Opening Space for Clients' Religious and Spiritual Values in Therapy: A Social Constructionist Perspective

SUMMARY

Although spirituality is foundational in many peoples' lives, this dimension is often excluded from therapeutic discussions. This article explores how a social constructionist frame may alleviate the tension created by traditional beliefs concerning spirituality in therapy and foster an open, trusting, climate in which spiritual topics can be discussed. Some of the implications for training therapists in the social constructionist perspective also are considered.     

Spiritual and Religious Communication: Intragroup Conflict among Southern Baptist Pastors

This ethnographic study examines pastoral intragroup conflict in a U.S. Southern Baptist church. In-depth interviewing and participant observation were employed. Specifically, we elicited, through formal interviews, direct statements from six practicing Southern Baptist pastors on the reasons for, prevalence, and results of such interpersonal or intragroup conflict in Baptist denominational leaderships. Findings from these efforts revealed the dynamics and corollaries of such conflict in Southern Baptist denomination in general. As the sources of such conflict are diverse, we argue that qualitatively analyzing and reporting on this subject are of value to communication scholars. Areas for future research are also addressed.     

Processes of Religious and Spiritual Influence in Adolescence: Introduction to a Special Section

This paper serves as the lead article introducing the special section of the Journal of Research on Adolescence focused on processes of religious and spiritual influence during adolescence. The purpose of the special section is to review prior theory and research on the processes by which religiosity and spirituality might influence youth outcomes, present original cutting‐edge theory and research on processes of religious and spiritual influence, and point to the most fruitful directions and methodological approaches for future work in the area. The special section is guided by eight research questions which push researchers to go beyond mere bivariate associations between religion/spirituality and youth outcomes to unpacking the processes of influence at work.     

Religious and Spiritual Dimensions of the Vietnamese Dementia Caregiving Experience

This paper focuses on the role of religion and spirituality in dementia caregiving among Vietnamese refugee families. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with nine Vietnamese caregivers of persons with dementia, then tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for emergent themes. Caregivers related their spirituality/religion to three aspects of caregiving: (1) their own suffering, (2) their motivations for providing care, and (3) their understanding of the nature of the illness. Key terms or idioms were used to articulate spiritual/religious dimensions of the caregivers' experience, which included sacrifice, compassion, karma, blessings, grace and peace of mind. In their narratives, the caregivers often combined multiple strands of different religions and/or spiritualities: Animism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Catholicism. Case studies are presented to illustrate the relationship between religion/spirituality and the domains of caregiving. These findings have relevance for psychotherapeutic interventions with ethnically diverse populations.     

Cultural Issues in Therapy: On the Fringe

This paper argues that issues of culture have occupied a fringe position in the thinking and practice of most Australian family therapists. Starting with a definition of culture as epistemology, it examines factors pertaining to government policy, demography and the experience of migration to argue the relevance of a cultural perspective in mainstream family therapy discourse. The paper then looks at two central consequences for family therapy and training — cultural oppression and maintaining the status quo — if a cultural perspective continues to be neglected. It then proposes ways that therapists can introduce a cultural perspective in their thinking and clinical work. The paper concludes with a case vignette which illustrates some of the ideas.     

Competencies for Addressing Gender and Power in Couple Therapy: A Socio Emotional Approach

Power imbalances between partners are intrinsic to relationship distress and intricately connected to emotional experience, couple communication processes, and socio cultural contexts such as gender. The ability to work with the power dynamics between partners is thus critical to the practice of couple therapy. However, few practical guidelines for dealing with this issue are available. The authors present seven clinical competencies regarding gender and power issues that they identified by examining their own work: (a) identify enactments of cultural discourse, (b) attune to underlying socio cultural emotion, (c) name underlying power processes, (d) facilitate relational safety, (e) foster mutual attunement, (f) create a model of equality, and (g) facilitate shared relationship responsibility. Each competency is illustrated through a case example. The competencies represent an over‐arching guide to practice that may be integrated with other clinical approaches and is particularly useful for training and supervision.     

Training Issues in Family Therapy*

Group versus individual supervision, the family therapy training model, videotape as a training method, and training paraprofessionals in a traditional academic setting are discussed from the authors' experience in conducting a family therapy training program. Editor.     

Processes of Religious and Spiritual Influence in Adolescence: A Systematic Review of 30 Years of Research

This is a systematic review of 30 years (1988‐2017) of empirical research on processes of religious/spiritual influence in adolescence. We followed a multi‐step process that resulted in 241 studies organized according to eight research questions and the corresponding methods and analyses typically used to address them. We coded these studies based on the dimensions of religiosity/spirituality and the youth outcomes involved. In some cases (quantitative studies of mediation and moderation, as well as qualitative studies) we also coded a third process variable. Results of the coding process revealed a number of interesting patterns. First, religiosity/spirituality is generally adaptive for adolescents, protecting them from negative outcomes (e.g., risk behaviors and mental illness), and promoting positive youth development and flourishing. Nevertheless, in some contexts, religiosity/spirituality may be at least partially maladaptive. Second, there is some evidence, from experimental and longitudinal studies, that relations between religiosity/spirituality and adaptive outcomes are causal. Third, there are numerous complex and dynamic processes by which religiosity/spirituality relate to youth outcomes. In terms of mediation studies, the most salient mediating processes seem to involve religiosity/spirituality dimensions, peers, values/attitudes, and social control/norms. Fourth, religiosity/spirituality is multidimensional, involving various interwoven facets at the individual and ecological levels. Private or personal aspects of religiosity/spirituality (e.g., religious/spiritual importance) tend to be more salient predictors of outcomes than public aspects of religiosity/spirituality (e.g., religious worship service attendance). The results of this systematic review point to promising directions for future research. First, more research is needed studying a broader range of dimensions of religiosity/spirituality, processes of influence, and outcomes. In terms of religiosity/spirituality, much of the prior work has focused on overall religiosity/spirituality, and religious/spiritual behaviors (e.g., worship service attendance). In terms of outcomes, the emphasis has been on religiosity/spirituality protecting against maladaptive outcomes (e.g., substance use). Second, more research is needed examining the role of culture, and using more rigorous methods (e.g., experience sampling, experimental design, longitudinal design, or mixed methods). This systematic review provides a detailed analysis of what is known regarding processes of religious/spiritual influence in the lives of adolescents, and hopefully better positions researchers to move the field forward.     

Working With Sexual Issues in Systemic Therapy

This study investigates ways in which systemic psychotherapists address sexual issues. Qualitative data were collected through semi‐structured group and individual interviews and analysed using discourse analysis. Particular attention was paid to participants' accounts of the ‘resources’ they draw on and of perceived ‘constraints’ when approaching the subject of sex. Main findings indicate that systemic training and practice would benefit from greater inclusion of sexual issues to overcome current deficiencies in the field.     

Addressing Career Success Issues of African Americans in the Workplace: An Undergraduate Business Program Intervention

Career success as measured by the objective, traditional criteria of the composite of high number of promotions, high annual compensation, and high organizational level in corporate America has eluded the majority of African Americans. This article describes an undergraduate business program career success intervention designed to assist African Americans in overcoming the organizational barriers present in corporate America that prevent their upward mobility, examines its effectiveness, and concludes with implications for research and practice in career development and counseling.     

Some Issues of Ethnic and Religious Identity among China's Islamic Peoples

The paper considers the growth of identity among Muslim ethnic groups in China, especially the Sinic people called the Hui. It asks whether this identity springs primarily from ethnicity or religion. While affirming that Islam has grown in influence in China since the 1980s, the paper argues in favour of seeing the balance more strongly in favour of ethnicity. The paper also discusses the impact of the September 11 Incidents on Muslims in China. Addressing the issue in terms of ethnicity and religion, it discusses the ramifications of the recognition of the Uygur-based East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as a terrorist organisation by the US and United Nations. It explores important issues relating to morality and human rights and concludes that the Chinese have cause to worry about separatist terrorism based on Islamic fundamentalism in southern Xinjiang, but criticises using recognition of ETIM as terrorist as a weapon against the general religion of Islam or against Uygur identity.     

Addressing Three Common Issues in Research on Youth Activities: An Integrative Approach for Operationalizing and Analyzing Involvement

Youth activity involvement has been operationalized and analyzed using a wide range of approaches. Researchers face the challenges of distinguishing between the effects of involvement versus noninvolvement and intensity of involvement in a particular activity, accounting simultaneously for cumulative effects of involvement, and addressing multiple unique effects of individual activities. In the present work, we review and illustrate the conceptual and empirical implications of these issues using data from a study of activity involvement and successful development in early adolescence (N=537; M age=11.56, 52% female). An integrative solution is introduced based on a latent composite variable (LCV) model ( Bollen & Lennox, 1991 ), which can be used to address all three issues simultaneously. Using this approach, we show that of the aggregate indices examined, breadth of involvement was uniquely and positively associated with multiple indices of successful development. Of the individual activities, a dichotomous score and residual frequency rating for involvement in out‐of‐school clubs were both uniquely associated with less positive development indicators. We concluded that an LCV approach provides a novel method for addressing several fundamental operational and analytic issues facing researchers who investigate youth activity involvement as a context for positive development.     

Individual Therapy for Couple Problems: Perspectives and Pitfalls

Despite the demonstrated efficacy of conjoint couple therapy, many clients seeking help for couple problems ultimately find themselves in individual therapy for these concerns. Individual therapy for couple problems (ITCP) may evolve from a partner's refusal of conjoint therapy or from the treatment format preferences of either the client or therapist. Having acknowledged the role of partner refusals, we offer some perspectives about the idiosyncratic personal factors and professional background factors that may lead therapists to provide ITCP and discuss the significant pitfalls in its practice. We emphasize five central areas of concern in the ongoing practice of ITCP: structural constraints on change; therapist side‐taking and the therapeutic alliance; inaccurate assessments based on individual client reports; therapeutic focus; and ethical issues relevant to both attending and nonattending partners. We conclude by urging that this very important but largely neglected topic be paid greater attention in psychotherapy research, training and continuing education.     

Social Work Education: Issues and Problems in Light of Recent Developments

This paper examines several aspects of the crisis in social work education, which has been aggravated by changes in American society and developments in higher education. Under “Crisis in Higher Education,” four developments are reviewed: the straining toward equality between student and teacher, the integration of subjective experience with formal content, the increased importance of continuing education, and the renewed attention needed for the place of values in teaching. The expanded definition of practice and the creation of new categories of professional personnel have triggered and exacerbated problems of quality, content, and goal. The paper concludes with suggestions for remedying the crisis.     

Part II: Multisystemic Therapy: Addressing Racial Disparity and Its Effectiveness With Families From Diverse Racial and Ethnic Backgrounds

Disparities in health and mental health care delivered to racial and ethnic minorities became a focus of national policy following reports of the Institute of Medicine (IOM, 2002 Institute of Medicine . ( 2002 ). Unequal treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care . Washington , DC : National Academies Press . [Google Scholar]) and the Surgeon General (USDHHS, 2001). The Surgeon General (USDHHS, 2001) reported racial and ethnic minorities experience disparities in availability and quality of mental health services compared to whites. Two challenges that intersect and compound each other are the disproportionately high numbers of African American children in child welfare with unmet mental health needs remaining in their homes or placed in relative's homes after a substantiation of child maltreatment (USDHHS, 2002 Institute of Medicine . ( 2002 ). Unequal treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care . Washington , DC : National Academies Press . [Google Scholar]) and the lack of culturally appropriate, effective home-based treatments available to them. This study compared outcomes for the youth who received Multisystemic Therapy (MST) controlling for the impact of race and ethnicity. The findings provide further evidence for child welfare practitioners to consider when working with children and families from diverse populations in decision-making.