Development Of Alliance Research Articles

MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD in adolescents: rationale, potential, risks, and considerations.

3,4-Methylenedioxymetamphetamine(MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy (MDMA-AP) is a proposed treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that may be approved for adults soon. PTSD is also common among trauma-exposed adolescents, and current treatments leave much room for improvement. We present a rationale for considering MDMA-AP for treating PTSD among adolescents. Evidence suggests that as an adjunct to therapy, MDMA may reduce avoidance and enable trauma processing, strengthen therapeutic alliance, enhance extinction learning and trauma-related reappraisal, and hold potential beyond PTSD symptoms. Drawing on existing trauma-focused treatments, we suggest possible adaptations to MDMA-AP for use with adolescents, focusing on (1) reinforcing motivation, (2) the development of a strong therapeutic alliance, (3) additional emotion and behavior management techniques, (4) more directive exposure-based methods during MDMA sessions, (5) more support for concomitant challenges and integrating treatment benefits, and (6) involving family in treatment. We then discuss potential risks particular to adolescents, including physical and psychological side effects, toxicity, misuse potential, and ethical issues. We argue that MDMA-AP holds potential for adolescents suffering from PTSD. Instead of off-label use or extrapolating from adult studies, clinical trials should be carried out to determine whether MDMA-AP is safe and effective for PTSD among adolescents.

The student patient alliance: development and formative evaluation of an initiative to support collaborations between patient and public involvement partners and doctoral students

BackgroundWhile the integration of patient and public involvement (PPI) in clinical research is now widespread and recommended as standard practice, meaningful PPI in pre-clinical, discovery science research is more difficult to achieve. One potential way to address this is by integrating PPI into the training programmes of discovery science postgraduate doctoral students. This paper describes the development and formative evaluation of the Student Patient Alliance (SPA), a programme developed at the University of Birmingham that connects PPI partners with doctoral students.MethodsFollowing a successful pilot of the SPA by the Rheumatology Research Group at the University of Birmingham, the scheme was implemented across several collaborating Versus Arthritis / Medical Research Council (MRC) centres of excellence. Doctoral students were partnered with PPI partners, provided with initial information and guidance, and then encouraged to work together on research and public engagement activities. After six months, students, their PPI partners and the PPI coordinators at each centre completed brief surveys about their participation in the SPA.ResultsBoth doctoral students and their PPI partners felt that taking part in SPA had a positive impact on understanding, motivation and communication skills. Students reported an increased understanding of PPI and patient priorities and reported improved public engagement skills. Their PPI partners reported a positive impact of the collaboration with the students. They enjoyed learning about the student’s research and contributing to the student’s personal development. PPI coordinators also highlighted the benefits of the SPA, but noted some challenges they had experienced, such as difficulties matching students with PPI partners.ConclusionsThe SPA was valued by students and PPI partners, and it is likely that initiatives of this kind would enhance students’ PPI and public engagement skills and awareness of patients’ experiences on a wider scale. However, appropriate resources are needed at an institutional level to support the implementation of effective programmes of this kind on a larger scale.

Data mining techniques in psychotherapy: applications for studying therapeutic alliance

Therapeutic Alliance (TA) has been consistently reported as a robust predictor of therapy outcomes and is one of the most investigated therapy relational factors. Research on therapists' and clients’ contributions to the alliance development and the alliance-outcome relationship had shown mixed results. The relation of the therapist’s and client’s biological markers with the alliance is an important and under-investigated topic. Taking advantage of data mining techniques, this exploratory study aimed to investigate the role of different therapist and client factors, including heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA), in relation to TA. Twenty-two dyads with 6 therapists and 22 clients participated in the study. The Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) was used to evaluate the client’s and therapist's perception of the alliance at the end of each session and through the therapy processes. The Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) was used to explore patterns that may contribute to TA. Machine Learning (ML) models have been employed to provide insights into the predictors and correlates of TA. Our results showed that Linear Regression (LR) was the best technique for predicting the therapist’s TA, with client “Diagnostic” and therapy “Termination” being identified as significant predictors of the therapist’s TA. In addition, for clients’ TA, the Random Forest (RF) was shown to have the best performance. The therapist’s TA and therapy “Outcome” were observed as the most influential predictors for the client’s TA. In addition, while the Heart Rate (therapist) was negatively associated with the therapist’s TA, EDA in the client was a physiological indicator related to the client’s TA. Overall, these findings can assist in identifying key factors that therapists should focus on to enhance the quality of therapeutic alliance. Results are discussed in terms of their consistency with empirical literature, innovative and interdisciplinary research on the therapeutic alliance field, and, in particular, the use of the Data Mining approach in a psychotherapy context.

The First Year of the Conflict in Ukraine: Political and Military Consequences for Central and Eastern Europe

The outcome of the conflict in Ukraine will bring fundamental political, military, economic and social consequences, and define global and regional balance of power and fate of number of international organizations, including European Union and NATO. The aim of this paper is to analyze political and military consequences of the first year of the conflict in Ukraine for countries of Central and Eastern Europe, including the Baltic States and further development of trans-Atlantic link for European security, including development of NATO Alliance until 2030. Fundamentally different threat perception in Russian Federation and in NATO, EU countries, and Ukraine led to the beginning of military action of Russian Federation against Ukraine in February 24, 2022. Since then, military conflict in Ukraine has evolved into full-scale war on terrain of Ukraine, and increasingly negative escalation of political, military and economic relationships between Russian Federation and NATO, EU and other actors, bringing parties to nuclear standoff. War in Ukraine has brought substantial political and military endurance test for NATO and European Union. The immediate political consequences of the first year of war in Ukraine have been outlined in NATO Summit in Madrid in summer of 2022 and in NATO Agenda 2030. Continuation of NATO Open Door Policy has led to invitation of Finland and Sweden to join the Alliance thus fundamentally changing security environment in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea Region. The Summit also declared to strengthen military posture on the Eastern flank of the Alliance thus countering hypothetical military threat of Russian Federation to the Baltic States and Central and Eastern European states. From the pure military perspective- NATO has substantially increased military support of Ukraine via creation of decision-making platform of Ramstein format as well as increasing understanding of NATO members for need to spend more resources allocated to defense. On the other hand, European Union has granted status of candidate for Ukraine, as well as provided continuous economic and financial support for Ukraine. Moreover, European Union has staged continuous and increasing policy of economic sanctions towards Russian Federation. However, despite substantial increase of political and military coherence and coordination of efforts of NATO and EU countries after the first year of the war in Ukraine, there are mounting challenges and risks. Firstly, increasing economic challenges in EU and NATO member- states which, subsequently, can lead to fundamental political consequences thus leading to diminished political and military support to Ukraine. Secondly, potential challenges for further military support of Ukraine and NATO Open Door Policy. NATO members- Turkey and Hungary-have different point of view on the enlargement of the Alliance and support of Ukraine. Thirdly, global and regional attitudes towards war in Ukraine and, predominantly, Western coalition of support for Ukraine. People’s Republic of China, India, Africa, Central and Latin America, other global and regional actors are mostly neutral towards war in Ukraine thus avoiding political and economic confrontation with Russian Federation. Yet another fundamental challenge: NATO countries are continuing to provide Ukraine with increasingly effective and sophisticated weapon systems which can lead to direct military confrontation between Russian Federation and NATO/The United States in 2023. Taking into account previously mentioned risks and challenges, it is obvious that there are several scenarios of development of war in Ukraine ranging from complete military victory for Ukraine and, subsequently, for the West to complete military victory of Russian Federation in Ukraine via long-term warfare of attrition.

Call me maybe? In-person vs. teletherapy outcomes among married couples

ABSTRACT Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of teletherapy compared to in-person couple therapy in outcomes such as couple satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and the therapeutic alliance. Method: Data from 1157 married clients seeking couple therapy were examined. Individual growth curve models were used to analyze changes in the aforementioned outcomes, with teletherapy as a predictor. The study also examined client age and clinic type as moderators. Results: The results indicated that overall, teletherapy is as effective as in-person therapy in improving outcomes. However, there were notable differences in the development of the therapeutic alliance. The alliance improved at twice the rate in in-person therapy as in teletherapy. Clinic type was also found to be a moderator of changes in sexual satisfaction. Clients in group and private practices reported improvements in sexual satisfaction; whereas clients seen in training clinics reported decreases in sexual satisfaction. Conclusion: The study concludes that although teletherapy may be a viable alternative to in-person couple therapy, there are nevertheless differences in the development of the therapeutic alliance that warrant care and further investigation. The setting of the therapy also plays a role in the effectiveness of therapy, although not specific to therapy modality.

Strategy in Business Planning for Acquisitions and Alliances

This study investigates how companies view acquisitions and alliances in the context of both their internal and external factors when developing strategies for their own business development choices. By referring to a large volume of relevant literature and incorporat-ing case studies of AT&T and Time Warner and Enterprise and Pioneer, this paper identi-fies the role of acquisitions and alliances in business development. It is widely known that while both acquisitions and alliances can be used to avoid barriers to entry into a new in-dustry to the greatest extent potential for a company, mismanagement is still likely to cause conflicts affecting both the company and the acquired party. Thus, the results have shown that the company would be more successful with making an alliance with the other party at the right time and proceeding to the acquisition stage after obtaining to know each other slowly than if the company directly made the acquisition plans.

Factors related to motivation to change and therapeutic alliance among men early in treatment following perpetration of child sexual abuse

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to investigate relationships between criminal history, cognitive distortions, social climate, motivation to change and therapeutic alliance at an early stage of treatment among people incarcerated for child sexual abuse. To do so, 223 men (M age = 47, range = 19–76 years) who took part in a treatment programme in Quebec, Canada, following perpetration of child sexual abuse were included in the study. Individual factors (number of prior offences; cognitive distortions), social climate, and their association with motivation and therapeutic alliance were examined. Multiple linear regressions revealed that participants with fewer cognitive distortions who perceived social climate more positively were more motivated to change and had a better alliance with their therapist. Participants with higher motivation also established better therapeutic alliances with programme staff. This study provides new knowledge on two major components of successful treatment and highlights the importance of a positive environment in forming therapeutic alliance. PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT Treatment providers should be mindful that the same cognitive distortions that are likely to be treatment targets can also be obstacles to motivation and the development of the therapeutic alliance. In terms of the treatment environment, providing a safe, open, and supportive social climate between inmates and programme staff contributes to higher motivation and better therapeutic alliance.

The Benefits of Promoting SDG 17 to Combat Climate Change

193 members of the United Nations approved the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015. According to the 2030 Agenda, the SDGs contemplated the ending of poverty, the protection of the Earth and the promotion of prosperity for all. Sustainable Development Goal 17 (SDG 17) deals specifically with the creation of global alliances for development. The underlying assumption respecting this point is that these stakeholder partnerships encourage the interchange of knowledge, experience, technology, and other resources to administer efficiently the other sixteen SDGs. Although SDG 17 is very well established in theory, in practice there are still appreciable downfalls as to how to successfully make this theory become a reality. This short review will analyse the potential viability of SDG 17 “partnerships for the goals” with respect to SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), and thereupon SDG 13 (associated with climate action) utilising two south-western France two wind farm initiatives.

China-Pakistan Cultural Exchanges and Cooperation under Belt & Road Initiative

Under the Belt and Road Initiative, the CPEC's construction has gone smoothly; with clear effects on the economic growth of Pakistan and the Sino-Pakistan relationship, some significant transportation and energy projects are in the finishing stage of development. However, it is discovered that cooperation in other areas is given more priority throughout this process than exchanges and cultural understanding between two nations. Thus, the focus of this essay is on the cultural exchange between Pakistan and China. In order to execute CPEP, strengthen the year-round bilateral tactical cooperative association, and further foster a healthy and comprehensive development of bilateral alliance, it is argued that China and Pakistan should greatly increase their cultural exchanges. In order to increase the collective exchange of culture at various levels, a more effective mechanism must be set up, as well as some appropriate and useful measures. This paper will provide some helpful suggestions to address the aforementioned problem.

The Influence of Therapeutic Alliance in Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a treatment for mental illnesses that helps the person to reduce symptoms, improves daily functioning and overall well-being. The therapeutic alliance is an essential component of psychotherapy, it influences the clients' adherence and treatment efficiency. There are many elements that influence the development of the therapeutic alliance like the therapist characteristics and training. The therapist must establish rapport with the client and set with them realistic goals and recognize their improvement and accomplishments. Therapists with higher social skills are perceived as more efficient, the capacity to empathize, genuineness with theclient and understandment of client's concerns helped in the development of the therapeutic alliance and benefitted the therapy outcome. Training is key in the development of these skills, especially for therapists with low social abilities. Therapist should make sure to leave assumptions aside, avoid suppositions about beliefs and customs based on what is ¨known¨ about a specific group, consider cultural and religious beliefs, they should also be aware of possible bias they may have towards that specific group. Psychotherapists should try to understand the problem from the client’s point of view, given that if they feel misunderstood, this could be a barrier for the therapeutic alliance. Mental health specialists are responsible for creating a safe space and a cooperative relationship, so the client feels comfortable expressing their issues, set goals and for the effectiveness of therapy.

Measuring treatment outcomes and change in disease activity in giant cell arteritis: a systematic literature review informing the development of the EULAR-ACR response criteria on behalf of the EULAR-ACR response criteria in giant cell arteritis task force

ObjectivesTo identify criteria and descriptors used to measure response to treatment and change in disease activity in giant cell arteritis (GCA).MethodsA systematic literature review (SLR) to retrieve randomised controlled trials...

Is it safe outside? Tales from a home visiting service for families during the COVID pandemic

AbstractA description of a mentalization informed home‐based project, an adaptation of the ECID project (Equipo Clínico de Intervención a Domicilio), into a time‐limited first aid mental health team in response to heightened mental health needs during the COVID Pandemic in Barcelona, Spain is offered. ECID is a project with a developmental psychodynamic understanding of psychopathology and relational dynamics informing a highly flexible treatment approach. This paper describes a focus on the need for clinicians to take an active role whilst adapting to the specific needs and situation of each child and family, instead of continuing to ask them to adapt to what services can or are prepared to offer. Clinical examples are given to illustrate the value of an integrative community approach informed by both systemic and psychodynamic lenses. Specifically, we reflect on the benefits of a mentalization informed approach to working with families during high levels of psychosocial stress for both families and practitioners. We illustrate how of a mentalization informed clinical service can promote and support the development of a therapeutic alliance when internal safety is impacted by a very real external threat. Finally, preliminary data is presented regarding the impact of parental stress and trauma on children and adolescents' adaptation to a potentially traumatic situation as well as their capacity for returning to a progressive development pathway.

Therapists who foster social identification build stronger therapeutic working alliance and have better client outcomes

BackgroundFor decades we have known that therapeutic working alliance is a key contributor to client engagement and positive outcomes in therapy. However, we have made little progress in narrowing down its determinants, which is critical in supporting trainees to optimize such alliance. We make a case for the value of incorporating social psychological frameworks into models of alliance and explore the role of social identity processes in the development of therapeutic alliance. MethodAcross two studies, over 500 psychotherapy clients completed validated measures of alliance, social identification with their therapist, positive therapy outcomes, and a range of client and therapist characteristics. FindingsSocial identification strongly predicted alliance in both samples, whereas client and therapist characteristics showed few such associations. Alliance mediated the relationship between social identification and positive therapy outcomes. In addition, we found evidence that (a) personal control is a key psychological resource in therapy that arises from social identification, and (b) therapists who engage in identity leadership (i.e., who represent and build a social identity that they share with clients) are more likely to foster social identification and its downstream benefits. InterpretationThese data show that social identity processes are key to the emergence of working alliance. We conclude with a discussion of how recent social identity and identity leadership interventions might be adapted to train therapists in relevant identity-building skills.

Clinical factors and early life experiences associated with therapeutic alliance development in treatment for depression or binge eating

Objective: This study examines childhood and clinical factors theorized to impact therapeutic alliance development over the course of psychotherapy. Method: Raters assessed the therapeutic alliance of 212 client-therapist dyads, participating in two randomized controlled trials of schema therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy for binge eating or major depression, at three time points. Linear mixed models were used to characterize therapeutic alliance development over time and assess the influence of childhood trauma, perceived parental bonding, diagnosis and therapy type on scores. Results: Participants differed in initial alliance ratings for all subscales but had similar growth trajectories in all but the patient hostility subscale. A diagnosis of bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder predicted greater initial levels of client distress, client dependency and overall client contribution to a strong therapeutic alliance, compared with a diagnosis of depression. Therapy type, childhood trauma and perceived parental bonds did not predict alliance scores. Conclusion: Findings highlight the potential influence of clinical and personal characteristics on alliance strength and development, with implications for maximizing treatment outcomes through anticipating and responding to these challenges.

National Alliance for NDE Education and Workforce Development – Current Challenges and Potential Paths Forward

As part of the technical program at the 30th ASNT Research Symposium, held in June 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri, a two-part distinct and relevant-to-the-topic event took place. There have been similar events held at various nondestructive evaluation (NDE)-related events in the past, discussing similar issues and challenges.1,2 The first part featured an education session, in which several invited speakers engaged in NDE education at a community college and at several universities (some in association with Los Alamos National Laboratory) presented an overview of their NDE academic programs, challenges they endure in sustaining their programs, and their perspective on what is required to sustain and move their programs forward. The second part included a panel discussion and subsequent breakout sessions. A detailed background on these two program components and the collective discussions that took place during this event are presented in this article.

Innovative Research and Development of Strategic Alliance of Core Technologies in The Emerging Technology Supply Chain

With the coming of the era of knowledge economy, in order to deal with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the environment, the strategic alliance of enterprises has become a new business model. As a knowledge-intensive industry, emerging technology industry is characterized by high technical complexity, high R&D uncertainty, high innovation cost, and long R&D cycle. Therefore, enterprises need to transfer and flow knowledge through strategic alliance, carry out complementary R&D and resource complementing, constantly absorb new knowledge and high-quality resources, and rationally allocate resources. At the same time, in the face of emerging technologies, the core technologies, as the core elements of the production chain of emerging technologies, are often mastered by the core technology suppliers, which requires the effective collaboration of supply chain enterprises, the use of group knowledge to break through the bottleneck of technology research and development and marketization, reduce the uncertainty of research and development, and achieve the strategic goal of mutual benefit and win-win.

Attachment in individuals with eating disorders compared to community controls: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Individuals with eating disorders are known to have higher rates of insecure attachment compared to community controls, but the factors underlying this finding are poorly understood. We conducted the first meta-analysis comparing attachment in eating disorder samples compared to community controls that included quality assessment, publication bias and moderation analysis. We pre-registered our meta-analysis (CRD42019146799) and followed PRISMA guidelines. We searched PsychINFO, Embase, Medline, CINAHL, and Scopus for publications. Attachment scores were extracted, and Cohen's d calculated for each study using a random effects model. In total, 35 studies were included in the meta-analysis and six studies were summarized in a narrative review. Eating disorder samples showed higher rates of insecure attachment compared to community controls, with a large effect size, across measurement methods and different attachment dimensions. Blinding of assessors moderated effect sizes for attachment interview studies, but no other moderators were significant. Risk of insecure attachment is elevated in individuals with eating disorders, albeit heterogeneity is high and largely unexplained. Clinicians may need to take this into account in their work, particularly given the association between attachment insecurity and challenges to therapeutic alliance. Future studies comparing eating disorder samples with community samples should control for general psychopathology. Attachment is a broad concept referring to a person's thoughts, feelings and behaviors in relation to close others. This systematic review and meta-analysis found that individuals with eating disorders are lower in attachment security than community controls, regardless of attachment construct or measurement approach. Attachment may be relevant in influencing eating disorder recovery, the development of therapeutic alliance, and potentially clinical outcomes, although more research is needed.

Walter Citrine: Forgotten Statesman, By Jim Moher

Walter Citrine’s (1887–1983) career at the centre of the labour movement involved some crucial events such as the establishment of minority Labour governments, the General Strike, the development of the Labour Alliance, the purge of the Communist left in the trade unions and labour participation in the wartime coalition government. Jim Moher, in his recent biography of Citrine, attempts to reveal what other historians of the period have overlooked. Walter McClennan Citrine was born in Liverpool in 1887 the son of a seaman and a Scottish hospital nurse. His father was evidently a heavy drinker and the Presbyterian Protestantism of his mother was an early influence on him. Citrine, as was the norm at the time, left school at the age of twelve but with an ambitious desire for self-improvement. Moher devotes a section of the text to Citrine and shorthand (pp. 43–4) as it gave him the edge over other trade union activists. Many will recall that Citrine’s most influential publication was his ABC of Chairmanship (1920 and 1939). In 1906 he had joined the ILP which Moher describes as a ‘ginger group’ outside of the Labour party. There is little discussion of the political context in which Citrine grew up, for example, the term ‘syndicalist/syndicalism’ is introduced frequently in the text without the concept ever being explored. Differences are too often explained in terms of personality rather than politics.

R&D innovation under uncertainty: a framework for empirical investigation of knowledge complementarity and goal congruence

PurposeThis study aims to introduce a new prescriptive model to aid both managers and researchers in partner selection for innovation-orientated collaboration. This framework demonstrates how prospective partner firms’ complementing bodies of knowledge and goal alignment interact to affect the success of a collaboration.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use geometric modeling to represent the interrelationships among knowledge similarity/dissimilarity, goal congruence, knowledge complementarity (KC) and innovation in alliance formation. Using this model as a framework, the authors derive relationships among predictors of innovation success and determine how they affect the nature of partnerships under varying conditions of KC.FindingsThis research shows how innovation success is strongly determined by partner selection. Specifically, the authors examine the influence of KC and partner goals on three aspects of a potential research and development (R&D) alliance – the potential level of innovation outcome for the alliance, the boundaries of knowledge sharing and limitations arising from knowledge and goal incongruence and the nature of cooperation.Originality/valueAlthough there is broad empirical support that innovation success is influenced by the similarity of R&D partners’ knowledge, further research is still needed to model the relationship more precisely between partner KC and goal alignment. The authors address this gap by developing a model that is both prescriptive and predictive of how innovation success can be achieved in the context of disparate but complementing knowledge and goal sets. The authors conclude with practical implications for practice and future research directions.

Social Policy Development Revisited: The Interplay between Push and Pull Factors in the Indonesian Healthcare Expansion

Established theories of social policy development, such as industrialisation and power resources, have been extensively used to explain the expansion of social policy, predominantly in developed economies. We argue that they may not always be applicable in the Global South. Our article examines multiple factors at play in Indonesia’s healthcare policy expansion using qualitative content analysis of historical sources, literature, and nine interviews with key policy architects. Using the pull-and-push factor model, we examined the interactions between policy entrepreneurs and centre-right political parties in creating national healthcare policy architecture and expansion. Our findings confirm that the window of opportunity for expansion was augmented when the political party of the ruling government experienced a decline in public trust, while clientelistic motives among elites facilitated the reform process. Drawing the lesson from Indonesia, we contend push prevails over the pull factors (labour movement and cross-class alliances) in social policy development.