Gendered Cultures and Performance Appraisal: The Experience of Women Academics

This paper examines women academics’ experiences of appraisal within one English university. Adopting the Foucauldian concepts of discourse and disciplinary power, the paper illustrates how appraisal functions as a disciplinary technology within the organization. Semi-structured interviews, carried out on women academics, reveal how the power relations operating in appraisal work to ‘normalize’ the academic role as a highly competitive, productive unit focused on identifiable, quantitative outputs. The case illustrates the difficulties which women face in trying to put forward alternative discourses which accommodate domestic commitments or different career structures. The research concludes that women academics have only gained limited visibility and voice in the gendered academy through opting in to the new competitive and highly gendered macho culture. The possibilities for women in offering alternative discourses have not materialized, emphasizing the difficultues in changing gendered cultures and challenging the ubiquity of male power.     

Revisiting Family of Origin in the Training of Family Therapists

Family of Origin exploration has had a controversial history in family therapy training. This article describes a process that aims to integrate family of origin work with skills development Co‐developed by a training group and their trainer, it builds on the existing approach at the Bouverie Centre in Melbourne. Family of origin work is clearly and practically linked with the enhancement of clinical skills, as argued for in the literature. Informed consent trust and safety are taken seriously, and negotiated within the training group. Trainee and trainer stories are included and the authors discuss the learning that resulted from asking trainees to present their family of origin to the group, including the unpredictable personal ramifications that inevitably occur in such processes.     

Conceptual model and map of financial exploitation of older adults

This article describes the processes and outcomes of three-dimensional concept mapping to conceptualize financial exploitation of older adults. Statements were generated from a literature review and by local and national panels consisting of 16 experts in the field of financial exploitation. These statements were sorted and rated using Concept Systems software, which grouped the statements into clusters and depicted them as a map. Statements were grouped into six clusters, and ranked by the experts as follows in descending severity: (a) theft and scams, (b) financial victimization, (c) financial entitlement, (d) coercion, (e) signs of possible financial exploitation, and (f) money management difficulties. The hierarchical model can be used to identify elder financial exploitation and differentiate it from related but distinct areas of victimization. The severity hierarchy may be used to develop measures that will enable more precise screening for triage of clients into appropriate interventions.     

Supporting Children’s Social and Emotional Well‐being: Does ‘Having a Say’ Matter?

This article argues the importance of ensuring initiatives aimed at improving children’s social and emotional well‐being are based on sound participatory principles. The discussion posits links between the recognition of children, dialogic approaches to participation, changing conceptualisations of children and childhood, and children’s well‐being. It explores these links in light of one particular initiative, Seasons for Growth ( Graham, 1996, 2002 , Seasons for Growth; Loss and Grief Education Program. MacKillop Foundation), an education programme built around emerging evidence that giving children a voice assists them to adapt to family change. The paper concludes with insights into what is involved when we locate notions of ‘having a say’ as a key element in promoting children’s well‐being.© 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation 2010 National Children’s Bureau and Blackwell Publishing Limited.     

Parity and the expected consequences of childbearing

In this study 163 young married women with 0, 1, or 2 children described the advantages and disadvantages of having a (another) child in the next three years and the expectations of significant others regarding their childbearing behavior. Childless women were more likely than women at first and second parity to mention self-fulfillment, pleasing parents, strengthening their marriage, less time and freedom, interference with career and education, being emotionally unprepared, and creating friction in their marriage. Women with one child were most likely to mention companionship and achieving family size goals. For women with two children gender preference and less time for present children were particularly salient consequences. Women with one child report experiencing the strongest pronatalist normative pressures but the perceived preferences of significant others were most closely related to own childbearing plans for childless women. The results are discussed in terms of a parity specific approach to the study of motivations for parenthood.The research reported here was supported by Grant HD 10391-01, Center for Population Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Robyn Boyer is now an independent research consultant in Sacramento, California. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Thomas J. Crawford, Program in Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, California, 92717.     

Remembering and forgetting childhood sexual abuse

Twelve white middle-class women who had been severely sexually abused as children by a family member were asked to provide a narrative of their abuse and discuss their subsequent remembering and forgetting of these experiences. Most claimed they had undergone periods during which they had not recalled their abuse, but also claimed that they had never forgotten their experiences at another point during the interview. Nine of the women had actively tried to forget the abusive experiences, although 8 still experienced recurrent and often relentless intrusive memories. Our findings suggest that women with continuous memories may have longer and more coherent narratives than women without continuous memories. Implications of these findings for understanding the phenomenology of memory experiences and the concept of "recovered" memories of childhood sexual abuse are discussed.     

Normalizing effective conflict management through academic curriculum integration: the example of workable peace

An innovative program being implemented in U.S. school systems teaches youth to integrate the skills of conflict management beyond academics to their social and civic lives.     

Nature & prevalence of stalking among New Zealand mental health clinicians

Stalking involves recurrent and persistent unwanted communication or contact that generates fear for safety in the victims. This pilot study evaluated the nature and prevalence of stalking among New Zealand nurses and physicians working in mental health services. An anonymous questionnaire asking respondents to describe their experiences with 12 stalking behaviors was distributed to 895 clinicians. Results indicated that regardless of discipline, women were more likely than men to have experienced one or more stalking behaviors, including receiving unwanted telephone calls, letters, and approaches; receiving personal threats: and being followed, spied on, or subject to surveillance. Women also reported higher levels of fearfulness as a consequence of stalking behaviors. Nearly half of the stalkers were clients; the remaining were former partners, colleagues, or acquaintances. In client-related cases, the majority of respondents told their colleagues and supervisors first, and the majority found them to be the most helpful resource. The results of this pilot study indicate a need for further research focused on the stalking of mental health clinicians in New Zealand and for development of workplace policies for adequate response to the stalking of mental health clinicians.