Cotrainers as Models of Relationships: Effects of the Outcome of Couples Therapy

This study investigated the generally neglected effects of the cotrainer relationship in studies of the outcome of couples communication training. Male-female cotrainer pairs modeled verbal dominance patterns similar or dissimilar to those of client couples. As hypothesized, changes in couples' speaking patterns after a two-hour workshop mirrored their trainers' models. Female-dominated couples exhibited greater modeling of dominance patterns, and male-dominated couples exposed to a dominant female trainer reported relatively negative impressions of both trainers. The need for cotrainers to be aware of the relationship models they present and clients' responses to these models is discussed.     

Therapeutic Change and Anorexia Nervosa: Views of a Family and a Therapist

Answers to the question ‘Why do people change in family therapy?’ remain somewhat elusive and may to some extent always remain partial. However, the perceptions of important participants in the therapeutic system, namely family members themselves, seem somewhat under-utilised. A regular examination and integration of the families' views may lead to enrichment of our understanding of this complex area. In this paper the therapist's (and therapy team's) views of the possible catalysts of change in therapy are compared with one family's ideas twelve months after termination of treatment. The family had attended for family therapy because the middle daughter had been suffering from anorexia nervosa.     

Pleasure,pressure and power: some contradictions of gendered sexuality1

The AIDS epidemic has encouraged public discussion of safer sex, but heterosexual young women have to negotiate sexual relationships with men in situations in which sex is defined largely in terms of men's needs and which lack notions of a positive female sexuality or female desires. Analysis of data from the Women, Risk and AIDS Project is interpreted to show both the range of pressures on young women to engage in sexual practices which are risky, violent or not pleasurable, but also the possibilities for young women to empower themselves in sexual relationships. Women's control over sexual safety is undermined by the dominance of male sexuality and women's compliance in satisfying men's desires. Empowerment is a contradictory and contested process requiring both critical reflection (intellectual empowerment) and the transforming of sexual experiences (experiential empowerment), but some young women are able to put into practice ways of negotiating safe and pleasurable sexual encounters with men.     

The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on People at Work: Existing Research and Issues

Despite the attention mergers and acquisition have received from financial and marketing strategists, the merger failure rate remains as high as ever. In light of the current wave of merger activity, it would seem an appropriate time to consider alternative explanations of merger failure, and assess the contribution which psychology can make to our understanding of mergers and acquisitions in addressing the essence of the activity; the positive combination of people and the fusion of organizational cultures.     

A Study of Youth Services Networks from a Political-Economy Perspective

ABSTRACT

Volunteers play a vital role in modern societies by boosting the labor force within both the public and private sectors. While the factors that may lead people to volunteer have been investigated in a number of studies, the means by which volunteering contributes to the well-being of such volunteers is poorly understood. It has been suggested through studies that focus on the absence of depression in volunteers that self-esteem and sense of control may be major determinants of the increased well-being reported by volunteers. This is consistent with the homeostatic model of subjective well-being, which proposes that self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control act as buffers that mediate the relationship between environmental experience and subjective well-being (SWB). Using personal well-being as a more positive measure of well-being than absence of depression, this study further explored the possible mediating role of self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control in the relationship between volunteer status and well-being. Participants (N = 1,219) completed a 97-item survey as part of the Australian Unity Wellbeing project. Variables measured included personal well-being, self-esteem, optimism, and a number of personality and psychological adjustment factors. Analyses revealed that perceived control and optimism, but not self-esteem, mediated the relationship between volunteer status and personal well-being.     

The Adaptive Success Identity Plan (ASIP): A Career Intervention for College Students

The Adaptive Success Identity Plan (ASIP) uses the construct of success identity as the core of a career intervention program. Three empirical studies (N > 2,000) explored the success identity construct and its application in a structured career intervention. Study 1 provided reliability and validity evidence of the measures. Study 2 indicated that programming efforts targeting family involvement, self-efficacy, and stress and time management should enhance a number of college outcomes. Study 3 found that students who received the ASIP intervention were more likely to use the success identity construct in defining their role in college success.     

Anxiety,burnout and coping styles in general hospital staff exposed to workplace aggression: A cyclical model of burnout and vulnerability to aggression

Although an increasing problem, the aggression ( physical assault, threatening behaviour and verbal aggression) directed toward general hospital staff rather than staff in psychiatric institutions has not been widely investigated. The present study first compared anxiety, coping styles and burnout according to the frequency of aggressive experiences. Second, a sub-sample was examined to determine any immediate after-effects from aggressive encounters. Healthcare staff ( n = 375) across professions completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Coping Responses Inventory, which were analysed according to the type and frequency of aggression experienced within the preceding year. There were no significant differences in levels of anxiety or in coping styles. However, significant differences were determined in levels of burnout. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were significantly higher in those staff more frequently victimized suggesting that aggressive encounters might lead to an increase in burnout. Equally, the converse might be true. Therefore, a cyclical model is put forward in which we propose that elevated levels of burnout from all sources might increase vulnerability to victimization. Increases in emotional exhaustion lead directly to an increase in depersonalization as a coping mechanism, which subsequently manifests as a negative behavioural change toward patients, thus rendering staff more vulnerable to further aggression.