Brief Family Therapy: A Critique of Kinston and Bentovim

There has been a growing interest in the use of brief family therapy with children. Despite this increased interest, research into the effectiveness of this approach appears to have lagged behind clinical practice. The present paper critically reviews a study by Kinston and Bentovim (1978) which could be viewed as typical in the area of brief family therapy. Analysis of Kinston and Bentovim's investigation revealed serious methodological deficiencies and raised some important clinical issues in brief family therapy studies. These include the importance of training in family therapy, the use of a consistent theoretical framework, and flexibility in the application of techniques. On the basis of this review, recommendations are made that future investigations of brief family therapy follow the guidelines necessary for valid psychotherapy research.     

Children's standards for judging their own facial expressions of emotion

This study examined three- to seven-year-old children's abilities to recognize and label their own facial expressions of emotion. Each child posed four facial expressions (Happy, Sad, Angry, and Scared) which were photographed with a Polaroid camera. The child then selected each expression from the array of his/her own photos and labeled the facial expression of each photo. In addition to children's self-evaluations, the photo set's expressive content was evaluated by a panel of adult raters. Happy was the expression easiest for children to pose; Scared was the most difficult. Abilities involved in evaluating one's own facial expression (i.e., recognizing and labeling) appear not to be acquired simultaneously with the ability to pose the expression. Not all children conformed to adult standards in evaluating their own expressions. Nearly one-fifth of the children studied exhibited evidence of an idiosyncratic expressive scheme for at least one of their facial expressions.     

Characteristics of Older Adult Problem Gamblers Calling a Gambling Helpline

Background Few investigations have characterized groups of older adults with gambling problems, and published reports are currently limited by small samples of older adult problem gamblers. Gambling helplines represent a widespread mechanism for assisting problem gamblers to move into treatment settings. Given data from older adult problem gamblers in treatment, we hypothesized that older as compared with younger adult problem gamblers calling a gambling helpline would be less likely to report gambling-related problems.Design and methods Logistic regression analyses were performed on data obtained from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2001, inclusive, from callers with gambling problems (N = 1,084) contacting the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling Helpline.Results Of the 1,018 phone calls used in the logistic regression analyses, 168 (16.5%) were from older adults and 850 (83.5%) from younger adults. Age-related differences were observed in demographic features, types and patterns of gambling reported as problematic, gambling-related problems and psychiatric symptoms, substance use problems, patterns of indebtedness, and family histories of addictive disorders. Older as compared with younger adult problem gamblers were more likely to report having lower incomes, longer durations of gambling, fewer types of problematic gambling, and problems with casino slot machine gambling and less likely to report gambling-related anxiety, family problems, illegal behaviors and arrests, drug problems, indebtedness to bookies or acquaintances, family histories of drug abuse, and problems with casino table gambling.Conclusions Older as compared with younger adult problem gamblers calling a gambling helpline differ on many clinically relevant features. The findings suggest the need for improved and unique prevention and treatment strategies for older adults with gambling problems.     

Teacher-Based Racial Discrimination: The Role of Racial Pride and Religiosity Among African American and Caribbean Black Adolescents

This study explored the extent to which private regard and religiosity beliefs serve as protective factors for school bonding among African American and Caribbean black adolescents who experience racial discrimination in school. Findings are drawn from a nationally representative sample of (n = 810) African American and (n = 360) Caribbean black adolescents (52% girls) aged 13–17 (M_age = 15, SD = 1.42) years. Results suggest that perceiving racial discrimination from teachers was associated with lower levels of school bonding for African American and Caribbean black adolescents. For African American adolescents, perceiving more racial discrimination from teachers and reporting lower private regard beliefs was associated with less school bonding. The findings for Caribbean black adolescents revealed that endorsing moderate levels of religiosity and perceiving higher rates of teacher discrimination was associated with less school bonding. The developmental significance and implications for future research are discussed.     

Fabulachia: urban,black female experiences and higher education in Appalachia

Abstract

This article draws on focus group conversations with black female college students attending a small, liberal arts institution in Kentucky. Based primarily on group interviews and discussions, as well as observations and analysis – a theoretical domain (referred to throughout the article as ‘Fabulachia’) emerged as a site-specific outcome of events and ideas regarding race, gender and identity experienced by the research participants. Specifically, ‘Fabulachia’ functions as a theoretical hybrid space in which urban (e.g. ‘ghetto fabulous’) black college student-voices find a sense of empowerment as they construct their own narratives of leaving ‘the hood’ to attend college in rural Appalachia. This project revises and updates previous research on race and rural identity/ies in order to situate the urban black female experience into an Appalachian context. Drawing on hip hop feminism and urban education based theoretical paradigms, the Fabulachia study seeks to give voice to black females in contemporary Appalachia, with attention to their self-proclaimed ‘ghetto fabulous’ identities honed in and through their urban upbringings. The unique experiences of (Fabulachian) black females are an important and largely absent part of larger conversations of the growing body of Urban education research that seeks to situate the black student/black youth and schooling experience in the US. In the Fabulachia study, a group of black female students shared personal narratives (part-oral history and part direct response) to prompts and queries about the role of hip hop culture, race and gender identity in their lives. They also discussed and debated what it means to be a black female in contemporary (often racist) Appalachia, and about how their families and urban surroundings influenced their processes of being and becoming in the context of higher educational achievement.     

Supervisors’ Perception of Vicarious Trauma and Growth in Australian Refugee Trauma Counsellors

ABSTRACT

Vicarious trauma is a well-accepted phenomenon supported by more than 20 years of research, yet the body of research on the positive impact, known as vicarious post-traumatic growth, is relatively small. Based on a metasynthesis of qualitative peer-reviewed vicarious trauma studies, Cohen and Collens propose a model of the co-occurrence of vicarious trauma and vicarious post-traumatic growth. This model was examined through a qualitative study involving 11 interviews with supervisors of refugee trauma counsellors working in Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (FASSTT) member agencies. This research project both reviewed the model from the perspective of experienced supervisors and illuminated what occurred within the supervision process to manage vicarious trauma and encourage vicarious post-traumatic growth. While the research project affirmed aspects of the model, the failure of the model to consider socio-political factors limited its applicability to FASSTT agencies.

IMPLICATIONS

• FASSTT clinical supervisors engage in supervision in a manner that may assist counsellors to process how their clients’ trauma disclosures impact on their levels of stress and change their perception of self, their role, and their worldview.

• Including recognition of the influence of the socio-political context of refugee trauma and trauma recovery may be an important additional component of supervision practice.

     

Parents' experiences with child protection during pregnancy and post-birth

Limited research has directly sought the input of parents involved in the child protection system during pregnancy and with their infants. As the focus of these policies and practices, parents have a unique and important insight not available to others, so it is vital to obtain their input. As part of a larger Australian study, qualitative interviews were undertaken with 13 parents asking about their views and experiences. Parents predominantly became involved with child protection services during pregnancy through a prenatal report. Parents who previously had their newborn removed from their care described it as sudden and unexpected, leaving them distressed and unsupported post-removal, with a growing list of requirements for them to see their baby or for restoration to be considered. Domestic violence was a particular issue of concern for some mothers who expressed distress that their partners, perpetrators of violence, were allowed access to their infant with fewer requirements than for them. Improvements recommended by the parents included greater communication and preparation for the removal, better recognition of improvements in their situations and increased supports to be provided to parents both pre- and post-removal. Parental experiences provide an important guide to improving child protection practice with these families.     

Responding to joint attention as a developmental catalyst: Longitudinal associations with language and social responsiveness

Joint attention (JA), infants' ability to engage in triadic attention with another person and a separate object or event, emerges in infancy. Responding to joint attention (RJA) develops earlier than initiating joint attention (IJA) and may benefit from a reconceptualization from a competence to a skill that varies in performance. Investigating associations between RJA performance and important skills of toddlerhood such as language, social responsiveness, and executive function (EF) in typically developing samples can better elucidate how RJA may serve as a developmental precursor to later dimensional skills, with implications for both typical and atypical development. Here, 210 (82% White) infants completed the Dimensional Joint Attention Assessment (DJAA), a naturalistic play-based assessment of RJA, at 8–15 months. At 16–38 months social responsiveness, verbal ability, and EF were assessed. Multilevel models showed that DJAA scores were associated with later verbal abilities and parent-reported social responsiveness. Exploratory analyses showed trend-level associations between RJA and EF. Results establish the content validity of the DJAA as a measure of RJA, and longitudinal associations with later verbal ability and social responsiveness. Future work should examine EF emergence and consolidation, and RJA and later EF associations.     

Statistics in Management Education

Results of two surveys are presented and indicate the statistical knowledge of past students from Master of Business Administration programmes, their usage of statistics together with their opinions about the statistical content of Master of Business Administration degree courses. These views are contrasted with the results of a second survey of academic staff who teach statistics on such programmes. We find that past students recommend a greater statistical content than is currently taught but, paradoxically, most of the academic staff associated with teaching the subject believe that the statistical content of their programme will decrease in future years.