People in a World Between: Psychodynamic Themes in the Treatment of Bisexual Patients

Normal sexual behavior is on a continuum—with homosexuality at one end, heterosexuality at the other, and bisexuality at the midpoint. Most people have some bisexual potential. A bisexual person is capable of having intimacy with either a man or women but may be made uncomfortable by the ambiguity of their libidinal longings, feel different, isolated, and long to make a clearer gender choice—homosexuality or heterosexuality. The sacrifice to the self and the psychic conflicts that block such a lifestyle resolution brings these bisexuals into treatment and clinicians are confronted with a need to apply psychodynamic theory in new and more flexible ways. Using two case studies this paper discusses forms of androgynous transference, pregnancy fantasy, and dream interpretation that can unfold in the psychotherapy of bisexual patients.     

The Conjoint Session as a Tool for the Resolution of Separation-Individuation in the Adult Mother-Daughter Relationship

In the present article, two case reports are used to examine the adult mother-daughter relationship from the point of view of the mother. The two mothers, in midlife, looked to their adult daughters to perform selfobject functions. The daughters of these patients felt threatened by their mother's desire for emotional dependence and had emotionally distanced themselves from their mothers. Emotional estrangement from their daughters had caused these patients to experience feelings of depression severe enough to seek treatment. The article describes the use of a conjoint mother-daughter session within the context of the mother's individual treatment to help these mothers to recognize the unresolved separation-individuation in their relationships with their daughters and to promote a healthier connection in the mother-daughter relationship.     

A competency approach to curriculum building: a social work mission

This article discusses The John A. Hartford Foundation CSWE SAGE-SW Project through an historical reflection of curriculum development within the profession. The project's relationship to several curriculum building models is also explored. A curriculum development tool for combining the Hartford Competencies with theCSWEEPAS requirements is provided.     

The Psychodynamics of a Clinician's Hope: A Delicate Balance

A clinician's sense of hope is not easily maintained in the therapeutic situation. Exploring the psychodynamics of hope in two interviews—one focusing on a community mental health psychotherapist and the other on a school social worker—this paper proposes that maintaining hope requires an intense affect state, an active blend of emotional and intellectual reflections in the mind of the clinician. Ongoing hope is the product of a delicate balance between a clinician's tolerance for the tragic in life and the expectations of positive treatment outcome. These reflections occur in an intrapsychic space, a point of juncture between the clinician's primary process longings/fears and secondary process thoughts. Hope is constructed in this space. It gains its language, form, and substance from the integration of personal experience, client observation and clinical theory. Reflective activity helps a clinician avoid disabling transference to a client and promotes identifications that lead to realistic treatment goals.     

How much do we count? interpretation and error-making in the decennial census

Following a critique of the 1990 decennial census procedures, we conducted a field study among low-income, inner-city residents in 1991 to examine how they conceptualized and managed the civic task of census response. Interpretations about the purpose and meaning of the census, about commitment to the task, and about connection to government, singly and together with literacy skills (e.g., reading and general literacy competence), were associated with errors that are not detectable by evaluative methodologies used regularly by the Census Bureau. The validity and reliability of census data, and possibly other self-administered survey research, will be increased by greater use of knowledge about both interpretation and literacy skills in formulating data collection procedures.     

Untangling the commonalities and differences between domestic cross-regional experience and international experience in shaping speed of internationalization

Prior studies have paid attention to the influence of domestic experience on internationalization, for which domestic experience primarily refers to the accumulation of internationalization knowledge from industrial peers or partners at home. We argue that the commonalities and differences between international experience and domestic cross-regional experience have not been fully incorporated in previous frameworks in the literature. Thus, in untangling the commonalities, we purposively differentiate domestic experience into two dimensions, i.e., repetition-based experience and diversity-based experience, to investigate the contingent role of making domestic cross-regional investments in shaping the relationship between international experience and the speed of internationalization. We expect that these two dimensions of domestic experience will moderate the relationship between international experience and the speed of internationalization in a different way. More specifically, repetition-based experience has a negative moderating effect while diversity-based experience has a positive moderating effect. Further, considering the differences between international investments and domestic investments, we expect that the joint impacts of international experience and domestic cross-regional experience on internationalization speed are contingent on whether firms have sufficient resources to support multiple learning or whether institutions between the home country and foreign country is similar enough for cross-context application. We expect that financial slack and institutional distance between prior foreign entries' country and the home country play significant three-way moderating roles in setting boundaries for the relationship between domestic experience and international experience. Based on the analysis of 302 Chinese publicly listed firms from 2001 to 2014, the dynamic panel data regression results support our hypotheses. Overall, our simultaneous consideration of commonalities and differences between domestic investments and international investments sheds light on how MNCs learn from both international and domestic investments to speed up their foreign expansions.     

A probabilistic model for nonsymmetric correspondence analysis and prediction in contingency tables

Summary Nonsymmetric correspondence analysis is a model meant for the analysis of the dependence in a two-way continengy table, and is an alternative to correspondence analysis. Correspondence analysis is based on the decomposition of Pearson's Ф²-index Nonsymmetric correspondence analysis is based on the decomposition of Goodman-Kruskal's τ-index for predicatablity. In this paper, we approach nonsymmetric correspondence analysis as a statistical model based on a probability distribution. We provide algorithms for the maximum likelihood and the least-squares estimation with linear constraints upon model parameters. The nonsymmetric correspondence analysis model has many properties that can be useful for prediction analysis in contingency tables. Predictability measures are introduced to identify the categories of the response variable that can be best predicted, as well as the categories of the explanatory variable having the highest predictability power. We describe the interpretation of model parameters in two examples. In the end, we discuss the relations of nonsymmetric correspondence analysis with other reduced-rank models.     

Emerging from the cocoon of Romani pride: The first graduates of the Gandhi Secondary School in Hungary

Despite recent educational reforms in Hungary, only 33% of Roma who enter primary school subsequently enroll in secondary school, and a mere 0.2% progress to higher education. To address this situation, in 1994 the Gandhi Secondary School opened its doors as the first college preparatory school for Roma in Europe. In 2000, the school graduated 18 of its original 56 students. Based on interviews conducted in 2004 with 10 of these students, two of the school's founders and two teachers, this paper documents the graduates' reflections on their experiences during high school and beyond. Data revealed that students found a second family at the school—indeed a protective cocoon—but did not always feel equipped to handle the racism they encountered later in both the workplace and university.     

War and the contest over national identity

This paper looks at a recent historical moment in which the American national identity was defined and contested in the public arena. The Persian Gulf crisis of 1990‐91 presents a case in point in which official actors attempted to define the American character and in so doing prescribed particular actions necessary to fulfill what it means to be an American confidence. He described Americans as unique in esteemed values and America as the only country capable of leading the world. In so doing, he invited American participation in support for US military intervention. On the other side, the peace movement chose to emphasize American weaknesses, domestic problems, and the gullible nature of the American people. In so doing it attempted to shame Americans into supporting the anti‐war movement.     

Psychiatric nursing & medication adherence

A survey was developed to determine whether the rapidly changing context of mental health care has significantly influenced how psychiatric nurses assess and intervene in issues related to medication adherence. A sample of 126 psychiatric nurses working in Veterans Affairs mental health treatment facilities in northern California, Hawaii, and Nevada identified the most effective methods for tracking medication adherence, as well as successful adherence interventions. Despite the challenge imposed by changing work environments, psychiatric nurses use creative and innovative approaches to improve their patients' medication adherence. Interventions for enhancing patient adherence with prescribed regimens are identified. Essential role dimensions related to medication adherence defined by the nurses in this survey included providing medication education, tracking patient adherence, assessing medication effectiveness, providing individualized, tailored adherence interventions, and collaborating with other health care providers in medication planning. Study findings support using nurses to their full potential and highlight nurses' need for more educational opportunities and consultation with experts (e.g., clinical pharmacists).