Why Trust Matters: How Confidence in Leaders Transforms What Adolescents Gain From Youth Programs

Youth's trust in program leaders is considered a key to the positive impact of youth programs. We sought to understand how trust influences youth's program experiences from their perspective. We interviewed 108 ethnically diverse youth (ages 12–19) participating in 13 arts, leadership, and technology programs. Analysis of these accounts suggested five ways in which youth's trust in leaders amplified program benefits. Trust increased youth's (1) confidence in leaders' guidance in program activities, (2) motivation in the program, (3) use of leaders for mentoring, (4) use of leaders as a model of a well‐functioning relationship, and (5) experience of program cohesiveness. Across benefits, trust allowed youth to draw on leaders' expertise, opened them to new experiences, and helped increase youth's agency.     

“I Only Want to Know What You Know”: The Use of Orienting Messages During Forensic Interviews and Their Effects on Child Behavior

The purpose of this research was to evaluate orienting messages within the CornerHouse Forensic Interview Protocol in two formats: provided both at the outset and as needed throughout the interview compared to previous practice in which orienting messages were provided only as the opportunity arose. Through the content analysis of 120 videotaped forensic interviews and corresponding case files in which children were interviewed for sexual abuse allegations, results suggest that the use of orienting messages both at the beginning and as needed lead to significantly more autonomous responses from children, that use of more orienting messages was significantly related to more autonomous responses from children, and that the specific orienting messages of “can’t/won’t say” and “ask me a question” significantly predict more autonomous responses among children. Implications for practice include the use of orienting messages as a way to provide a respectful and safe experience for children participating in forensic interviews.     

Treatment Experiences of Child Sexual Offenders in Norway: A Qualitative Study

This article is an attempt at gaining a better understanding of treatment of adults who have committed sexual offenses against children. In this study we aimed to explore what people who have committed sexual offenses against children find useful in therapy. The study was approached using qualitative methodology, and information was collected through semistructured interviews. Four male child sexual offenders were recruited from the Institute of Clinical Sexology and Therapy in Oslo, Norway. The informants were interviewed with a focus on what factors they found useful in therapy. Through an explorative, thematic analysis, five main themes were found. These themes include: “Why I started going to therapy,” “Why did I do it?” “Therapy as life,” “Previous and current relationships with others,” and “I lived in a fantasy world where everything was okay.” Based on this study and other earlier studies and theories it appears that the previously mentioned themes recur as important contributory factors in the treatment of child sexual offenders.     

Comparison of the efficiency of combined extracorporeal shock-wave therapy and triple therapy versus triple therapy itself in Category III B chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS)

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of combining extracorporeal shock-wave therapy (ESWT) and triple therapy versus triple therapy alone, when treating Category III B chronic prostatitis (CPPS). Study included 60 patients, classified as having CPPS, divided into two groups: the first group numbered 30 patients, who were treated with a combination of an α-blocker, an anti-inflammatory agent and a muscle relaxant; the second group consisted of 30 patients who received a combination of ESWT and the fore-mentioned triple therapy. Patients were treated for 12 weeks. The primary criterion of a response to therapy was scoring 2 or less on the NIH-CPSI quality of life item, while the secondary criterion of a response to therapy was a greater than a 50% reduction in NIH-CPSI pain score. Patients who received triple therapy did not show a significant change neither in post void residual urine (PVR) nor in maximum flow rate (Q_MAX), while the second group of patients exhibited significant improvement in both PVR and Q_MAX values. Both groups of patients showed statistically significant improvement in all items of the NIH-CPSI score after the treatment, with significantly better results in the second group.     

Psychologists’ roles in ending homelessness

Homelessness in the U.S. remains a pernicious social problem despite national coordinated efforts to end it. Psychologists are well positioned to address homelessness through direct service, advocacy, research, and policy work. Results of a survey of psychologist members (n?=?197) and student members (n?=?209) of the American Psychological Association highlighted activities they engaged in related to helping people who experience housing instability and showed psychologists are more compassionate toward those who experience homelessness than is the general public. Respondents suggested a number of factors that would encourage their greater involvement with homelessness issues including receiving more focused training, increased funding for services, and simply being asked by someone to help. Given the continued problem of homelessness, psychologists can play an important role in supporting those who are in this situation. Suggestions for increasing training and engagement of psychologists are discussed.     

Examining the efficacy of the GameSense gambling prevention programme among university undergraduate students

This article describes a study assessing the effectiveness of a gambling prevention programme, GameSense, in modifying gambling cognitions and intentions among university undergraduate students of diverse ethnicities (N = 122). Although GameSense is a widely used intervention, the effectiveness in modifying gambling cognitions and behaviours has not yet been demonstrated. In the present study, randomly assigned treatment participants completed the programme and then played a gambling game in which they could win tokens for a desired prize. Control participants played the game but did not receive the prevention programme. At the end of the game, all participants completed measures assessing gambling cognitions, immediate and future gambling intentions, and their desire to continue gambling. Programme participants showed increased knowledge about gambling, increased resistance to gambling fallacies, and fewer immediate and future intentions to continue gambling regardless of how much they won or lost, compared to the no-treatment control group. The present results indicate that the GameSense programme is effective in altering cognitions about gambling and immediate and future intentions to continue gambling. Results are discussed in terms of the modification of gambling cognitions following completion of the intervention programme and the changes in future gambling behaviour as a consequence of those changed cognitions.     

Diaspora and mapping methodologies: tracing transnational digital connections with ‘mattering maps’

There is a methodological tendency in work on diaspora and digital media for quantitative investigations to approach diaspora in static ways that contrast with theories of diaspora as a dynamic cultural formation. On the other hand, qualitative, ethnographic work tends not to engage with digital methods and quantitative data‐driven investigation. In this article, we sketch this methodological and disciplinary disconnect and address it by proposing a model for understanding digitally mediated formations of diaspora that combines digital methods techniques with a sensitivity to ethical and theoretical discussions of migration and diaspora. Drawing on interpretive epistemologies and feminist research ethics, we present a case study analysis of a locally informed, Turkish–Dutch issue. We argue for a method that produces ‘mattering maps’. This involves tracking and visualizing digital traces of an issue across web platforms (Google Search results, Facebook pages, and Instagram posts) and integrating this with an analysis of the face‐to‐face interview responses of a key issue actor.     

The adoption of women’s legislative caucuses worldwide

Recent decades have witnessed the rise, across a wide range of countries, of political institutions designed to promote gender equality and women’s political representation. Existing studies have shown how international diffusion processes have contributed to the adoption of two kinds of such institutions – gender mainstreaming and gender quotas. Mounting evidence suggests that institutional reforms within legislatures constitute the latest wave of gendered institutional reform. This article identifies and explains trends in the adoption of one kind of gender-focused parliamentary institution – women’s legislative caucuses (WLCs). We use a discrete time duration model to assess the effect of several factors on WLC establishment. While there is theoretical room to expect diffusion, structural and institutional variables to affect the likelihood of caucus adoption, we find the strongest empirical support for diffusion and institutional factors. A parliament’s likelihood of adopting a WLC rises when sub-regional peers have created WLCs, when women’s international non-governmental organizations are active in the country and when the country has implemented a gender quota. Understanding the factors that affect the adoption of gender-focused parliamentary institutions is critically important, we argue, since such bodies provide space to confront masculinized institutionalized rules and norms.     

A Screening,Brief Intervention,and Referral to Treatment Collaborative: Impact for Social Work Students

Screening brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) is a clinical intervention empirically linked to reductions in substance usage. However, less is known on how to effectively train social work students on SBIRT. This study examines the impact of a SBIRT training administered to BSW and MSW students (N=228) at the University of Oklahoma. Based on exposure to the training, our evaluation measured changes on students’ objective knowledge of how to perform SBIRT and in attitudes toward practicing with substance users. Results indicated exposure to the training was associated with robust gains across variables and across classes. Such results suggest that the proffered SBIRT training is an effective means to educate social work students on substance abuse practice.