Piloting an Automated Distress Management Program in an Oncology Practice.

BACKGROUND: New administrative requirements to provide assessment and treatment for distress in patients with cancer, as well as concern for positive patient outcomes, highlight oncology practitioners' need for a high-quality distress management program. OBJECTIVES: Researchers designed, developed, implemented, and evaluated a nurse-led quality-improvement project that pilot tested a distress management program in an outpatient medical oncology practice. METHODS: The program used a tablet computer for data collection, immediate analysis, and recommendation display to provide individually tailored psychosocial coping recommendations, referrals, or both to nurses and patients. FINDINGS: Pre- and postprogram evaluations suggest that the program is feasible, safe, and effective for detecting and reducing distress in patients with cancer. In addition, tailoring psychosocial coping strategies to the patient's emotional situation may have been key to the program's effectiveness.

Is psychology suffering from a replication crisis? What does "failure to replicate" really mean?

Psychology has recently been viewed as facing a replication crisis because efforts to replicate past study findings frequently do not show the same result. Often, the first study showed a statistically significant result but the replication does not. Questions then arise about whether the first study results were false positives, and whether the replication study correctly indicates that there is truly no effect after all. This article suggests these so-called failures to replicate may not be failures at all, but rather are the result of low statistical power in single replication studies, and the result of failure to appreciate the need for multiple replications in order to have enough power to identify true effects. We provide examples of these power problems and suggest some solutions using Bayesian statistics and meta-analysis. Although the need for multiple replication studies may frustrate those who would prefer quick answers to psychology's alleged crisis, the large sample sizes typically needed to provide firm evidence will almost always require concerted efforts from multiple investigators. As a result, it remains to be seen how many of the recently claimed failures to replicate will be supported or instead may turn out to be artifacts of inadequate sample sizes and single study replications.

Psychology's contributions to understanding and addressing global climate change.

Global climate change poses one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in this century. This article, which introduces the American Psychologist special issue on global climate change, follows from the report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Interface Between Psychology and Global Climate Change. In this article, we place psychological dimensions of climate change within the broader context of human dimensions of climate change by addressing (a) human causes of, consequences of, and responses (adaptation and mitigation) to climate change and (b) the links between these aspects of climate change and cognitive, affective, motivational, interpersonal, and organizational responses and processes. Characteristics of psychology that cross content domains and that make the field well suited for providing an understanding of climate change and addressing its challenges are highlighted. We also consider ethical imperatives for psychologists' involvement and provide suggestions for ways to increase psychologists' contribution to the science of climate change.

Human behavioral contributions to climate change: psychological and contextual drivers.

We are facing rapid changes in the global climate, and these changes are attributable to human behavior. Humans produce this global impact through our use of natural resources, multiplied by the vast increase in population seen in the past 50 to 100 years. Our goal in this article is to examine the underlying psychosocial causes of human impact, primarily through patterns of reproduction and consumption. We identify and distinguish individual, societal, and behavioral predictors of environmental impact. Relevant research in these areas (as well as areas that would be aided by greater attention by psychologists) are reviewed. We conclude by highlighting ethical issues that emerge when considering how to address human behavioral contributions to climate change.

Self-report: psychology's four-letter word.

Self-report continues to be one of the most widely used measurement strategies in psychology despite longstanding concerns about its validity and scientific rigor. In this article, the merits of self-report are examined from a philosophy of science perspective. A framework is also provided for evaluating self-report measures. Specifically, four issues are presented that can be used as a decision aid when making choices about measurement.