Dialogical Research in Supervision: Practical Guidelines from Experienced Supervisors in Family Therapy,Child Protection,and Specialty Mental Health Services

This two‐year qualitative participatory research project examines practical guidelines for supervision. Sixteen experienced supervisors across professional settings of family therapy, child protection, and specialty mental health services in the geographical regions of Northern Norway and Northern Sweden outline four main practical guidelines in supervision based on their supervisory practices: (1) elaborating an agreed‐upon contract; (2) exploring potential formats; (3) exploring contents; (4) acknowledging responsibility for process and dilemmas. Participants summarised how they generated mutual growth in supervisory relationships, while being respectful of the first‐person perspective of supervisees. The study challenges pre‐dominating guidelines about deficit‐ or developmental stage‐oriented supervision. It illustrates reflecting processes and a polyphonic orientation in supervision by welcoming diversity, wondering, and tolerance for the not‐yet‐decided among involved persons in a mutual exploration and calibration of relevant knowledge. It outlines a dialogical research for sharing, exploring, and questioning knowledge as beneficial for whom, told by whom, and evaluated by whom.     

Visual Attention to Dynamic Spatial Relations in Infants and Adults

Previous research has found that kinematic features of interactions, such as spatial proximity, capture adult visual attention. The current research uses online measures of gaze behavior to determine attentional capture to objects with reduced interobject spacing in adults as well as infants at 5 and 12 months. The three age groups observed three identical geometrical shapes that moved randomly. Relative distance between the objects was mapped and intervals of high and low spatial proximity were identified. Findings demonstrate that only adults and 12‐month‐olds look significantly more at the objects that are close during instances of high spatial proximity, while 5‐month‐olds look at chance. The findings speak for a developmental trend in oculomotor processes, where a bias to look at objects with high spatial proximity develops within the first year of life.     

Resolution of depression among victims of intimate partner violence: is cessation of violence enough?

The objective of this article is to assess the effect of abuse cessation on depressive symptoms among women abused by a male intimate partner. This prospective cohort study of Seattle women with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) who were classified by history of abuse and abuse status at 3 month, 9 month, and 2 year follow-up interviews. Relative risks (RR) were calculated using generalized estimating equations. Among subjects with a history of psychological abuse only, cessation of abuse was associated with a nonsignificant reduction in the likelihood of depression compared to subjects whose abuse continued (aRR = 0.88; 95%CI: 0.75,1.03). Among subjects with a history of physical/sexual abuse and psychological abuse, cessation of physical/sexual abuse only was associated with a 27% decline, and cessation of both types of abuse was associated with a 35% decline in the likelihood of depression (aRR = 0.73, 95%CI: 0.63,0.86; and aRR = 0.65; 95%CI: 0.55,0.76; respectively). Cessation of abuse among victims of IPV is associated with a decreased prevalence of depression.     

Life pattern of urban trees: A growth-modelling approach

Urban afforestation improves life quality in urban centers providing social and environmental benefits. Understanding growth of urban trees exposed to air pollution will support planning, managing and expanding urban areas. This approach intends to determine growth patterns of urban trees to support future urban planning. Non-destructive samples were collected from trees of Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze in Araucaria city, Parana State, Brazil. Growth rings were related to pollutant concentrations and meteorological series. Growth reduction was observed except in the border areas of the city. Trees established during or after the period of industrialization incentives were most affected by air pollution, indicating that immature plants are more vulnerable. Sulphur dioxide and nitric oxide significantly affected growth of smaller trees. Those greater than 60 cm dbh did not demonstrate significant correlation with any identified pollutant. As the trees established before accentuated urbanization were less affected by air pollution, it is reinforced the importance of preserving remaining urban trees. We suggest that planning urban afforestation should precede industries placing. When urban planning is impossible, new planted trees should not be expected to grow as in free pollution areas, but they will still present satisfactory diameter increment, contributing to improve local urban environment.     

Mending the gaps in social work education and research: two examples from a Swedish context

ABSTRACT

The gap-mending concept is an analytical tool that helps teachers and researchers in social work to reflect upon what, in their practice, increases, maintains or mends gaps between professionals and service user groups. The article suggests a theoretical background on how gaps in social work practice can be challenged. This includes theories about power and recognition. It then moves on to describe the development of gap-mending strategies in research and education at the School of Social Work at Lund University. Lund University was one of three partners that took the initiative to the international network PowerUs that has focused on gap-mending strategies in social work education. The authors have been working over 10 years in collaboration with service user participation in the education of social workers and in different research projects. In the article, they give examples of gap-mending practices and of challenges that they have faced. The first example is an experimental course that has been given since 2005 where social work students study together with students from service user organizations in a university course. The second example is an attempt to combat homelessness in several Swedish municipalities. Supported by researchers, the development project has been a collaboration between homeless groups, politicians and social workers.     

Personalized Neural Networks Underlie Individual Differences in Ethnic Identity Exploration and Resolution

This study examined how ethnic identity relates to large-scale brain networks implicated in social interactions, social cognition, self-definition, and cognitive control. Group Iterative Multiple Model Estimation (GIMME) was used to create sparse, person-specific networks among the default mode and frontoparietal resting-state networks in a diverse sample of 104 youths aged 17–21. Links between neural density (i.e., number of connections within and between these networks) and ethnic identity exploration and resolution were evaluated in the full sample. Ethnic identity resolution was positively related to frontoparietal network density, suggesting that having clarity about one’s ethnic group membership is associated with brain network organization reflecting cognitive control. These findings help fill a critical knowledge gap about the neural underpinnings of ethnic identity.     

Home study methods for evaluating prospective resource families: history, current challenges, and promising approaches

Every state requires a home study before the placement of foster children for adoption. This article examines the history of home studies, presents results from expert interviews on the changing processes and purposes of home studies, and explores current challenges for the field. The article also introduces the Structured Analysis Family Evaluation (SAFE), a uniform home study format that encourages consistent family evaluations across workers, agencies, and jurisdictions. The article clarifies how SAFE may address challenges facing foster care and adoption practice.     

Relationships among nutrients,chloride and biological indices in urban Maryland streams

Using a spatially extensive urban database constructed from the Maryland Biological Stream Survey (MBSS), we describe the relationships of nutrients in small-order streams to eight defined categories of percent catchment urbanization, correlations between chloride and conductivity in urban streams, and relationships between nutrients and chloride with two Maryland-specific indices of biotic integrity for benthic macroinvertebrates and fish assemblages. Stream nutrients become elevated with increasing percent catchment urbanization, followed by increases in all four measured nitrogen species and total phosphorus at catchment urbanization levels greater than 10%. There was a strong collinear relationship (r ² = 0.90) between chloride and conductivity (trimeans) across all eight urbanization classes, where Cl (mg/L) = −0.397 + 0.188*conductivity (μS/cm). Critical values for all water quality parameters with the two Maryland biological indices were derived using quantile regression, with significant regressions developed for 11 of 16 water quality parameters and the two biotic indices. For nitrate (NO₃-N), the critical thresholds between fair and poor stream quality for the two Maryland biological indices were 0.83 mg/L (benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages) and 0.86 mg/L (fish assemblages). Increasing stream nutrient and chloride levels, associated with widespread catchment urbanization intensity, now affect many small streams in Maryland, with implications for decreasing water quality in major tributaries and the Chesapeake Bay.