Domestic Violence Assessment Procedures Among Couple Therapists

Guidelines for addressing domestic violence (DV) in couple therapy have been published, but reports of whether therapists routinely follow these suggestions are few. A national survey of 620 couple therapists randomly selected from American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy members was conducted in 2000 to assess therapists' strategies for assessing DV and selecting a treatment modality when violence is discovered. Less than 4% of respondents indicated consistently following key published guidelines for DV screening (universal screening using separate interviews and questionnaires). A minority indicated that they consider the victim's safety as a factor in treatment modality selection. DV may be under-identified by couple therapists and therapists may be using conjoint therapy with couples for whom such therapy is contraindicated because of relationship violence.     

The psychology of AMBER Alert: Unresolved issues and implications

The AMBER alert system is likely affected by a number of psychological processes, yet remains understudied. The system assumes people will remember Alert information accurately and notify police, but psychological research on related phenomena (e.g., memory, willingness to help) indicates that people may not be able or willing to act in ways the promote the success of the system. In addition, the system is intended to deter child abductions, however, the system could prompt copycat crimes from perpetrators seeking publicity. The system could also cause a precipitation effect in which a perpetrator who sees the Alert could decide to murder the child immediately to avoid capture. Policy recommendations are made based on psychological research and theory, although more research is needed to develop the most effective system possible.     

Ranging characteristics of the domestic cat (Felis catus) in an urban environment

In many countries, high densities of domestic cats (Felis catus) are found in urban habitats where they have the potential to exert considerable predation pressure on their prey. However, little is known of the ranging behaviour of cats in the UK. Twenty cats in suburban Reading, UK, were fitted with GPS trackers to quantify movement patterns. Cats were monitored during the summer and winter for an average of 6.8 24 h periods per season. Mean daily area ranged (95 % MCP) was 1.94 ha. Including all fixes, mean maximum area ranged was 6.88 ha. These are broadly comparable to those observed in urban areas in other countries. Daily area ranged was not affected by the cat’s sex or the season, but was significantly larger at night than during the day. There was no relationship between area ranged and habitat availability. Taking available habitat into account, cat ranging area contained significantly more garden and other green space than urban habitats. If cats were shown to be negatively affecting prey populations, one mitigation option for consideration in housing developments proposed near important wildlife sites would be to incorporate a ‘buffer zone’ in which cat ownership was not permitted. Absolute maximum daily area ranged by a cat in this study was 33.78 ha. This would correspond to an exclusory limit of approximately 300–400 m to minimise the negative effects of cat predation, but this may need to be larger if cat ranging behaviour is negatively affected by population density.     

Groupwork for Parents whose Children are in Care: Challenges and Opportunities

Until recently, the focus for child protection in NSW has been on risk assessment, supportive measures for parents, and ‘the best interests of the child’. The needs of the birth families, once their children have been removed have not received the same attention. An emerging body of research indicates a growing awareness of the importance of the link between good outcomes for children in care and positive ongoing links with their birth parents. Biological parents of children who have been removed invariably continue to have parenting relationships, if not with the removed child, then with subsequent birth children, step children and children in their extended family. Service provision for this group of parents is critical given the complexity and scale of their emotional needs, and the implications for the children they will care for. In this paper, we describe one such intervention: Kids in Care, a group program offered at Relationships Australia NSW, and consider the arising issues and dilemmas for both parents and group workers. Developed to address the particular needs of parents whose children have been taken into care, the group creates an environment of acceptance and support. This opens up possibilities for parents to consider issues of grief, stigma and trauma, as well as to develop skills in communication, assertiveness and emotional regulation.     

From concept to data: sleuthing social change-oriented youth voices on YouTube

The idea of youth voice has become commonplace in youth studies and advocacy, although its meaning is more often assumed than explicitly defined and critically analyzed. This article engages with the concept of youth voice through a discussion of how we designed and implemented a pilot study on social change-oriented videos produced and circulated by Canadian teens on YouTube. We discuss the challenges and issues we encountered while attempting to constitute our research sample of youth-produced videos. In our sleuthing process, we grappled with the limitations of online search engines for our research purposes, and as a result developed a purposeful, tactical and adaptive approach. Throughout this process, we found that technical and practical issues evoked ethical concerns regarding youth voice as well, which thus required constant decision-making. As we report on how we dealt with these issues, we contribute to ongoing discussions and debates on youth voice occurring at the intersection of critical youth studies, social media, and online research ethics.