Jung and the dreaming: Analytical psychology's encounters with Aboriginal culture

This article reviews some contributions of the Jungian analytic tradition to indigenous ethnopsychiatric thought in Australia. The authors review Jung's writings on Aboriginal culture, then describe some of their own fieldwork findings. Acknowledging that the contemporary post-Jungian tradition is pluralist, they propose a notion of 'Jungian sensibility.' They discuss some of the ways in which the Jungian sensibility might contribute positively to Aboriginal mental health, with especial reference to theories of subjectivity, and note that some Aboriginal people find the Jungian world-view very compatible with the Aboriginal one.

Understanding professional practice: investigations before and after an educational programme

During preparation for professional practice, the professional skill being developed is typically measured in the form of specific knowledge and skills. This study proposes an alternative to such measures, drawing upon research which demonstrates that our understanding of professional practice is central to how we both perform and develop that practice. The study investigates understanding of medical practice prior to and following a pre-medical programme. On commencing the programme, students showed substantial variation in their understanding of medical practice. At the end of the programme much of this variation remained, indicating the students had developed varying forms of professional skill. The study calls into question the adequacy of a focus on detailed knowledge and skills as a base for professional practice. In line with previous research, an important implication of the study is that developing skilful practice requires focusing on understanding of that practice in and through its performance.

Theory of mind and relational complexity

Cognitive complexity and control theory and relational complexity theory attribute developmental changes in theory of mind (TOM) to complexity. In 3 studies, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds performed TOM tasks (false belief, appearance-reality), less complex connections (Level 1 perspective-taking) tasks, and transformations tasks (understanding the effects of location changes and colored filters) with content similar to TOM. There were also predictor tasks at binary-relational and ternary-relational complexity levels, with different content. Consistent with complexity theories: (a) connections and transformations were easier and mastered earlier than TOM; (b) predictor tasks accounted for more than 80% of age-related variance in TOM; and (c) ternary-relational items accounted for TOM variance, before and after controlling for age and binary-relational items. Prediction did not require hierarchically structured predictor tasks.

Can parents and teachers provide a reliable and valid report of behavioral inhibition?

Reliability and validity of parent and teacher report of behavioral inhibition (BI) was examined among children aged 3 to 5 years. Confirmatory factor analysis supported 6 correlated factors reflecting specific BI contexts, each loading on a single, higher order factor of BI. Internal consistency was acceptable, with moderate stability over 1 year and strong correlation with a brief inhibition subscale from a temperament questionnaire. Children who were rated by mothers and teachers as high BI took longer to initiate contact with a stranger, spoke less often and for shorter periods, and required more prompting to elicit speech compared with low-BI peers in a simulated stranger interaction task. Father report of BI was significantly associated with mean duration of speech and eye gaze.

Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v Al Masri

The case of Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v Al Masri examines the legality of the continued, and possibly indefinite, detention of an asylum seeker - in determining whether mandatory detention was in fact 'mandatory', and legally so, the Federal Court had to examine the complexity between statute, the Constitution and fundamental rights and freedoms at stake.

Steps in theory-of-mind development for children with deafness or autism

Prior research demonstrates that understanding theory of mind (ToM) is seriously and similarly delayed in late-signing deaf children and children with autism. Are these children simply delayed in timing relative to typical children, or do they demonstrate different patterns of development? The current research addressed this question by testing 145 children (ranging from 3 to 13 years) with deafness, autism, or typical development using a ToM scale. Results indicate that all groups followed the same sequence of steps, up to a point, but that children with autism showed an importantly different sequence of understandings (in the later steps of the progression) relative to all other groups.

Mirror self-recognition beyond the face

Three studies (N=144) investigated how toddlers aged 18 and 24 months pass the surprise-mark test of self-recognition. In Study 1, toddlers were surreptitiously marked in successive conditions on their legs and faces with stickers visible only in a mirror. Rates of sticker touching did not differ significantly between conditions. In Study 2, toddlers failed to touch a sticker on their legs that had been disguised before being marked. In Study 3, having been given 30-s exposure to their disguised legs before testing, toddlers touched the stickers on their legs and faces at equivalent levels. These results suggest that toddlers pass the mark test based on expectations about what they look like, expectations that are not restricted to the face.

How can experience in clinical and community settings contribute to early medical education? A BEME systematic review

Review date: Review period January 1992-December 2001. Final analysis July 2004-January 2005. Background and review context: There has been no rigorous systematic review of the outcomes of early exposure to clinical and community settings in medical education. Objectives of review: (1) Identify published empirical evidence of the effects of early experience in medical education, analyse it, and synthesize conclusions from it. (2) Identify the strengths and limitations of the research effort to date, and identify objectives for future research. Search strategy: Ovid search of. BEI, ERIC, Medline, CIATAHL and EMBASE Additional electronic searches of: Psychinfo, Timelit, EBM reviews, SIGLE, and the Cochrane databases. Hand-searches of: Medical Education, Medical Teacher, Academic Medicine, Teaching and Learning in Medicine, Advances in Health Sciences Education, Journal of Educational Psychology. Criteria: Definitions: Experience: Authentic (real as opposed to simulated) human contact in a social or clinical context that enhances learning of health, illness and/or disease, and the role of the health professional. Early: What would traditionally have been regarded as the preclinical phase, usually the first 2 years. Inclusions: All empirical studies (verifiable, observational data) of early experience in the basic education of health professionals, whatever their design or methodology, including papers not in English. Evidence from other health care professions that could be applied to medicine was included. Exclusions: Not empirical; not early; post-basic; simulated rather than 'authentic' experience. Data collection: Careful validation of selection processes. Coding by two reviewers onto an extensively modified version of the standard BEME coding sheet. Accumulation into an Access database. Secondary coding and synthesis of an interpretation. Headline results: A total of 73 studies met the selection criteria and yielded 277 educational outcomes; 116 of those outcomes (from 38 studies) were rated strong and important enough to include in a narrative synthesis of results; 76% of those outcomes were from descriptive studies and 24% from comparative studies. Early experience motivated and satisfied students of the health professions and helped them acclimatize to clinical environments, develop professionally, interact with patients with more confidence and less stress, develop self-reflection and appraisal skill, and develop a professional identity. It strengthened their learning and made it more real and relevant to clinical practice. It helped students learn about the structure and function of the healthcare system, and about preventive care and the role of health professionals. It supported the learning of both biomedical and behavioural/social sciences and helped students acquire communication and basic clinical skills. There were outcomes for beneficiaries other than students, including teachers, patients, populations, organizations and specialties. Early experience increased recruitment to primary care/rural medical practice, though mainly in US studies which introduced it for that specific purpose as part of a complex intervention. Conclusions: Early experience helps medical students socialize to their chosen profession. It. helps them acquire a range of subject matter and makes their learning more real and relevant. It has potential benefits for other stakeholders, notably teachers and patients. It can influence career choices.

Communicative repair strategies and problem behaviours of children with autism

The use of strategies by children with developmental disabilities to repair communicative breakdowns has received little attention in the research literature to date. The research that is available suggests that children with severe communication impairments may be more likely to experience communicative breakdowns than their typically developing peers. These children may also have fewer strategies available to them to repair these breakdowns. The present article reviews some of the research in this area and discusses the possible links between communicative breakdowns and the emergence of problem behaviour in children with autism. Theoretical and practical implications are considered and areas for future research are highlighted.