Early Intervention with Compensated Lower Back-Injured Workers at Risk for Work Disability: Fixed versus Flexible Approach

Low back pain (LBP), a leading cause of disability, has been linked with profound economic, personal, and social costs (Hills 2006; World Health Organization 2003). This significant effect propels research in identifying modifiable risk factors that protract LBP; these factors can be targeted in early intervention (EI) (Pransky, Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 49(3):249–251, 2007; Schultz et al., Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 17:327–352, 2007, Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 18(2), 140–151, 2008; White et al. 2013). This randomized controlled study evaluated the effectiveness of two approaches, fixed versus flexible, in delivering proactive, interdisciplinary EI with 63 workers within a workers' compensation interdisciplinary case management setting (i.e., WorkSafeBC, Canada). Off-work 4 to 10 weeks post-back injury, the workers were also at risk of protracted work disability (N?=?24 at high risk; N?=?39 at moderate risk). Fixed, protocol-driven, interdisciplinary, multimodal, clinical, occupational, and case management-based EI was compared with a flexible, individual need-driven EI with the same modalities as the fixed approach. Results showed a significant narrowing of the outcome gap between the two interventions. High-risk injured workers tended to benefit more from a fixed, protocol-driven approach, as shown in the pilot study (Schultz et al. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 18(2), 140–151, 2008). The results indicated that moderate-risk workers benefitted from a more flexible, need-based, individual, and low-intensity approach as compared with a fixed approach. The flexible approach for moderate-risk workers was also less costly and consumed fewer rehabilitation and health care resources. Recommendations for future research and practice included larger sample sizes, controllability of research interventions, risk for disability-EI matching, and conditions under which a flexible delivery of multimodal EI is more efficacious than a fixed approach, and vice versa.     

Guardianship for crime prevention: a critical review of the literature

Cohen and Felson??s (Cohen and Felson American Sociological Review 44(4):588?C608, 1979) routine activity theory posits that for a crime to occur three necessary elements must converge in time and space: motivated offenders, suitable targets, and the absence of capable guardianship. Capable guardians can serve as a key actor in the crime event model; one who can disrupt, either directly or indirectly, the interaction between a motivated offender and a suitable target. This article critically reviews the literature on guardianship for crime prevention. Our specific focus is two-fold: (1) to review the way guardianship has been operationalized and measured, and (2) to review experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations and field tests of guardianship. Research on routine activities has had an uneven focus resulting in the neglect of the guardianship component (Reynald Crime Prevention and Community Safety 11(1):1?C20, 2009; Sampson et al. Security Journal 23(1):37?C51, 2010; Tewksbury and Mustaine Criminal Justice and Behavior 30(3):302?C327, 2003; Wilcox et al. Criminology 45(4):771?C803 2007). Evaluations of guardianship-related interventions demonstrate support for the theoretical construct; however, high-quality field tests of guardianship are wholly lacking. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

A Sensitivity Analysis of Egocentric Measures of Peer Delinquency to Latent Homophily: A Research Note

Objectives

Egocentric measures of peer delinquency, obtained through a census of a social network, have become the preferred operationalization for examining the relationships between social influence and delinquency. Studies regressing ego’s delinquency on the delinquency of nominated friend/s (i.e. alter/s) conclude that a statistically significant coefficient provides evidence of social influence. However, the inferences drawn from these studies may be biased by the introduction of artificial statistical dependence as a consequence of using social network data in a regression framework. Recent work (Shalizi and Thomas Sociol Methods Res 40:211–239, 2011) shows that latent homophily, or unmeasured confounding of observables, may lead to nonzero estimates of social influence, even if there is no causal significance. To examine this possibility, sensitivity analyses have been created (e.g. VanderWeele and Arah Epidemiology 22:42–52, 2011; VanderWeele Sociol Methods Res 40:240–255, 2011) to determine the robustness of an estimated coefficient to latent homophily.

Methods

In this research note, I examine the robustness of estimates for social influence from two articles (Haynie Am J Sociol 106:1013–1057, 2001; Meldrum et al. J Res Crime Delinq 46:353–376, 2009) using egocentric measures of peer delinquency.

Results

Findings indicate that for large, precise point estimates, highly improbable conditions are needed to explain away the effects of social influence. However, less precise point estimates (i.e. large standard errors) are more sensitive to latent homophily.

Conclusions

The analyses indicate that studies using egocentric measures should conduct sensitivity tests, particularly when the estimated effect is weak and/or has a relatively large standard error. Scripts written in the free programming language R (R Core Team R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, 2012) are provided for researchers to conduct such analyses.     

Ambiguous Measures of Unknown Constructs: The MMPI-2 Fake Bad Scale (aka Symptom Validity Scale, FBS, FBS-r)

The Fake Bad Scale (FBS; Symptom Validity Scale) has fundamental psychometric flaws, interpretive problems, and potentially adverse societal consequences that are not appreciated by Ben-Porath et al. (Psychological Injury and Law 2(1), 62–85, 2009a, b). The FBS was constructed without due consideration to scientifically based guidelines for scale development (Clark and Watson, Psychological Assessment 7, 309–319, 1995; Jackson, Psychological Review 78, 229–248, 1971; Nunnally 1978; Holden and Troister, Canadian Psychology 50, 120–130, 2009). After almost two decades in existence, its face, content, and construct validity have not been established in the empirical literature. Oft-cited discriminant studies that appear to support the FBS are premature because of the scale’s unestablished psychometric foundation. In addition, these studies have significant methodological weaknesses that preclude definitive conclusions about what the scale actually measures. We review these weaknesses and recent legal cases that challenge the scale. We recommend that the FBS’s validity and fairness be addressed in an independent scientific review by the Buros Mental Measurement Test Evaluation System, a non-profit center specializing in the evaluation of commercially available tests.     

Testing the Precision of Legal Translation: The Case of Translating Islamic Legal Terms into English

Legal translation is viewed as “a category in its own right” (Weston in An English reader’s guide to the French legal system. Berg, Oxford, (1991, p. 2). It is a kind of translation of the language used for specific purposes (Zhao in J Transl Stud 4:28, 2000). Legal translation requires accuracy in relaying the substance of the message, while respecting the form thereof as well as the genius of the target language (Zhao in J Transl Stud 4:19, 2000; Sarcevic in New approach to legal translation. Kluwer Law International, Hague, 1997, p. 52). As generally accepted worldwide, precision is deemed of paramount importance in legal translation. With this in mind, the present paper deals chiefly with the concept of how legal translation can correctly be tested in order to ensure precision and validity for application and implementation. The paper will argue that the main goal of legal translation and the major criterion against which the precision of legal translation should be tested is to reproduce the same legal effect in the target text as that conveyed in the source text regardless of the method(s) used in the translation process.     

The Impact of Anger on the Intimate Partner Violence Decision-Making Process

McFall’s (1982, 1989) Social Information Processing (SIP) model outlines different stages in cognitive processing and decision-making that may be deficient in men who engage in interpersonal violence (IPV). A decision-making task was developed to assess the utility of abusive and nonabusive behaviors among 32 men who engage in mild IPV, 32 maritally distressed men, and 32 nondistressed men. Because anger impacts appraisal and decision-making (e.g., Lerner and Tiedens in Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19, 115-137, 2006), all participants were randomly assigned to an anger induction or neutral induction condition. As hypothesized, the perceived utility for abusive behavior was greater for angry abusive men and the perceived utility of control appeared to significantly contribute to this difference. Specific deficits in the IPV group were found, supporting a SIP model of IPV, aiding in understanding the function of violent behavior. Despite study limitations, these findings have implications for enhancing specific skill training components of treatment for abusive men.     

Reentry Within the Carceral: Foucault, Race and Prisoner Reentry

Early research on prisoner reentry was largely practical and applied, oriented to policymakers responding to the myriad challenges presented by having millions of people leaving prisons and jails each year. More recently, scholars have drawn on critical theoretical frameworks to reformulate the problem as bound up with large-scale shifts in the nature of social control (Wacquant in Dialect Anthropol 34(4):605–620, 2010a), deep racial divisions (Nixon et al. in Race/Ethnicity: Multidiscip Glob Contexts 2(1):21–43, 2008), and transformations of the United States political economy (Hallett in Crit Criminol. doi:10.1007/s10612-011-9138-8, 2011). This paper continues the work of theoretical elaboration through two avenues: (1) examining the contribution that Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish can make to the conceptual development of reentry scholarship, and (2) reworking Foucauldian concepts and themes important to the study of reentry to account for their racialized characteristics.     

Self-Control and Racial Disparities in Delinquency: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The purpose of the present study is to examine the racial disparities of offending within the context of self-control theory. The study utilized data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), to examine this effect. All concepts within self-control theory are examined: parental management, low self-control, and delinquency. Results from the study show partial support for Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) self-control theory. The structure of the theory remained stable when controlling for both race, as well as peer pressure. Both theoretical and policy implications are given.     

Police GPS Surveillance on Vehicles and the Warrant Requirement: “For a While I’ve Been Watching You Steady”

The global positioning system (GPS) has become ubiquitous to modern American life. The system supplies direction for travel through navigation systems as well as employee monitoring capabilities (Rosenberg Washington Journal of Law, Technology, and Arts 6:143–154, 2010). Law Enforcement has also found GPS to be a valuable tool. The technology provides a relatively cheap and highly effective way to monitor a suspect’s movement. Depending on the device, travel data can be reported in real time or be retrieved from the implanted device at intervals (Shah Journal of Law, Technology, and Policy 2009:281–294, 2009). This paper will first explore the core foundational Fourth Amendment cases that shape the use of GPS devices by law enforcement. Next, the federal circuits and state supreme courts’ decisions that have addressed the use of GPS will be reviewed. Third, the case of U.S. v. Jones (2012), which was recently decided by the United States Supreme Court, will be examined. Last, the policy implications of the current legal landscape regarding the use of GPS by police will be discussed.     

Detecting Feigned PTSD Using the Personality Assessment Inventory

Research generally supports the use of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey 1991) to detect feigned PTSD, although this support has been somewhat mixed. There is also evidence that coaching individuals on the presence of PAI validity indicators may not affect their ability to avoid detection as feigners (Bagby et al. in Journal of Personality Assessment 78:69–86, 2002), although this question has not been specifically addressed with regard to PTSD. Additionally, a new PAI validity indicator, the Negative Distortion Scale (NDS), was developed that may have utility in detecting feigned PTSD, but this has not been tested. The purpose of this study was to further test the operating characteristics of the PAI validity indicators to detect feigned PTSD among naïve and coached respondents and to examine the newly developed NDS for this purpose. Individuals with genuine PTSD were compared to individuals instructed to feign PTSD on PAI validity indicators. Results suggest that: (a) coaching had minimal influence on the ability of the PAI to detect feigned PTSD, (b) the PAI validity indicators all significantly differentiated genuine from feigned PTSD, and (c) the NIM and NDS indicators were particularly effective for detecting feigned PTSD.     

Bourdieu and Foucault: A Conceptual Integration Toward an Empirical Sociology of Prisons

Although the similarities between them are under analyzed, Pierre Bourdieu’s and Michel Foucault’s theories of culture and power are interrelated in some compelling ways. Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977) and Discipline and Punish (1979) are two of the most influential contributions in post-structural and postmodern theory. Yet, far more attention is paid to Foucault’s contributions in criminology than to Bourdieu’s. This essay brings together the work of these influential theorists to argue for a critical examination of the sociology of prisons. Bourdieu’s concepts of: (1) habitus, (2) ethos, (3) doxa, and (4) the theory of practice are related to Foucault’s ideas about (1) discipline, (2) docile bodies, (3) panopticism, and (4) history of the present by comparing specific examples from the original works. Then, the combination of those primary concepts is used to address specific methodological concerns researchers should consider when doing empirical research in prison.     

The Moderation Effects of Family Structure and Low Self-Control

Gottfredson and Hirschi??s (1990) theory of low self-control (LSC) asserts the etiology of LSC lies in the ability of parents to correctly control their children. These parental behaviors are crucial to understanding how LSC may or may not be transmitted from parents to children. Little research has explored the potential moderating effects of family structure regarding parenting, LSC, and delinquency. Multi-group structural equation modeling is used with data from the National Evaluation of the Teens, Crime, and the Community/Community Works (TCC/CW) program (n?=?1,409) to assess these relationships. Results show LSC mediates the relationship between family structure and delinquency. Additionally, the relationships between parenting, LSC, and delinquency are invariant for children from intact or broken homes. It is suggested that future research explore the origins of parental efficacy and LSC beyond family structure while considering self-control as a multidimensional concept. Policy recommendations are also discussed.     

The More You Say the Less It Means: Overreporting and Attenuated Criterion Validity in a Forensic Disability Sample

A recent publication in Psychological Bulletin by McGrath et al. (Psychological Bulletin 136:450–470, 2010) challenged the necessity of response bias indicators in applied psychological assessment on the grounds that there is insufficient empirical support that shows that they are able to moderate the prediction of substantive measures. The current study challenges their conclusions by examining the effects of response bias in a sample of 2,275 disability litigants. We utilized the validity scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF; Ben-Porath and Tellegen, 2008) in order to establish a group of litigants who did not exhibit evidence of overreporting and compared them to a group of overreporting litigants. The overreporting group scored significantly higher on every Restructured Clinical Scale. Moreover, we compared the criterion validity between various substantive scales on the MMPI-2-RF and extratest measures [e.g., Beck Depression Inventory-II (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996)] and found evidence of significantly attenuated criterion validity in the overreporting group. Implications of the study in light of the review by McGrath and colleagues are discussed.     

Leadership, behavioral context, and the performance of work groups in a knowledge-intensive setting

The behavioral work context in which members of groups interact with each other is crucial for facilitating knowledge exchange and combination (Nonaka in Great minds in management: the process of theory development, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005; Nonaka et al. in Long Range Plan 33:5–34, 2000). Yet little is known about the ways leaders, by signaling expectations and exhibiting supportive behaviors, facilitate such a behavioral context, which may then enhance performance. This study aims to contribute to the literature by examining how leader expectations and supportive behaviors facilitate behavioral integration and enhance the performance of work groups engaging in the development of advanced technological products. Data collected from management teams of 102 work groups indicate significant and positive relationships between: (1) leader expectations and leader supportive behaviors, (2) leader supportive behaviors and group behavioral integration, and (3) behavioral integration and group performance. In addition, the results indicate that leader supportive behaviors partially mediate the relationship between leader expectations and group behavioral integration, and the latter partially mediates the link between leader supportive behaviors and group performance. No significant link was found between leader expectations and group performance. In so doing, this study contributes to research on the way leaders, by shaping a behavioral context, facilitate knowledge exchange and combination, thereby enhancing group performance.     

Residential Relegation of Registered Sex Offenders

This study builds on existing research (Hughes and Kadleck 2008; Mustaine et al. 2006a; Tewksbury and Mustaine 2006) that shows registered sex offenders are more likely to live in undesirable and socially disorganized communities. We extend such analyses to a geographically and demographically different community and employ more sophisticated measures of social disorganization concepts to assess the validity of the claim that registered sex offenders are relegated to socially disorganized communities. Data from Orange County, Florida, including measures of violent crime and the social disorganization concepts of concentrated disadvantage, residential instability and immigrant concentration are used to examine the distribution of residential locations for registered sex offenders. Results show that higher concentrations of sex offenders are found in communities with more concentrated economic disadvantage, more residential instability and higher rates of robbery and child sexual abuse. Implications of these findings for public policy are discussed.     

Assessing the Latent Factor Association Between the Dysphoria Model of PTSD and Positive and Negative Affect in Trauma Victims from India

The recent release of the DSM-5 comes with the division of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms across four symptom clusters (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This division is based on the support garnered by two four-factor models; Emotional Numbing (King et al., 1998) and Dysphoria (Simms et al., 2002) and a five-factor model; Dysphoric Arousal (Elhai et al., 2011). Much debate centered on the validity of the Dysphoria factor as a non-specific factor of PTSD within the Dysphoria model. In line with this, we assessed relations between the four factors of the Dysphoria model (Simms et al., 2002) and positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) in natural disaster victims (N?=?200) from Leh, India, using the PTSD checklist (PCL-S) and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS short form). Confirmatory factor analysis was implemented to assess the best-fitting model for both the PCL (PTSD) and the PANAS (affect). Two optimal models (the Dysphoria model and a two-factor model for affect) were subsequently used to assess latent variable associations across constructs. It was hypothesized that differential associations between latent factors would be evident with the Dysphoria factor being highly correlated with negative affect compared to alternative PTSD factors. Significant correlations were found between factors of the Dysphoria model and NA (0.52–0.65, p?<?0.001). Comparing the association of pairs of PTSD factors with NA and PA, Wald’s tests revealed that no single PTSD factor was more related to NA than the other. Avoidance and Hyperarousal factors were correlated with PA. Results are discussed in line with literature questioning Dysphoria factor’s unique association with general distress.     

Neurocognitive Disorders in DSM-V: Forensic Perspective

Although determination of diagnosis of cognitive impairments constitutes one of the core objectives of forensic neuropsychological assessment, the diagnostic criteria for cognitive disorders provided by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Association 2000) have been of low internal and external validity and limited utility. This paper reviews the evolution of diagnosis of cognitive disorders from current DSM-IV-TR to the proposed DSM-V (American Psychiatric Association 2010). The conceptual framework is tracked, along with the body of literature associated with the DSM-V proposal on Minor and Major Neurocognitive Disorders. The quality of evidence for internal and external validity is reviewed, as well as the fairness and utility of newly proposed diagnoses from both clinical and forensic perspectives. Significant conceptual, evidentiary, psychometric, assessment, and practical questions are raised related to the new classification, and recommendations are offered for improvement to the proposal of the DSM-V Work Group on Neurocognitive Disorders.     

Sibling Sexual Abuse: An Exploratory Study of Long-term Consequences for Self-esteem and Counseling Considerations

Great advances have been made regarding the study of child sexual assault since the 1970’s. In spite of these advances, the gravity of sibling sexual abuse has largely been overlooked in sexual abuse literature. This paper uses peer reviewed research to highlight some of the major issues and unique long-term consequences associated with sibling sexual abuse. Specifically, an altered version of the Conflict Tactics Scale Straus (Journal of Marriage and the Family 41:75-88, 1979) and The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Rosenberg (1965) were used to explore the long-term impact on self-esteem for those having experience with sibling sexual abuse as a child. In addition, clinical considerations for working with survivors, offenders, and families are provided.     

The Admissibility of the R-PAS in Court

The admissibility of the Rorschach has been a concern of forensic psychologists for many years. The focus of this debate has been the Comprehensive System, which is the most researched of the current Rorschach Systems available in the USA. However, recently, a new, competing system has been published: the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS; Meyer et al., Rorschach Performance Assessment System: Administration, Coding, Interpretation, and Technical Manual, 2011). Using Heilbrun’s (Law and Human Behavior 16:257–272, 1992) guidelines as a framework, we examine the admissibility of this new system according to the standards outlined in Daubert (1993) and Frye (1923). We conclude that we have reservations about the admissibility of the R-PAS in court at the present time, notwithstanding ongoing work on this system.