Promising practices and strategies for using trauma-informed child welfare practice to improve foster care placement stability: a breakthrough series collaborative

This paper will provide information on a recent Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) conducted by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network on Using Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Practice to Improve Foster Care Placement Stability. Information on this particular BSC will be provided, followed by initial findings gathered from an evaluation of the BSC and metrics gathered by each of the nine participating teams throughout the BSC process. Specific trauma-informed promising strategies adopted by teams are presented along with recommendations for next steps.     

Interaction Ritual Theory and Structural Symbolic Interactionism

This article develops a comparison between structural approaches to symbolic interaction, as described by Sheldon Stryker (1968, 1980, 2008) , and interaction ritual theory, elaborated by Randall Collins (1981, 1998, 2004) . The value of this comparison lies in both the similarities and differences between the perspectives: each is committed to developing empirically grounded, general knowledge and emphasizes interaction as an emergent unit of sociological analysis. However, their disparate intellectual heritages lead them to stake out different positions regarding the nature of interaction, the self, and social structure. We suggest that the differences between structural symbolic interaction and interaction ritual theory offer important areas for theoretical innovation, and we highlight a few directions that seem especially promising.     

The impact of initial factors on therapeutic alliance in individual and couples therapy

The study uses 457 clients to investigate the impact of initial client factors on the development of therapeutic alliance. Data were collected longitudinally over the early portion of treatment. Cases included both individual and couple clients, allowing for examination of differences by case type. The study used the Working Alliance Inventory-Shortened Version (Tracey & Kokotovic, 1989) to measure therapeutic alliance. Initial factors considered included age, differentiation levels, prior stress, and depression. Couple clients showed differences from individual clients, and the variability prompted further investigation into relationship satisfaction and commitment as factors influencing the development of therapeutic alliance. Results highlight the increased complexity of developing an alliance with couples, and recommendations are provided for clinicians.     

论《波音顿的珍藏品》和《阿斯彭文稿》中的画意书写美学思想

亨利·詹姆斯将18世纪末至19世纪中期在建筑、绘画、园艺等领域中流行的画意书写美学理念跨媒介性地运用到了小说叙事中。以詹姆斯的《波音顿的珍藏品》和《阿斯彭文稿》为例进行比较研究,探讨詹姆斯画意书写的创新之处。研究发现詹姆斯在这两部小说叙事中借鉴了画意书写派常用的透视缩短、色调对比以及衰败古旧的理念,把小说创作成具有双重视角张力之美的、透露着浪漫主义感伤情愫的画作。画意书写是詹姆斯尝试图像叙事的重要表现方式,他突破了传统画意书写以自然景物为中心的做法,转向人文场景,专门探讨人与艺术的关系。     

Asylanten auf der Saualm

The following article deals with the question of how socio-political questions such as integration and asylum policy can be processed within a self-organised project and which concomitances, irritations and difficulties may be encountered; it is exemplified through a regionally based case study. The basic assumption is that topics which are relevant to current social political topics require processes which can function across systems. These processes must be sensitively steered, have a concrete application and involve structures of self-organisation. The authors outline how self-initiated projects can be supported professionally and how accompanying phenomena need to be taken up and considered as well in order to ensure that they can at least be partially steered. At the same time the authors look at social and emotional influences, including both emotions which determine the actors’ capacity to act within the project and emotions which must be considered as “environment” outside the project. The article draws analytical distinctions in order to make the complexity of the topic comprehensible. However, in actual practice all these topics interweave continuously and must be balanced accordingly.     

USE OF THE DSM IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY PROGRAMS: CURRENT PRACTICES AND ATTITUDES

The DSM has largely become the common language of behavioral health which its authors intended. Although family systems theory resulted in part from the study of major mental illness, it later became distanced from considerations of individual psychopathology. No studies have assessed current practices and views within the field of family therapy on teaching students the use of the DSM. Member training programs of the Education and Training Council of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy were surveyed regarding their practices in teaching the DSM. Seventy-nine of 177 surveys (45%) were returned. Ninety-one percent of these programs offered training in the DSM, and in 93% of those such training was mandatory. Written comments indicated that pragmatic concerns about students being able to speak a common language with other behavioral health providers were among the primary reasons for teaching the DSM.     

USING PATIENT NARRATIVES TO TEACH PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Psychopathology courses are usually taught using a biomedical perspective and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM IV) as the primary text. This can result in students developing little empathy for their patients and objectifying them as disorders rather than people with problems. Using narrative, music, and art in teaching psychopathology can balance the scientific, objective style of the DSM IV. Resources and suggestions for ways to humanize a psychopathology course are given.     

Simple random sampling with over-replacement

There are several ways to select units with replacement and an equal inclusion expectation. We present a new sampling design called simple random sampling with over-replacement. Its interest lies in the high variance produced for the Horvitz-Thompson estimator. This characteristic could be useful for resampling methods.