The Use of E‐mail in the Therapy Process

The therapeutic letter has a long history, with roots in psychoanalytic work and continuing application in family therapy. The advent of e‐mail has allowed another form for therapeutic written communication which, while incorporating the benefits of therapeutic letters, adds to these. It has also opened up some potential risks. This article incorporates a brief review of the literature covering therapeutic written communication and offers a case example where e‐mail was used as an adjunct in face‐to‐face therapy with a client who experienced attachment difficulties. This therapy was informed by systemic and psychoanalytic traditions. The authors explore a variety of technical matters including the timing and crafting of e‐mail responses, the integration of written communication with face‐to‐face therapy, impact on the therapeutic relationship and management of crisis. Ethical issues such as confidentiality and duty of care are also considered.     

Children's involvement in their parents' divorce: implications for practice

The paper reports findings from a research study that explored children's experience of divorce. It shows that children experience parental divorce as a crisis in their lives but that they are able to mobilise internal and external resources to regain a new point of balance. In doing so, children demonstrate the degree to which they are active and competent participants in the process of family dissolution. The implications of the data are then considered in relation to engaging with children involved in divorce and in relation to some of the cultural presumptions that might militate against hearing what they have to say about their experiences. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Social Context of Police Lying

This is an analysis of the social context of normal police lies. We define lies as speech acts which the speaker knows are misleading or false, are intended to deceive, and where evidence to the contrary is known to the observer. Lies are relative to a moral context, and what an audience will accept. Lies include excuses, which deny full responsibility for an act, but acknowledge its immorality, and justifications, which accept responsibility but deny blame-worthiness. Police learn to lie and to carefully distinguish normal (or acceptable) lies from unacceptable lies, suggesting that lies are a part of a negotiated occupational order. We show how and why some types of lies are rewarded by police using ethnographic data from an 18 month field study of a large urban force. Lies can be of little issue, or become troublesome. We report and analyze two kinds of troublesome lies: case lies, recognized stories an officer utilizes in a courtroom or on paper to facilitate the conviction of a suspect, and cover stories, lies an officer tells in court, to supervisors, and on the job with the aim of providing a verbal shield or mitigation in the event of discipline. Both excuses and justifications are woven together in these vignettes. An example of a refusal to lie is used to illustrate some of the limits on lying as well organizational factors in lying. Some implications for official lying are also noted.     

Catholicism and the Philippine population problem

"The Philippines has two characteristics which differentiate if from other countries in Southeast Asia. It is the only predominantly Christian country in the region and it has one of the highest rates of population growth. Non-Catholic Christians make up only about 9 per cent of the population compared with around 82 per cent for Roman Catholics. Given the Catholic Church objections to both contraception and abortion, it is not illogical to hypothesize a relation between the religious composition of the population and its rate of population growth."     

Power‐base Research in Marketing Channels: A Narrative Review

This paper provides a contemporary and comprehensive review of work in the marketing channel field that is based on French and Raven's power‐base theory. It traces the development of theoretic, conceptual and methodological orthodoxies from the 1970s. Mirroring the movement towards the relationship marketing paradigm, the paper considers the theory's empirical contribution to knowledge of power, conflict, trust and commitment in marketing channels. Limitations relating to inconsistency of treatment, contradictory findings and the simplification of complex phenomena are identified. Nevertheless, current work extends power‐base theory to other cultures, other styles of research and to the area of supply chains. The review raises questions about the value of contribution made using this theory and notes the surprising absence within the channels literature of the broader, current debate about power. To illustrate, the paper shows how Clegg's (1989. Frameworks of Power. London: Sage) circuits of power framework, if applied to channel contexts, could address forms of power that are invisible, anonymous and not necessarily negative. Applications and methods are discussed, opening a space wherein a broadened understanding of power is integrated within a focus upon cooperative channels.     

Providing a secure base for LGBTQ young people in foster care: The role of foster carers

The experiences and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) young people in care have been overlooked in England, in both policy and research. This paper reports on findings from the first study of LGBTQ young people in care in England and focuses on the nature of foster carers' experiences and perspectives on caring for LGBTQ young people. Qualitative interviews regarding the fostering role in caring for LGBTQ young people were conducted with a sample of foster carers (n = 26) and analysed thematically. Foster carers described the importance of offering LGBTQ young people not only the nurturing relationships that all children in care need but also availability, sensitivity and acceptance to help young people manage stigma and other challenges associated with minority sexual orientation and gender identity. The Secure Base caregiving model provided a framework for analysing the different dimensions of these relationships. Understanding caregiving roles and relationships for LGBTQ young people in care has important implications for recruiting, training, matching and supporting foster carers to care for LGBTQ young people effectively.     

Realistic Free-Spins Features Increase Preference for Slot Machines

Despite increasing research into how the structural characteristics of slot machines influence gambling behaviour there have been no experimental investigations into the effect of free-spins bonus features—a structural characteristic that is commonly central to the design of slot machines. This series of three experiments investigated the free-spins feature using slot machine simulations to determine whether participants allocate more wagers to a machine with free spins, and, which components of free-spins features drive this preference. In each experiment, participants were exposed to two computer-simulated slot machines—one with a free-spins feature or similar bonus feature and one without. Participants then completed a testing phase where they could freely switch between the two machines. In Experiment 1, participants did not prefer the machine with a simple free-spins feature. In Experiment 2 the free-spins feature incorporated additional elements such as sounds, animations, and an increased win frequency; participants preferred to gamble on this machine. The Experiment 3 “bonus feature” machine resembled the free spins machine in Experiment 2 except spins were not free; participants showed a clear preference for this machine also. These findings indicate that (1) free-spins features have a major influence over machine choice and (2) the “freeness” of the free-spins bonus features is not an important driver of preference, contrary to self-report and interview research with gamblers.