Eduardo Cumba-Avilés

Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy for Latino Youth With Type 1 Diabetes and Depression A Case Study

This group case study describes the course of a 14-session Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Latino adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and depressive symptoms. The intervention, known as CBT-DM, is an adaptation of an efficacious group intervention for adolescent depression. The treatment rationale and cultural adaption model are described, as well as procedures used to achieve sensitivity to the characteristics of the T1DM culture as experienced by Latino youth from Puerto Rico. Session-by-session protocol is reviewed, and treatment gains on the group as a whole and on its individual members are presented, providing quantitative and qualitative data. Treatment feasibility, clients’ acceptance and satisfaction with treatment, and follow-up data up to 6 months post-treatment are also examined, considering cognitive, behavioral, emotional, relational, medical, and functional outcomes. Complicating factors, barriers to care, and treatment implications are discussed in the context of treating clients with comorbid chronic physical illness and emotional problems also embedded in a Latino culture. Translation of evidence-based treatments for depression into primary care settings and adapting protocols to youth populations with other medical illnesses is proposed. Recommendations for clinicians are provided, emphasizing the establishment of collaborative relationships with clients, assessing their stage in the process of accepting their chronic illness, as well as understanding their overall context to avoid unnecessary attributions of pathology to their thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.

Validez y utilidad Diagnostica de los sintomas del trastorno por Deficit de Atencion e Hiperactividad (TDAH) en una muestra de niños y niñas puertorriqueños

The main objective of this brief report was to share our experience, which started 19 years ago, with the creation, establishment and development of two programs. In the first one, mediation is used as the intervention method for a diversity of conflicts. The main purpose of the second one is developing the public policy of the Judicial Branch pertaining to the use of mediation, arbitration and early neutral evaluation as alternative dispute resolution methods to the adjudication process that is typical of our court system. Both programs respond to a non-adversarial paradigm which is contrary to the adversarial paradigm that contextualizes supports the judicial setting that houses both programs. One of the outstanding outcomes of our experience has been the successful integration of these programs that, in spite of stemming from opposite paradigms, share a common goal: to serve as a forum for the conflict resolution.In this article. I explore the relationship between symbols and human behavior in organizations. I suggest that investigators can obtain a greater understanding of an organizations social dynamics if they analyze the symbolic contents of its culture. The symbols of a multinational companys subsidiary in Puerto Rico, are analyzed in order to illustrate the scope and potential of this analytic approach. This analysis explores the relationship between such symbolic phenomena as metaphors. anecdotes and rituals and the organizations social, and political processes. Through the analysis of the changes in its symbology, I illustrate how complex factors within an organizations internal and external environment determine the relevance of a particular organizational symbology.