Towards a cultural adaptation of family psychoeducation: findings from three latino focus groups.

This study was undertaken among Latinos receiving treatment from a community mental health center in New York City. The primary mental health concern was schizophrenia. We conducted three focus groups and present the viewpoints of consumers, family members, and providers. Using qualitative content analysis we identified four predominant categories: (1) the importance of family ties; (2) stigma about mental illness; (3) respect and trust in interpersonal relationships; and (4) facilitators and barriers to implementing Family Psychoeducation. Analysis of transcripts revealed specific subthemes for each category. Implications for imparting culturally sensitive material into mental health services for Latinos are discussed.

Ophthalmologist perceptions regarding treatment of moderate-to-severe dry eye: results of a physician survey.

PURPOSE: To understand ophthalmologists' current perceptions and treatment of patients with moderate-to-severe dry eye disease (DED). SETTING: Online survey. METHODS: The online survey was sent to 7,882 ophthalmologists, including 51 corneal specialists, throughout the United States from October 9 to 21, 2008. The response rate was 3.1% (n = 245), typical for this type of survey. Only ophthalmologists who treated four or more moderate-to-severe DED patients per month (235 of 245 [96%]) were asked to complete the survey. RESULTS: Ninety-four percent of respondents agreed that more treatment options are needed for moderate-to-severe DED. Corneal specialists were more likely to strongly agree (63%) than general ophthalmologists (54%). Only 33% overall felt that current therapies were extremely or very effective for moderate DED and only 5% for severe disease. Ninety-two percent agreed that multiple therapeutic agents are needed to manage moderate-to-severe DED. The respondents prescribed or recommended a mean of 3.2 different treatments (standard deviation = 1.2) for moderate DED patients over the course of a year and 4.9 (standard deviation = 2.2) for patients with severe DED. The most highly ranked goals for treatment of moderate-to-severe DED patients were maintaining and protecting the ocular surface (ranked 1 or 2 x 74%) and lubricating and hydrating the ocular surface (ranked 1 or 2 x 67%). Corneal specialists ranked maintaining and protecting the ocular surface even more highly (ranked 1 or 2 x 82%). CONCLUSIONS: Results reflected the difficulty of treating moderate-to-severe DED, the importance of using multiple treatment approaches, the limitations of current treatment options, and the need for additional treatment options.

Procedural fairness, outcome favorability, and judgments of an authority's responsibility.

Fairness theory (R. Folger & R. Cropanzano, 1998, 2001) postulates that, particularly in the face of unfavorable outcomes, employees judge an organizational authority to be more responsible for their outcomes when the authority exhibits lower procedural fairness. Three studies lent empirical support to this notion. Furthermore, 2 of the studies showed that attributions of responsibility to the authority mediated the relationship between the authority's procedural fairness and employees' reactions to unfavorable outcomes. The findings (a) provide support for a key assumption of fairness theory, (b) help to account for the pervasive interactive effect of procedural fairness and outcome favorability on employees' attitudes and behaviors, and (c) contribute to an emerging trend in justice research concerned with how people use procedural fairness information to make attributions of responsibility for their outcomes. Practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research also are discussed.

Assimilative behavior identification can also be resource dependent: the unimodel perspective on personal-attribution phases.

Three studies examine the role of situational constraint information on behavior identification. It was found that where the behavior-identification task is relatively easy assimilation of the behavior-identification to situational constraints is independent of cognitive load. However, where the behavior-identification task is relatively difficult, assimilation is undermined by load. Given that the discounting of situational constraint information, too, can be independent of load where the dispositional-inference task is easy, and is load-dependent when the task is difficult, it appears that both assimilation and discounting behave identically in regard to load. This conclusion is consistent with the judgmental unimodel whereby behavior identification and dispositional inference differ in the contents of the judgmental questions they address while sharing the underlying process whereby these questions are answered.

Transfer of value from fit.

People experience regulatory fit when they pursue a goal in a manner that sustains their regulatory orientation (E. T. Higgins, 2000). Five studies tested whether the value experienced from regulatory fit can transfer to a subsequent evaluation of an object. In Studies 1 and 2, participants gave the same coffee mug a higher price if they had chosen it with a strategy that fit their orientation (eager strategy/promotion; vigilant strategy/prevention) than a strategy that did not fit. Studies 3-5 investigated possible mechanisms underlying this effect. Value transfer was independent of positive mood, perceived effectiveness (instrumentality), and perceived efficiency (ease), and occurred for an object that w as independent of the fit process itself. The findings supported a value confusion account of transfer.

Increasing or decreasing interest in activities: the role of regulatory fit.

What makes people's interest in doing an activity increase or decrease? Regulatory fit theory (E. T. Higgins, 2000) provides a new perspective on this classic issue by emphasizing the relation between people's activity orientation, such as thinking of an activity as fun, and the manner of activity engagement that the surrounding situation supports. These situational factors include whether a reward for good performance, expected (Study 1) or unexpected (Study 2), is experienced as enjoyable or as serious and whether the free-choice period that measures interest in the activity is experienced as enjoyable or as serious (Study 3). Studies 1-3 found that participants were more likely to do a fun activity again when these situational factors supported a manner of doing the activity that fit the fun orientation-a reward or free-choice period framed as enjoyable. This effect was not because interest in doing an activity again is simply greater in an enjoyable than a serious surrounding situation because it did not occur, and even reversed, when the activity orientation was important rather than fun, where now a serious manner of engagement provides the fit (Study 4a and 4b).

Ophthalmologist perceptions regarding treatment of moderate to severe dry eye: results of a physician survey.

PURPOSE: To understand ophthalmologists' current perceptions and treatment of patients with moderate to severe dry eye syndrome (DED). METHODS: An online survey was distributed to 7,882 ophthalmologists, including 51 corneal specialists, throughout the United States from October 9 to 21, 2008. The response rate was 3.1% (n = 245), typical for this type of survey. Those who treated 4 or more patients with moderate to severe DED per month (235 of 245 [96%]) were asked to complete the survey. RESULTS: Ninety-four percent of respondents agreed that more treatment options are needed for moderate to severe DED. Corneal specialists were more likely to strongly agree (63%) than general ophthalmologists (54%). Only 33% overall felt that current therapies were extremely or very effective for moderate DED, and only 5% for severe disease. Ninety-two percent agreed that multiple therapeutic agents are needed to manage moderate to severe DED. The respondents reported prescribing, recommending, or suggesting a mean of 3.2 different treatment approaches over the course of a year for patients with moderate DED and 4.9 for patients with severe DED. The most highly ranked goals in treatment of moderate to severe DED were maintaining and protecting the ocular surface (ranked 1 or 2 by 74%) and lubricating and hydrating the ocular surface (ranked 1 or 2 by 67%). Corneal specialists ranked maintaining and protecting the ocular surface even higher (ranked 1 or 2 by 82%). CONCLUSIONS: Results reflected the difficulty of treating more serious moderate to severe cases, the importance of using multiple treatment approaches, the limitations of current treatment options, and the need for additional treatment options.