The Conceptualization and Measurement of Listening

Although far more emphasis has been placed on sending messages than upon receiving them, some researchers have focused on listening and on receiving. In this paper, the authors adopt the position that although listening, as a theoretical concept, may in some meaningful sense be real and measurable through a variety of instruments, inadequate attention has been given to the development of a consensus regarding its conceptualization. In support of this position we first review inconsistencies in current definitions of listening and then discuss problems in measurement. On the basis of our review, we conclude that considerable ambiguity exists concerning conceptualization of the listening construct, and that further investigation of measurement issues involved in the theory of the receiving component of listening should be undertaken.     

Impact of the Most Frequently Reported Traumatic Events on Community Mental Health Clients

This survey of 354 community mental health clients examined the relative impact of client self-reported events that they deemed “most traumatic” for predicting posttraumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) symptom severity. Results of the voluntary survey revealed the most traumatic lifetime events to be (in descending order of frequency): sudden death of a loved one, sexual abuse, physical abuse, suicide attempt, and having been in a serious/life-threatening accident. These factors were then tested for gender differences, and regression models were developed to test the predictive power of traumatic events relative to primary diagnosis, psychosocial well-being, other key psychiatric indicators, and drinking to cope with negative emotions. Results demonstrated that sexual abuse was reported to be among the strongest predictors of PTSD symptom severity. Separate regression models also revealed important gender differences. Implications for social work assessment of seriously mentally ill clients are suggested.     

Illuminating the Black Box From Within: Stakeholder Perspectives on Family Drug Court Best Practices

This article describes a mixed-methods, concept mapping study in an urban family drug court (FDC) designed to identify keys to FDC success from stakeholders’ perspectives. Participating FDC team members and clients developed a set of items they deemed integral to an FDC, thematically clustered the items, and then rated their relative importance. Using these data, cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling generated 6 themes perceived as contributing to positive outcomes. Resultant concept maps revealed that, compared to team members, clients view relational aspects of the FDC as more important. The findings point to implications for future research and social work practice.     

Absent and Problematic Men: Demographic Accounts of Male Reproductive Roles

Both men and women are important actors in bringing children into life, yet demographic studies on reproduction have tended to focus on women alone. The aims of this article are: 1) to describe why men have attracted limited interest as subjects of such research; 2) to evaluate existing research on men's roles in developing countries; and 3) to suggest directions for future research on male reproductive roles. Men, once neglected, are now included in research on fertility but from a narrow, overly problem‐oriented perspective. A review of the literature, however, raises questions about the adequacy of a problem oriented approach. The authors argue that demography should focus on men not only as women's partners, but also as individuals with distinct reproductive histories. In situations, now increasingly common, where the links between marriage and childbearing erode, the differences in men's and women's reproductive experiences and the costs and benefits of parenting will become more salient for future research.     

Variation in urban forest productivity and response to extreme drought across a large metropolitan region

The growth and survival of urban trees and maintenance of urban forest canopy are important considerations in adaptation of urban regions to climate change, especially in relation to increasing frequency of extreme climatic events such as drought. However, urban forest growth and drought response may vary considerably within large urban landscapes across gradients in land use, urbanization, forest composition and structure, and environmental factors. We quantified urban forest growth and resilience and resistance to extreme drought in the greater Chicago metropolitan region based on patterns of annual basal area production from increment core analysis. We evaluated variation in growth and drought response in relation to a broad urban to rural gradient, land-use categories, local-scale environmental predictors, and forest community characteristics. Urban forest growth varied greatly among land-use classes and major genera. Plot-level variation in productivity was predicted most strongly (R² = 0.53) by total plot-level basal area, canopy height, species composition, soil and ground-cover characteristics, and position within the urban-rural gradient. Urban forest growth was strongly related to regional meteorological drought. In periods of extreme drought conditions growth declined in the year of the drought (i.e., was not resistant to drought effects), but was highly resilient to drought in the subsequent 5 year period. Drought response did not vary consistently across land-use classes or among major genera, and site or community characteristics had little explanatory power in predicting drought response. Improved understanding of factors driving variation in urban forest growth and drought response could help inform adaptation-focused urban forest management strategies.

     

The Place of Single Session Family Consultations: Five Years’ Experience in Canberra

Open Day, in the form of two half day single session family clinics, has operated weekly in the ACT Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service since April 1993 and over a thousand families have been seen. Clinicians are often resistant to the concept of single sessions and frequently overestimate the amount of assistance that clients feel they require. However in an era of sharply increasing demand for services, selective use of single family sessions for milder problems, screened by a telephone intake process, has value to both families and workers. Telephone follow-ups of 100 families in 1994 and 70 families in 1996 found that single session family interviews were well accepted by the large majority of families seen. Clinicians see the program as reducing pressure from clients for early attention, enhancing client motivation when seen at crisis times, providing readily available consultation support from peers, increasing learning opportunities and building inter-disciplinary team work.