Systemic alliance in individual therapy: factor analysis of the ITAS-SF and the relationship with therapy outcomes and termination status

Clients providing systematic feedback to therapists via self-report measures of psychological distress and working alliance have been shown to increase therapy outcomes. However, there are few systemic-based measures that are feasible for therapists to use. Recently, Pinsof et al. (Family Process, 2008, 47, 281) developed a brief systemic alliance measure (ITAS-SF) for individual therapy. The current study tested the factor structure of this measure and examined whether the subscales related to clients' therapy outcomes and termination status (N = 570). The results demonstrated supported a 3-factor model for the ITAS-SF (as compared to the seven factors proposed by Pinsof et al.). In the first factor, content combined the goals for therapy, the tasks or methods to reach those goals and bond between the client and therapist. The second factor reflected how clients perceive the relationship with the therapist (i.e., interpersonal dimension-self/therapist), and the third factor reflected how clients perceive the alliance between their social network and the therapist (i.e., interpersonal dimension others/therapist). The two interpersonal factors were related to therapy outcome and termination status.     

Dysfunctional Career Thoughts and Perceived Quality of Parental Relationships in Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is known to cause significant difficulties in interpersonal relationships. Empirical research in career development has demonstrated that close, supportive relationships are associated with positive vocational behaviors (Kenny et al., 2018). We examined dysfunctional career thoughts and perceived quality of parental relationships in high school students with ADHD. One hundred two adolescents (76 boys, 26 girls) with ADHD responded to measures of career thoughts and interpersonal relationship quality. Preliminary exploratory analysis, using multiple linear regression, showed that male participants' dysfunctional career thoughts were statistically significantly related to their relationships with their mothers. For female participants, relationships with fathers represented an area for further exploration. Results suggest that career professionals can enhance positive outcomes of decision-making and problem-solving issues in adolescence with additional focus on relational interventions. Future research should incorporate the influence of gender and race/ethnicity on crucial relationships and focus on paternal relationships using cognitive information processing–based interventions with this population.     

The Structure of Empathy in Social Work Practice

This article presents a detailed theoretical framework demonstrating how empathy is used in the practice of social work. This consists of affective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions of empathy and delineates six latent constructs that make up these dimensions. These constructs are (1) caring, (2) congruence, (3) interpersonal sensitivity, (4) perspective taking, (5) altruism, and (6) the therapeutic relationship. Evolutionary, sociological, and neuroscience theories are used to describe empathy's origins as a historically adaptive and interactional process, and social work theories emphasize empathy as an interpersonal helping strategy and organizing principle essential to the practice of social work.     

Social Work Practice Placements in Aotearoa New Zealand: Agency Managers Perspectives

Agency managers are one of the key stakeholders in social work education, particularly in respect of practice placements. Managers play several roles within the placement context, acting as gatekeepers, supporters, mentors, potential employers and sometimes assessors of students. This study sought the perspectives of the managers of 13 social service organisations in New Zealand on practice placements. The findings of the study show that managers have preferences for specific attributes in social work students, including flexibility, humility, confidence and resilience. Challenges with placements are associated with student personal, interpersonal and cognitive capabilities, organisational factors and the tertiary institution. The findings also illustrate that the main benefits and motivations for supporting students are for the professional development of staff, completion of agency work, recruitment and workforce development. The article concludes that it is time for a new focus on understanding and supporting the development and assessment of student personal and interpersonal capabilities as well as skill and knowledge competencies. Furthermore, since managers are directly engaged with social work practice and are ultimately deciding which graduates to employ, greater consideration should be given to how institutions and employers can work together to determine which personal and interpersonal capabilities are relevant and necessary for the workplace.     

A Study of Cognitive Complexity in the Education for Social Work Practice

This study investigates cognitive complexity in interpersonal discriminations as it relates to selected aspects of the decision-making process in social work practice. Differences in data transmission and selection of interventive activities between graduate social work students who scored high on Carr's Interpersonal Discrimination Test were compared with those who scored low. As predicted, subjects who scored high on interpersonal discrimination transmitted more information about clients dissimilar to themselves and specified a greater number of interventive alternatives than did those who scored low. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of selection for the profession and in the identification and ordering of learning experiences in the curriculum     

Relational Troubles and Semiofficial Suspicion: Educators and the Medicalization of “Unruly” Children

Using an interview‐based analysis of the accounts of interactions between educators, parents, and clinicians, this study explores educators' roles in interpreting childhood troubles as the medical phenomenon of attention deficit‐hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The analysis of interviews shows how children's “personal” troubles become understood as “relational” ones, prompting increasingly sophisticated social responses. I argue that the institution of education, operating in a clinical capacity but lacking the legitimate authority to assign ADHD diagnoses, plays a hybridized, semiofficial role in the medicalization process. This assertion informs a critique of the “informal/official” dichotomy found in the sociology of deviance lexicon, and furthers previous positions in the sociology of mental health that have implicated school representatives in the social construction of behavior disorders.     

Toward a social psychology of survey methodology: An application of the approach and directions for the future

Survey methodology is a relatively new academic discipline focused on understanding sources of survey errors. As an interdisciplinary field, survey methodology borrows theoretical approaches from other disciplines and applies them to understand how survey respondents answer questions. One field in particular, cognitive psychology, has played a central role in the development of survey methodology. The cognitive approach has focused researchers' attentions on the sources of error at each stage of the cognitive process respondents use to answer a survey question: comprehension of the question, recollection of relevant information, estimation and judgment, and reporting an answer. Although this focus on the cognitive response process has been positive and fruitful, potentially strong social and interactional influences on the response process have been underinvestigated and undertheorized. Thus, this essay argues for a revitalized research program in the sociological social psychology of survey methodology, given its rich body of theory and research. The current strengths of social psychological and interactional approaches are highlighted, focusing primarily on recent work using identity theory to understand social desirability biases. Finally, potentially fruitful future directions for research are proposed, matching sociological social psychological theories to the survey errors upon which they may shed light.     

Disordered gamblers with and without ADHD: the role of coping in elevated psychological distress

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is significantly more prevalent among disordered gamblers than in the general adult population. Despite this, it remains unclear whether co-occurring ADHD is associated with clinically significant differences that call for specialized assessments and treatment planning. The purpose of this article was to explore differences in psychological distress and coping strategies among individuals presenting to an outpatient gambling treatment centre with and without co-occurring adult ADHD. Participants (n = 99) were primarily female (69%) and Caucasian (86%) outpatient treatment-seeking disordered gamblers. At intake, individuals completed self-report measures of coping (Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations – Adult Form), psychological distress (Beck Depression Inventory II) and ADHD (Brown Attention-Deficit Disorder Scales – Adult Form). Results indicated that individuals with ADHD (n = 42) reported significantly more psychological distress and less adaptive coping strategies than those without co-occurring ADHD (n = 57). Mediation analyses showed that an ADHD diagnosis had an indirect effect on psychological distress via the mediator of maladaptive coping. Assessment and treatment should be tailored to address the variety of presentations of gambling disorder. Screening for ADHD at intake may be helpful in creating an individualized treatment plan for disordered gamblers.     

Is it possible to create a politically engaged,contextual psychology of disability?

Until recently disability studies has ignored questions regarding the psychological nature of oppression. Proponents of the social model have viewed such concerns as diversionary, diluting their emphasis on material and economic barriers to inclusion. This paper argues that the discipline’s role of reflecting and interrogating disablism will remain incomplete and lacking in transformative power without undertaking a psychological conceptualisation of disabled personhood. Some prior attempts at elaborating the social model to include the psychological realm have been presented; these are critiqued, and argued to lack truly psychological conceptualisation. Preliminary ideas regarding a proposed psychology of disablism are presented. The focus of this work will be the exploration of bi-directional links between disablist ideology and disabled subjectivity, operationalised through interpersonal and institutional processes of lifelong socialisation. Reflections towards development of the under-theorised notion of internalised oppression are presented. Conclusions are that a combination of critical psychoanalytic insights and the participatory methods of liberatory and feminist psychology hold promise in driving disability transformation.     

Fathering an ADHD child: an examination of paternal well-being and social support

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of having a child diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on the social and emotional well-being of fathers. While mothers have been carefully scrutinized in ADHD-related literature, fathers have been largely excluded from research designs developed to explore the effects of raising a child with ADHD. Prior research has been primarily based on small, clinically referred and homogenous samples, often without comparisons or controls. This research utilizes a nationally representative sample from the 2001 U.S. National Health Interview Survey to determine differences between fathers of children with ADHD and control fathers and to analyze how the ADHD status of the child, problematic behavior, use of medication, and paternal social support influences fathers’ sense of well-being. This research is also designed to determine whether there are child and family contexts in which the effect of ADHD status on paternal well-being is moderated. Contrary to previous findings about the emotional and social burden associated with raising an ADHD child, few differences between fathers were found.     

Changes in Higher Education

The social work profession has been too little concerned with policy, program, and practice issues related to human sexuality. Changing times and new knowledge require that the profession deal with this area more competently. Studies indicate that human sexuality is affected by biological, cultural, and psychological factors; that the female and male sex drives and physiological responses are similar; that the incidence of premarital and extramarital sexual relations are probably increasing along with more emphasis on the quality of the total interpersonal relationship; and that sexual behavior and values vary between socioeconomic groups.     

Snowball sampling: using social networks to research non‐heterosexual women

This paper explores snowball sampling, a recruitment method that employs research into participants' social networks to access specific populations. Beginning with the premise that research is ‘formed’, the paper offers one account of snowball sampling and using social networks to ‘make’ research. Snowball sampling is often used because the population under investigation is ‘hidden’ either due to low numbers of potential participants or the sensitivity of the topic, for example, research with women who do not fit within the hegemonic heterosexual norm. This paper considers how the recruitment technique of snowball sampling, which uses interpersonal relations and connections between people, both includes and excludes individuals. Following this, the paper contends that due to the use of social networks and interpersonal relations, snowball sampling (in)forms how individuals act and interact in focus groups, couple interviews and interviews. Consequently, snowball sampling not only results in the recruitment of particular samples, use of this technique produces participants' accounts of their lives. Doctoral research with (rather than on or for) 28 non‐heterosexual women is used to examine the inclusions and exclusions of snowball sampling and how interpersonal relations form research accounts.     

An Interactional Space of Permanent Observability: WeChat and Reinforcing the Power Hierarchy in Chinese Workplaces

Does digital media empower or disempower workers? In existing studies on how information and communication technologies influence work, researchers investigate work–life boundaries and how workers use digital media to obtain more control. This article focuses on how digital media influences daily interpersonal interactions in the workplace: how does social media use influence workplace hierarchies and power dynamics? Based on 56 in‐depth interviews with WeChat users in Chinese workplaces, I find that lower‐ranked individuals were compelled to constantly express loyalty and appreciation, and publicly submit to their superordinates by clicking “like” or commenting on their WeChat posts. They also had to provide immediate and polite responses to their superordinates in WeChat group chats after work hours or to non‐work‐related issues. The distinctive features of online interaction—lack of physical interaction spaces, recordability of past conversations, and n‐adic nature of online disclosures—created an environment where past encounters were omnipresent and accessible, and placed workers under permanent observability. This social interaction environment leaves little room for forms of resistance and, in response, employees retreat into cynical performances of submission. This study finds that, under certain circumstances, WeChat use actually intensifies workplace hierarchies and power dynamics, thereby sharpening social inequality, rather than eliminating it.     

“I Don't Have to be Afraid of You”: Rape Survivors' Emotion Management in Court

This analysis of 32 semi-structured interviews with rape survivors explores why and how emotions are managed during court events. I examine rape survivors' accounts to identify the factors that contribute to intense feelings in the courtroom, incentives/motivations survivors have to manage their feelings and expressions of specific emotions, survivors' individualized strategies for deflecting, suppressing, and cultivating emotion, and interpersonal strategies for achieving emotional control that involve others in the courtroom. This investigation shows that survivors are not passive victims and that emotions are a fundamental feature of interaction in courtrooms. This investigation builds on Mills and Kleinman's (1988) cognitive/emotional framework and other studies of interpersonal emotion management in and out of formal organizations.     

Copresence in Virtual Environments

Copresence, the sense of “being together” with others, is at the center of theories about social interaction. It is an intra‐individual sense that stems from and shapes the social context. Recent research on copresence in virtual environments (VEs), synthetic simulations of existing experiences (e.g., desktop computer environments, “virtual reality”), demonstrates the variability in which people experience copresence with others who are not sharing in the same time or space. At the same time, experimental researchers in sociology are using VEs as a methodological tool, yet remain unaware about the ramifications of varying levels of copresence for the social processes under investigation. The goal of this review is to introduce sociologists to the research on copresence, specifically highlighting findings and gaps important for those who use VEs in their research practice. An understanding of how copresence occurs in VEs can improve how well sociologists design experiments to advance theories about interpersonal behavior.     

Interpersonal relatedness and psychological functioning following traumatic brain injury: implications for marital and family therapists

Recovery from a mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a challenging process for injured persons and their families. Guided by attachment theory, we investigated whether relationship conflict, social support, or sense of belonging were associated with psychological functioning. Community-dwelling persons with TBI (N = 75) and their relatives/significant others (N = 74) were surveyed on relationship variables, functional status, and TBI symptom severity. Results from this cross-sectional study revealed that only sense of belonging was a significant predictor of postinjury psychological functioning, although interpersonal conflict approached significance. No relevant preinjury or injury-related variables impacted these relationships, except marital status. Our findings suggest that interventions targeting strengthening the injured persons' sense of belonging and lowering interpersonal conflict may benefit those living with TBI.     

Re-Framing and de-Pathologizing Behavior in Therapy for Children Diagnosed with Psychosocial Disorders

The increasing number of children diagnosed with psychosocial disorders reflects a trend toward pathologizing behavior that is unusual, challenging or extreme. Although these behaviors may match items on the symptom lists for various disorders, a therapist must first consider the origin and context of those behaviors for an individual child through a non-pathological lens. This paper proposes a framework for understanding the behavior of difficult children based on core issues rather than diagnostic symptoms: arousal/excitability, range of focus, perfectionism, intensity, interpersonal sensitivity, sensory sensitivity, cognitive/perceptual style, perception of time, reaction style, and affiliation/integrity. Each trait is examined from two perspectives: how it can lead to or be interpreted as a problem, and how a therapist can re-frame the trait and build on it to identify effective interventions. This approach affirms children’s strengths and upholds social work values.Barbara Probst, Adjunct Professor is affiliated with Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University, NY, USA.Address correspondence to Barbara Probst, MSW, LCSW, Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University, Neperan Road, Tarrytown, NY 10591, USA; e-mail: barbprobst@aol.com     

AN EVALUATION OF A COGNITIVE THEORY OF RESPONSE-ORDER EFFECTS IN SURVEY MEASUREMENT

Previous research has documented effects of the order in whichresponse choices are offered to respondents using closed-endedsurvey items, but no theory of the psychological sources ofthese effects has yet been proposed. This paper offers sucha theory drawn from a variety of psychological research. Usingdata from a split-ballot experiment in the 1984 General SocialSurvey involving a variant of Kohn's parental values measure,we test some predictions made by the theory about what kindof response order effect would be expected (a primacy effect)and among which respondents it should be strongest (those lowin cognitive sophistication). These predictions are confirmed.We also test the "form-resistant correlation" hypothesis. Althoughcorrelations between items are altered by changes m responseorder, the presence and nature of the latent value dimensionunderlying these responses is essentially unaffected.     

Collective Memory: The Two Cultures

What is collective about collective memory? Two different concepts of collective memory compete—one refers to the aggregation of socially framed individual memories and one refers to collective phenomena sui generis—though the difference is rarely articulated in the literature. This article theorizes the differences and relations between individualist and collectivist understandings of collective memory. The former are open to psychological considerations, including neurological and cognitive factors, but neglect technologies of memory other than the brain and the ways in which cognitive and even neurological patterns are constituted in part by genuinely social processes. The latter emphasize the social and cultural patternings of public and personal memory, but neglect the ways in which those processes are constituted in part by psychological dynamics. This article advocates, through the example of traumatic events, a strategy of multidimensional rapprochement between individualist and collectivist approaches.     

Characteristics of youth who sexually offend

Sexual abuse by juveniles is widely recognized as a significant problem. As communities have become more aware of juvenile sex offending they have responded with increasingly severe responses. This is despite recidivism data suggesting that a relatively small group of juveniles commit repeat sexual offenses after there has been an official response to their sexual offending. Research has shown that juveniles who commit sexual offenses are a heterogeneous mix, varying according to a wide range of variables. This article provides an overview of the characteristics of youths who have committed sex offenses. Factors that will be discussed include types of offending behaviors, family environment, histories of child maltreatment, social skills and interpersonal relationships, sexual knowledge and experiences, academic and cognitive functioning, and mental health.