Data from a cohort of relatively high functioning, older men and women were used to test the hypothesis that stronger self-efficacy beliefs predict better maintenance of cognitive performance. Structural equation modeling revealed that stronger baseline instrumental efficacy beliefs predicted better verbal memory performance at follow-up among men but not among women, controlling for baseline verbal memory score and sociodemographic and health status characteristics. For both men and women there were no significant associations between either type of self-efficacy beliefs and measures of nonverbal memory, abstraction, or spatial ability. Consistent with previous research showing relationship between baseline cognitive performance and change in self-efficacy beliefs, better abstraction ability was also predictive of increase in instrumental efficacy beliefs among the men.

As the health care industry has become increasingly competitive, health care practitioners have become aware of the need to demonstrate that the occupational groups to which they belong perform unique and vital services to clients and patients. This awareness has fostered the development of a body of literature on professional identity and development that includes discussion of the role of values in defining and differentiating professional groups The purpose of this study was to begin exploration and discussion of the process by which students in one occupational therapy curriculum acquire and integrate professional values. The results of the study indicate that the acquisition of professional values may be a developmental process that is not complete at graduation from academic training. Additionally, the study indicates that value acquisition is a fertile area for research, one of tremendous importance for the education of future practitioners.

Recent occupational therapy literature has pointed to significant similarities in the principles of qualitative research methods and the underlying assumptions and values of our profession. This article presents an overview of qualitative methods, an analysis of the relationship between qualitative and quantitative approaches in social and cultural research, and a brief discussion of the issues of reliability, validity, and researcher objectivity in qualitative research. The application of qualitative methods in a research project on juvenile arthritis is used to illustrate an exploration of the importance of such methods to occupational therapy theory and practice.

Hasselkus hasgiven us,authors and readersalike, much to think about, puzzle over,and debate. We welcome the opportunity to discuss research issues in occupational therapy and thank the Occupational Therapy Journal of Research for providing a forum for criticalexchange. In response to Hasselkus, we will address the following issues: (a) the inability to shrug offthe yoke of positivistic epistemology, (b) the need to pose the proper questions and considerthe levelof theorydevelopment when choosing a researchmethodology, and (c) the reportingof thick description in journal articles.A major issue raised by Hasselkus is the paradigmatic choice of positivism versus naturalistic inquiry. In our opinionHasselkus advocates an adherence

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