We discuss two common ways that assessment tests or probes have been given in relation to training during applied behavioural interventions when continuous assessment is not possible. With pre-session assessment, target behaviours are tested immediately before training sessions; with post-session assessment, target behaviours are tested immediately after training sessions. Although they are not optimal methods for testing performance, such assessments are not rare, and archival data on the incidence of these two methods for JABA publications in the period 1993 to 1996 show that about 25% of research articles use one or both of these methods. The distinction between pre- and post-session assessment is important because the two methods influence the interpretation of data, and the decision to move to the next phase of an intervention. This influence is illustrated with a comparison between two studies of correspondence training. We then discuss the different positive and negative aspects of each assessment type, and two new methodologies are developed that retain the positive aspects of each assessment type. The final recommendation when such designs are necessary is a new method in which a criterion of three correct post-session assessments is reached first, followed by three correct pre-session assessments, before moving into the next phase of intervention.

Psychological mindedness (PM) has long been considered to be an important mediator of therapy outcome. However, to date, definitions of PM have been typified by linguistic imprecision and lack of conceptual clarity. Further, most definitions and measures of PM have approached the task from a psychodynamic perspective, thus limiting the use of this construct by clinicians and researchers from other theoretical perspectives. In this paper, previous definitions and self-report measures are reviewed and a new definition proposed. It is argued that PM is best conceptualised as a form of metacognition: a predisposition to engage in metacognitive acts of inquiry into how and why people behave, think, and feel in the way that they do. A new model, based on this definition, suggests that PM may be assessed by measuring individuals' metacognitive processes of self-reflection and insight, circumventing many of the problems associated with previous self-report measures of PM. Research into individual differences in propensity for PM, self-reflection, and insight may well provide the clinician with additional tools with which to facilitate purposeful, directed change in both clinical and nonclinical populations.

Crime impacts upon the community at multiple levels, causing distress and loss for the victims, and feelings of insecurity for the public, as well as adding to the drain on financial resources for governments. This makes the accurate identification of risk of reoffending and the determination of efficacious rehabilitation strategies imperative. Key principles in cognitive and behavioural psychology can contribute to this task. This paper will review the issue of risk assessment and describe the applicability of functional analysis to forensic psychology. Two studies by the authors will be used to illustrate concepts raised in this review. The paper will conclude with a model that may help guide the realistic implementation of detailed individual functional analyses of offenders' behaviour.

Current research reflects conflict regarding best practice in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The present study reports on the psychological treatment of a 54-year-old woman diagnosed with OCD, and follows the implementation of pharmacological treatment. The study utilises both exposure and response prevention (ERP) and cognitive therapy (CT), although there was no attempt to compare these approaches in an experimental design. Measures of avoiding and neutralising behaviours were taken on three occasions across treatment. Measures were also taken of intrusive thoughts, appraisal of responsibility, and effective challenging, both across treatment and at follow-up. The results indicate that gains were made in addition to those reported following the implementation of medication. The results also suggest that the addition of CT to exposure and response prevention facilitates the extinction of neutralising behaviours.

This paper describes the development and preliminary findings of a program designed to prevent the development of anxiety and depressive symptoms in children aged 10 to 13 years. Using a universal prevention approach, a total of 594 children were randomly assigned on a class-by-class basis to either a 10-session family group CBT program (FRIENDS) routinely implemented as part of the school curriculum, or to a comparison group. Pre-post intervention changes were examined universally, and for children who scored above the clinical cut-off for anxiety at pretest. Results revealed that children in the FRIENDS intervention group reported fewer anxiety symptoms, regardless of their risk status, than the comparison group at posttest. In terms of reported levels of depression, only the high anxiety group who completed the FRIENDS intervention evidenced improvements at posttest. Overall, these preliminary results appear to support the benefits of a school-based universal cognitive-behavioural intervention program. Implications of this study are discussed, and long-term follow-up measures are currently underway.

Cognitive-behavioural models of psychosis have been widely discussed in the literature, with a focus on the beliefs about the voices that are a component of auditory hallucinations. This study examines the ability of beliefs about the voices to predict the course of psychiatric symptomatology in psychosis over a 1-month period, compared with changes in depressive symptomatology. Thirty people with schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder participated in this study. Their mental state functioning, depression, and beliefs about their voices were assessed in interview. Mental state functioning and depression were assessed again after 1 month, in addition to antipsychotic medication compliance over the previous month (rated by self and the psychiatrist). The strongest predictor of a worsening of psychiatric symptoms over the month was increased depression in the previous month. Using p < 0.1 criteria to offset possible Type II errors in the small sample, a person's belief that their voices were very powerful was also predictive of psychiatric deterioration. The ways in which beliefs about the power of the voices can be challenged in cognitive-behaviour therapy with psychosis is discussed, as are directions for future research.