John J. Horan

Coping with pain: A component analysis of stress inoculation

The stress inoculation paradigm for helping clients deal with pain consists of education about the psychological dimensions of pain à la Melzack, training in a number of coping skills relevant to each dimension, and practice in applying these skills to the noxious stimulus. In order to determine which of these treatment components have a reactive effect, 70 screened clients were randomly assigned to one of five treatment conditions. The cold pressor and pressure algometer tasks, respectively, yielded three direct and three generalization measures. On all direct measures coping skills training resulted in highly significant improvement. Neither education (i.e., insight)nor exposure had any effect. In comparison to a nonspecific treatment the stress inoculation package proved useful on two direct measures; however, on the generalization measures neither stress inoculation nor any of its components had any impact. Heart rate changes, observed for exploratory purposes, were consistent with current research and speculation.

Effects of stress inoculation on the anger and aggression management skills of institutionalized juvenile delinquents

Thirty-eight institutionalized male delinquents evidencing verbal and physical aggression in response to anger provocations were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: stress inoculation training, a treatment elements condition (which left out certain ingredients of stress inoculation), or a no-treatment control condition. Both active treatments reduced anger and aggression on three self-report scales. Only stress inoculation lowered verbal aggression in laboratory role-played provocations. Two demand analyses suggest that the latter difference is not artifactual. The social psychology of the institution may have been at least partly responsible for null effects on institutional behavior ratings.

Stress Inoculation for Pain: What's Really Going On?.

Previous research demonstrated the efficacy of coping-skills training in stress inoculation for pain. An attempt was made in the present study to isolate the active ingredients of the coping-skills component, which consists of three categories of skills derived from Melzaks gate-control theory of pain: sensory discriminative (SD), motivational affective (MA), and cognitive evaluative (CE). Eighty-one undergraduate females were pretested on the cold pressor, randomly assigned to one of nine treatment conditions, and then posttested. Relaxation training (an SD procedure) produced increased tolerance, whereas distraction and imagery training (an MA procedure) resulted in higher threshold scores. Although the experimental conditions did not generate differential demand characteristics, two checks on independent variable manipulation revealed that SD skills are learned and employed, MA skills are already known but refined, and CE skills are largely ignored.

Coverant conditioning through a self-management application of the Premack principle: Its effect on weight reduction

To evaluate Hommes contention that coverants (cognitive behaviors) incompatible with overeating can be reinforced through a self-management application of the Premack principle, 96 women students between 20 per cent and 30 per cent overweight were randomly assigned to one of four individual counseling programs. After 8 weeks the mean weight differences for Treatment 1 (delayed control), Treatment 2 (information and encouragement), Treatment 3 (scheduled coverants), and Treatment 4 (reinforced coverants) were 0·02, -3·13, -2·72 and -5·66 pounds respectively. Analysis of covariance with pretreatment weight as the covariate revealed that Treatment 4 produced more weight loss than Treatment 1, (p <0·03). No other paired comparisons were significant. The efficacy of the Premack principle in a self-management situation was supported but not established.

Longitudinal Study of Assertion Training as a Drug Abuse Prevention Strategy

Seventy-two nonassertive junior high school students were assigned randomly to assertion training (in which one-third of the training stimuli involved drug-use peer pressure), placebo discussions focused on similar topics, or no treatment at all At posttest, the experimental students showed highly significant gains on behavioral and psychometric measures of assertiveness as well as decreased willingness to use alcohol and marijuana. At a 3-year follow-up point these students continued to display higher levels of assertiveness and less actual drug use.

PRELIMINARY STUDY OF EFFECTS OF "IN VIVO" EMOTIVE IMAGERY ON DENTAL DISCOMFORT

To examine the effects of “in vivo” emotive imagery on dental discomfort (as measured by pulse rate and self-report) 27 female subjects undergoing tooth prophylaxis were exposed to three tape-recorded treatment conditions (relaxation imagery, neutral imagery, and a blank tape) in counterbalanced order. Promising findings of a pilot study were not confirmed on heart rate; however, on self-reported discomfort, positive differences appeared between the relaxation imagery and each of the control conditions.

In vivo emotive imagery: a preliminary test.

The process of focusing on positive covert events during overt anxiety-arousing situations has been termed “in vivo” emotive imagery. 36 Ss were stratified on sex, given imagery training, and then assigned randomly to no-treatment control, distraction control, or experimental treatment conditions during which they were asked to immerse their hands in ice water (33° F) for as long as possible. Mean tolerance scores were 51.7, 77.3, and 146.4 sec. respectively. A sex by treatment analysis of variance followed by Tukey post hoc comparisons showed that “in vivo” emotive imagery was significantly more effective than no-treatment control procedures. Possible sources of subject variability were discussed.

The Effects of Internet-Based Cognitive Restructuring on the Irrational Career Beliefs of Adolescent Girls

This study explored the effect of Internet-based cognitive restructuring on the maladaptive career beliefs of adolescent girls. Participants were blocked on ethnicity and randomly assigned to either an interactive Internet treatment or to a control treatment involving computer-based instruction in another curriculum area. Scores on four measures reflecting irrational career beliefs and stereotyping were subjected to treatment-by-ethnicity-by-repeated-measures ANOVAs. A triple interaction on Self-Stereotyping (i.e., consistency between current career choice vs. career choice “if I were a boy”) suggested that the treatment was effective for Caucasians but not for minorities. Possible factors responsible for the outcome pattern are discussed.

Factors to consider when using expired air carbon monoxide in smoking assessment

Abstract At first blush, expired air carbon monoxide (CO) concentration is an appealing index of smoking behavior. Unfortunately there are a number of factors which can confound any CO-based evaluation of smoking treatment. We conducted several inferential and regression analyses on variables related to expired air CO concentration, and offer a number of recommendations on the use of this promising technique.

The effectiveness of substance abuse prevention videotapes with Mexican American adolescents

The effectiveness of three substance abuse prevention videotapes derived from contrasting theoretical frameworks was experimentally evaluated on common prevention outcomes and measures of theoretical relevance. Seventh and eighth graders were stratified on gender and classroom before being randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions. In a modified replication, ninth graders were assessed and treated in a concentrated time span. Participants were 312 students. A series of 2 2 4 (Replication Gender Treatment) ANCOVAs permitted an inspection of the construct validity of emerging effects. Although the assertion-training video produced significantly higher levels of assertiveness among ninth graders, the other two videos (derived from information-programming and help-seeking rationales) did not register effects on specific measures of high theoretical relevance. A lack of posttest differences on the common outcomes may be due to low intended consumption levels displayed by participants and/or floor and ceiling effects encountered on outcome measures.