Parental insights and attitudes toward children's imaginary companions : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

Pgs 41-3, 92 not in originalThis study was designed to determine parental attitudes and conceptualisations of the function of imaginary companions. Fourteen parents with children who have imaginary companions and sixteen parents whose children do not have imaginaiy companions, were given one of two questionnaires to complete. The posted questionnaires differed only in regard to those questions directly related to personal experience. Parents in both groups described their children similarly in regard to family composition, competency levels, social activities and behaviour problems. Parents of children with imaginary companions indicated that not all companion's play the same role or function in their creators life. Parental attitudes toward imaginary companions were predominantly negative regardless of whether their child had had an imaginary companion. Attitudes varied in regard to, the age of the child, the length of time they had the companion, the perceived depth of fantasy and the function that the companion served

Counting Is Not Enough: Investing in Qualitative Case Reviews for Practice Improvement in Child Welfare

Outlines the value of quality case service reviews in child welfare systems, requirements for building and sustaining a robust process and adapting it under limited state budgets, and recommendations for jurisdictions, initiators, and national leadership

Response Inhibition In Obsessive Compulsive Disorder And Co-Occuring Psychopathology

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating, chronic condition that affects up to 3% of the population. A significant number of patients do not respond or still have residual symptoms even after completing empirically supported treatments. The study of neurocognitive functioning has been identified as one path toward developing a better understanding of underlying mechanisms and identifying new treatment targets. Response inhibition (RI), the ability to suppress inappropriate or irrelevant responses, is a neurocognitive process that may be particularly relevant to OCD. RI deficits have been found in adults with OCD, however questions remain regarding the nature and specificity of the relationship between individual RI domains and OCD. This dissertation addresses such questions across three chapters. Chapter 1 investigates whether OCD symptomatology is related to RI deficits in an analogue sample of 222 participants. OCD symptomatology was a significant and unique predictor of one RI domain, action cancellation, controlling for ADHD, impulsivity, anxiety, and depressive symptomatology, supporting the possibility that action cancellation is an endophenotype or trait-based marker of OCD. In 99 of these participants, Chapter 2 explores whether cognitive processing speed mediates the relationship between depressive symptomatology and individual RI domains, a relationship that has been shown in previous research with clinical samples and referred to as evidence against the specificity of an RI deficit in OCD. RI domains, as well as cognitive processing speed, were unrelated to depressive symptomatology suggesting that neither RI nor cognitive processing speed are trait-based deficits underlying depressive disorders. In Chapter 3, 28 treatment-seeking youth with OCD were compared to 27 treatment-seeking youth with anxiety disorders on the three RI domains. No significant differences emerged between groups across RI domains and RI was unrelated to OCD, anxiety, or depressive severity but was correlated with age. Results from this study indicate that youth with OCD may not possess RI deficits, differing from adults with OCD. Possible explanations for this inconsistency related to neurodevelopmental processes are discussed

A Glimpse into Arkansas Teachers’ Grading Practices

This case study assesses the current, self-reported grading practices among Arkansas teachers. We distributed a Teachers’ Grading Perceptions survey in November, 2022, and we conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers and principals in January-February, 2023. We gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from the teacher survey, and we used interviews to collect themes for current grading practices in Arkansas’s schools. We generated a grading equity scale from the survey questions, verified by a reliable alpha coefficient = 0.83, and we use this in a multivariate regression to explore teacher characteristics and their likelihood of favoring grading equity practices. We collected themes from qualitative remarks in the survey and stated in the interviews. We discuss our findings in the context of current grading practices in Arkansas and conclude with policy suggestions for district leaders to implement and help provide more opportunities for students to succeed