War Traumas and Community Violence

SUMMARY

This cross-sectional survey study examined the relationship between exposure to war traumas and community violence and academic, behavioral, and psychological well-being among Khmer refugee adolescents. The 144 adolescents studied were exposed to high rates of violence. One third had symptoms indicative of PTSD and two thirds had symptoms indicative of clinical depression. The number of violent events they were exposed to significantly predicted their level of PTSD, personal risk behaviors, and GPA, but not their level of depression or behavior problems reported at school. Perceived social support made a difference in the lives of these youth and predicted better outcomes. The implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Cognitive model of patient aggression towards health care staff: The patient's perspective

Aggression towards health care staff has become the focus for research as well as for government intervention. Negative effects upon staff and organizations have been established, yet few detailed explanations are offered for this aggression, and none represents the patient's perspective. This paper presents a model from the patient's perspective that takes account of situational variables, while also focusing upon patient cognitions. It also considers physiological responses related to arousal that might underpin aggression in an anxiety-provoking situation. In a previous study the frequency with which aggression was preceded by some anxiety-provoking event and the extent to which assailants displayed diminished cognitive processing were established; these were incorporated into the model. Increased anxiety commonly experienced by patients can have a negative effect upon cognitive processing. Anxiety generates a hyper-vigilance for threatening stimuli, induces selective attentional bias for threat, and causes a narrowing of attention, thus reducing cues and information upon which to make accurate appraisals and attributions. With such impairments, patients may make negative rather than positive attributions regarding actions of staff, which are frequently anxiety provoking. Thus, patients perceive staff behaviour as threatening rather than benign, and in the absence of positive attributions it will invoke an aggressive response. What health care staff perceive as aggression may be seen by patients as a defence against perceived attack. Changes in policy that take this into account may reduce future aggressive incidents.     

Violence towards psychiatric staff: a comparison of gender, job and environmental characteristics in England and Sweden

Workplace violence is receiving increasing attention world-wide, and studies suggest that, for example, nurses and women may be more abused at work than psychiatrists and men. However, there is a lack of cross-cultural data on the topic. Further, relatively few studies have addressed the influence of environmental factors in the occurrence of violence and within a cross-cultural context. The present study compares among other things the nature of violence encountered by female/male staff (nurses and psychiatrists) in Sweden and England. Psychiatric personnel from England (301 nurses; 74 psychiatrists) and Sweden (745 nurses; 306 psychiatrists) were assessed cross-sectionally by means of a questionnaire covering various areas (e.g. nature of violence). The univariate analyses showed an association between being abused and male gender, young age, being British and a nurse, physical and psychological strain. The multivariate logistic regression confirmed that British nurses and male nurses were the main risk group for exposure to violence. Further, the multivariate analysis indicated that the odds of being abused increased with increasing age, physical strain and dissatisfaction with quality of care. Interventions thus need to be sensitive to gender differences, societal context, professional roles and interactions between them. Further, clinical supervision and team functioning, organizational and environmentally friendly settings may help to reduce violence in mental health care.     

Is Partner Violence Worse in the Context of Control?

M. P. Johnson’s (1995) proposal that there are two qualitatively distinct types of intimate partner violence—intimate terrorism and situational couple violence—has been an influential explanation for disparate findings on sex symmetry in domestic violence. This study examines whether this typology increases our ability to explain variations in the negative outcomes of partner violence as compared with the use of a continuous measure of violence. This study also considers whether the use of control to differentiate between types of violence helps to explain the negative consequences of partner violence. The results, based on analyses of data on 4,575 married women from National Violence Against Women survey, indicate mixed support for Johnson’s argument for a qualitative distinction between IT and SCV.     

浅析家庭暴力问题的社会工作介入

家庭暴力已成为一个严重的社会问题，全社会都在寻求解决家庭暴力的途径和方法。作为专业化解决社会问题的一门虚用社会科学，社会工作提供了解决家庭暴力的新视角。本文论证了社会工作介入家庭暴力的必要性和可行性，并探讨了社会工作介入家庭暴力的途径。     

Borderline Personality Disorder and Access to Services: A Crucial Social Justice Issue

A diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) can significantly affect access to services. Two Australian approaches to addressing this crucial social justice issue are compared: Project AIR (Affect Integration and Recovery), exemplifying changes within the existing psychiatric paradigm; and Adults Surviving Child Abuse's Practice Guidelines for Treatment of Complex Trauma and Trauma Informed Care and Service Delivery. Changes within the existing paradigm do not address stigma and fragmented services that create barriers to service. By comparison, the Guidelines represent a trauma informed perspective that recognises underlying complex trauma for most with the BPD diagnosis. Implications for services are discussed.     

Secrecy Surrounding the Physical Abuse of Child Athletes in Australia

Over the past two decades there has been a growing awareness that sport may not be a positive experience for all children. For example, we know that some children experience sexual abuse in the context of organised sport, and that these offences are often committed by trusted adults, including coaches and club officials. However, less attention has been given to the physical abuse of child athletes. This paper presents a study that explored children's experiences of organised sport, as recounted by young people between the ages of 18 and 25 years in Australia. The study explored the experience of child physical abuse in organised sport including violence, overtraining, and training while injured. A mixed methods research design produced 107 survey responses and 10 in-depth interviews with young adults. Most respondents reported the positive impact that participating in sport had had on their development, but more than a third of the respondents also described experiences of overtraining, being forced to train when injured or of direct physical violence. Drawing upon a thematic analysis of the qualitative data, a conceptual model has been developed and is presented to assist in the understanding of the dynamic of secrecy, which may facilitate ongoing physical harm to children in this context.     

The Path through Bullying—A Process Model from the Inside Story of Bullies in Hong Kong Secondary Schools

The process of how youngsters become bullies and slowly withdraw the behavior was explored through in-depth interviews of eight bullies in a secondary school in Hong Kong. Most respondents sympathized with the victims initially. They started to bully others for various reasons. Gains of security, power, material benefit, fun, and emotional release reinforced the behavior. Inhibition was influenced by school discipline and family response. The relative forces of the encouraging and inhibiting factors in the process determined the perpetuation or termination of the behavior. A four-phase model is developed to explain the dynamics. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

情境、情感与力:暴力产生的一个解释框架

文章考察了中国农村社会初级关系圈中与纠纷、争吵、不公、委屈、怨恨等道德情感性因素勾连在一起的暴力事件。基于情境、情感和力三个因素,构建了SEPV分析框架,以此来解释此类暴力行为产生及再生产的机制。研究发现,力的不均衡容易促发暴力行为,并且在纠纷演变过程中,当事人双方的力并不是一个恒量,而是会随着情境的不同而发生改变;负面情感是暴力行为的重要促动力,其强度在纠纷演变过程中同样不断变化;情境是暴力产生的环境因素,对情感和力的施与产生刺激或抑制作用。