In recent years researchers and clinicians have paid increasing attention to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children and adolescents. Issues of definition and evaluation are discussed and studies of children subsequent to natural disasters, accident, war, sexual abuse and human-made traumas are reviewed. Issues relating to treatment and “debriefing” are also discussed.

This paper argues that fundamental changes are required in the way we go about educating and training professional psychologists in general, and clinical psychologists in particular, if we are to solve their current identity, status, and role problems. The primary responsibility for change must devolve upon the universities with long experience of both research and education in the basic discipline, and graduate professional training. The most urgent task is to persuade the universities in question to introduce a national system of six-year courses, based strictly on the scientist-professional model, for all professional psychologists. A possible structure for such courses is presented, and the implications of its adoption are examined. In this context training in cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) and the education and training role of the Psychology Foundation of Australia are discussed.

This controlled treatment-outcome study compared the effects of behavioural parent training (BPT) and standard dietary education (SDE) on the mealtime interaction, feeding behaviour, nutritional status, and adjustment of children with feeding disorders. Participants were 20 children (aged between 18 months and five years) with persistent feeding difficulties, and their families. Children underwent initial screening (involving medical assessment, behavioural observation of mealtime interaction, nutritional intake analysis, and self-report measures of parent and child adjustment) and were randomly assigned to BPT or SDE. Results indicated that children in both treatment conditions showed improvement on the child behaviour measures (e.g. food refusal, disruptive behaviour during mealtimes) at home and in mealtime observations in the clinic. Children in both conditions also showed an increase in the variety of foods sampled by follow-up. Following treatment, mothers who received BPT showed more positive mother–child interaction during mealtimes, and both parents were more satisfied with treatment than parents in SDE. Mothers in both conditions showed slight elevations in mood at posttest and follow-up, and increased marital satisfaction at posttest (which decreased by follow-up). All other treatment effects were maintained at a three- to four-month follow-up assessment.

Antihypertensive drug therapy may reverse the cardiac and vascular structural changes associated with sustained hypertension. This may enable appropriate blood pressure levels to be maintained with milder forms of therapy (such as lifestyle interventions) which will minimise any potential adverse effects of pharmacological therapy. The HEART project was conducted in the general practice setting and aimed to determine whether lifestyle strategies, such as increased physical activity and dietary modification, could be substituted for drug therapy in patients who had been well controlled on antihypertensive medication. In addition to objective measures of blood pressure and risk factor outcomes, attitudes and perceptions of general practitioners (GPs) and patients involved in the trial were assessed through focus group discussion and personal interviews. Of the 44 patients recruited to the trial, 41 (93%) participated in structured interviews of 20–40 minutes duration conducted in person or by telephone. Of 78 GPs working in the western suburbs of Melbourne who were approached about the trial, 50% were willing to participate. Of these, 13 (34%) recruited study patients. Of these 13, 10 (77%) participated in a 2-hour focus group discussion which was audiotaped for later transcription and analysis. Despite being enthusiastic about lifestyle interventions in principle, nearly all of these GPs felt resistant to the concept of withdrawing medication in well-controlled subjects. They were generally surprised to see that many patients (15 of 20 patients: 75%) were able to maintain appropriate blood pressure levels following drug therapy withdrawal and adoption of minimal lifestyle changes. GPs felt that the patients' eagerness to come off medication was the major incentive for patients to participate in the trial. This was corroborated by many patients indicating a desire not to be taking any medication. The majority of patients reported making minor changes in lifestyle behaviours leading to most being able to remain off therapy or to have drug dosage requirements reduced. The major barriers to maintaining lifestyle change were family and work stresses and the perception of the intervention not being treated as a therapy thus not at the same level of importance as a treatment method as drug therapy. It appears that a select group of hypertensive patients, highly motivated by the prospect of drug therapy withdrawal, were interested in and willing to trial a lifestyle behaviour change approach for their blood pressure management. The majority reported that they had been able to adopt small but meaningful changes in exercise and dietary habits through the provision of stand-alone self-help materials and support from their GP. Of these patients, 75% remained normotensive without drug therapy after a 9-month follow-up period.

Growth in the popularity of cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) raises the issue of ensuring standards of training and practice. Because of the close association of psychology with CBT, this responsibility falls disproportionately upon psychology departments. This paper examines ways of establishing standards and argues that professional associations should lobby universities for adequate coverage of CBT in professional training programs. Means of staffing and delivering specialist courses in CBT as a means of upgrading and certifying professional standards are discussed.

A 1981 national survey of 335 American educational psychologists found psychological/educational assessment and consultation with teachers and parents are the two most frequently engaged in activities of school psychologists. A behavioural approach to these two activities is considered in the literature to be more effective than a number of other approaches and practices. This clinical note describes a behavioural consultation and training role for educational psychologists which was applied to the issue of improving the reading skills of 12 integrated primary school children. The behavioural consultation involved four phases: problem identification, problem analysis, intervention, and evaluation. Results of the consultation and training indicated a substantial increase in the number of books read, letter-sound knowledge, sight vocabulary, and passage comprehension of the 12 integrated children. Informal assessment of teacher satisfaction with this approach to consultation and training was found to be very positive.