Qualitative research in family therapy: a substantive and methodological review

Over the last decade, marriage and family therapy (MFT) researchers have developed a growing interest in qualitative research. In this article, we review substantive and methodological trends in the published qualitative studies within the MFT field. The research is compared and contrasted in the following areas: General topic, epistemological theory, methodological theory, sampling and sample, data collection, data analysis procedure, and approach to reliability and validity. We also provide recommendations for future research.     

Poverty and Hardship among the Aged in Urban China

China's record in reducing poverty over the last three decades has been impressive, yet few studies have examined the incidence of poverty among older people despite the rapid ageing of the population. This article uses a unique national data set to examine patterns of poverty, deprivation and exclusion among the urban aged population (60 years and over) in 2000. The results point to the importance of poverty as an issue for older people, particularly for women and those who live alone. A number of indicators of hardship are developed in four areas – economic insecurity, housing, health, and social isolation – and the incidence of these is examined, separately and in combination, by living arrangement and gender. Women are shown to experience greater levels of hardship and isolation than men, and to be more likely to experience multiple deprivation across two or more areas. Finally, the overlap between poverty and hardship is examined as a way of validating the poverty estimates and giving them greater credibility. The results indicate that there are strong overlaps, although these differ across the different dimensions of hardship. Access to pension income and concern over the cost of necessary visits to see a doctor emerge as strong predictors of poverty and point to areas where policy change is needed.     

A conceptual analysis of request teaching procedures for individuals with severely limited verbal repertoires

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - There have been many published reports of attempts to teach requests to individuals with severely limited verbal repertoires associated with developmental...     

Attitude-action relationships*

La présente étude a pour objet la relation qui existe entre une attitude verbale à l'égard de la légalisation de la marijuana et la façon de se comporter manifestement opposée à cette attitude. Le sujet principal de l'étude avait donc pour but de déterminer si oui ou non le comportement d'une personne reste le même lorsque, dans la cas d'une situation d'intérraction, on ajoute des données variées de participation sociale et certaines attitudes dictées par les convenances. Est abordée aussi la question de savoir si oui ou non le besoin d'une personne de se sentir approuvée a quelque effet sur la constance des résultats. En conclusion, on s'aperçoit que la participation sociale, les attitudes de convenance et le besoin d'aquiescement, influent fortement sur les relations: ‘attitude —comportement.’ The present study is concerned with the relationship between verbal attitudes toward the legalization of marijuana and the overt behaviour expressed toward this attitude object. The main concern is to determine whether or not an individual's behaviour will remain consistent when variations of ‘social participation’ and ‘attitudinal congruence’ are injected into an interactional situation. Also investigated is the question of whether or not the personality variable of ‘need for approval’ has any effect on the consistency issue. The findings suggest that social participation, attitudinal congruence and the individual's need for approval are powerful influences in attitude-behaviour relationships.     

Group interventions for men who batter: a summary of program descriptions and research

This article provides a summary of the latest research on men's group interventions for men who batter their intimate partners. The major components of current programs are described, along with studies on treatment effectiveness. Evidence for the effectiveness of treatment combined with a coordinated community response is also presented. Several related topics are covered, in particular methods for enhancing treatment motivation and culturally competent practice.     

Predicting the Probability that a Chemical Causes Steatosis Using Adverse Outcome Pathway Bayesian Networks (AOPBNs)

Adverse outcome pathway Bayesian networks (AOPBNs) are a promising avenue for developing predictive toxicology and risk assessment tools based on adverse outcome pathways (AOPs). Here, we describe a process for developing AOPBNs. AOPBNs use causal networks and Bayesian statistics to integrate evidence across key events. In this article, we use our AOPBN to predict the occurrence of steatosis under different chemical exposures. Since it is an expert-driven model, we use external data (i.e., data not used for modeling) from the literature to validate predictions of the AOPBN model. The AOPBN accurately predicts steatosis for the chemicals from our external data. In addition, we demonstrate how end users can utilize the model to simulate the confidence (based on posterior probability) associated with predicting steatosis. We demonstrate how the network topology impacts predictions across the AOPBN, and how the AOPBN helps us identify the most informative key events that should be monitored for predicting steatosis. We close with a discussion of how the model can be used to predict potential effects of mixtures and how to model susceptible populations (e.g., where a mutation or stressor may change the conditional probability tables in the AOPBN). Using this approach for developing expert AOPBNs will facilitate the prediction of chemical toxicity, facilitate the identification of assay batteries, and greatly improve chemical hazard screening strategies.     

Extended review

The National Liberation Struggle in South Africa. A Case Study of the United Democratic Front, 1983–1987 by Gregory F. Houston. Aldershot: Ashgate. 1999. 299pp. (Available in South Africa in paperback from the Human Sciences Research Council.)

The UDF. A History of the United Democratic Front in South Africa, 1883–1991 by Jeremy Seekings. Cape Town: David Philip. 2000. 371pp.

’Beyond our Wildest Dreams’, the United Democratic Front and the Transformation of South Africa by Ineke van Kessel. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. 2000. 367pp.     

The meanings and motives for women's use of violence in Canadian college dating relationships: Results from a national survey

Data from a Canadian nationwide representative sample of 1,835 female college students were used to test a variety of propositions about women's use of violence in dating relationships. It has become progressively common in both Canada and the United States to argue that women are as violent as men. Although in a crude counting of violent acts these data confirm the contention that women commit a large number of such acts, a further investigation of the women's motives shows that a substantial amount of their violence was in self‐defense, or “fighting back.” The more these women had been victimized, whether physically or sexually, the more likely they were to report that they had used self‐defensive violence. The finding that a substantial amount of women's