Survey of HIV/AIDS Clients in Botswana: Reactions to Supportive Counselling

A survey of HIV/AIDS clients in Botswana, Africa, all of whom were receiving supportive counselling, was conducted. A total of 328 volunteer clients from randomly selected sites completed the survey related to client perceptions of counselling helpfulness, outlook on life, satisfaction with goal setting in counselling, experience of social stigma, and acceptance by family and others. Overall, clients were very positive concerning the benefits received from counselling, their relationship with their counsellor, the goal setting process, their family/friends support system and their present quality of life. The majority of clients did, however, indicate some level of feeling stigmatized by being HIV-positive. Additional major findings indicated that clients with family incomes of less than 10 K pula per year (around US$1 k) were less positive about their counselling and related experiences than were those with higher levels of family income, with the exception of social stigma where lower family income was associated with less perceived social stigma. Clients reporting counselling sessions lasting more than 15 min were generally more positive in their reactions to counselling and related experiences than were clients reporting sessions typically lasting 15 min or less. A discussion of the findings, along with recommendations for areas needing further study and attention, is provided.     

An evaluation of the SOAR-High Project: a Web-based science program for deaf students

The investigators evaluated the SOAR-High (Science, Observing, and Reporting-High School) Project, a web-based earth systems science course involving collaborating teachers and deaf students at high schools in California, Washington, DC, and Indiana. In SOAR-High, students use Internet- and computer-based technologies to gather and report information. The investigators and stakeholders identified 4 key questions: (a) Are the SOAR-High students becoming proficient in using the science process skills? (b) Do the SOAR-High curriculum materials explicitly stress the use of science process skills? (c) Do the SOAR-High students develop skills to work independently? (d) Does the SOAR-High Project aid in student motivation? Quantitative and qualitative evaluative tools to address each question included student and teacher interviews, classroom observations, performance-based tasks, and reviews of student website work. Findings showed convincing evidence for affirmative answers to all 4 questions. However, some students described difficulties with the reading levels of the SOAR-High materials; some teachers expressed concern about SOAR-High's effectiveness because of its use with students at different grade levels.     

Phonological,visual and temporal processing in adults with and without reading disability

The primary goal of this study was to comparethree theoretical accounts of readingdisability (RD) by simultaneously studyingphonological, visual, and temporal processingskills. Adults with and without RD werecompared on measures of phonological processingwith the Auditory Analysis Test (AAT) and theWoodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT-R) WordAttack subtest. Visual processing was assessedwith the Useful Field of View test (UFOV®)and the Frequency Doubling Technology Perimeter(FDT). The Repetition Test was used toevaluate temporal processing skills. Adultswith RD evidenced poorer phonological andtemporal processing skills than did adultswithout RD, but no significant differencesbetween the groups were found in visualprocessing. Future research is needed toclarify the relations among phonological,visual, and temporal skills and the roles theyplay in RD. The trajectory and co-existence ofdeficits throughout development, as well as howspecifically such impairments affect reading,warrant further investigation.     

Sleep and adjustment in preschool children: sleep diary reports by mothers relate to behavior reports by teachers

Prior literature suggests that there may be relations between children's sleep disorders or inadequate amounts of sleep and behavioral adjustment. Most relevant studies concern clinical populations, however, and relatively few concern community populations. Moreover, previous studies have not addressed empirically the possible role of family functioning as a factor in the relation between children's sleep and adjustment. The present study, conducted in a predominantly low-income, community sample (N = 202), measured 4- to 5-year-old children's sleep patterns through daily logs kept by mothers, and measured family stress and parenting practices through detailed, multifaceted interviews and incidental observations of parent-child interactions. Children's adjustment, both positive and negative, was measured through preschool teacher reports on multiple occasions. A structural equation model showed that disrupted child sleep patterns (variability in reported amount of sleep, variability in bedtime, and lateness of bedtime) predicted less optimal adjustment in preschool, even after considering the roles of family stress and family management practices.     

Children's Emerging Regulation of Conduct: Restraint, Compliance, and Internalization from Infancy to the Second Year

We examined emergent regulation of conduct from infancy to the second year. Multiple observational measures at home and in the laboratory assessed, at 8–10 months, the child's restraint and attention ( N = 112), and at 13–15 months, compliance to mother, internalization of her prohibition, and quality of motivation in the mother-child teaching context ( N = 108). We replicated the findings previously reported for older children that supported our view of compliance and noncompliance as heterogenous: Committed compliance was higher to maternal "don'ts" than "dos," with the reverse true for situational compliance; girls surpassed boys in committed compliance; and committed, but not situational, compliance related positively, and passive noncompliance negatively, to children's internalization of maternal prohibition. We extended previous work into three new directions: children's committed compliance and passive noncompliance in control contexts related predictably to their motivation in mother-child teaching contexts; restraint at 8–10 months predicted higher committed compliance at 13–15 months; and focused attention at 8–10 months was associated with contemporaneous restraint and modestly with committed compliance to maternal "dos" at 13–15 months.     

Implications of the International Counseling Experiences of Pioneering U.S. Professionals: Considered from an Ecological Perspective

The overall goal of the paper is to illuminate some of the substantial challenges, joys, issues and lessons involved with international counseling and to lend impetus to advancing its progress by embracing globally-relevant cultural principles. Five U.S. counseling professionals with extensive international experience recount aspects of their scholarship, teaching, research and service in that domain. The meaning of such experiences was analyzed from an ecological perspective. The analysis was then critiqued for its primary assertions and implications for the internationalization of counseling by two independent professional counseling commentators, both of whom have logged considerable life and work experience around the world.