Reviving the stalemated treatment through a self psychology re-analysis

Stalemated psychoanalytic treatment can be sustained for hears when patient and analyst work in an experience-distant analytic mode. When this occurs patients feel misunderstood, despairing and hopeless, yet, are unable to change their situation. The case of a patient who undertook a reanalysis with a self psychologist is presented to demonstrate how the empathic, experience-near treatment mode enabled the patient to overcome the stalemated problems of the first analysis. The experience of feeling understood was crucial for the deepening of the analytic work, for the furthering of the selfobject transference and for the working through of the fixations and arrests in development.Presented on November 2, 1990, at the Third National Clinical Conference of the Committee on Psychoanalysis of the National Federation of Societies for Clinical Social Work.     

State policy decisions in the 1990s with implications for the financial well-being of later-life families

This study explores trends and patterns in states' policy decisions affecting the economic well-being of later-life individuals and families in the United States in recent decades, focusing on the 1990s. Rules were selected from the areas of inheritance, estate taxes, homestead exemptions, Medicaid eligibility, estate recovery, and filial responsibility. Results indicate an increasing use of a broad definition of family, one implying that spouses, the nuclear family, extended kin, step-relations, and sometimes in-laws constitute an ongoing collective whose members share economic resources and risks over their lives and beyond. Despite this global trend, states varied in their rules addressing intrafamilial financial obligations and families' accountability to states. While some seemed interested in facilitating the conservation of familial resources, others seemed willing to minimize public assistance while coercing kin into accepting financial responsibility for one another. Research was suggested to answer questions raised by this study.     

The Contribution of Practice Skills in a Care Management Process for Family Caregivers

Practice skills are believed to improve practice, yet, little is known about the extent to which skills affect outcomes. This exploratory study examined the extent to which 3 practice skills specific to a care management context for family caregivers, including communication skills, supportive skills, and linking skills, were associated with fidelity of a care management process. Twenty-one care managers who used a single process to serve 113 family caregivers were included in the study. Bivariate correlation analysis revealed the 3 practice skills are positively associated with process fidelity. Implications for social work practice, education, and research are discussed.     

Dilemmas of public participation in science policy

Public participation is ubiquitous in many contemporary democratic societies – used for many purposes, and in many contexts, with particular and growing relevance for policy-making on science and technology issues. However, there is a dearth of evidence as to its qualities and benefits. We contend that the implementation and interpretation of participation faces a number of dilemmas that – together –undermine its successful adoption. In this paper, we identify and discuss six specific dilemmas that – together – may militate against the practice and development of good quality participation in science and technology policy, notably dilemmas of Timing; of Relevance; of Representation; of Evaluation; of Criticism; and of Impact. We theoretically account for these dilemmas and discuss their likely impacts. Finally, we provide some suggestions as to how the participation community might attempt to pre-empt difficulties due to these dilemmas and demonstrate participation effectiveness.     

Parents Beyond Oceans: A Social Group Work Curriculum for Chinese Immigrant Parents

ABSTRACT

Parents Beyond Oceans is a unique curriculum that was first implemented in 2011 as part of The Center for Family Life’s efforts to work with Chinese immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York. Drawing on best practices in social group work and culturally competent social work, the curriculum creates a space where parents can share and process their immigration stories and traumas. Pre- and posttesting show that after participating in the program, parents felt less isolated, more a part of community that treated them like equals, and more accepting of cultural differences in parenting practices.     

Biosocial models of deviant behavior

This article describes biological influences on criminality. It presents illustrative data suggesting a biological sex difference in criminality and heritable differences in this trait among individuals. Next, methods of isolating environmental influences are described, including shared environmental effects, genex environment interactions, and nonshared environmental effects. Using research designs that include just one level of genetic relatedness (e.g., full siblings) is scientifically a poor choice. Using environment-friendly behavior genetic research designs is both proper and would offer many avenues for environmental analysis.This article is based on a paper, presented at the National Institutes of Health Workshop on Biosocial Models of Demographic Behavior, 12 October 1994.     

Visions of power: ideology and practice in the American garage sale

In this article, we examine ideological statements reflected in, and to a small extent created by, people's participation in garage sales.¹ Although the article touches upon the economics of garage sales, its focus is on ideology, about how people understand what they are doing when they buy and sell, and how this relates to their more general perception of the social world and their position in it. The way people discuss their participation in garage sales tells a great deal about how they understand their worlds: patterns of work and consumption, claims (especially by women and the aged) that their daily activities have more dignity than is normally afforded them within society, a felt need for moral and practical networks. The expression of ‘oppositional culture’in the statements garage sale participants make to describe their lives is certainly underdeveloped. It is not free of the dominant ideology, cannot be the basis of class-conscious political practice and in present form poses little danger to any social institution (except perhaps department stores). Still it does contain, in shadowy form, seminal statements in contradiction to what is generally regarded as the dominant ideology. We will call these emerging elements ‘prefigurative cultural formations’, as in vague form they connote emergent social values. Further, we will argue that these prefigurative cultural formations are grouped into discrete ideological claims that we call ‘Visions of Power, each of which speaks to the empowerment of subordinate groups. We will discuss four specific Visions of Power: reclaiming control of one's work, creating a sense of social justice, beating the system, and feeling oneself a part of a nurturing community. Before attempting to demonstrate the utility of these concepts in understanding forms of belief reflected in garage sales and other informal economic activities, we will briefly explore our approach to ideology, and will attempt to situate it within the contemporary debate on the nature of ideology.