Young African American Grandmothers: A Missed Developmental Stage

Abstract

In recent years the phenomenon of young black grand-motherhood is attracting the attention of social scientists in many disciplines. This problem stems from the fact that young unmarried teenage girls are giving birth and are thus making their young mothers grandmothers. The complexity of the problem mounts owing to the fact that many young grandmothers have not completed their own developmental tasks. This paper addresses some of the issues involved and provides strategies for social work intervention.     

A Qualitative Perspective of Family Resources Among Low Income,African American Grandmother–Caregivers

ABSTRACT

This ethnographic study describes a group of 7 low-income, African American, grandmother–caregivers' perceptions of family resources. An ethnographic design, enhanced by a genogram, captured those who were available and unavailable to provide support to the grandmother. The analysis used a constant comparative method to thematically capture grandmothers' perceptions of family support resources as absent, unavailable, dependent, and reliable support, and the circumstances that led to that status. The findings reveal that many African American grandmothers are rearing children with little family support, owing mainly to the devastation of negative social and economic conditions. The results suggest areas for improvement in social work assessment and intervention.     

Hardiness,Successful Aging,and HIV: Implications for Social Work

ABSTRACT

With dramatic developments in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, life expectancy is increasing, resulting in more middle-aged and older adults living with this disease. Little is known about the problems, and especially the strengths, of those living and aging with HIV. Hardiness is used in the gerontological literature to describe and explain how people age successfully, despite traumatic life events and chronic diseases. Similarly, the concept of hardiness may be used to guide clinicians, researchers, and clients on how to age successfully with HIV. This article provides a review of hardiness in aging and HIV, and emphasizes its importance in facilitating successful aging with this disease. Conceptual and methodological concerns in studying hardiness and successful aging are addressed. Potential interventions and clinical implications for social work are posited for augmenting qualities of hardiness in people aging with HIV.     

Countertransference: A vehicle for reciprocal growth and repair in women psychotherapists treating women patients

In 1986 research the author described a constellation of gender related issues emergent in the transference and countertransference of women psychotherapists treating women patients. Shared gender-linked issues appear to foster special resonance between women psychotherapists and their patients. This paper posits that shared themes in the interplay of transference and countertransference can be reparative and growthful for the psychotherapist as well as her patient. Three examples from the author's clinical experience are used to demonstrate the process by which countertransference can give the patient greater access to unconscious material while simultaneously promoting growth in the therapist.     

Selfobject intervention in brief treatment with patients inappropriate for traditional brief psychotherapy models

This article discusses brief psychodynamic intervention with patients who are likely not to benefit from a primarily verbal, insight-oriented or explorational treatment. The major models of brief psychodynamic psychotherapy and their range of effective applicability are discussed. The function of selfobjects throughout the life-cycle are explored. Interventions designed around these selfobject functions are presented for patients unlikely to benefit from a more traditional approach. These interventions are developed through a thorough assessment of the patient's difficulties and include the setting of time limits for treatment (i.e. both within sessions and for the treatment as a whole). Interventions specifically directed toward reestablishing effective selfobject functioning in the mirroring, idealizing and twinship/alterego spheres are also presented. Vignettes are used to illustrate such interventions.     

Integration of Daniel Stern's developmental theory into a model of couples therapy

Therapists commonly use a combination of techniques derived from psychodynamic, cognitive and systemic approaches in their attempts to treat the resistant patterns brought into therapy by couples. In this paper we utilize Dan Stern's concept of RIGS (Representations of Interactions that have been Generalized) to generate an integrative model of conjoint therapy. The model presented here presents a framework within which these modalities can be effectively integrated.     

Cultural sensitivity treatment and research issues with black adolescent drug users

Adolescent drug abuse is one of the nations' leading social problems. Secondary intervention programs have rarely designed treatments to address specific issues pertinent to the black adolescent drug user. Among these special issues is cultural sensitivity in clinical practice and research. A review of the research literature revealed no empirical work that has been conducted in the area of cultural sensitivity as it relates to black male adolescent substance abusers.The author proposes methodological considerations as applied to four phases of treatment: assessment, planning intervention, implementation, and termination and gives suggestions for how culturally sensitive therapeutic intervention can be conducted with chemically dependent adolescent black males.     

The uninterpreted rage: Protecting the therapeutic alliance in the treatment of borderline patients

After reviewing differing approaches to the treatment of the borderline patient, this paper describes the treatment of a patient whose negative transferences are not interpreted by the therapist; rather, the focus is on maintaining the therapeutic alliance via the awareness of the kinship selfobject function of the therapist and merger with the idealized selfobject.There is no end unless the bottom of the trough has been reached, unless the thing feared has been experienced. (Winnicott in Casement, 1991, pp. 129–130). As a matter of fact in these cases it is of decisive importance for the psychotherapist to remain clearly differentiated from the core of psychopathology—if he cannot achieve this separation and becomes drawn into the patient's delusions, he loses his tie to the healthy remainder of the patient's psyche and thus his therapeutic leverage. The maintenance of a realistic, friendly relationship with the psychotherapist is thus of crucial importance in the treatment of the psychoses and borderline states ... (Kohut, 1971, p. 30).     

What Are Strategies to Advance Policies Supporting Family Caregivers? Promising Approaches From a Statewide Task Force

Family caregivers are the cornerstone of the long-term supports and services infrastructure in the United States, yet they often contend with many challenges related to this role. Public policy has been slow to change, leaving many caregivers vulnerable to health and economic consequences. Using models of policy making, we identify barriers to advancing policies that support family caregivers and overcome policy drift. We draw on discussions from the California Task Force on Family Caregiving as it prepares state policy recommendations. Identified strategies include identification of caregivers in health care and workplace settings to promote political consciousness raising, collecting and reporting on data that frame caregiving as a policy problem, borrowing policies and language from overlapping fields to emulate their policy successes, and presenting supportive caregiver policies as solutions to other policy problems. By presenting specific strategic approaches to advance caregiving policies, we provide tools to address the growing gap between caregiver needs and policy responses.