Northampton Community College

About: Northampton Community College is a education organization based out in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 3410 authors who have published 4582 publications receiving 130398 citations. The organization is also known as: Northampton County Area Community College.

Social climate along the pathway of care in women's secure mental health service: variation with level of security, patient motivation, therapeutic alliance and level of disturbance.

Abstract: Background Social climate has been measured in a variety of therapeutic settings, but there is little information about it in secure mental health services, or how it may vary along a gender specific care pathway. Aim To assess social climate in women's secure wards and its variation by level of security and ward type, therapeutic alliance, patient motivation, treatment engagement and disturbed behaviour. Method Three-quarters (80, 76%) of staff and nearly all (65, 92%) of patients in the two medium-security wards and two low-security wards that comprised the unit completed the Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES) and the California Psychotherapy Alliance Scale (CALPAS); patients also completed the Patient Motivation Inventory (PMI). Pre-assessment levels of disturbed behaviour and treatment engagement were recorded. Results Social climate varied according to ward type and level of security. EssenCES ratings indicative of positive social climate were associated with lower levels of security; such ratings were also associated with lower behavioural disturbance and with higher levels of motivation, treatment engagement and therapeutic alliance. Conclusion This serial cross-sectional survey indicated that use of the EssenCES alone might be a good practical measure of treatment progress/responsivity. A longitudinal study would be an important next step in establishing the extent to which it would be useful in this regard. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Group Identification and Outgroup Attitudes in Four South African Ethnic Groups: A Multidimensional Approach

Abstract: Although Sumner’s ethnocentrism hypothesis, which expects stronger group identification to be associated with more negative outgroup attitudes, has been widely accepted, empirical findings have been inconsistent. This research investigates the relationship of four dimensions of ethnocultural group identification previously proposed by Phinney, that is, salience, evaluation, attachment, and involvement, with attitudes to ethnic outgroups in four South African ethnocultural groups (Africans, Afrikaans Whites, English Whites, Indians). The findings supported the factorial independence of the four identification dimensions and indicated that only one, ethnocultural evaluation (ingroup attitudes), was systematically related to outgroup attitudes, but the association could be positive, negative, or zero. Both functionalist and similarity-dissimilarity approaches to intergroup relations seemed to provide plausible explanations for the pattern of relationships obtained between ingroup and outgroup attitudes.

On Recency and Echoic Memory

Abstract: In short-term memory, the tendency for the last few (recency) items from a verbal sequence to be increasingly well recalled is more pronounced if the items are spoken rather than written. This auditory recency advantage has been quite generally attributed to echoic memory, on the grounds that in the auditory, but not the visual, mode, sensory memory persists just long enough to supplement recall of the most recent items. This view no longer seems tenable. There are now several studies showing that an auditory recency advantage occurs not only in long-term memory, but under conditions in which it cannot possibly be attributed to echoic memory. Also, similar recency phenomena have been discovered in short-term memory when the items are lip-read, or presented in sign-language, rather than heard. This article provides a partial review of these studies, taking a broad theoretical position from which these particular recency phenomena are approached as possible exceptions to a general theory according to which recency is due to temporal distinctiveness. Much of the fresh evidence reviewed is of a somewhat preliminary nature and it is as yet unexplained by any theory of memory. The need for additional, converging experimental tests is obvious; so too is the need for further theoretical development. Several alternative theoretical resolutions are mentioned, including the possibility that enhanced recency may reflect movement, from sequentially occurring stimulus features, and the suggestion that it may be associated with the primary linguistic mode of the individuals concerned. But special weight is attached to the conjecture that all these recency phenomena might be accounted for in terms of distinctiveness or discriminability. On this view, the enhanced recency effects observed with certain modes, including the auditory mode, are attributed to items possessing greater temporal discriminability in those modes.

Valuation accuracy: A contribution to the debate

Abstract: Summary One reaction to the Hager and Lord criticisms of valuation accuracy has been the use of regression‐based analysis of valuations and sales data to show the efficiency of the valuation process. This paper re‐examines the statistical robustness of the regression‐based defence and suggests that it is flawed. Some suggestions as to revised valuation practice are proposed.