Introduction to CAUSES: Description of Weather and Climate Models and Their Near-Surface Temperature Errors in 5 day Hindcasts Near the Southern Great Plains

We introduce the Clouds Above the United States and Errors at the Surface (CAUSES) project with its aim of better understanding the physical processes leading to warm screen temperature biases over the American Midwest in many numerical models. In this first of four companion papers, 11 different models, from nine institutes, perform a series of 5 day hindcasts, each initialized from reanalyses. After describing the common experimental protocol and detailing each model configuration, a gridded temperature data set is derived from observations and used to show that all the models have a warm bias over parts of the Midwest. Additionally, a strong diurnal cycle in the screen temperature bias is found in most models. In some models the bias is largest around midday, while in others it is largest during the night. At the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains (SGP) site, the model biases are shown to extend several kilometers into the atmosphere. Finally, to provide context for the companion papers, in which observations from the SGP site are used to evaluate the different processes contributing to errors there, it is shown that there are numerous locations across the Midwest where the diurnal cycle of the error is highly correlated with the diurnal cycle of the error at SGP. This suggests that conclusions drawn from detailed evaluation of models using instruments located at SGP will be representative of errors that are prevalent over a larger spatial scale.

A randomized controlled trial comparing family mediation with and without motivational interviewing

Family mediation is a widely used approach to assist separated parents to resolve conflicts about parenting arrangements for their children, yet frequently parents undertaking mediation do not reach a mutually agreeable resolution. In Australia, where the current study was conducted, separated parents must attempt family mediation before they can seek to appear in the family court for custody issues. We compared mediation enhanced with motivational interviewing (MI) with mediation as usual (MAU) in a randomized controlled trial. One hundred and seventy-seven separated-parent dyads were recruited from a community-based telephone mediation service, and randomized to receive MI or MAU. Outcome of mediation was classified as no agreement, partial agreement on some of the areas in dispute, and full agreement. We assessed parental psychological distress, emotional attachment to former partner by the coparent, child adjustment, and coparental conflict before and after the mediation, and at 3-month follow-up. MI had double the rate of full agreements of MAU (33% vs. 16%), and a lower rate of no agreement than MAU parents (33% vs. 42%). Psychological distress, coparental conflict and attachment to the former partner declined from pre- to postmediation in both conditions, but child adjustment was unchanged. There was no difference between MAU and MI on any of these outcomes. MI enhanced achievement of agreements but did not enhance other outcomes. Conducting the study in a busy community mediation service created some challenges that compromised implementation of the study which might influence the reliability of findings. However, the possibility that MI enhances agreement in mediation warrants further investigation. (PsycINFO Database Record

Predictors of Engagement in Family Mediation and Outcomes for Families that Fail to Engage

An important limitation to the effectiveness of family mediation in assisting separated parents is parents failing to engage in the mediation process. In 524 parents who presented to a telephone-based mediation service, 113 (22%) initiating parents withdrew from mediation before the other parent was invited to participate, 241 (46%) initiating parents had respondent parents who declined to participate in mediation, and 170 cases (33%) completed mediation. We tested whether socio-demographic variables, psychological distress, coparental acrimony, parenting problems, or children's behavioral difficulties predicted mediation engagement. High interparental acrimony predicted failure to engage in mediation, but none of the other variables predicted mediation engagement. We followed a sample of 131 families that did not mediate and found they showed elevated psychological distress, acrimony, parenting problems and child adjustment difficulties, which remained unchanged 6 months later. Further research is needed to explore strategies to enhance respondent parent engagement with mediation, and to address the negative outcomes for those separated families not proceeding with mediation.

The Gap Between Couple Therapy Research Efficacy and Practice Effectiveness

Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials of couple therapy find large improvements in couple adjustment, but published evaluations of the effectiveness of couple therapy in routine practice find only small-to-moderate effects. The current study analyzes possible explanations for the research-efficacy to practice-effectiveness gap and offers suggestions for enhancing couple therapy effectiveness. Major recommendations are that therapists should clarify whether couples' therapy goal is to clarify commitment to the relationship or to improve the relationship; use standardized assessment of the individual partners and the relationship; and use systematic monitoring of therapy progress and the therapeutic alliance. It is also possible that the greater use of evidence-based therapies when treating couple relationship distress could enhance couple therapy outcome.

Couple relationship education at the transition to parenthood: a window of opportunity to reach high-risk couples

This study evaluated if the transition to parenthood is a window of opportunity to provide couple relationship education (CRE) to new parents at high risk for future relationship problems. Fifty-three percent of eligible couples approached agreed to participate in CRE and of these 80% had not previously accessed CRE. Couples were a broad representative of Australian couples having their first child, but minority couples were underrepresented. A third of couples had three or more risk factors for future relationship distress (e.g., cohabiting, interpartner violence, elevated psychological distress, unplanned pregnancy). Low education was the only risk factor that predicted drop out. The transition to parenthood is a window of opportunity to recruit certain types of high-risk couples to CRE.

Couple psychoeducation for new parents: observed and potential effects on parenting

The transition to parenthood is a substantial challenge for many couples, and the extent to which the partners can support each other and their relationship is strongly related to the sensitivity and responsiveness of their parenting of their infant. This paper critically analyses the links between the couple relationship and parenting of infants and reviews the research evaluating couple psychoeducation (CP) to assist couples' parenting of their infant. It is concluded that CP has considerable potential to enhance couples' adaptation to parenthood and enhance the sensitivity and responsiveness of parenting of new infants.

Vegetations in infective endocarditis. Clinical relevance and diagnosis by cross sectional echocardiography

Cross sectional echocardiography identified vegetations in 45 of 62 (73%) patients who had clinical evidence of active infective endocarditis. The sensitivity of this technique in diagnosing vegetations in infective endocarditis was 93% and the specificity 89%. The predictive value of a positive test was 96% and that of a negative test 80%. Vegetations were detected with a similar frequency on the aortic and mitral valves. The incidence of valvar incompetence, congestive heart failure, and the need for surgical intervention was similar in the patients with and without vegetations. Embolism occurred in 47% of those patients with vegetations and in 12% of those without. The mortality rate was 27% in those with vegetations, and no patient without vegetations died. Thus cross sectional echocardiography is accurate in diagnosing vegetations in patients with infective endocarditis, and this finding identifies patients at high risk of embolic complications and death.