Client and therapist variability with psychotherapy homework : a preliminary psychometric evaluation of two scales : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University,

The therapeutic use of homework assignments is an integral feature of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and is believed to be important in producing and maintaining client treatment gains. While there is empirical and theoretical support suggesting that homework completion may be associated with improved outcome, few studies have directly investigated specific therapist behaviours used in the integration of homework into practice. Similarly, research on client homework completion has, by far, focused solely on the quantity of homework completion rather than on any other factors found to be associated with increased client engagement with homework assignments. The recently developed Homework Adherence and Competence Scale (HAACS) was designed to specifically assess therapist competence and adherence to recommended homework behaviours used to administer homework. As a new measure of client homework completion, the Homework Rating Scale-II (HRS-II), extends the assessment of client homework completion beyond quantity only and provides a measure of the cognitive and behavioural determinants of client homework completion. The present study presents a psychometric evaluation of both the HAACS and HRS-II when rated by independent observers. Further, the present study sought to examine therapist differences in adherence and competence in administrating homework as well as investigating the temporal pattern of client homework completion

Does d-cycloserine facilitate the effects of homework compliance on social anxiety symptom reduction?

BACKGROUND: Prior studies examining the effect of d-cycloserine (DCS) on homework compliance and outcome in cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) have yielded mixed results. The aim of this study was to investigate whether DCS facilitates the effects of homework compliance on symptom reduction in a large-scale study for social anxiety disorder (SAD). METHODS: 169 participants with generalized SAD received DCS or pill placebo during 12-session exposure-based group CBT. Improvements in social anxiety were assessed by independent raters at each session using the Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS). RESULTS: Controlling for LSAS at the previous session, and irrespective of treatment condition, greater homework compliance in the week prior related to lower LSAS at the next session. However, DCS did not moderate the effect of homework compliance and LSAS, LSAS on homework compliance, or the overall augmenting effect of DCS on homework compliance. Furthermore, LSAS levels were not predictive of homework compliance in the following week. CONCLUSION: The findings support the general benefits of homework compliance on outcome, but not a DCS-augmenting effect. The comparably small number of DCS-enhanced sessions in this study could be one reason for the failure to find a facilitating effect of DCS

Increasing homework compliance by using the guiding model for practice : an analogue study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Arts at Massey University, Albany

Homework assignments are considered a fundamental component of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and are believed to be significant in assisting to produce and maintain treatment gains. However, gaining clients compliance to homework tasks remains a significant challenge. An analogue study of a single session relaxation intervention was conducted to test the guiding model for practice (Kazantzis, MacEwan & Dattilio, 2005); designed to provide therapists with a step-by-step guide of how to systematically administer homework in therapy. Forty four participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. The systematic condition (n = 21) was designed to administer homework following the guiding model, while the non-systematic condition (n = 23) followed standard therapy practice. Hypotheses posited that participants in the systematic group would display greater levels of engagement in homework; would have more positive beliefs in completing the homework; that greater adherence to the homework would correlate positively with reductions in anxiety; and that the systematic group would show a greater reduction in anxiety. In relation to engagement in homework the results found a statistically significant difference in the mean ranks of homework compliance between the two groups. The Mann-Whitney U result was 182 (z = -1.48) with an associated probability of .14, showing that participants in the systematic group did have higher levels of homework compliance. A MANOVA calculation was used to assess the systematic group for more positive beliefs in completing homework. The results found significant differences in two of the four Homework Rating Scale II (HRS) subscales; behaviour: F(1, 42) = 1.83, p = .184, partial eta squared - .042; and consequences/synthesis: F(1, 42) = 2.93, p = .094, partial eta squared = .065. The other two subscales of the HRS; beliefs and situation, were not administered differently between groups, providing further support for the difference of homework administration. Partial support was found for correlations between homework practice and anxiety. While three of the four correlations were significant, it was found that state anxiety actually increased as practice increased, however, trait anxiety was found to reduce as homework levels increased. No significant group differences were found in anxiety reduction. Implications of these findings are discussed

Are We Wasting Our Children's Time by Giving Them More Homework?

Following an identification strategy that allows us to largely eliminate unobserved student and teacher traits, we examine the effect of homework on math, science, English and history test scores for eighth grade students in the United States. Noting that failure to control for these effects yields selection biases on the estimated effect of homework, we find that math homework has a large and statistically meaningful effect on math test scores throughout our sample. However, additional homework in science, English and history are shown to have little to no impact on their respective test scores.first differencing, unobserved traits, instrumental variable, selection bias, homework

Homework and performance for time-constrained students

Most studies of homework effectiveness relate time spent on homework to test performance, and find a nonmonotonic relationship. A theoretical model shows that this can occur even when additional homework helps all students because of the way in which variables are defined. However, some students are time-constrained, limiting the amount of homework they can complete. In the presence of time constraints, additional homework can increase the spread between the performance of the best and worst students, even when homework would reduce the spread in the unconstrained case.

Correlation Between Student Collaboration Network Centrality and Academic Performance

We compute nodal centrality measures on the collaboration networks of students enrolled in three upper-division physics courses, usually taken sequentially, at the Colorado School of Mines. These are complex networks in which links between students indicate assistance with homework. The courses included in the study are intermediate Classical Mechanics, introductory Quantum Mechanics, and intermediate Electromagnetism. By correlating these nodal centrality measures with students' scores on homework and exams, we find four centrality measures that correlate significantly with students' homework scores in all three courses: in-strength, out-strength, closeness centrality, and harmonic centrality. These correlations suggest that students who not only collaborate often, but also collaborate significantly with many different people tend to achieve higher grades. Centrality measures between simultaneous collaboration networks (analytical vs. numerical homework collaboration) composed of the same students also correlate with each other, suggesting that students' collaboration strategies remain relatively stable when presented with homework assignments targeting different skills. Additionally, we correlate centrality measures between collaboration networks from different courses and find that the four centrality measures with the strongest relationship to students' homework scores are also the most stable measures across networks involving different courses. Correlations of centrality measures with exam scores were generally smaller than the correlations with homework scores, though this finding varied across courses.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. PE

Making homework count: Homework as a collective task for language minority families

In response to a writing prompt asking, “What can parents do to ensure academic success for their child?” a mother with three children under the age of six wrote: “In my opinion he needs motivation from his parents and interest in his homework. [He needs] to read a lot so he will have good confidence with his friends and about everything, about his teacher.” This response was typical of those given by participants in a family literacy program (FLP) sponsored by a small urban school district. This program was originally designed to help minority language and culture parents learn functional English in the broader sense, along with strategies to support their children’s academic development through parent education focused on school practices. Parents not raised in the United States know there is a mainstream expectation to have a role in motivating and supporting their children’s learning, but they often wonder what types of support are expected in an unfamiliar school system (Paratore, Melzi, & Krol-Sinclair, 1999; Taylor & Dorsey-Gaines, 1988). Our research found that while parents in this family literacy program had an overwhelming commitment to maintaining family traditions, they also valued learning about mainstream schooling practices, or the mainstream academic discourse practices expected of students to succeed in schools for productivity in society (Gutierrez, 1995; Hicks, 1995). For the participating families, homework and other materials sent home with their children were important resources of school knowledge, as well as valuable sources of English print. Homework served as a mediator between English and Spanish language as the homework was discussed and interpreted in both languages. The daily ritual of unpacking the book bag was a collective practice that included the whole family—the school-age child, siblings, and parents. This ritual was shown to be an acknowledgement of the rich literacy resources a school offers. The contrast of what came to be seen as the collective benefits of homework and other literacy events surrounding school materials with the previously assumed more individualistic benefits of homework and school materials has implications for how teachers and schools view the practice