THREE APPROACHES TO FAMILY THERAPY: A STUDY OF CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE*

The literature on professional development suggests that the process of segmentation or specialization within a profession logically accompanies the aggregation, dissemination and application of new and expanding bodies of knowledge. The present study empirically examines the extent and dimensions of this process of segmentation within the family therapy movement by comparing the belief and action systems of 1000 experienced family therapists oriented to one of three major models of family therapy. Two theses are suggested which may explain the findings depicting a unique patterning of similarities and differences among the three models; each implying different directives and implications for the continued growth of the interdisciplinary practice of family therapy.     

Assessing Cross-Media Impacts: A Comparative Risk Approach

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has developed a Cross-Media Comparative Risk Assessment model to address certain regulatory concerns. The model generates a Human and Ecological Risk Index for a facility releasing toxins into the environment. The risk indices are based on chemical fate and transport predictions, toxicity, population density, and ecological sensitive areas. The model can be used to rank facilities for inspection or as a tool to assess the progress of pollution prevention programs. Regulatory permitting departments can use the model to address the cross-media transfer of pollutants from one environmental compartment to another. The versatility of the model allows adaptation to each specific users needs.     

A Bayesian growth and yield model for slash pine plantations

We formulate a traditional growth and yield model as a Bayes model. We attempt to introduce as few new assumptions as possible. Zellner's Bayesian method of moments procedure is used, because the published model did not include any distributional assumptions. We generate predictive posterior samples for a number of stand variables using the Gibbs sampler. The means of the samples compare favorably with the predictions from the published model. In addition, our model delivers distributions of outcomes, from which it is easy to establish measures of uncertainty, such as highest posterior density regions.     

Management Information Systems and Corporate Planning

If we accept the correlation between MIS and computer based systems then the corporate planner has to consider the impact on his own company of a major new function. In so far as computers and the associated highly paid staff are concerned, the planner is certainly threatened with a major cost growth area that develops a momentum of its own. He may need all his energy to contain this growth in highly expensive resources to a scale that matches the company's overall operations. On the other hand an emphasis on management information and redesigned systems may lead to radical redesign and improvement in profitability of a company's operations. These two aspects are different sides of the same coin and in the future the corporate planner will play a dominant part in determining whether a company enjoys the benefits as well as incurs the costs of a sophisticated MIS.     

Remembering the lizard: reconstructing sexuality in the rooms of narcotics anonymous

The crack epidemic was devastating to poor American communities in part because of the destruction wrought by the system of exchanging sex for drugs, which was a key feature of the crack-use culture. Sex-for-drugs exchanges were often conducted under unsafe circumstances and were linked to the spread of AIDS and other STDs, as well as unplanned pregnancies. The existence of this alternative system of sexual relationships threatened the economic viability of established commercial sex work and undermined the status and power of women. Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings helped men and women recover from crack addiction through a well-described 12-step process. Described as the rooms, these time- and space-specific encounters helped people become sober in the context of neighborhoods that were centers of the drug trade. Because of the key role of sex in the crack culture, transformation of sexual relationships was essential to establishing and maintaining sobriety. The manner in which the rooms of NA influence the sexuality and lifeworld of addicted people is explored using Barker's theory of ecological psychology.     

Major factors influencing HIV/AIDS project evaluation

This article aimed at finding out if participatory processes (group discussions, enactments, and others) do make a valuable contribution in communication-based project implementation/evaluation and the fight against HIV/AIDS. A case study backed by documentary analysis of evaluation reports and occasional insights from interviews stood as the main methods. To identify values, the state of beneficiaries prior to and after project implementation/evaluation was compared. Participatory processes were noted to have created an enabling environment for project beneficiaries to become activists for social change, leading to the limiting of the spread of HIV/AIDS through sexual behavior and a change of attitude--the essence required for successful intervention. Group participatory processes were also noted to have contributed in overriding, to a great extent, limitations arising from sociodemographic differences in the attainment of project objectives and limitations arising from differences in forms of evaluation (internal versus external evaluators).     

Consensual Versus Heterogeneous Conceptions of Nationhood: The Role of Citizenship Regimes and Integration Policies Across 21 European Countries

Conceptions of nationhood (i.e., who is accepted as a member of the national ingroup) are known to be more open in countries with inclusive citizenship and integration policies. Yet, surprisingly, up to now no research has investigated whether the sharedness of these conceptions is related to national policies. Therefore, relying on data from the 2013 International Social Survey Programme, the present study examined to which extent individuals living in 188 regions of 21 European countries share similar conceptions of who is a “true” member of the nation. Both ethnic (e.g., having national ancestry) and civic (e.g., respecting national laws and institutions) criteria were considered. Multilevel analyses revealed that in countries with more inclusive policies (with inclusive citizenship regimes, and where immigrants are granted more political rights) the average regional importance granted to ethnic criteria was lower, and conceptions were more heterogeneous (i.e., less shared). Civic criteria—that are achievable—were deemed more important. This can explain the lower heterogeneity of civic conceptions of nationhood and the lack of impact of national policies (though the average regional importance of these criteria was higher where immigrants had more rights). Overall, these results suggest that inclusive as opposed to exclusive settings leave more room for differing worldviews.

     

Detecting Directionality in Time Series

Abstract

Directionality can be seen in many stationary time series from various disciplines, but it is overlooked when fitting linear models with Gaussian errors. Moreover, we cannot rely on distinguishing directionality by comparing a plot of a time series in time order with a plot in reverse time order. In general, a statistical measure is required to detect and quantify directionality. There are several quite different qualitative forms of directionality, and we distinguish: rapid rises followed by slow recessions; rapid increases and rapid decreases from the mean followed by slow recovery toward the mean; directionality above or below some threshold; and intermittent directionality. The first objective is to develop a suite of statistical measures that will detect directionality and help classify its nature. The second objective is to demonstrate the potential benefits of detecting directionality. We consider applications from business, environmental science, finance, and medicine. Time series data are collected from many processes, both natural and anthropogenic, by a wide range of organizations, and directionality can easily be monitored as part of routine analysis. We suggest that doing so may provide new insights to the processes.     

Social,Relational and Network Determinants of Unprotected Anal Sex and HIV Testing Among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Beirut,Lebanon

Objectives: We examined the social, relational and network determinants of condom use and HIV testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Beirut. Methods: Two-hundred thirteen men were recruited via respondent driven sampling and administered a survey. Results: Sixty-four percent reported unprotected anal intercourse (UAI), including 23% who had UAI with unknown HIV status partners (UAIU); 62% of participants had tested for HIV. In multivariate analysis, being in a relationship was associated with UAI and HIV testing; lower condom self-efficacy was associated with UAIU and HIV testing; gay discrimination was associated with UAIU; MSM disclosure was associated with UAI, UAIU and HIV testing; and network centralization was associated with HIV testing. Conclusions: Multi-level social factors influence sexual health in MSM.     

A PLAGUE ON THE PANOPTICON: Surveillance and power in the global information economy

With technological advances in data-manipulation, the increased 'informability' of our daily lives and the potential for social management, surveillance has become a key site for understanding the workings of power within the global informational economy. Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon has, courtesy of Foucault, become a dominant metaphor in surveillance studies. This central eye, aimed at the moral reform of institutionalized bodies and operating through a de facto closure of individual agency, tends to limit our conception of the complex ways surveillance serves and disrupts power. Through analysis of commercial and workplace surveillance, this paper shows that power is contested and agency never completely closed down. To comprehend this negotiated relationship, an alternative framework - 'plague management' - is presented. This envisions surveillance within a social setting operated by multiple agents who themselves are open to the gaze of those surveyed. The aim of this project is to categorize rather than to reform and cure, and moreover space is available for resistance. On the global scale, new technologies have opened up space for informal, local surveillances to be effectively linked to media and Internet audiences. These 'surveillance networks', informal alliances of a variety of actors, have the potential to radically alter orthodox relations of power by evading the information controls of the state and connecting a local gaze with the global community. This paper concludes that although surveillance studies has rightly been concerned with the control capacities of IT, a balance must be actively sought with the facilitative, enabling and even democratic impulses nascent in the new technology.