Episodes of anger are capable of triggering the onset of acute myocardial infarction, but aspirin may reduce this risk. A better understanding of the manner in which external events trigger the onset of acute cardiovascular events may lead to innovative preventive strategies aimed at severing the link between these external stressors and their pathological consequences.

This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.practicing professionals. In the proposals, the authors address the following topics: definitions and categories; preparing the system; self-assessment; remediation; diversity; communication across various levels of the system; confidentiality; and ethical, regulatory, and legal underpinnings. They also propose future directions for the assessment of problems in professional competence in both students and practicing psychologists.

Trainees with problems of professional competence (TPPC) are a significant phenomenon in psychology education and training. Although most faculty and students are able to identify at least one TPPC over a 5-year period (Forrest, Elman, Gizara, & Vacha-Haase, 1999), investigations have typically focused on trainers; trainees' perspectives are relatively unexplored. We used survey research to assess perspectives on TPPC from 321 trainees in counseling, clinical, school, and combined psychology programs from masters' through predoctoral internship training levels. Questions targeted (a) training on TPPC and awareness of program policies, (b) general beliefs about faculty/supervisor/peer awareness and action related to TPPC, (c) specific experience with TPPC, (d) characteristics of the experience with a TPPC, (e) impact of program dynamics, (f) faculty/supervisor/peer actions with specific TPPC instances, (g) making a decision to take action, (h) personal and systemic impact of taking action, and (i) not taking action. Results revealed that 44% of students were aware of a TPPC. Participants were confident that trainers were aware of TPPC, yet less certain that trainers would address TPPC. Similarly, participants held more confidence that their peers were aware of TPPC than they were that peers would take action. Although more than half of participants reported taking action, a majority did not draw on their training when doing so. Common action strategies included consulting with faculty/supervisors and peers, venting with peers, or approaching the TPPC. Implications for training are discussed, including attention to training related to TPPC and understanding faculty and student roles.

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Trainees with professional competency problems, also called problems of professional competence SUE C. JACOBS, Associate Professor, Training Director, and Ledbetter Lemon Endowed Diversity Professor in Counseling Psychology at Oklahoma State University earned her PhD from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1989. Her interests include issues in ethics, education and training, difficult dialogues, the teaching of psychology, older adults, health, diversity, social justice, disaster response, mindfulness and anger. STEVEN K. HUPRICH earned his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 1999. He is an Associate

The relaxation response is an integrated psycho-physiologic response originating in the hypothalamus that leads to a generalized decrease in arousal of the central nervous system. As such it is the physiologic antithesis of the stress response. This hypometabolic state is the foundation of many nursing interventions. Relaxation interventions have been taught for centuries. They include many theoretic and philosophic traditions and an array of specific strategies. The possible outcomes using relaxation response strategies in nursing practice are numerous and enable the patient to use the body's own innate mechanisms for health and healing. Thirty-seven studies of the efficacy of relaxation response interventions with adult patients are reviewed. Although numerous patient populations are addressed by the studies, some of which have methodologic problems, consistencies in the results suggest the effectiveness of the relaxation response in reducing hypertension, insomnia, anxiety, pain, and medication use across multiple populations, diagnostic categories, and settings. Recommendations for the use of relaxation responses in varied clinical settings are included.

Stress and coping research usually neglects the rural officer. This study investigated police stress among rural law enforcement in the State of Oklahoma. Participants (N = 85) completed measures pertaining to police-related stress, general stress, and sources of social support. Social support from various sources were related to lower levels of overall life stress, but only support from friends was related to police stress. Support from friends and organizational-related aspects of police stress were the strongest predictors of general life stress in police officers. In addition, officers provided responses to knowledge about counseling resources available in their area. Results may be useful for counseling practitioners and provide support for peer-counseling services for rural officers.

In any society, parenting beliefs are a reflection of that society's cultural values and traditions (J. U. Ogbu, 1981). Verbosity, a parenting behavior considered dysfunctional in European American culture, may not be problematic in Chinese culture. The authors recruited 31 Chinese American and 30 European American mothers and used questionnaires to measure parenting behaviors and child behavior problems. The Chinese American mothers also completed a questionnaire assessing their acculturation level. The Chinese American mothers had higher levels of verbosity than did the European American mothers; however, there were no differences between the groups in child behavior problems. The results also revealed higher levels of laxness in the Chinese American mothers compared to the European American mothers. Acculturation level did not predict verbosity or laxness levels. Results suggest that the effectiveness of a parenting style should be defined relative to cultural context.