Responding to Adolescent Violence in the Home – A Community Mental Health Approach

Family violence perpetrated by adults is increasingly understood as a health issue, and we argue that this pertains even more strongly to violence by adolescents. The co-dependence of the parent–child bond, lack of maturity in the adolescent, and often related issues of disability or mental illness make these young people both complex and also vulnerable. This research paper reviews the current literature relating to adolescent violence in the home, identifies known best practice, and evaluates the importance of taking a family-focused, therapeutic approach to adolescent family violence, in place of a punitive one. It describes the use of a co-design workshop to unpack gaps in service provision and develop a potential family focused model of care to address the needs both of young people who use violence, and their families. The findings indicate that an inclusive family approach is a key element in addressing adolescent violence in the home across a spectrum of behaviours and mental health care needs. The use of a coordinated, family-inclusive response through mental health care services is recommended to address the complexity of this issue, as well as to provide support both to adolescents and to their families and carers.     

The Role of Coping Strategies in Understanding the Relationship Between Parental Support and Psychological Outcomes in Anxious Youth

The current study examined the moderating role of coping strategies on psychological outcomes at varying levels of parental support in a sample of clinically anxious youth. Youth (N?=?174, mean age 11.89) completed the Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist, Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children and Children’s Depression Inventory. Data was gathered at a large, university-based anxiety disorders treatment clinic. This nonexperimental design analyzed the use of active and avoidant coping strategies as a moderator of anxiety and depression, while controlling for parental support. Results revealed active coping strategies did moderate the relationship between parental support and anxiety, however, not as expected while the significant moderation role of avoidance coping was mixed. Findings showed that anxious youth with more parental support and more active coping were at risk for higher levels of anxiety, yet protected from higher depression. Avoidant coping strategies did moderate in a manner that was predicted for higher anxiety symptoms. Results suggest increased need for parental involvement in the treatment of anxiety disorders in youth.     

Parenting in the Context of Deportation Risk

Nearly 5.1 million children younger than age 18 live with at least one undocumented parent, about 7% of the U.S. child population. Between 2010 and 2013, an estimated 300,000 parents of U.S. citizen children were deported. Raising children in the context of deportation risk increases overall parenting stress for undocumented Latino parents. To investigate this and understand the experience of undocumented parenting, the authors interviewed 70 undocumented parents in two Southwest cities from 2012 to 2013. The authors frame their analysis using the lens of the problem of “illegality.” There are three domains of stressors associated with parenting in the context of deportation risk: trapped parenting, threat of family separation, and altered family processes. The authors discuss these findings in the context of the literature on undocumented families and parenting stress and connect these findings to the current sociopolitical context experienced by Latino families in the United States .     

‘It's not acceptable for the husband to stay at home': Taking a discourse analytical approach to capture the gendering of work

This article illustrates some of the ways in which the notion of (paid) work is actively being gendered, and how these gendering processes take place not only through organizational practices but also in discourses that circulate outside an organization in the private domain. Drawing on 15 in‐depth interviews with women who opted out of their own professional career in order to accompany their husbands on their overseas work assignment to Hong Kong, we demonstrate some of the benefits of using a discourse analytical approach to capturing and identifying the processes through which these women actively (although not necessarily consciously) gender the notion of work, thereby reinforcing the gender order and its male bias. We argue that identifying and making visible these gendered and gendering practices is an important component of, and a potential trigger for, change both in organizations as well as private contexts.     

Action!: Student-Generated Videos in Social Work Education

Experiential learning is a vital aspect of social work education, particularly for teaching community practice. The literature, however, provides few examples of technology-based experiential assignments that educators can implement in their classrooms. This exploratory study examined an innovative student-generated video assignment developed for a social work community practice course. Thirty-seven former students spanning three distinct semesters completed an online survey of closed- and open-ended questions. Findings indicate the video assignment enhanced understanding of community practice and provided a unique diffusion factor. Participants appreciated how the video assignment differed from traditional assignments by offering opportunity for praxis, creativity, and acquisition of technological skills. Educators should note the challenges of student-generated videos to maximize their educational benefit and sustain student receptivity to such assignments. Teaching video-making skills has implications for post-graduation employment in the human service sector.     

Toward the Tailoring of Sexual Health Education Messages for Young Women: A Focus on Tourist Experiences

Perceived anonymity and decreased influence of sexual double standards in tourism provide female travelers with opportunities for sexual experimentation and risk taking. The purpose of this study was (a) to identify the clusters of risk takers among young women based on their perceptions of and motivations for sexual risk taking in tourism and (b) to profile the clusters with respect to the psychological, sexual, demographic, and tourist characteristics. The data were collected through an online survey of 853 women (age in years: M = 23.5, SD = 6.67). Five clusters of sexual risk takers emerged based on their factor-analyzed risk perceptions and motivations. These clusters were interpreted as (a) diversely motivated broad risk perceivers; (b) fun-seeking broad risk perceivers; (c) diversely motivated physical risk perceivers; (d) anonymity- and empowerment-seeking risk disregarders; and (e) unmotivated broad risk perceivers. Women in these clusters differed in their intentions to engage in sexual risk taking in tourism, sensation-seeking propensities, perceptions of tourist characteristics, levels of sexual experience, and demographic backgrounds. Results suggest tailoring sexual health promotion messages based on cluster affiliation, leveraging cluster-specific risk perceptions, motivations, and personal characteristics. This study provides recommendations for individually tailored, context-specific, age-appropriate, and gender-sensitive sexual health education programs.     

Process and Results of an Immunization Requirement at the University of Rochester

Abstract

“A Double-Blind Study of Oral Acyclovir for Suppression of Recurrences of Genital Herpes Simplex Virus Infection,” JOHN M. DOUGLAS, et al. Patients with frequently recurring genital herpes were enrolled in a double-blind placebo-controlled trial comparing 200-mg acyclovir capsules, given five or two times daily, with placebo. Of 47 placebo recipients, 44 (94 per cent) had recurrences during the 120-day treatment period, compared with 13 (29 per cent) of 45 patients treated with acyclovir five times daily and 18 of 51 (35 per cent) treated with acyclovir twice daily (P < 0.001 for each regimen compared with placebo). The median time to the first clincial recurrence was 18 days in placebo recipients, compared with over 120 days in both acyclovir-treated groups (P < 0.001 for both groups compared with placebo). The mean monthly recurrence rate during the medication period was 0.86 in placebo recipients, compared with 0.13 in patients treated with acyclovir five times daily and 0.14 in patients treated with acyclovir twice daily (P < 0.001 for both groups compared with placebo). While receiving therapy, 86 of 96 acyclovir-treated patients had over a 50 per cent reduction in their pretreatment recurrence rate. Breakthrough recurrences in acyclovir recipients were of shorter duration and associated with a lower frequency of viral shedding than recurrences in placebo recipients. After medication was discontinued, the subsequent recurrence rate returned to pretreatment frequencies. Daily oral acyclovir was well tolerated. We conclude that oral acyclovir given for four months markedly reduces but does not completely prevent recurrences of genital herpes and does not influence the long-term natural history of the disease. (New England Journal of Medicine 1984 July;310:1551–6.)     

A qualitative study investigating adolescents' understanding of aggression,bullying and violence

There is a general consistency across the research literature regarding the definition of bullying. This has filtered down into the construction of governmental and school anti-bullying policies around the world. However, research suggests that children and adolescents are failing to accurately identify cases of bullying. This in turn has implications upon the accuracy of our perception of the extent of the problem of bullying within schools. The current study aimed to investigate how 11–17 year olds understand and differentiate between terms relating to interpersonal peer aggression, violence and bullying. Fifty-seven (twenty male, thirty-seven female) participants were recruited via an opportunity sample. Participants took part in focus group interviews within which they were asked to provide a definition for a list of words relating to both traditional and cyber forms of aggression, bullying and violence. Thematic analysis revealed that the participants held a shared understanding of the terms relating to aggression, bullying and violence. Participants defined each term by describing the behaviors involved, their perception of the level of control the perpetrators of each type of negative peer interaction have and the perception of those involved. The implications of these findings for both policy and future research are discussed.     

A fortran implementation of univariate fourier series density estimation

A set of Fortran-77 subroutines is described which compute a nonparametric density estimator expressed as a Fourier series. In addition, a subroutine is given for the estimation of a cumulative distribution. Performance measures are given based on samples from a Weibull distribution. Due to small size and modest space demands, these subroutines are easily implemented on most small computers.     

Racial Contexts' Enduring Influence on Attitudes Toward Poverty*

Objective. This article's objective is to reply to Rodgers (2009) and to expand on the claim that living near poor African Americans influences Americans' views of poverty. Methods. It first presents additional analyses of the 2001 Poverty in America Survey demonstrating that respondents' racial contexts are consistent predictors of attitudes toward poverty. Other contextual variables are not. Results. The article then presents results from an exogenous shock—the post‐Katrina migration—to reinforce its claims. Despite the widespread understanding that the evacuees were not to blame for their situation, their arrival in Houston and Baton Rouge led to more individualistic explanations of poverty. Conclusion. This article concludes that even in unlikely cases, racial contexts influence attitudes toward poverty.