A meaningful entrance: photo therapy as a psychotherapuetic intervention

Photo therapy is a technique that mental health clinicians can use to motivate therapeutic discussions with clients. The explicit focus is on the photograph rather than on the client; this provides a feeling of emotional safety. Images stimulate clients to project their own interpretations. A picture, used as a therapeutic process tool, provides a meaningful entrance into an undefended side door of the mind to allow for emotional healing.     

Community as text: using the community as a resource for learning in community schools

The community can serve as a resource to help students become more engaged in learning and strengthen connections between schools and community.     

The relationship between exposure to community violence and psychological distress among adolescents: a meta-analysis

This article is concerned with the "size of the relationship" between exposure to chronic community violence and psychological symptoms among adolescents. It analyzes all relevant empirical studies in the published literature during the last 20 years; uses quantitative methods to summarize findings; and estimates the effect size using meta-analysis. The 37 independent samples (n = 17,322) were coded on 19 categories, including size and characteristics of sample, and characteristics of the independent and dependent variables. Findings indicate that there is a positive correlation between exposure to community violence and psychological distress; and that the effect size (r = .25) of this relationship is low-medium. The estimated effect size of the relationship points to new issues such as the characteristics of the psychosocial dynamics of resilience in the face of exposure to community violence and how exposure to community violence interacts with other potentially traumatic experiences in the producing of psychological distress.     

Efficacy of a brief intervention on attitudes to reduce school violence: A randomized clinical trial

There is growing interest in the phenomenon of school violence, which has been associated in diverse works with youth's attitudes towards violence, and it has been the focus of many intervention programs. However, the high human and economic cost entailed can impede its administration in some school centers. Therefore, the goal of the present study is to assess the efficacy of a brief intervention aimed at modifying attitudes towards violence to reduce the phenomenon of school bullying. The sample was obtained from a Secondary Education Institute during the 2010–2011 school term, and was made up of 252 students aged between 12 and 15 years. A controlled and randomized design was used in order to assess the effects of the program “Count on Me.” Ten classrooms were randomly assigned either to the intervention or to a waiting-list. Results show a significant reduction of playground violence perceived by the students, especially among the girls. Implications for the development of future brief programs for the prevention of school violence are discussed.     

The crisis intervention team: a revolutionary tool for law enforcement: the psychiatric-mental health nursing perspective

Effective management of people who are in mental health crisis in the community has gained national concern from the standpoint of law enforcement. This article addresses a revolutionary concept known as the Crisis Intervention Team, which teaches law enforcement personnel how to safely approach and de-escalate people who are experiencing a mental health crisis and get them safely to treatment.     

Talking about violence: a microanalysis of narrative processes in a family therapy session

In this article, we look at the development in family therapy of narratives about domestic violence. We report on microanalyses of a family therapy session, using narrative research methods, including some conversation analytic tools. The main questions posed in this investigation were: How does storytelling of a highly charged and delicate topic like domestic violence develop in the session?; how do the different actors in the therapy room contribute to telling such stories?; how do actors try to put forward domestic violence as a conversational topic? and how do different actors react to these attempts? Our research illustrates how the recounting of stories of violence seems to go hand in hand with modes of interaction that discourage the telling of these stories. In the back‐and‐forth process between voices of hesitation and voices of reassurance, the participants weigh the level of safety in the session. In as far as the voices of hesitation can be reassured of the safety, it becomes gradually possible to talk about delicate, problematic experiences, such as violence in the family.     

Montreal youth use their voice to transform their lives and prevent violence in their communities: a discussion of the Leave Out Violence program

In Montreal, the Leave Out Violence (LOVE) program uses professional journalists, photographers, and LOVE staff to equip young people with tools to develop and express their voices. Youth who have experienced violence, as perpetrators, victims, or witnesses, engage in photojournalism projects, leadership training, and community outreach.     

Common ground: cultural action as a route to community development

Cultural action has been used to promote community developmentfor at least thirty years in the UK, often with good results.During that period, the theories, values, and approaches ofprofessionals have varied and evolved, but there has been anoticeable shift in focus – particularly in cultural policy– from collective to individual outcomes, in line withthe growing individualization of policy since the 1980s. Yetthe potential of cultural action to bring people together andto build a foundation for lasting community development workremains important. This article considers the processes by whicharts-based community projects can lead to the development ofboth informal and formal collective organization, and theirpotential in empowerment. Central to this process, it is argued,is culture's focus on people's strengths and interests, ratherthan on externally defined problems. The paper draws on twocontrasting examples to demonstrate the continuing importanceof cultural action in very different social and economic situations:the author's research into voluntary arts development in ruralEngland and Wales, and his experience of community culturalprojects in south-east Europe.     

Preventing violence in disadvantaged communities: Strategies for building collective efficacy and improving community health

ABSTRACT

Violence is a critical health issue that compromises the strength of communities and permanently damages the lives of individuals and families. The impact of violence on health and well-being is particularly devastating in disadvantaged and minority communities, leading to negative health outcomes, including premature death. However, research suggests that communities can prevent violence and negative health outcomes by developing collective efficacy, which happens when neighbors share norms and values, trust one another, and are willing to intervene to address problems. Despite the importance of collective efficacy in preventing violence and improving health, almost no research has investigated actionable strategies to build collective efficacy in disadvantaged neighborhoods. This article describes a theoretical and conceptual model that illustrates how collective efficacy impacts community violence and related health outcomes. We begin by reviewing other approaches to community violence prevention, including criminal justice and developmental approaches. We then discuss how collective efficacy works and why it matters, including theoretical and empirical research explaining collective efficacy and its impact on community violence and health. We then discuss a research-based intervention that social workers can use to facilitate collective efficacy, including our conceptual model and the key components of the intervention. Finally, we discuss implications for social workers who are working with communities to address violence and related health issues.     

Giving Memory a Hand: Instructing Children to Gesture Enhances their Event Recall

To investigate the influence of different kinds of gesture on children’s memory, 60 6- to 7-year-old children participated in an event conducted by the experimenters (“visiting the pirate”) and were interviewed to assess memory for the event approximately 2 weeks later. Children were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions; in 3 conditions, gesture was possible (gesture-instructed, gesture-modelled, gesture-allowed) whereas in the fourth condition (gesture-not allowed), children’s hands were constrained. The amount of gesture engaged in was limited but was greatest in the gesture-instructed condition. Children in the gesture-instructed condition, who were asked to gesture during the interview, recalled more than did those in the other conditions. Further, relative to children in the gesture-modelled and gesture-allowed conditions, children in the gesture-instructed condition conveyed significantly more information in gesture that had not also been reported verbally. Although further research is necessary to understand the underlying mechanism, the findings suggest that instructing children to gesture as well as verbally recall an experience has cognitive and communicative benefits. Elizabeth Stevanoni and Karen Salmon are affiliated with the School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. We thank the children, parents, teachers and principals at the participating schools, St Michaels and Villa Maria Primary Schools, and acknowledge Kay Pegg for help with data collection.     

Multiple-family group intervention for incarcerated adolescents and their families: a pilot project

The Multiple-Family Group Intervention (MFGI) was developed to address the need for an effective and yet affordable treatment for reducing recidivism for incarcerated adolescents and altering the families' coercive interactional patterns from an affect regulation and attachment perspective. The 8-week MFGI program was conducted in two Indiana juvenile correctional institutions. The research study utilized pre- and postintervention assessments and a 6-month follow-up assessment. Data from both male (n = 43) and female (n=30) adolescents were combined, yielding a total sample of 140 respondents (73 adolescents, 67 caretakers). The 6-month follow-up assessment indicated a recidivism rate of only 44% compared to the national norm of 65-85%. Linear growth models were fit to determine the nature of the changes in adolescent behavior over the three assessments. Adolescents and caregivers reported that adolescents' externalizing behaviors significantly declined over time. Adolescent-reported internalizing symptoms as well as their alcohol and drug use significantly declined over the follow-up period, while caregiver reports of these behaviors showed no change over time. Adolescent-reported attachment to their parents, particularly mothers, increased significantly as did both adolescent and caregiver-reported functional affect regulation.     

Logs as adjuncts to therapy for adolescents in a residential psychiatric program

As part of a 3-year ethnography of an adolescent residential psychiatric program, staff, patients, and occasionally family members were observed communicating using written logs. Using participant observation and opportunistic interviewing, and reading the logs, the researcher was able to determine the advantages, disadvantages, and direct value of the logs to patients and staff. Logs, when used judiciously after patient assessment, demonstrated patient responsiveness to treatment and promoted patient-centered care. Writing in logs increased patients' identification of thoughts and feelings, mirrored their developmental state, and demonstrated staff members' skills in communication. They are an invaluable adjunct to therapy for certain adolescent patients.     

Attitudes affecting physical dating violence perpetration and victimization: findings from adolescents in a high-risk urban community

This study examines the associations between attitudes supporting physical dating violence against boys hitting girls and girls hitting boys and experiences with physical dating violence perpetration and victimization among youth in a high-risk community. Cross-sectional logistic regression analyses are based on data from the Youth Violence Survey, conducted in 2004, and administered to more than 80% of public school students in grades 7, 9, 11, and 12 (N = 4,131) in an urban school district. Findings show that attitudes supporting physical dating violence against boys and girls are significantly associated with physical dating violence perpetration and victimization. Prevention programs that seek to reduce physical dating violence among adolescents may benefit from including sex-specific attitude modification as part of a comprehensive violence prevention approach.     

Healing bittersweet legacies: revisiting contextual family therapy for grandparents raising grandchildren in crisis

Over the past decade, grandparents have become primary caregivers for their grandchildren at an unprecedented rate. Drug/alcohol abuse, poor mental health, financial instability, chronic illness, and early death have left parents unavailable for childrearing, leaving their elder generation responsible for tending vulnerable children. While grandparents' resources have been overtaxed with this arrangement, family therapists have been caught off guard in adapting traditional family therapy methods to this population. This paper revisits Contextual Family Therapy for what it has to offer grandparents in crisis. The purpose is to restore appropriate "give and take" while compensating for a "skipped" parenting generation.     

Mentoring as a Bridge to Positive Outcomes for Teen Mothers and Their Children

This paper compares historical and psychosocial realities of teenage parenting to prevailing contemporary myths. The authors explore the negative consequences of current remedies based on these myths. Community volunteer mentoring programs are suggested as a cost-effective intervention that can benefit communities and promote positive outcomes for at-risk pregnant teenagers. The authors suggest strategies for implementation of a community volunteer mentoring program based on an existing program in an urban community health center. Detailed information for social workers in community agencies is provided with regard to community education, recruitment, training, and ongoing support and supervision of mentors; funding requirements; and program evaluation.