Therapeutic Forgiveness: Developing a Model for Empowering Victims of Sexual Abuse

Forgiveness is increasingly popular in therapy as a way to facilitate healing, but there are definitional discrepancies and confusion regarding the degree to which it is conceptualized as either an interpersonal/relational or an independent/self-enhancing process. In this article forgiveness is conceptualized as an interpersonal process linked to apology or contrition on the part of the offender. Yet it is also independent. A model is described that was developed for the benefit of abuse victims whose offenders will not or cannot apologize. Using the model, victims can accomplish for themselves what would be accomplished for them through an apology.     

A Framework for Exploring Different Judgments of Social Need

Starting from the position that the source of definitions of social need must be examined, the paper suggests that it is also of value to analyse the sequential process through which a series of judgments about need is made by both consumers and providers of services. A framework is suggested by which the relationship between source and sequence of need judgments may be explored, and the factors influencing them identified. This framework is also used to clarify some ambiguities in the use of the term ‘need’, and to consider some implications for need studies. A consensus definition of need is offered in the light of this discussion.     

Re‐conceptualising the link between research and practice in social work: A literature review on knowledge utilisation

Despite the recent movement towards greater research use in many areas of social work, criticisms persist that decision making in practice is seldom informed by sound research evidence. Discourse about the research‐to‐practice gap in social work has tended to focus on the feasibility of evidence‐based practice for the profession, but has rarely drawn from the broader knowledge utilisation literature. There are important understandings to be gained from the knowledge utilisation field, which spans more than six decades of interdisciplinary research.This article introduces the wider knowledge utilisation literature to a social work audience. It considers the potential of this body of literature to facilitate research use in social work, as well as conceptual issues that may be hindering it from informing improvements to research utilisation in practice.     

Self-Reported Incidence of Physical Violence in College Students

Abstract

A survey of a college student population indicates that physical abuse is prevalent in our society. The self-reported data were found to be similar to that occurring in the literature on parent-reported child abuse, documenting that approximately one-third of college students had a history of moderate abuse and 5 to 10% had a history of a severe abuse during their developmental years. Through an awareness of its high prevalence, the health care provider will question a history of physical violence when evaluating a student with a medical or psychosocial complaint and appropriately plan a management program including therapeutic counseling to decrease the effect of the prior or current physical abuse.     

Male Juveniles with Sexual Behavior Problems: Are There Differences Among Racial Groups?

This study used archival data on a sample of 186,492 referrals from a southwestern state Juvenile Probation Commission to compare the characteristics of 5,439 male Black, Hispanic, and White juveniles with sexual behavior problems on the five most common sexual offenses in the data set. The characteristics of 181,053 juveniles of the three races without sexual behavior problems were also compared on the basis of the seven most common nonsexual offenses. The bases of comparison were the seven variables: reported incidence of sexual offenses, the primary caregivers or living arrangements, age, suspected sexual abuse, suspected emotional abuse, suspected physical abuse, and special education status, on which racial differences were found. Prevention and treatment implications of findings are discussed.