uncertainty regarding which psychological mechanisms are fundamental in mediating SSRI treatment outcomes and wide-ranging variability in their efficacy has raised more questions than it has solved. Since subjective mood states are an abstract scientific construct, only available through self-report in humans, and likely involving input from multiple top-down and bottom-up signals, it has been difficult to model at what level SSRIs interact with this process. Converging translational evidence indicates a role for serotonin in modulating context-dependent parameters of action selection, affect, and social cognition; and concurrently supporting learning mechanisms, which promote adaptability and behavioural flexibility. We examine the theoretical basis, ecological validity, and interaction of these constructs and how they may or may not exert a clinical benefit. Specifically, we bridge crucial gaps between disparate lines of research, particularly findings from animal models and human clinical trials, which often seem to present irreconcilable differences. In determining how SSRIs exert their effects, our approach examines the endogenous functions of 5-HT neurons, how 5-HT manipulations affect behaviour in different contexts, and how their therapeutic effects may be exerted in humans - which may illuminate issues of translational models, hierarchical mechanisms, idiographic variables, and social cognition.

Mentoring has experienced a tremendous upswing over the past decades, which has only recently slowed down somewhat. One possible factor explaining mentoring's popularity are numerous case studies suggesting that it is one of the most effective ways of helping individuals to develop. Meta‐analyses indicating effect sizes for mentoring that are below what would theoretically be possible appear to contradict the success stories, however. This circumstance raises questions about the professionalization of mentoring practices. We focus on seven key issues for future efforts at professionalizing mentoring. Key issues 1 and 2 address observation of the state of the art within formal mentoring when programs are planned and implemented: the consideration of recent research and of best practices. While both areas can overlap, they provide complementary sources of pertinent information for the professionalization of mentoring. Key issues 3–6 address the need to align mentoring activities to the specific context and goals of individual mentoring programs by observing idiographic program characteristics, mentoring dynamics, the orchestration of mentoring goals, and the provision of mentoring resources. Finally, key issue 7 highlights ongoing evaluation as the basis of the effective, continuous improvement of mentoring programs.

Anxiety and depressive symptoms frequently co-occur in adolescence and confer greater distress compared to experiencing either symptom alone. A causal model (anxiety symptoms predicting depressive symptoms), a correlated liabilities model (vulnerabilities interacting with stressors to predict both symptoms), and a diathesis-anxiety model (vulnerabilities interacting with anxiety symptoms to predict depressive symptoms) have all been proposed as explanations for the relation between depression and anxiety. To date, however, research has mostly examined these models among North American/Western European adolescents. In response, the present study sought to identify the best explanatory model concerning the relationship between anxiety and depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents. 494 10th grade students were assessed for their perceived levels of family cohesion and conflict, stressors, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Every 3 months for 18 months, youth reported their symptoms and stressors. Symptoms and stressors were person-mean and grand-mean centered to compare nomothetic and idiographic conceptualizations of vulnerability. Overall, evidence suggested a reciprocal, versus causal, relation between anxiety and depressive symptoms. Further, while cohesion and conflict independently predicted anxiety and depressive symptoms, their interactions with stressors were not supported. Ultimately, strong support was found for a diathesis-anxiety model using an idiographic conceptualization of anxiety, such that low perceived family cohesion interacted with within-subject fluctuations of anxiety to predict prospective depressive symptoms. This study provides cross-cultural support for a diathesis-anxiety model and shows the importance of distinguishing between positive and negative family functioning when examining vulnerability in Chinese adolescents. Research and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) emphasizes values and behavioral commitments to help individuals achieve goals and manage emotions. This study evaluated the preliminary psychometric properties of the ACTive Values Wheel, a smartphone application-based psychometric instrument. ACTive provides a weighted and idiographic index of individuals’ self-reported values-directed behavior. One hundred sixty adults participated on an individual basis to complete the ACTive Values Wheel and questionnaire measures of well-being, psychological distress, psychological flexibility, and valued living to assess the convergent, incremental, discriminant, and criterion-related validity of the ACTive Values Wheel. The ACTive Values Wheel showed evidence of convergent and criterion-related validity through significant positive correlations with existing measures of valued living, emotional well-being, and openness to experience, respectively. Likewise, discriminant validity was evidenced by a nonsignificant correlation with age. However, evidence of incremental validity over and above existing measures of valued living was not found. These findings provide preliminary support for the psychometric properties of the ACTive Values Wheel. Accounting for the methodological limitations of the study, the ACTive Values Wheel shows potential as an accessible and interactive measure of self-reported values-directed behavior that could be extended to other languages and cultural contexts.

This study aimed to identify elements of personal knowledge that were hypothesized to underlie within-person, across-context variations in students’ appraisals of self-efficacy for coping with challenges encountered in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Freshman in a college of engineering completed assessments of (a) 4 elements of personal knowledge regarding themselves and their educational resources; (b) their subjective beliefs about links between these 4 personal and social qualities and each of 32 specific educational challenges; and (c) perceived self-efficacy for successfully handling each of the 32 challenges. Individual students’ self-efficacy appraisals commonly varied substantially within-person, across contexts. This variability was predictable. Students displayed relatively high (low) self-efficacy within subsets of situations they subjectively linked to positively (negatively) valenced knowledge that they possessed, a finding consistent with the knowledge-and-appraisal model of personality architecture that guided the research. Additional analyses demonstrated that students with similar overall academic self-efficacy scores may display markedly different profiles of self-efficacy appraisal across context. Students’ narrative accounts enriched understanding of these profile patterns. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Assisted living is a popular alternative to residential care, promoting independence and enabling self-care through a supportive living environment. Practitioner understanding of quality of life (QoL) experiences are vital to facilitate good physical and mental health in assisted living. An idiographic case study approach explored resident experiences by combining photo-elicitation and interpretive phenomenological analysis. QoL was understood through three themes: facilitation of identity coherence and transition, the essential nature of socialising, and perceptions of a supportive environment. Assisted living has the potential to act as a bearer for cues of identity continuity with nostalgic devices facilitating environment transition and limiting biographical disruption. Furthermore, opportunities for social contact offer a protective function for residents adapting to negative life challenges such as bereavement. To foster health and QoL in withdrawn residents’ facilities should develop peer support programmes with benefits for both mentor and mentee.

This article situates the current discussion of reproducibility and replicability taking place across the sciences within geographers’ enduring discussion of nomothetic and idiographic approaches, ...

Our understanding of child, adolescent, and caregiver mental health (MH) problems during the coronavirus pandemic, and which interventions are needed, may be advanced by consumer input. 133 general population caregivers reported top MH problems and needs for themselves and their children (Mage = 8.21; SD = 4.94), using standardized and idiographic measures. We applied linear regression models to quantitative data and thematic analysis to qualitative data. Caregivers’ COVID-era depression and anxiety symptom means fell within the clinical range, as did their children’s MH symptoms. Caregiver-reported child and adolescent symptoms were positively associated with number of children in the home. Caregiver and caregiver-reported child and adolescent symptoms were more pronounced in regions with more lenient COVID-19 restrictions. Among the kinds of help most urgently needed, MH services were ranked #1 for caregivers and adolescents, #2 for 6–12 year-olds, and #3 for 1–5 year-olds. Top problems identified for each age group highlight pressing pandemic-related intervention targets. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10578-020-01089-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Motivational negative symptoms hinder quality of life and daily functioning of individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. A recently developed intervention, Switch, has shown promising effects on negative symptoms and functional outcomes. Switch targets multiple cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes associated with motivation and goal directed behaviours. We aimed to investigate its effects on motivation and associated processes in a naturalistic setting, and to explore the dynamics between the processes. Methods We used a single case approach (n = 3), with a pre-post and follow-up assessment design, which also included ambulatory assessments (experience sampling method, ESM; and step count). We computed autoregressive lag 1 models to evaluate the effects of the intervention on daily motivation levels and related processes, descriptive pie-charts, and vector autoregressive modelling to reveal the dynamics of the processes over time. Results The intervention was beneficial for each participant according to traditional evaluations of motivational negative symptoms, apathy, daily functioning and quality of life. The effects on the ESM variables revealed distinct outcomes for each individual. The dynamics between the various processes differed between participants, and fluctuated within participants (when comparing baseline, intervention phase, and follow-up). Conclusions This study used an innovative approach to look at the effectiveness of an intervention. The intervention seems to lead to meaningful improvements in motivational negative symptoms and functional outcomes. The mechanisms of change need to be further investigated. Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04325100. Registered 27 March 27, 2020 -retrospectively registered. Reporting Guidelines from the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Non-randomized Designs (TREND) statement were followed.

Process-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (PB-CBT) is the integration of biological, psychological, and social factors into idiographic structural models used to conceptualize patient problems and select transdiagnostic, evidence-based procedures for clinical intervention to improve well-being. Despite the clinical utility and applicability of this transdiagnostic approach to case conceptualization and treatment, little research or formal guidance exists on how to create individualized structural models in clinical practice. Traditional clinical psychology, on the contrary, employs a diagnosis to treatment matching system. While useful, diagnosis to treatment models of intervention neglect contextual factors that contribute to patient problems and have led to a proliferation of treatment manuals for specific diagnoses. The current case study described a college male who coped with emotional difficulties through avoidance, isolation, food restriction, and alcohol use. In addition to psychopathology, the patient also identified as bisexual in a predominantly homophobic social environment, which exacerbated psychological distress. These various factors were integrated into a structural model that aided the selection of transdiagnostic interventions. At the conclusion of treatment, the patient reported meaningful reductions in psychological symptoms, in addition to various functional gains consistent with his values, such as an increased ability to tolerate difficult emotions, increased mindfulness skills, and an openness to discuss emotions with peers. Structural models and transdiagnostic interventions may help conceptualize patients presenting with multiple forms of psychopathology.

İnsanın yeryüzünü en başta tarım sonrasında ise sanayi ve diğer teknolojilerle değişime uğratması ve dünya nüfusunun süreklilik arz eden bir şekilde artış göstermesi insan-çevre ilişkilerinde yeni bakış açısının ortaya çıkmasını doğurmuştur. Özellikle 1970’lerden sonra artan çevrecilik faaliyetleriyle birlikte zengin ekosistemleri ve biyoçeşitliliği sahip doğal alanları ve peyzajları güvence altına alarak gelecek nesillere aktarma düşüncesi ön plana çıkmıştır. Bu durum gerek merkezi hükümetler gerekse uluslararası örgütlerce çeşitli tedbirlerin alınmasıyla bazı önemli yapısal sorunların gündeme gelmesine neden olmuştur. Süregiden tartışmaların temelinde doğanın kimden ve nasıl korunacağı yatmaktadır. Bu bağlamda çalışmanın konusu dünyada ve Türkiye’de doğa korumanın tarihi süreçte geçirdiği kuramsal değişimlerdir. Çalışma böylelikle Türkiye’de doğa koruma faaliyetlerindeki mevcut durumun dünyadaki yaklaşımlarla benzerlik ve farklılıklarını ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. 1970’li yıllardan sonra dünyada insansız doğa koruma yaklaşımı büyük ölçüde terk edilmiş, kırsal kalkınma ve diğer yararlanma düşünceleri neredeyse biyoçeşitliliği koruma ilkesinin önüne geçmiştir. Türkiye’de de benzer eğilimlerin ortaya çıktığı ancak kırsal kalkınma, eko turizm gibi pratiklerin gerçekten söz konusu alanlarda amacına ulaşıp ulaşmadığı doğa koruma literatüründe önemli bir eksiklik olarak dikkat çekmektedir. Bu bağlamda denilebilir ki koruma-kullanma ve kırsal kalkınma pratiklerinin ilişkisini, ortaya çıkan sorunları ortaya koymak için korunan alanların özgün kültürel ve doğal özelliklerini göz önüne alan daha fazla sayıda idiyografik karakterli nitel çalışmaya ihtiyaç vardır., The transformation of the worldwith industry and other technologies in the first place after agriculture andthe continuous growth of the world's population has led to the emergence of anew perspective in human-environmental relations. Especially after the 1970s,with increasing environmental activities, the idea of transferring naturalareas and landscapes with rich ecosystems to future generations has come to thefore. This situation has led to the development of some important structuralproblems by taking various measures by both central governments andinternational organizations. The basis of the ongoing debate is who and how toprotect nature. In this context, the subject of the study is the theoreticalchanges that nature conservation has undergone in the historical process in theworld and in Turkey. The study aims to demonstrate the similarities anddifferences of the current situation in nature conservation activities inTurkey with the approaches in the world. After the 1970s, the world's unmannednature conservation approach was abandoned, and rural development and otherexploitation ideas almost outnumbered the principle of biodiversityconservation. It is noted as an important deficiency in the nature conservationliterature whether similar trends have emerged in Turkey but whether practicessuch as rural development and eco tourism have actually achieved their goal inthese areas. In this context, it can be said that a more numerous qualitativestudies with idiographic character, taking into account the relationship ofconservation and rural development practices and the unique cultural andnatural characteristics of protected areas to present the emerging problems,can be said to be need.

Roseanne Dobkin and her colleagues (e.g., Dobkin, Interian, Durland, Gara, & Menza, 2018) have developed a 10-session, individual cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) program for treating depression in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (dPD). The program has been found to yield statistically and clinically significant success in both uncontrolled group trial designs and randomized clinical trials—originally in a face-to-face version, and then in a telehealth version, using telephone therapy sessions and guided self-help materials for patients. This latter version is herein called "Teleheath Guided Self-Help for dPD," or "TH-GSH-dPD," for short. Applying Fishman, Messer, Edwards, and Dattilio’s (2017) "case studies within psychotherapy trials" methodological model, the present research was designed to complement the group research findings by my conducting systematic, pragmatic case studies (Fishman, 2013) with four patients representative of those in the telehealth studies, given the names of "Alice" (and her caregiver husband "Bob"); "Carl" (and his caregiver wife "Doris"); "Ethan" (and his caregiver wife, "Fay"); and "Gary" (and his caregiver mother, not named). Specifically, Alice and Carl were representative of those patients in the group studies with positive, responsive outcomes; and Ethan and Gary were representative of those patients in the group studies with negative, nonresponsive outcomes. Each case combines (a) quantitative data, comprised of demographic information, psychiatric diagnostic data, neurocognitive data, caregiver distress, and treatment outcome measures; and (b) qualitative data, consisting of recordings of the telephone therapy sessions, my treatment notes, my observations as the therapist, and systematic, post-treatment "Exit Interviews" I conducted with each of the patients and their caregivers about their therapy experience. Each of the four case studies aims (a) to provide a detailed, thickly described portrait of the TH-GSH-dPD treatment process; and (b) to explore the presence and influence of barriers and facilitators of treatment in an idiographic context. Regarding point (b), the following variables that cut across the case studies are explored as appearing to be particularly impactful: patients’ worldviews, patients’ cognitive functioning, caregiver involvement, and homework adherence.

This Special Issue sets the stage for constructive integration of psychology with relevant phenomena it needs to study, and with its interdisciplinary collaboration possibilities. Based on a regular submission of an analysis of the conceptual network of psychology (Zagaria et al. 2020) an international constructive discussion ensued, with charting out three potential future pathways to psychology as science: (1) theoretical elaboration of the person-centered and idiographic approaches and move from “evidence-based” to experience-based research; (2) advancement of general developmental science perspective beyond the traditions of evolutionary psychology along the lines of the genetic logic of James Mark Baldwin, and (3) building interdisciplinary synthesis between psychology and semiotics in the domain of cultural psychology. The progress in contemporary biology (epigenetics) and qualitative mathematics can provide the epistemological support for this move.

The concept of illusory mental health is described as the rationale for needing an approach for working with individuals who are unaware of their suffering and are therefore unable to describe their problems through self-report instruments. The use of a nomothetic approach using self-report or clinician-generated standardised instruments is compared with an idiographic approach for working with such individuals. A case study is used to illustrate the development and first application of a Proxy-Generated Outcome Measure (PGOM) that allows clinicians, observers and researchers to trace an individualised understanding of a client’s core sufferings and changes occurring during the process of psychotherapy. A comparison with a nomothetic outcome measure is also presented.

Zagaria, Andó and Zennaro (2020) provide a useful analysis of the current state of affairs in the discipline of psychology. They conclude that psychology is in a messy and unproductive pre-pragmatic state and suggest that evolutionary psychology can provide a needed metatheoretical perspective to enable psychology to move forward as a science. In my commentary I move to another direction and suggest that psychology does not need more solid foundations, but rather foundations characterized by reflective stance towards its phenomena, theories, methods and data production processes. I suggest that this kind of stance would be in accordance with the process ontological perspective that allows focusing on meaningful human experience as central object of study for psychology, together with an idiographic approach to research. I thus suggest that psychology will endure only by turning its reflective gaze towards oneself, by thinking about its past, imagining its future and constructing novelty from the creative assemblage of the two.

Background: In schizophrenia, pathway-genotypes may be constructed by combining interrelated immune biomarkers with changes in specific neurocognitive functions that represent aberrations in brain neuronal circuits. These constructs provide an insight on the phenome of schizophrenia and show how pathway-phenotypes mediate the effects of genome X environmentome interactions on the symptomatology/phenomenology of schizophrenia. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge how to construct pathway-phenotypes using Partial Least Squares (PLS) path modeling and Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA). Aims: This paper aims to provide a step-by-step utilization guide for the construction of pathwayphenotypes that reflect aberrations in the neuroimmune - brain circuit axis (NIBCA) in deficit schizophrenia. Methods and Results: This NIBCA index is constructed using immune biomarkers (CCL-2, CCL-11, IL-1β, sIL-1RA, TNF-α, sTNFR1, sTNFR2) and neurocognitive tests (Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia) predicting overall severity of schizophrenia (OSOS) in 120 deficit SCZ and 54 healthy participants. Using SmartPLS path analysis, a latent vector is extracted from those biomarkers and cognitive tests, which shows good construct reliability (Cronbach alpha and composite reliability) and replicability and which is reflectively measured through its NIBCA manifestations. This NIBCA pathwayphenotype explains 75.0% of the variance in PHEMN (psychotic, hostility, excitation, mannerism and negative) symptoms. Using SIMCA, we constructed a NIBCA pathway-class that defines deficit schizophrenia as a qualitatively distinct nosological entity, which allows patients with deficit schizophrenia to be authenticated as belonging to the deficit schizophrenia class. Conclusion: In conclusion, our nomothetic approach to develop a nomological network combining neuro-immune and neurocognitive phenome markers to predict OSOS and cross-validate a diagnostic class generated replicable models reflecting the key phenome of the illness, which may mediate the effects of genome X environmentome interactions on the final outcome phenome features, namely symptomatology and phenomenology.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore consumers perceptions of sustainability, including how information is accessed, evaluated and practiced and how sustainability concepts transfer to fashion consumption. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts a phenomenological approach of unstructured interviews with 28 professionally working mothers. Garment labels indicating concepts of sustainability from UK fashion-retailers were used as a vehicle for discussion. Data was analysed through the theoretical lens of Holbrook’s (1999) typology of consumer value. Findings The findings identity that the participants struggle with understanding how sustainability is compromised within fashion-production and how their sustainability practice fluctuates depending on information, guidance and practical support. The findings also identify preferences for sustainability, where sustainable concepts are perceived as adding value. Research limitations/implications Limitations are assumed through the small focussed sample, however, the research does provide rich insight into micro-analytic idiographic lifeworlds to better understand how everyday deliberations of household management and sustainability concepts are practiced. Practical implications The findings illustrate pathways for retailers, producers and policymakers to guide sustainability and support sustainability through the use of labels and marketing which will enhance notions of value. Similarly, the findings can enable policymakers to position campaigns and practical solutions that advance the sustainability agenda. Social implications The research indicates that sustainability is filtering through society and drawing the attention of a broader consumer market, including passive mainstream consumers who are developing expectations that mainstream fashion-retailers address sustainability. Originality/value The research is novel in adopting a phenomenological approach that provides a unique insight into how sustainability is experienced in everyday households, through the adaptation of related behaviours and evaluating sustainability concepts.

According to Zagaria et al. (2020), evolutionary psychology may be the meta-theory that is needed if psychological science is to enter a paradigmatic stage. Other writers have suggested that what is needed is a person-oriented approach, which focuses on the person as a complex system that needs to be studied (1) as a whole (holism), (2) as an intentional agent in interaction with its environment (interactionism), and (3) in terms of his or her individual characteristics and development (idiographic focus). The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the compatibility of these two suggestions. A brief analysis of some formulations central to Dawkins’ gene-centered approach (e.g., “the intricate interdependence of genes”, and the dependence of genes on their environment) suggests that it is quite compatible with holism and interactionism; and applications such as genetic genealogy illustrate the possibility of a person-oriented genetics. It is argued that these two perspectives are not only compatible, but also complementary. Without a complement in the form of a person-oriented perspective, a gene-centered evolutionary psychology will at best be able to produce a general understanding of the psychological potentials that inhere in the human gene pool. It will not, however, lead to any understanding of the unique profiles of psychological potentials that are produced by a re-combination of autosomal DNA at the origin of each specific individual person, and that develop over time in interaction with the environment. The latter requires that the gene-centered view is complemented with a person-oriented approach.

Abstract. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is associated with worry and emotion regulation difficulties. The contrast-avoidance model suggests that individuals with GAD use worry to regulate emotion: by worrying, they maintain a constant state of negative affect (NA), avoiding a feared sudden shift into NA. We tested an extension of this model to positive affect (PA). During a week-long ecological momentary assessment (EMA) period, 96 undergraduates with a GAD analog provided four daily measurements of worry, dampening (i.e., PA suppression), and PA. We hypothesized a time-lagged mediation relationship in which higher worry predicts later dampening, and dampening predicts subsequently lower PA. A lag-2 structural equation model was fit to the group-aggregated data and to each individual time-series to test this hypothesis. Although worry and PA were negatively correlated in 87 participants, our model was not supported at the nomothetic level. However, idiographically, our model was well-fit for about a third (38.5%) of participants. We then used automatic search as an idiographic exploratory procedure to detect other time-lagged relationships between these constructs. While 46 individuals exhibited some cross-lagged relationships, no clear pattern emerged across participants. An alternative hypothesis about the speed of the relationship between variables is discussed using contemporaneous correlations of worry, dampening, and PA. Findings suggest heterogeneity in the function of worry as a regulatory strategy, and the importance of temporal scale for detection of time-lagged effects.

The present case study presents the first idiographic application of a one to one Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT; Ellis, 1957) intervention integrated with Motivational Interviewing (MI; Miller & Rollnick, 2013) with a client (elite athlete) on irrational beliefs, self-determined motivation, and sporting performance. Building and maintaining a strong working alliance with a client is considered central to both MI and REBT, and psychological interventions generally. Whilst there are widespread recognition and recommendations of the importance of working alliance, the guidance on how to explicitly cultivate this beyond broad descriptions is relatively scant. Using the present case of ‘Theo’, MI was used as an identifiable and measurable framework to foster a strong working alliance between the practitioner and client, to increase Theo’s readiness and enhance the effects of the REBT intervention. After receiving eight one-to-one REBT sessions, data indicated acute and maintained reductions in Theo’s endorsement of irrational beliefs, increases in self-determined motivation, and marked increases in sporting performance. In addition, measures of treatment fidelity showed the effective and maintained inclusion of core MI principles through the REBT intervention. Ultimately, the case supports the effective application of REBT in addition to MI, whilst providing guidelines by which practitioners can actively facilitate a working alliance when applying REBT. Further, the case contributes to the emerging literature that links reductions in irrational beliefs with enhanced self-determined motivation and its potential value on wellbeing and/or performance.

Purpose While the problem of unethical leadership is undoubtedly a global one, the urgency of generating ethical leadership to advance the development of Africa has never been more evident than it is today. The challenge for higher education in developing ethical leaders is of core importance, as it is responsible for providing the main recruiting ground of business leaders. The current paper reports findings of a qualitative study of postgraduate students’ ethical development at the end of courses in business ethics aimed to enhance moral reasoning and ethical decision-making. The paper aims to ascertain whether stand-alone ethics courses are more effective than integrated ones in achieving academic ethical competency. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts an idiographic approach which aims at eliciting individual student subjective perceptions of the effects of the direct and indirect courses of ethical instruction on their moral reasoning and ethical practice. The research design broadly follows Mill’s (2017) method of difference. Findings Findings indicate perceived differences in the relative effectiveness of stand-alone and embedded ethics courses among students but also show that most students hold positive overall evaluations of the effectiveness of the both types of ethics instruction. Research limitations/implications Limitations to the study include that it is cross-sectional, involves a small sample of postgraduate students and is restricted to two management courses at one institution of higher learning. Furthermore, while Mill (2017) provides a useful research design in this context, it is not able to indicate causality, as there are other possible unidentified “third variables” that may be the actual cause of student differences between embedded and stand-alone ethics courses. The study is not able to show the durability and transfer of ethical competencies into students’ later working lives. Practical implications The study provides a useful practical educational contribution to the extant knowledge in the field in that it suggests that ethical courses aimed at giving students a moral reasoning “toolkit” for ethical decision-making are more effective when delivered in the stand-alone format, whereas practical decision-making skills are best honed by embedded business ethics courses. Social implications The problem of corruption in business and politics in South Africa is widely documented and has been regarded as responsible for creating a serious developmental drag on the alleviation of poverty and quality of lives of the majority of people in the country. The moral/ethical competency and behavior of future business leaders is partly the responsibility of institutions of higher learning. The study aims to find the most effective means of imparting moral awareness in postgraduate students who are likely to take up business leadership positions in their future careers. Originality/value The study provides useful contribution to the extant knowledge in the field in the African context in that it suggests that ethical courses aimed at giving students a moral reasoning “toolkit” for ethical decision-making are more effective when delivered in the stand-alone format, whereas practical decision-making skills are best honed by embedded business ethics courses.

Objective: Behavioral activation constitutes a promising behavioral treatment for depression. Due to its contextual and idiographic approach, the intervention might be well suited for treating depression in culturally diverse populations. Method: The authors conducted a systematic literature review on culturally adapted behavioral activation treatments. Results: Seventeen studies were identified through database searching involving different target populations and a variety of adapted interventions. Circumstances were frequently shaped by cultural values and a wide range of environmental stressors. Adaptations were found in different dimensions including language, content, methods, and context. Across studies, results indicated the effectiveness of behavioral activation and its cultural adaptations for treating depression in their respective target groups. Discussion: The results of this review may serve as an input both for practitioners employing behavioral activation in their daily work with culturally diverse clients and for researchers interested in culturally adapting treatment to specific populations.

This work was developed based on the reaserching field named Cultural Psychology which takes into account transformative processes marked by relations/dialogues among I-Others-World in a cultural field that allows and/or restricts people's possibilities for action. From this point of view, we propose a discussion about the socio-communicative capacity of a person diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), focusing on the dialogical capacity of human communication for an idiographic and qualitative analysis on the mental states use of words and attributions from reports collected from semi-structured interviews conducted with an adult person diagnosed with ASD and an adult woman who has no such diagnosis. The interviews focused on apprehending information on the participants' understanding of the person diagnosed with ASD's development, therapies carried out and its implications in the life of the person. Our results indicate that the person diagnosed with ASD has a significant deficit in the use of words, which accounts for mental states in socio-communicative processes compared to a person with a typical development. These data point to relevant impairments that the person diagnosed with ASD presents in dialogic processes.

The Coping Questionnaire (CQ) – child and parent version – is an idiographic measure of youth’s perceived ability to cope in anxiety provoking situations. Participants (N = 442; aged 7–17) met DSM-IV criteria for separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or social anxiety disorder. The internal consistency of the CQ was supported, and retest reliability and parent/child agreement were, as expected, modest. The CQ scores were significantly correlated in the expected direction with measures of anxiety symptoms and functioning, providing evidence of convergent and divergent validity. The criterion validity of the CQ also was supported: the CQ scores were significantly correlated with the clinical severity rating of the youth’s principal diagnosis on ADIS. There was a significant correlation between change in CQ scores and in anxiety severity and symptoms following treatment. Results support the CQ as a measure to assess coping efficacy in anxious youths as part of evidence-based assessment.