Developmental psychology for the helping professions: evidence-based practice in health and social care

331 Pages·2015·1.516 MB·English

by  Sheldon, Brian

Developmental Psychology
for the Helping Professions
Evidence-Based Practice in Health and
Social Care
Brian Sheldon
Developmental Psychology for the Helping Professions
AlsobyBrianSheldon
BEHAVIOURMODIFICATION:Theory,Practice,andPhilosophy(1982)
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOURALTHERAPY:ResearchandPractice(1994)
EVIDENCEBASEDSOCIALCARE:AStudyofProspectsandProblems(withRupa
Chilvers)(2002)
RESEARCHANDPRACTICEINSOCIALCARE:MindtheGap(2002)
ATEXTBOOKOFSOCIALWORK(withG.M.Macdonald)(2009)
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOURALTHERAPY:Research&PracticeinHealthandSocial
Care(2011)
Developmental Psychology
for the Helping Professions
Evidence-Based Practice in Health and
Social Care
Brian Sheldon
PeninsularMedicalSchoolUniversityofExeter,UK
©BrianSheldon2015
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Sheldon,Brian.
Developmentalpsychologyforthehelpingprofessions:evidence-based
practiceinhealthandsocialcare/BrianSheldon,Peninsular
MedicalSchoolUniversityofExeter,UK.
pages cm
1. Developmentalpsychology. I. Title.
BF713.S5142015
155—dc23 2015014214
ForRitaMalpasSheldon,
anaturalinthismatterofchilddevelopment,
andforProfessorGeraldineMacdonaldandDrJaneDennis
oftheCochraneandCampbellCollaborations,
whoalreadyknowwhatIthinkofthem.
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Contents
ListofTablesandFigures viii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xii
AbouttheAuthor xiii
1 PrinciplesofEvidence-BasedPractice 1
2 WhatComeswithUs? 46
3 TheInfluenceofLearningonDevelopment 111
4 StagesandDimensionsofPsychologicalDevelopment 161
5 AdolescenceandEarlyAdulthood 198
6 MiddleLifeandtheTransitiontoOldAge 222
Bibiliography 273
Index 292
vii
Tables and Figures
Tables
1.1 Levelsofattributiveconfidenceindifferenttypesof
research 27
2.1 Influencesondevelopment 50
2.2 Fivepredictivedimensionsofpersonality 64
2.3 Mainapproachesusedintwinstudiestoestablish
variance 75
4.1 Kohlberg’sstagesofmoraldevelopment 192
4.2 Characterisationsofparentalstyles 196
6.1 Stagesinmourning 271
Figures
1.1 Hypotheticaldataregardingapossibleassociation
betweenparentalseparationinchildhoodandlater
depression(Sheldon&Macdonald,2009) 39
2.1 Eysenck’sformulationofpersonalitydimensions 65
2.2 Distributionmodeloftraitdimensions 66
2.3 ConditionabilityinintrovertsandextravertsusingEPI
scores(adaptedfromFranks,1956) 68
2.4 Geneticandenvironmentalinfluencesonpersonality
(adaptedfromRiemannetal.,1997) 69
2.5 Theinteractionofbiologicalandsocialfactorsin
schizophrenia(adaptedfromWoodcock&Davis,1978) 109
3.1 Adiagramofclassicalconditioning(adaptedfromHilgard
etal.,1979) 117
3.2 Adesensitisationhierarchy(Sheldon,2011) 125
3.3 Evaluationofaschool-andfamily-baseddifferential
reinforcementscheme 146
4.1 Neuralgrowthandgeneralphysicalgrowthcompared
(adaptedfromGerrigetal.,2012) 165
5.1 Meantypicalgrowth/weightpatternsinyoungmalesand
females 202
5.2 Problemsolvingandanxiety(adaptedfromHebb,1980) 220
6.1 Ageinginthepopulation–actualandpredictedUK
figures(RoyalCommissiononLong-TermCare,1999) 233
viii
Preface
The idea for this book grew out of my (rather positive) experiences of
teaching multidisciplinary, postgraduate and post-qualification courses
in applied developmental psychology at the universities of London,
Bristol, Queen’s Belfast, and as part of the Centre for Evidence-Based
Social Services (CEBSS) project based at Exeter. The subject itself is sur-
prisingly under-taught on professional training courses, having often
beensidelinedintomodulestomakeroomfordiscussionsof‘new’fix-all
politicalinitiatives.Yetwithoutsuchagrounding,howarestafftomake
valid and reliable assessments of problems? That is, unless equipped
withatemplateofnormal/averagedevelopment,howaretheytoknow
whentheirclients’/patients’positiononanynumberofcurvesindicates
a cause for concern? Also, since the best predictor of likely success in
interventionsresearchisaclose,logical‘fit’betweentheknowncauses
of problems and what is subsequently done to attempt to ameliorate
them,withoutaknowledgeoftheusualpatternsofdevelopment,from
where are we to get our leads on causation and the likely course of
problems?Methods-ledapproachesandpolicieswillfillanyvacuumleft
behind where we have a poor understanding of aetiology: ‘We tend to
use an X approach at this clinic; this department is committed to a Y
approach’andsoon.‘Onwhatevidentialbasis?’istheaprioriquestion.
Such concerns have led me towards a number of principles that
should underwrite the design of multidisciplinary courses, and these
formthemanifestoforthisbook.Theyareasfollows.
Healthandsocialcarestaffaresimilarlymotivatedandfaceproblems
that are more alike than they are different. Coordinated contributions
to different aspects of complex problems are, research unsurprisingly
shows, better than expert action taken against one aspect alone, and
the rest regarded as ‘context’. Teaching and debating together, so that
mutualrespectforoverlappingviewpointsandskillsdevelops,helpsto
preventtheformationof‘silo’identitiesandthethinkingthatgoeswith
them.Thereis,afterall,morethanenoughworkforusall,andweneed
allthehelpwecanget.
Manyormostofthedifficultiesthatthehelpingprofessionsfaceare
theproductofamixtureofbio-psycho-socialinfluences,andsomeini-
tial knowledge of all three ingredients helps with both assessment and
treatment. Samuel Butler knew the answer to the conundrum about
ix