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.     

The relationship between negative mood and sexuality in heterosexual college woman and men

Negative mood states, such as depression and anxiety, are typically associated with decreased sexual interest and arousal. However, there is also some evidence that depressed or anxious mood may increase sexual interest or arousal in some individuals. In this study, 663 female college students (mean age = 18.9 years, SD = 1.21) answered questions regarding the effects of anxious and depressed mood on sexual interest and arousal and completed trait measures of sexual excitation and inhibition, anxiety, and depression. The majority of women reported decreased sexual interest and response when feeling depressed or anxious; a minority (about 10%) of women, however, reported increased sexual interest/response during anxious and depressed mood. This sample of women was compared to a sample of 399 college-aged men. In general, men were more likely than women to report increased sexual interest during negative mood states. Of the variables explored, propensity for sexual excitation was the strongest predictor of the relationship between negative mood and sexuality in women. Individual differences in the effects of negative mood may prove relevant to our understanding of a variety of topics, including risky and compulsive sexual behavior and sexual dysfunction.     

Counselor confounds in evaluations of vocational rehabilitation methods in substance dependency treatment

Evaluation research on vocational counseling in substance dependency treatment should distinguish between the effects of counselors and counseling methods on clients' employment outcomes. Three experimental designs permit investigation of possible confounds between these types of effects: (a) nested designs (each counselor delivers one counseling method so counselors are nested under methods), (b) crossed designs (each counselor delivers all counseling methods so counselors are crossed with methods), and (c) no-treatment control group designs (experimental group's counselors all deliver the same method). Each design is optimal for one stage of evaluation research. No-treatment control group designs are best for exploratory evaluations of new types of vocational counseling. Nested designs are best for outcome evaluations of different types of interventions. Crossed designs are best for (causal) process evaluations of counseling methods of demonstrated efficacy. Despite the importance of methodological issues and problems, vocational rehabilitation in substance dependency treatment has a greater need for stronger interventions than better evaluation designs.     

Comparison of heart-rate and blood-pressure increases during isokinetic eccentric versus isometric exercise in older adults

The authors compared heart-rate and blood-pressure responses to typical isometric (ISO) and isokinetic (90 degrees /s) eccentric (ECC) resistance-training protocols in older adults. Twenty healthy older adults (74 +/- 5 years old) performed randomly ordered ISO and isokinetic ECC exercise (3 sets of 10 repetitions) at a target intensity of 100 % of their peak ISO torque value. Heart rate and systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures were recorded continuously, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) and rate-pressure product (RPP) were calculated. ECC peak torque (139 +/- 33 N. m) was significantly greater than ISO peak torque (115 +/- 26 N. m; p <.001). All variables increased significantly (p <.001) during both ISO and ECC exercise. Changes in SBP, DBP, MAP, and RPP were significantly greater during ISO exercise than during ECC exercise (p <.001). Clinically, an isokinetic ECC exercise program enables older adults to work at the same torque output with less cardiovascular stress than ISO exercise.     

Virtue Ethics and Social Work: Being Lucky, Realistic, and not Doing ones Duty

Correspondence to Graham McBeath, Department of Sociology and Politics, University College, Northampton, Northants. NN2 7AL, UK. E-mail: graham{at}spooner.demon.co.uk; Stephen Webb, Centre for Social Policy and Social Work, University of Sussex, Falmer, Nr Brighton, Sussex, UK. E-mail: s.a.webb{at}sussex.ac.uk Summary This article argues that in a complex socio-political world,social work ethics needs to re-cast the moral identity of thesocial worker in terms of virtue ethics. We review virtue theory'sAristotelian foundations and criticisms of Kantian and utilitariantheory and show how they apply to social work. Subsequentlywe offer an account of a virtue-based social work that questionsthe validity of several models of practice currently fashionable.Virtue theory emphasizes the priority of the individual moralagent who has acquired virtues commensurate with the pursuitof a revisable conception of the good life—the well-beingof all in a defined community. The virtues are the acquiredinner qualities of humans—character—the possessionof which, if applied in due measure, will typically contributeto the realization of the good life or ‘eudaimonia’.The role of the virtuous social worker is shown to be one thatnecessitates appropriate application of intellectual and practicalvirtues such as justice, reflection, perception, judgement,bravery, prudence, liberality and temperance. This ‘self-flourishing’worker, in bringing together the capacity for theoretical andpractical action makes possible a hermeneutic or interpretivepraxis best appraised in dialogue with fellow-practitionersand clients. With a social work remit increasingly routinizedby accountability, quality control and risk management thereis an emphasis on regulation and duties. This has produced aculture of following approved or typical processes resultingin defensive forms of social work wholly uncongenial to thedevelopment of human qualities likely to promote social workers'engagement in critique and revision of what counts as best practice.In sum, our core proposition is that social work practice andeducation, to fit an unpredictable, non-linear world, shoulddevelop means by which professionals nurture the virtues. Thiswould reflexively enhance social work itself.     

Five-Hundred Life-Saving Interventions and Their Cost-Effectiveness

We gathered information on the cost-effectiveness of life-saving interventions in the United States from publicly available economic analyses. "Life-saving interventions" were defined as any behavioral and/or technological strategy that reduces the probability of premature death among a specified target population. We defined cost-effectiveness as the net resource costs of an intervention per year of life saved. To improve the comparability of cost-effectiveness ratios arrived at with diverse methods, we established fixed definitional goals and revised published estimates, when necessary and feasible, to meet these goals. The 587 interventions identified ranged from those that save more resources than they cost, to those costing more than 10 billion dollars per year of life saved. Overall, the median intervention costs $42,000 per life-year saved. The median medical intervention costs $19,000/life-year; injury reduction $48,000/life-year; and toxin control $2,800,000/life-year. Cost/life-year ratios and bibliographic references for more than 500 life-saving interventions are provided.     

A Simulated Annealing Approach to Communication Network Design

This paper explores the use of the meta-heuristic search algorithm Simulated Annealing for solving a minimum cost network synthesis problem. This problem is a common one in the design of telecommunication networks. The formulation we use models a number of practical problems with hop-limit, degree and capacity constraints. Emphasis is placed on a new approach that uses a knapsack polytope to select amongst a number of pre-computed traffic routes in order to synthesise the network. The advantage of this approach is that a subset of the best routes can be used instead of the whole set, thereby making the process of designing large networks practicable. Using simulated annealing, we solve moderately large networks (up to 30 nodes) efficiently.