Content Analysis of Acculturation Research in Counseling and Counseling Psychology: A 22-Year Review

The authors conducted a 22-year (1988–2009) content analysis of quantitative empirical research that included acculturation and/or enculturation as a study variable(s). A total of 138 studies in 134 articles were systematically evaluated from 5 major American Psychological Association and American Counseling Association journals in counseling and counseling psychology, including Journal of Counseling Psychology, The Counseling Psychologist, Journal of Counseling and Development, Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, and Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. To guide the analysis, the authors conceptualized acculturation/enculturation as a “bilinear” (i.e., developing cultural orientations to both majority and ethnic cultures) and “multidimensional” (i.e., across multiple areas such as behaviors, values, identity, and knowledge) cultural socialization process that occurs in interaction with “social contexts” (e.g., home, school, work, West Coast, Midwest). Findings include the patterns and trends of acculturation/enculturation research in (a) conceptualization and use of acculturation/enculturation variable(s), (b) research designs (e.g., sample characteristics, instruments, data collection, and analysis methods), (c) content areas, and (d) changes in total publications and trends over time. Additionally, meta-analyses were conducted on the relationship of acculturation/enculturation and a few key variables of mental health, adjustment, and well-being. Major findings and directions for future research are discussed

Private Student Loans may be Dischargeable in Bankruptcy Without Meeting the Undue Hardship Requirement and if not, there are two Ways to Prove Undue Hardship

(Excerpt) Section 523 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) prevents former students from discharging certain educational debts in bankruptcy, unless the failure to discharge “would impose an undue hardship on the debtor and the debtor’s dependents.” Typically, it is a debtor’s burden to show that their loans may be discharged on the grounds of “undue hardship.” However, Congress has not defined “undue hardship” leaving jurisdictions divided regarding the appropriate test. Most courts have followed the Brunner three-prong test, while only the First and Eighth Circuits use the totality of the circumstances test. Additionally, section 523(a)(8) of the Bankruptcy Code does not explicitly state that all student loans are excepted from discharge; thus, courts are split on whether private student loans are non-dischargeable. Recent case law suggests that certain private student loans may be dischargeable. This memorandum explores whether private student loans can be discharged under section 523(a)(8) of the Bankruptcy Code without meeting the undue hardship requirement and if not, the two ways a debtor can prove undue hardship. Part I discusses (a) an overview of section 523(a)(8); (b) the general reasons why courts have held that the private student loans are non-dischargeable absent a showing of undue hardship; and (c) the growing trend toward permitting a debtor to discharge certain private student loans. Part II describes the different standards used to determine whether excepting a debt from discharge will impose an undue hardship on the debtor and its dependents

Departure

This piece first appeared in Indiana Voice Journal. Please also note that the bird primer in the story is purely fictional and was created entirely by me for the purposes of the story

Correlating Coworker Relations, Employee Involvement, and Leadership with Associate Commitment in Select Healthcare Companies Using a Mixed Sequential Explanatory Design

Increasing patient demands and decreasing reimbursement require better efficiency and effectiveness in health care systems and, subsequently, in health care teams. These environmental and societal factors are further complicated by the complex initiatives set forth by the Affordable Care Act (2010). In this study, the researcher sought to examine and identify the strongest variables of health care teaming and to explore resulting themes through the perception of groups of health care associates. This mixed sequential explanatory design first examined the relationships between coworker relations, employee involvement, and leadership with associate commitment and with each other. An existing database of associate satisfaction survey data from a 4-year period for a health care organization of seven different operating companies was utilized in the study. Pearson product correlation, multiple regression, and one-way ANOVA were included in the quantitative design. In the second phase of the study, the relationships between contributing variables were further explored through qualitative semistructured interviews with nine groups of 75 associates from across the organization representing three commitment-level tiers. Very strong to strong relationships existed between coworker relations, employee involvement, leadership, and associate commitment for all 4 years (r values of r = 0.80 to r = 0.53) at a 99% certainty level. Leadership had the strongest relationship with and was the biggest driver (β = 0.48–0.52) of associate commitment for all 4 years. Leadership also exhibited a very strong relationship with coworker relations (r = 0.75) in the first year and strong relationships with both coworker relations and employee involvement in subsequent years. Coworker relations, employee involvement, and leadership accounted for 69.5% of the variance with associate commitment. Having friends on the team, trust in team members, making a difference, liking their patients and their jobs, flexibility with work schedules, feeling valued, and earning better pay and benefits emerged as qualitative themes relative to associate commitment. In addition, helping each other, spending time with each other, having mutual commitments, trust, and being dedicated to patients emerged as themes of effective teaming. Supplementary files provide coding detail for sixteen focus group questions and responses. Groups of associates spoke, first and foremost, about the “work family” and acknowledged the leader as the person who sets the environment and expectations and models the work family. This study suggests that leadership is a potential skill in every associate and that the leader serves to set the environment to support everyday leadership from the team collectively and from the team’s individual members. The researcher hopes this study’s findings may be a topic in future leadership and associate development, ultimately creating a more effective health care delivery team and system

Initial construct validation of the Color Figure Mazes Test

Measurement of cognitive abilities across diverse ethnocultural and racial groups has a contentious history, with broad politico-legal, economic, and ethical impact. There is an abundance of literature on attention, concentration, and executive functioning. However, specific literature pertaining to traditionally under-served populations, linguistic minorities and those with low education and literacy levels are limited. This study reports data gathered in an attempt to validate a Spanish language instrument of frontal lobe functioning, called the Color Figure Mazes Test, on monolingual Spanish speaking male day laborers. The instrument was originally developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to study neurocognitive disorders cross-culturally. Correlations were run to assess convergent and divergent validity of intellectual, achievement, and neuropsychological measures with each of the six subtests of the CFM. Additionally, an independent sample t-test was run to assess performance on the CFM test based upon level of education (0-6 years and 7-10 years). Results indicated all subtests of the CFM significantly correlated with education. Additionally, CFM had significantly convergent validity with measures of attention, nonverbal reasoning, motor skills, complex nonverbal reasoning, verbal memory, executive functioning and working memory. The CFM had significant divergent validity with verbal reasoning, verbal fluency, and visual memory. Results will serve to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice for underserved and under-represented populations globally

Support for Gestalt Versus Business-As-Usual Theories of Insight Depends on Operational Definition of Insight

Some theories propose that insight involves automatic processes that are responsible for restructuring. Other theories postulate that the mechanisms surrounding restructuring are controlled and effortful. The current study tested these theories by comparing different methodology and operational definitions that have been used in previous research to investigate the nature of “Aha!” experiences and impasse in insightful problem solving. One hundred two undergraduate psychology students from Old Dominion University completed working memory tasks, six classic insight problems, and gave initial problem representation ratings for the insight problems before solution attempt. Using a think-aloud protocol, we assessed the occurrence of impasse during the problem solving phase. After solving each problem, participants completed self-reported, measures of the Aha! experience—solution confidence, how sudden a solution appeared, and the effort required. Results demonstrated distinctly different response patterns between self-reported ratings of insight and the empirically coded measure of impasse when compared with all other variables of interest. This suggests that the Aha! ratings lack construct validity as an assessment of insight. Further, we replicated contradictory working memory correlations found in previous research with the self-report ratings and impasse coding, suggesting that discrepancies in the literature were the result of how insight was assessed. These findings call into question previous research utilizing self-report Aha! ratings

Establishing Privacy Advisory Commissions for the Regulation of Facial Recognition Systems at the Municipal Level

As facial recognition systems (FRS) become widely available, a growing number of local governing bodies across the country have adopted these technologies. Without regulating how and when these technologies are used, the adoption of FRS by municipal governments has the potential to violate civil liberties and disproportionately harm marginalized groups. FRS may be an invaluable tool for law enforcement; however, best practices must be adopted to curb their misuse, specifically at the municipal level. We propose that cities considering procurement of FRS create an independent privacy advisory commission with a clear mandate, guaranteed cooperation from local government, technology expertise, and community stakeholder input

Cosmic String Spacetime in Dilaton Gravity and Flat Rotation Curves

In dilaton gravity theories, we consider a string-like topological defect formed during U(1) gauge symmetry-breaking phase transition in the early Universe, and far from the cosmic string we have vacuum solutions of the generalized Einstein equation. We discuss how they can be related to the flatness of galactic rotation curves.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX4 fil

Islands of Sustainability in Time and Space

We review the economics perspective on sustainable resource use and sustainable development. Under standard conditions, dynamic efficiency leads to sustainability of renewable resources but not the other way around. For the economic-ecological system as a whole, dynamic efficiency and intergenerational equity similarly lead to sustainability, but ad hoc rules of sustainability may well lead to sacrifices in human welfare. We then address the challenges of extending economic sustainability to space as well as time and discuss the factors leading to optimal islands of preservation regarding renewable resources. Exogenous mandates based on moral imperatives such as self-sufficiency and strong sustainability may result in missed win-win opportunities that could improve both the economy and the environment, as well as increase social welfare across generations.Islands of sustainability, sustainable development, sustainability science, fisheries, forests