Health Professionals' Responses to Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse History: Female Child Sexual Abuse Survivors' Experiences

This study reports on a postal questionnaire, conducted in 2004, with female survivors of historic child sexual abuse. The questionnaire explored their experiences of health professionals' responsiveness to disclosure of child sexual abuse history. Of 61 participants, aged between 22 and 65, 69% had disclosed to health professionals. Those who had not disclosed reported that they would have liked to but were not asked about child sexual abuse. Thirty-five percent of participants suggested routine questioning about child sexual abuse. Most participants related a fear of common medical examination procedures to their experience of child sexual abuse, and 64% said this stopped them from attending regular health checks. The current study suggests the development of guidelines for dealing with possible child sexual abuse survivors would be useful for health professionals.     

Understanding the antecedents of aggressive behavior in Persian Gulf War veterans within individual,interpersonal, and community contexts

ABSTRACT

The present study applies the social-ecological framework to examine multiple level correlates of aggressive behavior of veterans of the first Gulf War in 1991. Data were collected from the VA‘s Persian Gulf Family Support Programs (PGFSP), and the sample includes 1,519 veterans who participated in the PGFSP. At the individual level, the study finds that younger and female veterans and those with higher self-esteem were less likely to report displaying aggressive behavior. At the interpersonal level, veterans who displayed misconduct in the home are more likely to display aggressive behavior. At the community level, veterans who were in the Air Force was less likely, while those in the Marines were more likely to be aggressive. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Trends in Female Violence, 1960–1977

Abstract

This paper examines the issue of whether levels of female violent crime are rising. Two differing viewpoints, both using the Uniform Crime Reports as their principal data source, are compared. Both viewpoints suffer because of a failure to specify the major questions on female violent crime and because of inappropriate usage of UCR arrest statistics. The central questions about female violent crime are clarified, and arrest rates are computed to determine whether there has been any change in levels of female violent crime since 1960. The effects of the women's movement on female violent crime are also examined. The conclusion is that female levels of violence are rising, but male levels are increasing at an equal pace. The pattern of the data suggests that the upward trend in female violence, which now appears to be leveling off, is not due to the women's movement or to the changing status of women in the United States. Instead it appears that common social forces are operating to affect levels of violence for both sexes.     

Skills Laboratories and the New Social Work Degree: One Small Step Towards Best Practice? Service Users' and Carers' Perspectives

The new social work degree has a strong emphasis upon the development of communication skills and upon the requirement for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to assess students' safety and readiness to practise. The GSCC grants to HEIs to develop skills labs to help with this skills development have been widely welcomed, but not enough work has been done fully to evaluate the effectiveness of such skills labs. There has been some previous evidence to suggest that such projects may even be counter‐productive. This article explores the way in which Staffordshire University has called upon its service user/carer group and a team of practice assessors to work with the academic tutor to devise and carry out a programme of skills training in a skills lab environment for first year students on the new degree. An initial evaluation of this project shows encouraging results for this ‘work in progress’, even though it is still early days.     

Go to the Hospital or Stay at Home? A Qualitative Study of Expected Hospital Decision Making Among Older African Americans With Advanced Heart Failure

To address the need for more information concerning hospital decision making, we conducted in-depth interviews among African Americans with heart failure and their family caregivers (n?=?11 dyads). Using a case scenario, we asked participants about their anticipated hospitalization decisions. Most patients indicated that they would seek care to avoid further deterioration or death from their worsening condition. Many family caregivers anticipated having an active influence on hospitalization decisions. Findings suggest that social workers should encourage the development of adequate home-based services, recognize diverse communication styles, and use this information to facilitate medical decision making by these patients and their caregivers.     

The experience of disabled and non-disabled students on professional practice placements in the United Kingdom

There are limited comparisons between the experience of disabled students in higher education and their non-disabled peers, particularly on practice placements. This article presents the results of such a comparison, across six professional disciplines in one UK university. The results revealed that both disabled and non-disabled students reported positive placement experiences and also similar difficulties. Such difficulties were exacerbated for some disabled students, however, including as a consequence of the attitudes of others to disability. Recommendations for practice are identified that aim to enhance the placement experience of all students and to remove barriers to access.     

Advocacy and surveillance: primary schools teachers’ relationships with asylum-seeking mothers in Ireland

The article analyses the findings of a small-scale qualitative study in Ireland that examines interactions between asylum-seeking mothers and primary school teachers, and highlights the significance of teachers’ understandings of asylum in shaping home-school communications. Mothers and children in this study were living in Direct Provision, collective accommodation for asylum seekers in Ireland. The research identifies a number of concerns including: poor communication between the school and mothers, only English being used as a medium of communication with the mothers, and mothers being directly and indirectly excluded from Parent Associations. Interactions of teachers with asylum-seeker mothers demonstrated a lack of recognition that their situation is different from other migrants/newcomers and is particularly challenging because of the because of living in Direct Provision and under the threat of deportation. The research shows that primary schools are drawn into ambiguous relationships with asylum-seeking mothers in their attempts at advocacy and surveillance, as they are expected to facilitate integration, while at the same time dealing with the uncertainty facing asylum-seeking parents and children.     

Daily links between school problems and youth perceptions of interactions with parents: A diary study of school‐to‐home spillover

This study examined how academic and peer problems at school are linked to family interactions at home on the same day, using eight consecutive weeks of daily diary data collected from early adolescents (60% female; M age = 11.28, SD = 1.50), mothers and fathers in 47 families. On days when children reported more academic problems at school, they, but not their parents, reported less warmth and more conflict with mothers, and more conflict and less time spent around fathers. These effects were partially explained by same‐day child reports of higher negative mood. Peer problems were less consistently associated with parent‐child interactions over and above the effects of academic problems that day. A one‐time measure of parent‐child relationship quality moderated several daily associations, such that the same‐day link between school problems and child‐report of family interactions was stronger among children who were closer to their parents.     

Evaluation of family planning program performance: A critical review

Family Planning Program Evaluation is not a well-developed art, much less an exact science. The evaluation of the performance of such programs has received a good deal of attention but the methodologies are still controversial and the results inconclusive. This is due to a wide variety of constraints, not all of which are technical, and most of which are not unique to family planning. The prospects for improvement of FPPE depend, to a great extent, on overcoming these constraints.