Doing a good job badly Mind-sets in family therapy

This paper reports on a case in which family therapy was one of the approaches attempting to resolve an eating disorder in the second-born of twins, the youngest in an intact family of four children. The case is described in its referral, agency and chronological contexts. The initial referral suggested that there was no physical cause for the presenting problem, and advocated an investigation of family dynamics. Some evidence which seemed to support the dysfunctional family formulation was provided, and various hypotheses regarding family disturbance were pursued in therapy. These hypotheses were, on the surface, supported by systemic observations. When a rare pancreatic tumour which was underlying the eating disorder was diagnosed many months after the brief and unsuccessful interventions, ‘confirmation bias’, resistance and neutrality became important issues for the therapists to consider. The role of these processes in this case is discussed.     

Will it never end? The narratives of incest victims on the termination of sexual abuse

The aim of this study is to investigate how child sexual abuse is terminated. This study attempts to gain insight into how people exposed to incest narrate the termination of the incest relationship. Seven women and one man were recruited from the Incest Support Centre and from snowballing for a 1-2-hour-long in-depth interview using a narrative approach. The subjects' narratives varied according to how they perceived their own role in the termination process, their relationship with the offender, and how well they remembered the stage of termination. A common feature of the narratives was that the feeling of being a victim lasted after the abuse stopped. In this respect, the lack of support from family, friends, and healthcare personnel and the psychological power exercised by the offender were important issues in the narratives. It is suggested that the termination process is affected by the victims' ability to regulate influence and mentalization. Furthermore, a transfer of cultural meanings from the social environment to the individual must have taken place. Future research should focus on the significance of the termination process in terms of psychological functioning and the construction of self and identity.     

Night work and symptoms of anxiety and depression among nurses: A longitudinal study

Over the last few decades, night work has been found to be associated with negative somatic consequences; however, there is less knowledge about its impact on mental health. In a sample of 633 Norwegian nurses, we investigated by means of latent growth curve modelling whether different work schedules predicted differences in baseline values of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and trajectories of these over a two-year span. All participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale as part of a larger survey conducted during the winters of 2009, 2010 and 2011. The results revealed that night workers and nurses who changed from day work to night work during the study period did not differ from day workers either in terms of baseline symptoms of anxiety or depression, or in terms of trajectories of these symptoms. However, nurses who changed from night work to day work reported a significant decrease in symptoms of both anxiety and depression over time compared to day workers. Furthermore, supporting previous work, languidity was related to higher anxiety and depression and hardiness to lower levels of those symptoms. Possible mechanisms underlying the results are discussed.     

A comparison of systems and outcomes for safeguarding children in Australia and Norway

Using aggregated national data, this paper compares outcomes of Australian ‘child protection’ (CP) and Norwegian ‘child welfare services’ (CWS). We highlight each nation's context and key elements of their CP/CWS organizations, with emphasis on policy and programme orientation. System outcomes are examined along with the implications of their different approaches. The main policy focus in Australia is protection and risk, while Norway's systemic approach stresses prevention, early intervention and support. These differences influence practitioner's intervention strategies and how the needs of children and parents are met. In Norway, approximately 80% of the children in the CWS receive some sort of supportive services. In contrast, Australian services for supporting families are narrowly targeted. Both countries share the ‘best interest of the child’ principle and an increased focus on children's rights, and have experienced increased service demands and rates of children in out‐of‐home care. The paper explores the relative merits of these systems.     

PubPredict: Prediction of progression and survival in oncology leveraging publications and early efficacy data

In oncology/hematology early phase clinical trials, efficacies were often observed in terms of response rate, depth, timing, and duration. However, the true clinical benefits that eventually support registrational purpose are progression-free survival (PFS) and/or overall survival (OS), the follow-up of which are typically not long enough in early phase trials. This gap imposes challenges in strategies for late phase drug development. In this article, we tackle the question by leveraging published study to establish a quantitative link between early efficacy outcomes and late phase efficacy endpoints. We used solid tumor cancer as disease model. We modeled the disease course of a RECISTv1.1 assessed solid tumor with a continuous Markov chain (CMC) model. We parameterize the transition intensity matrix of a CMC model based on published aggregate-level summary statistics, and then simulate subject-level time-to-event data. The simulated data is shown to have good approximation to published studies. PFS and/or OS could be predicted with the transition intensity matrix modified given clinical knowledge to reflect various assumptions on response rate, depth, timing, and duration. The authors have built a R shiny application named PubPredict, the tool implements the algorithm described above and allows customized features including multiple response levels, treatment crossover and varying follow-up duration. This toolset has been applied to advise phase 3 trial design when only early efficacy data are available from phase 1 or 2 studies.     

Internet and the Political Public Sphere

The article addresses the main theory of the political public sphere generally, and the role of the Internet and Internet‐based media in the theory specifically. It first reviews briefly the initial social research on the Internet in the 1990s concerning political participation. After a presentation of Jürgen Habermas' theory of the contemporary public sphere, it proceeds to discuss the main problems concerning the Internet as a platform or infrastructure for public debate: segmentation and concentration. It argues that a general conclusion is that the public sphere differentiates and become more complex. A key task for future research, it argues, is to investigate the complex connections between Internet publics and mass media publics.     

Secular Trends in Alcohol Drinking Among Danish 15‐Year‐Olds: Comparable Representative Samples From 1988 to 2010

This study describes the secular trends in weekly intake of beer, wine, liquor, and drunkenness among 15‐year‐olds 1988–2010 (total N = 8,701), a period with several policy initiatives regarding alcohol in Denmark. Data from seven comparative and representative school surveys conducted in 1988, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2010 were used. The proportion of 15‐year‐olds in Denmark who drank alcohol and were drunk increased from 1988 to 2002, but decreased substantially to 2010; for example, the proportion of 15‐year‐old girls who drank beer at least weekly increased from 15% in 1988 to 31% in 2002 and decreased to 7% in 2010. We hypothesize that age limits for purchasing alcohol may have resulted in a decrease in young people's alcohol use.     

Use of pornography in traditional media and on the internet in Norway

We described the use of pornography in Norway, including how many people have used pornographic magazines, films, and internet sites and to what extent those who watch pornography on the internet also use it as an arena for erotic chatting. The data stem from a survey on sexual behavior among a random sample of 10,000 Norwegians between 18 and 49 years. The response rate was 34%. A total of 82% reported having read pornographic magazines, 84% had seen pornographic films, and 34% had examined pornography on the internet. Statistically significantly more men than women reported use of pornography. There was a 20% difference between men and women in use of magazines and films. Among those exposed to pornography on the internet during the past year, 14% had participated in erotic chatting. Gay/bisexual men and lesbian/bisexual women reported higher use of pornography than straight men and women. Gender was the most significant variable for the prediction of use of pornography. Level of education predicted exposure to pornography on the internet, in magazines, and in films. Younger individuals were more likely to utilize the internet both for viewing pornographic material and for chatting.