A Qualitative Look at the Perceived Strengths of Male Batterers: Implications for Intervention Programs

Currently, batterer intervention programs tend to focus on education and confrontation, with outcomes being less than promising. Limitations of current interventions have encouraged development of alternative treatment forms aimed at ending relationship violence. An emerging trend in the fields of social work and positive psychology is to build on strengths and competencies of offenders. The purpose of this qualitative study was to introduce an alternative position within the treatment field by identifying self-disclosed strengths of men who had been charged with a domestic violence offense and who were being evaluated for a voluntary batterer diversion program. A content analysis revealed competencies useful for helping men be accountable and end violence against their partners through redirecting negative behavior and identifying resources and strengths.     

Support for Resilience Theory with Female Adolescents Who Are Violent: A MIMIC Model

Resilience theory has been shown to explain aggression and violence in adolescents in general. No studies were found that supported this theory specifically with female adolescents. A multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) model was developed from the review of the literature. Structural equation modeling was then used to quantitatively test this theoretical MIMIC model. Results indicate that the direct effect of the demographic contingencies are significantly related to violent behavior: race (β = ?.53, t = 0.04, p < .001), community supports (β = ?0.55, t = ?0.04, p < .001), and subsidized income supports (β = 0.54, t = 0.04, p < .001). These results suggest demographic contingencies play an important role in predicting violent behavior in female adolescents.     

Dementia Caregiving Outcomes: The Impact of Caregiving Onset,Cognitive Impairment and Behavioral Problems

With a projected increase in the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias, family caregiving is steadily increasing. Caring for an individual with AD is characterized as a “career,” and within this career are a number of key transitions, including the onset of caregiving. Research reveals a number of negative emotional health outcomes for AD caregivers, including depression and role overload, but less research has examined the influence of key transitions on the emotional adaptation of caregivers. The purpose of this study is to examine how different patterns of caregiving onset (gradual and abrupt) impact emotional health outcomes for AD caregivers. This study also explores how care-recipient cognitive impairment and behavioral problems moderate these relationships. Cross-sectional, quantitative data from 100 caregivers completing self-administered surveys were used. A series of one-way ANOVAs and multiple regression analyses were conducted to address study aims. Results indicate that care-recipient cognition and behavioral problems moderated the relationship between caregiving onset and emotional health outcomes for caregivers who experienced a more abrupt entry into the caregiving role. Results suggest the importance of considering different onset transitions and moderating factors within the caregiving career to target clinical interventions. Implications for social work practice are discussed.     

Interdepartmental relations and voluntary organizations: An exploration of tensions and why they arise

This article explores the nature of interdepartmental relations in voluntary organizations, looking, in particular, at the relationship between fundraising and service-providing departments. The findings indicate that the relationship between these two departments can be problematic, and the sources of tension between them are outlined. The author examines the question of why tensions arise. The fact that, for the voluntary organization, the needs and preferences of the service funder and the service recipient can be very different may be part of the explanation. Finally, the implications of the findings for our understanding of the role of voluntary organizations and the strategies they adopt are explored.     

Puberty Blues—then and now: diffracting semblances of being girl in Australia

This paper attempts a diffractive analysis that reads Bruce Beresford’s Australian populist film Puberty Blues (1981) through the more recent (2012) Channel 10 eight-part series television of the same title. The purpose of this experimental analysis is to notice ways both of these filmic artefacts re/enact gendered semblances performatively, co-creating binary gender relations through Baradian intra-actions with a virtual audience (in the perpetual present). This paper is not a historical account of the texts and/or a review of the substantial literature connected to either text or television/film production in Australia. It attempts to conduct a non-representational analysis as a reading through of the texts with each other. What is significant is the process of examining “how different differences get made, what gets excluded, and how those exclusions matter” (Karen Barad 2007, 30) during inter-action with filmic text and viewer. This manoeuvre posits that by re/turning events as iterative interactions visibility of materiality in the making may be rendered visible. By understanding intra-active processes educators may be able to frustrate delimiting accounts of girlhood as just the way it is and rather utilise these texts to open up other imaginaries of affirmative difference.     

Service Coproduction with Information Stickiness and Incomplete Contracts: Implications for Consulting Services Design

Drawing from three theoretical bases—“information stickiness” from the knowledge management literature, “service coproduction” from the service operations management literature, and “incomplete contract theory” from the transaction cost economics literature—we discuss a theoretical framework and develop models to study the efficiency of the service coproduction process in a knowledge‐intensive consulting environment. We apply, refine, and interpret these theories to determine how work should be allocated between the consultant and the client and the corresponding pricing under different contractual relationships that occur in this industry. We find that, with a pricing schedule that relates the fee adjustment to the self‐service level and one party's ownership of the residual right to specify the workload allocation, the client underinvests her efforts in the service coproduction process, whereas the consultant overinvests his efforts, resulting in an inefficient process. In addition, to improve overall process efficiency, we show that the more productive party should own the residual right to respecify the self‐service level when the final service need emerges. Our results, as well as interview data from experienced consultants, provide insights into the causes of inefficient service delivery processes and offer direction for achieving better efficiency through contract design and pricing schedules.     

Facilitating commitment, consensus, credibility, and visibility through collaborative foreign assistance project evaluations

The four key organizations involved in foreign assistance projects—those of the donor, technical advisors, host country counterparts, and beneficiaries—hold systematically different stakes in the project implementation process. As a result, each tends to reject or mistrust the goals of the other participants and resists collaborating with them during the project evaluation process. Yet, several potentially beneficial outcomes of collaboration for each of these organizations can be demonstrated, including enhanced commitment, consensus, credibility, and visibility. The evaluator plays a key role as facilitator of such a mutually beneficial process of collaboration by convincing each stakeholder that collaboration will provide the forum to promote rather than to sabotage individual stakes. In some cases, however, modified collaborative approaches may be necessary in order to bring to bear the issues and concerns of all stakeholders.