Empirically Supported Mental Health Interventions with Groups: Using Research to Support Vulnerable Students in Schools

This paper discusses the use of empirically-supported mental health interventions to support vulnerable students in schools. It gives an overview of the empirically-supported intervention (ESI) approach and its goodness of fit with schools. Factors that influence whether schools adopt an ESI approach, such as national education reform policies and the availability of resources are explored. Two ESI’s that have been shown to improve the lives of vulnerable youth are presented within a school social work case example. The paper concludes with implications and suggestions for future research, including efforts to educate school staff on the importance of adopting an ESI approach, where to locate ESI’s, and further research on the cost-effectiveness of ESI’s.     

Female board directors' resilience against gender discrimination

Despite regulatory efforts to promote gender diversity on boards, women are still severely underrepresented in board leadership in the UK, beyond FTSE 100 companies. Evidence suggests that women, when poorly represented in the workplace, are more likely to suffer discrimination. In this study, we report the first-hand experiences of gender discrimination suffered by female directors and present the process of how they build resilience through developing coping strategies. Such resilience-building processes seem to vary with the length of board experience of female directors. At the outset of their board journey, they adopt avoidant coping strategies of denial and disengagement. However, with experience in boards, they gain the confidence to pursue the active coping strategy of seeking and extending support. This qualitative study is based on 42 elite interviews of board directors and is guided by the resilience theory, in the context of top FTSE boards. The article also discusses the contribution of the study to theory, praxis, and policy.     

‘Taking advantage’ or fleeing persecution? Opposing accounts of asylum seeking

This paper discursively analyses advocates' explanations of asylum seeking in the 2001 Australian parliamentary debates. Previous research has mapped the negative discourses used to present asylum seekers as economic migrants ‘taking advantage’ of soft laws. This paper analyses how advocates oppose this rhetoric, re‐categorising asylum seekers as potential refugees, and establishing Australia as legally and morally responsible for providing protection. This paper examines three influences shaping advocates' arguments: opposing anti‐asylum seeker rhetoric; theories of the formation of anti‐asylum seeker public opinion; and the parliamentary and wider liberal democratic intellectual political framework. It then analyses four extracts taken from political speeches in the parliament, focussing on the rhetorical strategies used to counter a pervasive ‘culture of disbelief’ against asylum seekers.     

Ethical questions in functional neuroimaging and cognitive enhancement

The new field of neuroethics has recently emerged following unprecedented developments in the neurosciences. Neuroimaging and cognitive enhancement in particular are demanding ethical debate. For example, neuroscientists are able to measure, with increasing accuracy, intimate personal biases and thoughts as they occur in the brain. “Smart drugs” are now available that can effectively and safely enhance mental functioning in both healthy and clinical populations. This article describes the scientific principles behind these technologies, and urges the development of ethical principles based on a clear understanding of them. Europe should take the United States’ lead in devoting resources specifically intended to examine neuroethical concerns within European healthcare and legal frameworks.

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Zusammenfassung Die zahlreichen Entwicklungen in den Neurowissenschaften haben kürzlich zur Entstehung des neuen Feldes der Neuroethik geführt. Vor allem die Möglichkeiten von Neuro-Bildgebung und kognitiver Leistungssteigerung machten eine ethische Debatte erforderlich. So sind Neurowissenschaftler heute in der Lage, mit zunehmender Genauigkeit intime persönliche Neigungen und Gedanken zu messen, sobald sie im Gehirn erscheinen. Zudem gibt es „Smart Drugs”, die mentale Funktionen sowohl in gesunden als auch in klinischen Populationen auf effektive und sichere Weise steigern können. In diesem Beitrag beschreiben wir die wissenschaftlichen Prinzipien hinter diesen Technologien und drängen auf die Entwicklung ethischer Prinzipien auf der Grundlage eines klaren Verständnisses besagter Technologien. Europa sollte dem Beispiel der Vereinigten Staaten folgen und Mittel zur Verfügung stellen, die spezifisch der Untersuchung neuroethischer Belange innerhalb des europäischen Gesundheitswesens und der Gesetzgebung in Europa dienen.

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Resume´ Des développements sans précédent dans les sciences neurologiques ont récemment débouché sur l’émergence du nouveau domaine de la neuro-éthique. La neuroimagerie et l’accroissement du rendement cognitif exigent en particulier un débat éthique. Par exemple, les neuroscientifiques sont en mesure aujourd’hui de mesurer avec une précision croissante les inclinaisons et les pensées intimes personnelles dès leur apparition dans le cerveau. Il existe à présent des « smart drugs », des molécules intelligentes, qui permettent de renforcer de manière efficace et sûre les fonctions mentales de populations saines comme cliniques. Le présent article décrit les principes scientifiques qui se cachent derrière ces technologies et considère qu’il est urgent de développer des principes éthiques fondés sur une compréhension claire de ces technologies. L’Europe devrait suivre l’exemple des États-Unis et consacrer des ressources spécialement destinées à étudier les questions de neuro-éthique au sein de la santé publique européenne et de ses cadres législatifs.

     

Effects of sexually transmitted infection status, relationship status, and disclosure status on sexual self-concept

Research has indicated that having a sexually transmitted infection (STI) such as genital herpes and genital human papilloma virus (HPV) can have a negative impact on an individual's sexuality. The current study was designed to evaluate the effect of STI status, relationship status, and disclosure status on various dimensions of sexual self-concept. A questionnaire that evaluated the above variables was completed by 117 individuals with genital herpes, 82 individuals with HPV, and 75 individuals with no STI. The results demonstrated that having herpes or HPV had a significant negative impact on aspects of sexual self-concept. It does not appear that an individual's relationship status is a factor associated with the impact of having an STI on the sexual self-concept. Respondents who had disclosed their STI to their partners, however, had significantly more positive feelings about aspects of their sexual self-concept than those who had not disclosed their STI to their partners. The implications of these research findings for health practitioners are discussed.     

The denial of emergency protection: factors associated with court decision making

Despite the importance of civil orders of protection as a legal resource for victims of intimate partner violence, research is limited in this area, and most studies focus on the process following a court's initial issuance of an emergency order. The purpose of this study is to address a major gap in the literature by examining cases where victims of intimate partner violence are denied access to temporary orders of protection. The study sample included a review of 2,205 petitions that had been denied by a Kentucky court during the 2003 fiscal year. The study offers important insights into the characteristics of petitioners and respondents to denied orders and outlines individual, contextual, structural, qualitative/perceptual, and procedural factors associated with the denial of temporary or emergency protective orders. Recommendations for statutory changes, judicial education, and future research to remedy barriers to protection are offered.     

Attitudes and Stereotypes Regarding Older Women and HIV Risk

Persons aged 50 years and over will soon disproportionately represent the future of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is estimated that by 2015 older adults will represent 50% of persons living with HIV in the United States. Despite the HIV/AIDS growing population among older adults, attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypes toward older adults that exist in general society have affected HIV prevention, education, and care. Specifically, ageist attitudes about the sexuality of older adults in general and older women in particular, low clinical HIV suspicion among healthcare providers, lack of knowledge about risk among older women, and differentials in power related to negotiating sexual practices all lead to heightened concerns for the prevention, identification, and treatment of HIV disease in mature women. This article examines common attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypes that exist within general society as well as health and social service providers that place older women at a disadvantage when it comes to HIV prevention, education, and treatment.     

Family Conflict in Childhood and Adolescence and Depressive Symptoms in Emerging Adulthood: Mediation by Disengagement Coping

Exposure to family conflict in childhood increases risk for later life psychological maladjustment. The family environment shapes the development of coping strategies used to manage interpersonal stressors, representing a pathway through which adverse family experiences impact later emotional functioning. In 2 studies, we evaluated engagement and disengagement coping as mediators of the relation between family conflict in childhood and depressive symptoms in young adulthood. Study 1 included participants from continuously married families exposed to higher and lower quality childhood family environments and found that disengagement partially mediated the relation between family conflict and depressive symptoms. Study 2 examined these relations among emerging adults who experienced parental divorce. Results indicated that disengagement coping fully mediated the relation between family conflict and depression. Engagement did not emerge as a mediator in either study. Elevated family conflict across varying family structures might be associated with poor adjustment via disengaged responses to stress.