Barriers and Facilitators of Responding to Problem Gambling: Perspectives from Australian Mental Health Services

Despite high rates of comorbidity between problem gambling and mental health disorders, few studies have examined barriers or facilitators to the implementation of screening for problem gambling in mental health services. This exploratory qualitative study identified key themes associated with screening in mental health services. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 30 clinicians and managers from 11 mental health services in Victoria, Australia. Major themes and subthemes were identified using qualitative content analysis. Six themes emerged including competing priorities, importance of routine screening, access to appropriate screening tools, resources, patient responsiveness and workforce development. Barriers to screening included a focus on immediate risk as well as gambling being often considered as a longer-term concern. Clinicians perceived problem gambling as a relatively rare condition, but did acknowledge the need for brief screening. Facilitators to screening were changes to system processes, such as identification of an appropriate brief screening instrument, mandating its use as part of routine screening, as well as funded workforce development activities in the identification and management of problem gambling.     

Collaboration Between Community Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Systems: Barriers and Facilitators

Recent studies have confirmed a high prevalence of youth with diagnosable mental health disorders within the juvenile justice system, as well as the vulnerability of youth in the mental health system who enter the juvenile justice system. This high prevalence of dual system involvement has spawned challenges of collaboration between the mental health and juvenile justice systems to provide needed services to youth and their families. Seventy-two in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 youth and their parents/guardians, mental health professionals from five different community mental health centers, and juvenile justice professionals in urban and rural communities in a Midwest state in the United States. Professionals, youth and parents identified several important factors that facilitated collaboration, as well as a myriad of barriers that needed to be overcome. Findings suggest ways to improve partnerships between the two systems and the development of supportive policies and procedures.     

Systemic Task Setting in Family Therapy

The application of tasks to the “whole” family system as a method of restructuring family relationships is considered. The value of the introduction of such tasks is discussed. Systemic tasks are categorized as direct or paradoxical . A formula for the construction of direct tasks is outlined. The review of direct tasks and the introduction of paradoxical tasks are discussed together. It is proposed that the partial or complete failure of direct tasks provides fertile ground for the introduction of paradox. A clinical example, which illustrates the application of direct and paradoxical tasks, is presented.     

Public Relations and Technology: Practitioner Perspectives

The purpose of this research was to gather detailed information about public relations practitioners' new technology use. Seventeen semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted. This study describes how use of communication technologies can affect public relations roles. It discusses practitioner challenges associated with diffusing new technologies; practitioner perceptions of technology, organizational status, and power; and how public relations professionals are employing new technologies to improve research, increase productivity, and advance two-way symmetric communication in their organizations.     

Work and Family Issues After Injury: Do Female and Male Client Perspectives Differ?

Role demands weigh differently on men and women and the balance of role demands shifts when adult family members sustain injuries that compromise their physical capacity. Clients with orthopaedic and soft tissue injuries (N = 53) who were settling insurance claims or currently in litigation were assessed using the Life Roles Inventory (Values and Salience Scales), a Life Satisfaction Questionnaire (structured interview), and measurements of physical capacity, perceived exertion, and functional ability. Findings from this exploratory study suggest that although commitment to the major life roles does not change following injury, levels of participation and role value for working and home/family roles do change. The disruption of social networks is likely related to the working role for women in professional and skilled occupations. Financial concerns, strain in personal relationships, level of independence in self care, and pain on activity significantly affect performance and satisfaction.     

An International Examination of the Effectiveness of Functional Family Therapy (FFT) in a Danish Community Sample

Youth behavior problems have increased in prevalence in Scandinavian countries. Functional Family Therapy (FFT) has been shown to be an effective intervention across diverse populations and international contexts. The current study examines the effectiveness of FFT within a Danish-community sample in a pre-post comparison design and includes 687 families. Observed outcomes included both parent- and/or youth- reported domains of youth behavior, family dysfunction, school attendance and performance, and substance use. Significant improvements were found in youth behavior, family functioning, and school-related outcomes (e.g., like of school and truancy) despite experiencing a 60% attrition rate in our sample postintervention. This study provides evidence for the effectiveness of FFT on a wide scale in a Scandinavian context, adding to previous research that supports the transportability of this intervention.     

The Functional Approach to Using Dreams in Marital and Family Therapy*

This paper presents a process based method for using dreams as an adjunct to marital and family therapy. Based on the functional orientation in psychology, this approach identifies and emphasizes personality and life area strengths rather than weaknesses. Dreams are viewed as pictures of feelings and as guides to the emotional dynamics operating for each individual in a family system. The process variables of expression, feeling, clarity, activity, and contact levels are emphasized. A case study illustrates the application of this approach in the treatment of a disturbed family system.     

Family Therapy Process in a Family Therapy Seminar

The interaction between leaders and members in a year-long family therapy seminar is systematically compared to the process that unfolds between therapist and family during the course of family therapy. A five stage developmental process common to both is postulated and described: (1) Battle for Structure, (2) Naive Enthusiasm, (3) Conflictual Frustration, (4) Task Orientation, and (5) Mutuality. The dynamic elements of each stage are analyzed and factors affecting their development are identified. It is concluded that this five stage process occurs in all similar groups, but that the content of each stage may vary widely from group to group.     

Understanding the Client/Social Worker Relationship in a Multicultural Setting:

As social work professionals, we need to be senstitive to the communication exchanges we engage in with our clients. At the best of times, cross-cultural communication has its difficulties and is even more problematic when interpreters are used. We need to understand the nature of these relationships and the lifetime of socialization that our clients have experienced which shape these relationships. The temptation of dismissing the difficulties as simply "a culture gap" reflects poorly on our individual practice and our profession as a whole. This paper examines the types of social bonding as they are applied to the client/social worker relationship. Two distinct forms of social bonding, interpersonal reciprocity and interdependency contract relationships, are examined and analyzed from a multicultural perspective in the social work setting. The role of interpreters is reviewed in relation to these communication patterns. The role of trustworthiness and the behaviors that enhance it are reviewed in light of the types of relationships professionals engage in with their clients. The paper then examines two classes of interventions, "changing" versus "supporting" the client, and how these intervention strategies relate to the ethno-cultural background of the client. The paper concludes with the suggestion that there are some very serious limitations on the professional's relationship in the cross-cultural setting. The professional may need to adjust his/her expectations of the relationship and adapt to more effective and realistic types of interventions.     

Teddy Bears: Facilitators of Love,Friendship and Therapy

Abstract

An edited version of a paper delivered to the Scottish branch of the Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work, Edinburgh, Winter 1976.

After finishing her degree in Social Science in Dublin Una McCluskey took her professional training at Edinburgh University (1971), specialising in psychiatric social work. She worked for a number of years in a Department of Child and Family Psychiatry, where she was the Principal Social Worker, and was involved in the Innovation of the in-patient treatment of whole families. She worked with Barnardo's in Edinburgh, and went as a lecturer to York University in 1978. Interests have always lain in the marriage of psychodynamic and systemic thinking and the application of these ideas to working with individuals, families and organisations.     

Searching for Barriers to Adoption of the Videophone in a Hospice Setting

Hospice services care for millions of Americans at the end of their life. To improve this care, videophones have been introduced. However, the use of videophones is often not readily accepted by hospice nurses. This study used three theories, surveys, and focus groups with 25 hospice employees to investigate why there was a lack of acceptance. The survey predicted the videophones would be adopted. However, this was not the case, so focus groups were conducted to expand understanding of nonacceptance. This research demonstrates that leadership, context, and perceptions of the technology were key features effecting videophone acceptance. Future research should further examine these barriers and address the need for new survey instruments regarding nonutilization in this context.     

Bridging Rhetoric and Practice: New Perspectives on Barriers to Gendered Change

ABSTRACT

This article presents a new methodology, Gender Knowledge Contestation Analysis, and uses it to examine the processes under way when transformative gender equality policies, such as gender mainstreaming are implemented. Drawing on data gathered in the European Commission, the findings show the processes linking high-level rhetorical policy statements, strategic policies, and daily working practices. This analysis enables exploration of the mechanisms through which indifference to and nonawareness of gendered policy problems are collectively constituted and methods through which they can be challenged. Findings thus deepen our understanding of barriers to the implementation of gender mainstreaming and the steps required for its effective implementation.     

Family Sociology in a Small Academic Community:

This paper focuses on the development and dissemina- tion of knowledge about family in the small academic community in Israel. The definition of family in this paper is inclusive of all forms of nuclear and extended family and kinship networks. An extensive bibliography was developed as a basis for this review of the multiple disciplinary research on family in Israel. An examination of the development of family sociology in Israel suggests a marginalization of the field of research. Zionist ideology does not place the family in a prominent role in social change. Instead, the family is seen as passive recipient of change as it occurs in the larger society. Only in positions concerning the need to absorb immigrants or to blend exiles can the role of the family in shaping society be seen. The exotic or problematic families have been the subjects of family research in Israel, leaving the average Israeli family largely unstud- ied.     

Barriers to Implementing a Mentoring Program for Youth in Foster Care: Implications for Practice and Policy Innovation

The aim of this article is to report on the findings of an evaluation of a youth in foster care mentoring pilot program and the difficulty that arises when a program is not well implemented. The pilot program and evaluation of its effectiveness were mandated by the Texas 80th Legislature through the passing of HB 3008. Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas implemented the pilot to match youth in foster care age 14 years and older, who participate on a voluntary basis and who have been screened for participation by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) with an adult mentor. As part of the pilot, youth were to receive 8 h of face-to-face time, and at least 1 h of phone, email, or text contact with their mentor. Though there were problems with implementation of the mentoring pilot, responses on the confidential youth survey suggest that those who did participate had positive experiences. Based on responses on the survey from the youth and based on the existing empirical literature on the benefits of mentoring programs for trouble youth and following the recommendations presented in this article the mentoring programs should be encouraged for youth aging out of foster care.     

Navigating Ethical Challenges in Social Media: Social Work Student and Practitioner Perspectives

ABSTRACT

The portable, accessible nature of technology affords social workers opportunities to venture outside traditional service contexts by engaging in the virtual realm. This qualitative article uses two small-scale exploratory case studies to investigate the concept of ethical challenges in online peer networking and blogging by a social work student and social work practitioner. The article seeks to address the opportunities for and complexities of navigating technology and social media, while also emphasising the need for social workers to acquire a range of skills and competencies, and use well-established frameworks to engage in ethical online practice.     

Total Client Sampling and a Test of Family Preservation Services

Abstract

This study evaluates a five year quasi-experiment in the provision of family preservation to families at imminent risk of placement, comparing outcomes with a five year baseline experience and “customary services” program in a similar city. Clients in the experimental group received concrete services and a large amount of psychotherapeutic care of one sort or another. Clients in the two comparison groups probably received similar amounts of concrete services but much less therapeutic care. Clients in the experimental group were placed at a much lower rate than clients in either comparison group. Moreover, the home environment of experimental clients also improved much more than the home environment of controls.