Researching community,work and family with an interpreter

Community, work and family have been studied as practice and experience on an international scale. This work has included research with ethnic minority groups, usually practised by 'insiders' who share their participants' ethnicity, culture and first language. Many of these people live and work in extended family networks, part of a relatively small community embedded within a larger one. Generally, researchers do not have the language skills necessary to communicate with a linguistically diverse population. However, there has been a call to give a voice to, and hence empower, minority groups through the research process. It is in this context that a consideration of the use of interpreters in research on community, work and family can be made. Within this paper we present exploratory suggestions, drawn from our own research, for the appropriate use of an interpreter. This includes a discussion of the practical considerations and implications involved in this research activity, as well as more conceptual issues. Finally, the ways in which this research activity should be documented to reflect concerns in current qualitative methodological debates are considered. La communauté, le travail et la famille sont des sujets qui ont été étudiés, tant au niveau de la pratique que de l'expérience, à l'échelon international. Cette étude a envelopéune recherche parmi les groupes éthniques en minorité, dans l'ensemble vécue par des gens qui connaissent les choses de l'intérieur et qui partagent l'identité éthnique, la culture et la langue maternelle. Nombreux, parmi eux, sont des gens qui vivent et travaillent dans le cadre de familles étendues et font partie d'une petite communauté au sein d'une communaute plus grande. Dans l'ensemble, les chercheurs n'ont pas les competences linguistiques nécessaires pour communiquer avec une population de langues diverses. Cependant, il s'est avéré qu'il est plus que nécessaire de donner la parole et, de là, donner le pouvoir, aux groupes minoritaires au travers de la procedure du travail de recherche. C'est dans ce contexte que la considération de l'utilité de faire appel à des interprètes dans le domaine de la recherche qui embrasse la communauté, le travail et la famille, peut etre faite. Dans ce papier, nous soumettons des suggestions exploratoires, tirées de notre propre recherche, pour l'utilisation appropriée d'un interprete. Cela inclue une discussion sur les considerations pratiques et les implications contenues dans l'activite de cette recherche, y compris des activités conceptuelles. Pour finir, nous considérons la manière dans laquelle cette recherche devrait être documentée afin de refléter les débats méthodologiques qualitatifs en cours.     

Child sexual abuse in Leeds before and after Cleveland

We report a retrospective cohort study in which clinical and outcome features of 237 cases of child sexual abuse diagnosed by Leeds paediatricians after Cleveland in 1989 were compared with previously published characteristics of 337 children diagnosed by the same paediatricians before Cleveland in 1985 and 1986. Clinical and diagnostic features also were analysed in two subgroups of the 1989 cohort, those for whom there was no case conference and those in whom further abuse was detected at follow-up examination. The number of cases diagnosed annually remained high, and source of referrals and age and sex distribution were similar. Most suspected perpetrators were from within the home in both cohorts. Some clinical features of the 1989 cohort suggested more physically severe abuse. In 1989 fewer children were registered as sexually abused, or were taken into care, and fewer suspected perpetrators were convicted. From the 1989 cohort those children for whom there was no case conference tended to be older, to disclose and were abused less severely by someone outside their home as compared to those for whom a case conference was held. The children in whom further abuse was detected tended to be younger, to not disclose. to be more severely abused by a perpetrator within the home and to be taken into care as compared to those in whom further abuse was not detected. One or more case conferences were held for nearly all of the children in whom further abuse was detected. For most of the 1989 children no evidence was found indicating receipt of mental health services from other than the key social worker. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of professional and public knowledge and attitudes regarding children's and parental rights and family preservation.     

In Pursuit of Empirically Based Responsible Gambling Limits

The present study sought to (1) obtain expert opinion on the importance of low-risk limits for the field of gambling; and (2) establish the face validity for a tentative set of low-risk limits empirically derived from a recent analysis of population data on gambling (Currie et al., 2006). Gambling experts (171 researchers, clinicians and policy-makers in Canada and the United States) completed an online or paper survey to assess their support for the concept of low-risk gambling limits, their opinions of existing responsible gambling guidelines and the face validity of tentative low-risk limits for gambling frequency, dollars spent, percentage of gross income spent on gambling and duration per session. The majority of those surveyed endorsed the need for low-risk limits and rated the limits as being face valid. Concerns voiced pertaining to their dissemination to the public included the potential for creating a false sense of security among gamblers, encouraging people to gamble and difficulties in applying the limits across different forms of gambling.     

Replication of Low-Risk Gambling Limits Using Canadian Provincial Gambling Prevalence Data

A set of low-risk gambling limits were recently produced using Canadian epidemiological data on the intensity of gambling behavior and related consequences (Currie et al. Addiction 101:570–580, 2006). The empirically derived limits (gambling no more than two to three times per month, spending no more than $501–$100°CAN per year or no more than 1% of gross income spent on gambling) accurately predicted risk of gambling-related harm after controlling for other risk factors. The present study sought to replicate these limits on data collected in three independently conducted Canadian provincial gambling surveys. Dose–response curves and logistic regression analyses were applied to gambling prevalence data collected in surveys conducted in 2001–2002 within the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario (combined sample N = 7,675). A comparable dose–response relationship between gambling intensity and risk of harm was found in each province. The optimal thresholds for defining an upper limit of low-risk gambling were similar across the three provinces despite variations in the availability and organization of legalized gambling opportunities within each region. These results provide additional evidence supporting the validity of the low-risk gambling limits. Quantitative limits could be used to augment existing responsible gambling guidelines.

FAMILY RESEARCH AND FAMILY THERAPY: A REUNION?*

This decade is witnessing the re-establishment of research in family therapy as an intrinsic component of the field. It is instructive to recall that family therapy actually had its most significant beginnings in the context of family research in the 1950s and that, three decades ago, family therapy and family research were fundamentally fused. In this paper, several of the most important forms of recent and current family research and family therapy research that are important to clinicians are identified, and it is suggested that this reunion of clinical and research interests signifies a new phase in the growth of the family therapy field.     

How employee assistance programs determine service utilization: A survey and recommendations

A survey of Employee Assistance Programs investigated how utilization of services was quantified. Many inconsistencies were found. Few programs reported a penetration rate, and each one that did used a different formula. A model is presented to deal with these problems.