Professional Perceptions of Intervention with Families in a Crisis Context

The family institution is a key aspect of the welfare regimes of southern Europe, a crisis-affected situation in which social workers play an important role. This paper analyzes the statements of social workers regarding professional intervention and the families with whom they work within the Spanish context, which involves a strong economic crisis and the reduction of public policies. A relational and qualitative study was conducted of 15 professional perceptions of cutbacks, family demands, the profiles of the user families, and the privatization of social services. In addition, proposals for improvement and challenges are analyzed. The main results involve the relationships among dwindling resources, increasing family demands and family dependence on the system, the disadvantages of privatization, excessive bureaucratization, and adverse labor conditions. The main conclusions include the inadequacy of public policies to meet the needs of at-risk families in a crisis context. About future, the research on professional decision making and professional intervention models will be studied in greater depth.     

Reliability,Validity, and Classification Accuracy of the DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria for Gambling Disorder and Comparison to DSM-IV

The DSM-5 was published in 2013 and it included two substantive revisions for gambling disorder (GD). These changes are the reduction in the threshold from five to four criteria and elimination of the illegal activities criterion. The purpose of this study was to twofold. First, to assess the reliability, validity and classification accuracy of the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for GD. Second, to compare the DSM-5–DSM-IV on reliability, validity, and classification accuracy, including an examination of the effect of the elimination of the illegal acts criterion on diagnostic accuracy. To compare DSM-5 and DSM-IV, eight datasets from three different countries (Canada, USA, and Spain; total N = 3247) were used. All datasets were based on similar research methods. Participants were recruited from outpatient gambling treatment services to represent the group with a GD and from the community to represent the group without a GD. All participants were administered a standardized measure of diagnostic criteria. The DSM-5 yielded satisfactory reliability, validity and classification accuracy. In comparing the DSM-5 to the DSM-IV, most comparisons of reliability, validity and classification accuracy showed more similarities than differences. There was evidence of modest improvements in classification accuracy for DSM-5 over DSM-IV, particularly in reduction of false negative errors. This reduction in false negative errors was largely a function of lowering the cut score from five to four and this revision is an improvement over DSM-IV. From a statistical standpoint, eliminating the illegal acts criterion did not make a significant impact on diagnostic accuracy. From a clinical standpoint, illegal acts can still be addressed in the context of the DSM-5 criterion of lying to others.     

Counterfactual reasoning,responsibility and blame for serial murders: the perception and prevention of violent crimes / Razonamiento contrafáctico,responsabilidad y culpa de los asesinatos en serie: la percepción y prevención de los crímenes violentos

The present research evaluates people’s perception of serial murders, analysing the effects of controllability in counterfactual reasoning about the past and the future, as well as attributions of responsibility and blame. Besides, the research analyses the effects of perspective (one’s own versus other people’s) in these attributions. Participants were 442 students who answered open-ended questions designed for this study. The first experiment shows that people focus on controllable factors previous to these events. When considering the avoidance and prevention of general serial murders, they focus on representatives of formal authority. Moreover, when judging from their own perspective, blame is attributed to the perpetrator and responsibility to both parties; while from another person´s perspective, they attribute feelings of either responsibility or guilt to the representatives of formal authority and a lack of these feelings to the perpetrator. The second experiment shows identical results regarding the specific case of a well-known serial killer in England and Spain. These findings demonstrate that this perception has implications for the legal framework and the prevention of violent crimes.     

Comparing postcolonial identity formations: legacies of Portuguese and British colonialisms in East Africa

Colonial ties constitute the basis upon which Indian migration to the UK occurred. In the post-war years, while Punjabi migrants more than fulfilled the gap in expanding British industry, Indian elites also arrived to take up professional jobs. During the 1960s and 1970s, in a context of increasingly restrictive (and racially politicized) immigration legislation, there was a significant settlement of the so-called East African Indians, among them an important percentage of East African Gujaratis who had close links with England long before the processes of Africanisation began. Since the 1990s, those East African families also were the ‘hosts’ of a considerable number of Portuguese Indians of Gujarat origin, most of whom had been born in Mozambique during the colonial period and had lived in post-colonial Portugal. This paper will attempt to show how different experiences of intersubjectivity between colonizers and colonized in British and Portuguese African colonial contexts still constitute a source of (re)invention and pluralization of identities within post-colonial Gujarat diasporas settled in the UK. An analysis of these narratives in process will serve to underline the significance of dialectic processes of remaking colonial and post-colonial experiences in order to understand post-colonial identity formations, their ex-tensions and in-tensions, as well as the identity strategies of postcolonial subjects to deal with ‘old’ and ‘new’ multicultural dilemmas.     

Intangible culture,cooperation and intercultural dialogue among university students

This paper focuses on intercultural competence and dialogue across cultural borders between university students from different Portuguese‐speaking countries. Various principles and strategies for intercultural education are summarised, and the project cultures@esec, based on such principles and strategies, is described. The project was focused on cultural heritage. The identities of African students and the intangible culture were also explored. Part of the project involved frequent contacts between domestic and international students, cooperation under equal‐status conditions, joint decision‐making and active learning. Results show that sharing knowledge and ideas, and working under pleasant learning conditions, can help reduce cultural barriers and prejudice and contributes to intercultural sensitivity and competence.

Este artigo centra‐se na competência intercultural dos estudantes universitários de países lusófonas e no diálogo entre culturas. São identificados, de forma sumária, alguns princípios e estratégias de educação intercultural e apresentado o projecto cultures@esec, que se baseia em tais princípios. O projecto esteve orientado para a valorização da herança cultual dos estudantes africanos e respectivas identidades e explorou a cultura intangível dos seus países. O trabalho desenvolvido implicou frequentes contactos entre os estudantes nacionais e estrangeiros, decisões conjuntas e cooperação em igualdade de estatuto. Os resultados mostram que partilhar conhecimentos e ideias e trabalhar em condições de aprendizagem agradáveis ajuda a quebrar barreiras culturais e a combater o preconceito e estimula a sensibilidade e a competência intercultural dos estudantes.     

Obstacles invisibles et représentation des femmes aux postes de décision en Espagne

Les auteurs présentent les résultats d'une étude sur les caractéristiques personnelles et les qualifications d'hommes et de femmes assumant des fonctions de direction dans des entreprises espagnoles, leur situation professionnelle et leur point de vue sur l'égalité des sexes. Par rapport à leurs homologues masculins, les Espagnoles occupant des postes à responsabilités sont plus jeunes mais aussi qualifiées, voire plus, et elles ont moins d'enfants. Cependant, elles sont toujours confrontées à des obstacles qui empěchent la pleine exploitation d'un capital humain précieux. Malgré les mesures adoptées, plus de neuf postes de décision sur dix sont toujours occupés par des hommes.     

The voice of young people – contribution for their involvement in the school

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this action research project was to gain an understanding of, and to mobilise the voices of diverse young people enrolled in a Portuguese secondary school. A case study methodology, in conjunction with action research methodology, was used for this study. The action research data indicated that projects conceived throughout the study were successful in mobilising the voices of 14 young secondary school students in decision-making processes. The young people engaged democratically, made informed decisions about themselves and their peers, managed conflicts, and reinforced the importance of interpersonal relationships. These changes took place at the individual, as well as group levels.