To disclose or not to disclose: Political conflicts in the countertransference

Self‐disclosure is a frequent topic in the relational psychotherapy literature. However, there are few psychoanalytic writings or empirical studies that concern self‐disclosure in the context of cross‐cultural treatment; specifically treatment between Israeli therapists and Palestinian clients. This particular subject broadens the investigation of cross‐cultural treatment beyond race and color into the domain of religious and political differences between client and clinician. An Israeli‐American therapist's counter‐transference reflections around self‐disclosure and its impact on her Palestinian client will be the subject of investigation in the following paper.

Self‐disclosure has been increasingly examined in the relational literature over the past ten years in the context of the therapist's subjectivity within the therapeutic encounter (Aron, 1991; Renik, 1995). Few psychoanalytic writings, however, have focused on self‐disclosure as embedded within race and culture, and fewer still address the impact of religious and political differences between client and therapist, differences that, in the case of a Palestinian client and an Israeli therapist, reflect larger social and political conflicts. The transference‐countertransference dynamics around self‐disclosure and the way these shape the therapeutic encounter between a Palestinian client and an Israeli therapist will be the subject of investigation in this paper.     

When the Floods of Compassion Are not Enough: A Nation's and a City's Response to the Evacuees of Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina exposed serious deficiencies in the social support safety net at the federal, state, and local level. This article explores the impacts of the disrupted safety net through participant observation and interviews with service providers and evacuees resettled in one southern city. Their stories illustrate how vulnerable low‐income groups struggle to cope with disaster within the context of inadequate larger support systems and the legacy of racism. The data also illustrate the limits of the local resources and response, given the years of retrenchment and underfunding and increasing dependence on nongovernmental sources of support. The authors explore some of the implications of this trend for evacuees' long‐term recovery and social work intervention.     

Disaster Relief Within a Collectivistic Context

Abstract

Until recently, most research on catastrophic events has focused on human outcomes with limited exploration of related adaptational processes. The little knowledge we have is based upon events occurring in the western world, despite the higher frequency of disasters in the nonwestern world. This study examines the cultural context of coping among survivors of the 2004 tsunami in Tamil Nadu, India. A non-probability, purposive sample of ten emergency responders, who represented a broad range of professions and were directly involved with relief efforts along the coast of South India, were interviewed individually one year after the tsunami. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview format with open-ended questions. Consistent with the collectivistic culture in India, content analysis was conducted using the Listening Guide methodology. Interpretive analysis revealed five common ways of coping: (1) returning to routine, (2) rebuilding family structures, (3) communal sharing of resources, (4) emotional expression of grief and loss to a supportive listener, and (5) finding benefits from the disaster experience. While these coping efforts may generally appear to be universal among people experiencing a natural disaster, findings reveal key aspects of the collectivistic cultural context of southern India. Discussion of the findings presents a compelling case for in-depth training of disaster responders in cross-cultural practice in order to effectively address the needs of survivors of mass level trauma.     

A Qualitative Perspective of Family Resources Among Low Income,African American Grandmother–Caregivers

ABSTRACT

This ethnographic study describes a group of 7 low-income, African American, grandmother–caregivers' perceptions of family resources. An ethnographic design, enhanced by a genogram, captured those who were available and unavailable to provide support to the grandmother. The analysis used a constant comparative method to thematically capture grandmothers' perceptions of family support resources as absent, unavailable, dependent, and reliable support, and the circumstances that led to that status. The findings reveal that many African American grandmothers are rearing children with little family support, owing mainly to the devastation of negative social and economic conditions. The results suggest areas for improvement in social work assessment and intervention.     

Grandparent and Kinship Foster Care: Implications of Licensing and Payment Policies

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine the different licensing and payment policies in the United States for kinship foster care and assess the potential impact of licensing policies on the likelihood that grandparents or other kin will become licensed as formal kinship foster care providers. With this information, discussion is presented that outlines possible barriers to formalized foster kinship care placement and identifies the need for changes in public policy that could lead to increased program access for kinship foster caregivers.     

Caregiver's Spirituality and Its Influence on Maintaining the Elderly and Disabled in a Home Environment

ABSTRACT

This study examined the role that faith-based organizations play for caregivers in maintaining the elderly and disabled in their homes. The study explored if persons who use religious beliefs and practices cope with caregiver stress better than those who do not use religious beliefs and practices. The study also explored the role of religious coping as a factor affecting decisions to institutionalize, and the role that faith-based practices and organizations play in helping caregivers maintain the elderly and disabled in their homes.     

Hardiness,Successful Aging,and HIV: Implications for Social Work

ABSTRACT

With dramatic developments in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, life expectancy is increasing, resulting in more middle-aged and older adults living with this disease. Little is known about the problems, and especially the strengths, of those living and aging with HIV. Hardiness is used in the gerontological literature to describe and explain how people age successfully, despite traumatic life events and chronic diseases. Similarly, the concept of hardiness may be used to guide clinicians, researchers, and clients on how to age successfully with HIV. This article provides a review of hardiness in aging and HIV, and emphasizes its importance in facilitating successful aging with this disease. Conceptual and methodological concerns in studying hardiness and successful aging are addressed. Potential interventions and clinical implications for social work are posited for augmenting qualities of hardiness in people aging with HIV.     

Approximation Algorithms for Bounded Facility Location Problems

The bounded k-median problem is to select in an undirected graph G = (V,E) a set S of k vertices such that the distance from any vertex v V to S is at most a given bound d and the average distance from vertices V\S to S is minimized. We present randomized algorithms for several versions of this problem and we prove some inapproximability results. We also study the bounded version of the uncapacitated facility location problem and present extensions of known deterministic algorithms for the unbounded version.