‘Let's Talk About Children’: Investigating the Use of a Family‐focused Intervention in the Gambling Support Services Sector

The family‐focused mental health intervention, ‘Let's Talk About Children,’ has positively influenced the lives of families affected by parental mental illness. This paper outlines the use of this brief, strengths‐based intervention for parents with gambling and other co‐occurring issues from the gamblers’ support services sector. Over a six‐month period, a training manual and accompanying resources were adapted for the gamblers’ support services sector and a targeted training session developed. Nine problem gambling counsellors from three Victorian gambling support services trialled the Let's Talk About Children intervention over a four‐month period. Qualitative data were gathered through focus groups, interviews, and practice enquiry groups to determine the impact of the Let's Talk About Children model for gambling support services. The results are presented as ‘practice wisdoms and recommendations’ reporting on the impact of the trial and to provide some guidance to support others in the implementation of a specific family‐focused intervention. This paper reports on the first exploratory trial of Let's Talk About Children for the gambler's support services sector in Australia.     

Constructing family relationships: Intimacy, harmony and social value in accounts of sheltered retirement community residents

This research was undertaken at a West Coast USA sheltered retirement community where fifteen able elder residents were interviewed about their personal relationships and communication with peers, family and younger people. This paper focuses on respondent's discursive constructions of their relationships with family—particularly adult grandchildren. The analysis shows how respondents' talk about family relationships is largely positive and discusses how respondents build an image of intergenerational solidarity through their accounts of frequency and quality of contact with grandchildren. Some of the ways that intergenerational solidarity is communicated in the context of the interview are: discounting of family problems; cataloguing achievements and talking about grandchildren with pride; demonstrating that they–the elder–are valued; and accounts of how problematic aspects of their relationships are avoided in intergenerational talk.     

Asian students’ perceptions of group work and group assignments in a New Zealand tertiary institution

This study, conducted in 2005 in a New Zealand tertiary institution, examines Asian students’ perceptions of the much‐promulgated cooperative learning concepts in the form of group work and group assignments. Twenty‐two Asian students participated in one‐hour individual face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews. The study found that Asian students valued highly the significance of classroom group discussions where they could interact with students from other cultures and backgrounds, improve their English‐language skills, enhance their cultural understanding and provide them with opportunities to make friends. However, they held intensely negative views about group assignments that required students to complete a project as a group with shared marks determined by the performance of the group. Contributing factors affecting group dynamics included members’ attitudes and willingness to cooperate and contribute as a team, the composition of the group, students’ competing demands on students’ time and attention, heterogeneity from the natural abilities of students, and the varying cultural values and beliefs held by group members. Most Asian students felt disheartened and helpless at having to complete mandatory group assignments. The study suggests that cooperative learning has its strengths and weaknesses. Students’ needs, interests, cultural values, and teaching effectiveness should be considered as a priority in teaching in tertiary institutions.     

Health and Well–Being in the Young Old and Oldest Old

Most individuals experience a decline in health status during old age. Paradoxically, there are proposals that older adults nevertheless maintain a positive sense of well–being, an indicator of successful aging. Data from the Berlin Aging Study (BASE: Baltes & Mayer, 1999), a locally representative sample of men and women aged 70 to 100+ ( N = 516, M = 85 years), suggest that cumulative health–related chronic life strains set a constraint on the potential of oldest old individuals to experience the positive side of life. The young old in BASE reported significantly higher positive SWB than did the oldest old. Chronic illness and functional impairments (e.g., vision, hearing, mobility, strength) limit well–being especially in very old age.     

Advocacy and surveillance: primary schools teachers’ relationships with asylum-seeking mothers in Ireland

The article analyses the findings of a small-scale qualitative study in Ireland that examines interactions between asylum-seeking mothers and primary school teachers, and highlights the significance of teachers’ understandings of asylum in shaping home-school communications. Mothers and children in this study were living in Direct Provision, collective accommodation for asylum seekers in Ireland. The research identifies a number of concerns including: poor communication between the school and mothers, only English being used as a medium of communication with the mothers, and mothers being directly and indirectly excluded from Parent Associations. Interactions of teachers with asylum-seeker mothers demonstrated a lack of recognition that their situation is different from other migrants/newcomers and is particularly challenging because of the because of living in Direct Provision and under the threat of deportation. The research shows that primary schools are drawn into ambiguous relationships with asylum-seeking mothers in their attempts at advocacy and surveillance, as they are expected to facilitate integration, while at the same time dealing with the uncertainty facing asylum-seeking parents and children.     

“The Guilt Thing”: Balancing Domestic and Professional Roles

Women’s representation in the workforce has increased dramatically over the past 30 years; yet, women “take a greater responsibility for the care of children” ( Equal Opportunities Commission, 2006 ). Research has suggested working mothers may experience guilt resulting from the social constrictions of a traditional model of intensive mothering ( B. Holcomb, 1998 ). Forty‐two audiotaped conversations of female teachers (n = 8) were collected in a British high school. Qualitative analyses of 3 conversations, in which 5 of the teachers discussed their professional and domestic responsibilities, demonstrated that the participants discursively aligned to 3 dominant interactional positions, accessibility, happiness, and separate spheres ( Y. Elvin‐Novak & H. Thomsson, 2001 ). The analyses also revealed the use of supportive conversational strategies such as co‐complaining and matching accounts.     

Differences Between Men and Women in Social Relations, Resource Deficits, and Depressive Symptomatology During Later Life in Four Nations

This article examines gender differences in social relations and resource deficits in France ( N = 553), Germany ( N = 516), Japan ( N = 491), and the United States ( N = 514). These data, from regionally representative samples, indicate few gender differences in quantity or quality of social relations, but that women are more likely than men to experience widowhood, illness, and financial strain. In all countries, more deficits and more negative social interactions are associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Interestingly, among women in France and Japan but not among men in any country, quality of social relations offsets the negative consequences of resource deficits. Findings suggest that quality of social relations may have important implications for helping people, particularly women, cope with resource deficits common in late life.