Process in family groups

This paper distinguishes process in family groups from process in nonrelated psychodynamic groups. The meaning of process in family groups is elaborated and illustrated in a series of case examples. The author also describes issues pertinent to the treatment of family groups as differentiated from nonrelated groups, including issues around countertransference and termination.     

Inside it was orange squash concentrate: trainees’ experiences of reflective practice groups within clinical psychology training

Despite many clinical psychology training programmes utilising reflective practice groups (RPGs) to develop reflective practice (RP) skills, there remains little research examining how trainees experience these groups. This study uses interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the experiences of eight qualified clinical psychologists who attended RPGs on one United Kingdom (UK) clinical psychology training programme. A purposive sample was recruited for single, semi-structured interviews. Five superordinate themes were identified: ‘The process: there were so many layers’; ‘The impact: an ongoing process’; ‘Commitment: I hated it, but I still went’; ‘The facilitator: a presence who was not always present’; and ‘Getting through it: finding ways to cope’. The findings illustrate the varied and complex experiences of the participants. Whilst the experience was often difficult, the participants were committed to attending and sought out ways to navigate it. The results are conceptualised in terms of existing psychological theory and literature. A critique of the research and suggestions for future studies are offered, including exploring the views of group facilitators and comparing how groups are utilised within different training programmes. Recommendations are made on the development of future RPGs, which include consideration of the facilitation style and the groups’ frequency and size.     

Qualitative Evaluation of Medical Information Processing Needs of 60 Women Choosing Ovarian Cancer Surveillance or Prophylactic Oophorectomy

Thirty women who had prophylactic oophorectomy (PO) and thirty women undergoing ovarian cancer surveillance (OCS) completed a one-time in-depth telephone interview exploring information gathering and decision-making processes. There were close similarities between groups, including age, race, marital status, education, menopausal status, number undergoing genetic testing for BRCA mutations, and number of prophylactic mastectomies. The majority of participants indicated overall satisfaction with their final decision. However, many described the information gathering process as frustrating and anxiety provoking. Participants in both groups expressed a need to process medical information within the context of individual psychosocial needs and personal perceptions and experiences. There were recurrent themes with regard to informational and psychosocial needs and personal perceptions and experiences that impacted decision-making process for these women. The present paper is a companion paper to Swisher et al. (J Repr Med 2001, 46:87–94) with the focus of this paper to illustrate the medical informational processing needs identified by this group of women.     

产品类别与网上购物决策过程的关系

产品的分类方法有很多,在网络购物环境中,应用较广的是将产品分为搜索产品、体验产品和信任产品;在传统购物环境中,应用较广的是将产品分为日用品、选购品和特殊产品。文献的研究结果表明,消费者在网上购买不同类别的产品时,网上购物决策过程中的信息搜索、网上购物意愿和偏好等行为存在着许多不同之处,文章对此进行了详细的介绍,并对今后的研究方向提出了建议     

Diamonds in the Rough: Bridging Gaps in Supports for At-Risk Immigrant and Refugee Youth

Immigrant youth come to Canada with enormous potential to make a significant, positive contribution to the future of their adopted country. In many cases, this potential is realised; in others, it is not. The ease with which immigrant youth and their families integrate into Canadian society has a strong impact on their futures; those who become marginalised during this process risk becoming alienated or involved with the criminal justice system. Interviews were conducted with 12 stakeholders (including representatives from social service agencies, community groups and the criminal justice and forensic mental health systems) who frequently come into contact with immigrant and refugee youth involved in criminal and/or gang activity. Based on the family, individual, peer, school and community risk and protective factors reported to have an influence on immigrant and refugee youth, recommendations are made for bridging gaps in programming and policy initiatives to support at-risk youth.     

Acculturating to the Role of Tenure-Track Assistant Professor: A Family Systems Approach to Joining the Academy

The trajectory toward tenure is complex and arduous, and it requires one to balance attention among diverse and competing demands. It is not surprising that many newly appointed assistant professors report struggling with this process. Borrowing from family and ecological systems theories, we proffer a framework that may help junior faculty members—defined in this article as tenure-earning assistant professors—learn about the tenure-earning process as they navigate through the university system and beyond. We also describe and clarify the many parts of the tenure-earning process, including the roles, responsibilities, and multiple contexts that must be considered concurrently by junior faculty members as they progress through the stages of their tenure-earning appointment in the academy.     

Effect of depression on processing interactions in group psychotherapy

Two studies were conducted to investigate the possibility of individual differences in the ability of inpatients to process interactions in group psychotherapy. The first was a pilot study conducted on groups of major depressive patients and matched normal subjects. Subjects were asked to give process comments after viewing simulations of typical group therapy interactions. These comments were later rated on the extent to which they reflected process qualities and accuracy. These data led to a more rigorous and extensive study that included more appropriate control groups as well as measures of potential confounding factors, such as simulation realism, verbal ability, and interaction comprehension. Results indicated that major depressives suffer from deficits in the ability to process group interactions, relative to three types of control groups, including normals. These differences in processing were not significantly positively correlated with any of the potential confounding factors. The implications for understanding interactional processing and group psychotherapy are discussed.     

Changing the face of the organization: addressing the challenges of work in a multi-ethnic society

Institutionalized racism constrains therapy organizations in providing just, equitable and useful services for people from the non-dominant groups within our society. While the will to change is often apparent in individuals, many organizations do not manage to do so. This paper maps a model of individual racial identity development (Cross, 1971, 1978, 1981) on to process within organizations, and illustrates organizational change with a case example.     

Consequences of International Migration on the Size and Composition of Religious Groups in Austria

Scientific knowledge on a population’s religious composition is essential to understand the challenges faced by societies today. It arises in opposition to speculations about the actual size of religious groups that have been increasingly present in the public discourse in Europe for many years. This is particularly the case in Austria where the flows of refugees and migrants coming from the Middle East and Afghanistan have intensified since 2011 and culminated in 2015. These sparked a debate on the actual size of the Muslim population in Austria. This study fills the gap by presenting estimates of the religious composition for 2016 and projections until 2046 based on several scenarios related to the three major forces affecting the religious composition: migration (including asylum seekers), differential fertility and secularisation. The projections demonstrate that religious diversity is bound to increase, mostly through immigration and fertility. We further focus on the role and implications of international migration on the age and sex composition within the six religious groups: Roman Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Muslims, other religions and unaffiliated. We find that the volume and composition of international migrants can maintain youthful age compositions in minority religions—Muslims and Orthodox. Sustained immigration leads to slower ageing but does not stop or reverse the process. The disparity between older majority and younger minority religious groups will further increase the cultural generation gap.     

Dynamics and Techniques of Group Psychotherapy in Private Practice

In rearing a mentally retarded child, parents are confronted with a number of taxing stresses and problems. As a result, many in this parent population need and could benefit from a social support network. Unfortunately, such networks often do not exist or parents make no effort to join them. One seemingly useful means of providing a facilitative social system for parents of retardates is via the support group. In this article, two support groups—each developed to assist parents in adjusting to their retarded children—are described. Also, the process stages of these groups are discussed.     

A Current Perspective on Short-term Groups for Incest Survivors

Short-term groups are a vital resource for adult women who were incestuously abused in childhood or adolescence. The authors describe a model developed by a hospital-based Rape Crises Program. The groups are designed to help members focus on specific goals and experience growth through identifying with other incest survivors. The group format addresses many aspects of the recovery process for survivors. Group heterogeneity, designation of groups for younger and older women respectively, and individual follow-up meetings with members are therapeutically valuable.     

Comparison of “rap” groups with traditional group therapy in the treatment of Vietnam combat veterans

An estimated 500,000–700,000 veterans suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder characterized by mental flashbacks of the war, recurrent dreams of the trauma, repetitive, intrusive thoughts of the war, irritability, generalized anxiety and difficulty relating to others. For many years, these individuals went undiagnosed and, except for rap groups, untreated. The rap groups were formed to talk about the war in a general debriefing process during the early 1970s. Rap groups failed to focus on the individual pathology, but, instead, provided a forum to refashion value and meaning in the veterans' lives. Recently, more traditional forms of group therapy have been used to help treat individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder secondary to the Vietnam war. This paper discusses the unique features of traditional group therapy with Vietnam veterans.     

Child Group Psychotherapy in the School at the Threshold of a New Millennium

This article reviews existing studies in child group interventions, including educational, counseling, and psychotherapy groups. It highlights both outcome and process research, regarding the different types of groups, and offers implications for practitioners as well as for future research.     

国外工作倦怠观的理论探索

目前对工作倦怠的研究主要从社会——文化——历史、生态学、精神分析、行为主义、存在主义等视角来展开的,它们虽各有侧重,但概括来说,这些研究都把重心放在倦息发生的原因、各种症状及其过程的研究上,而对其发生的内在的生理、心理机制涉及甚少,在未来的研究中,应逐步加强这方面的探索。     

Improving communication between health and infant mental health professionals utilizing ongoing Collaborative Peer Supervision Groups

This article discusses the use of Collaborative Peer Supervision Groups (CPSG) to promote ongoing professional development for those who work with infants, toddlers, and their families. Our model's strength and clinical utility result from its three major components: (a) a relationship‐based perspective that acknowledges the important role that feelings and emotions play across the life span, (b) a peer supervision model that helps to ensure that no individual or discipline is “the expert,” and (c) a collaborative case‐based continuing‐education experience. Salient features of forming and maintaining a CPSG group are discussed including access to a Web site containing many key start‐up and evaluation materials. Existing barriers to effective communication between disciplines are discussed as are specific methods to structure case data. Additional tools to help anchor a CPSG are considered as are methods of evaluation. Two case presentations are considered to illustrate group process. Lessons learned from such groups are highlighted. Our intent is to provide sufficient background material so that others with a similar interest will be comfortable starting and maintaining a CPSG group on their own. ©2004 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Do Creative Thinking and Creative Problem-Solving Have a Place in Counseling Curricula?

As counseling curricula evolve in future years, the idea of including the topics of creative thinking and problem-solving in coursework is explored by the researcher. These domains, along with the broader topic of creativity in general, are embedded in the counseling process and many of its theories. Reasons for consideration are discussed, including the importance of creativity to the counseling profession, the relationship between wellness and creativity, and the spanning of creativity across cultures.     

Cultivating Resilience in Families Who Foster: Understanding How Families Cope and Adapt Over Time

Families who foster offer essential care for children and youth when their own parents are unable to provide for their safety and well‐being. Foster caregivers face many challenges including increased workload, emotional distress, and the difficulties associated with health and mental health problems that are more common in children in foster care. Despite these stressors, many families are able to sustain fostering while maintaining or enhancing functioning of their unit. This qualitative study applied an adaptational process model of family resilience that emerged in previous studies to examine narratives of persistent, long‐term, and multiple fostering experiences. Data corroborated previous research in two ways. Family resilience was again described as a transactional process of coping and adaptation that evolves over time. This process was cultivated through the activation of 10 family strengths that are important in different ways, during varied phases.     

The speciation of behavior analysis

The relationship between the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB) and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has been the subject of several editorials and commentaries in recent years. Various authors have argued that researchers in these two fields (a) have become isolated from each other, (b) face different requirements for survival in their respective fields, and (c) possess different skills to meet those requirements. The present paper provides an allegory for the relationship between EAB and ABA in terms of biological speciation. The conditions that have changed the relationship between EAB and ABA are parallel to those responsible for biological speciation: (a) isolation of some members of a species from the rest of the population, (b) different contingencies of survival for members of the two separate groups, and (c) divergence in the adaptive characteristics displayed by the two groups. When members of two different groups, descendants of common ancestors, no longer are capable of producing viable offspring by interbreeding, the different groups then represent different species. To the extent that members of the EAB group and members of the ABA group interact with each other only trivially, they each represent allegorically different species. Changes in the relationship between EAB and ABA are part of a natural process that takes place in many other sciences, and the course of that process can hardly be reversed by us.     

A comparison of natural and professional help

The study investigated the process and effectiveness of three natural and professional groups who commonly provide help to persons experiencing the important critical life event of marital disruption. Subjects were 42 helpers: 14 mental health professionals, 14 divorce lawyers, and 14 leaders of mutual help groups. Analyses, based on variables derived from coded audiotapes of simulated helping interactions and from ratings of helper effectiveness, indicated many similarities between mental health professionals and mutual help leaders but considerable differences between these two groups and divorce lawyers. Lawyers did more talking overall, showed greater proportions of information giving and closed questions, and were more effective in the legal/financial domain. Additional analyses indicated that all helpers showed fewer information-gathering behaviors and more information- and advice-giving behaviors as the helping interaction progressed.     

Construing in Action: Experiencing Embodiment

Construing anticipation as an embodied process implies including experience and action within personal construct theorization and application. This has led many authors to read somatic disorders in psychological terms and to consider psychotherapy as an experiential process. This article exemplifies a possible transposition of personal construct psychology in action through experimenting with ways of construing. Some simple body movement experiences are presented as means for exploring our personal anticipations in relation to others. This may represent a starting point for the elaboration of our personal theories and practices.