A follow up study of a behavioral program for young people with learning disabilities and challenging behavior

This paper describes a pilot follow-up study of a behavioral program for 20 young people with learning disabilities and challenging behavior. Eighteen participants made good overall improvement during the treatment period, and this was partially maintained at follow-up. Eight had continued to improve, eight had deteriorated slightly and four had deteriorated markedly. Adaptive skills were generally maintained. The reemergence of challenging behaviors explained the difference between the Good and Poor Outcome groups. Those participants in the Good Outcome group were younger on admission, scored lower on adaptive skills and higher on challenging behaviors. In addition they had remained on the treatment programme for 12–18 months and had been discharged from the Unit for longer. The overall level of independent living had increased from preadmission and the majority of participants were living in less restrictive placements. These results confirm and extend the findings of previous research. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for more detailed longitudinal follow-up studies in this area.     

When the going gets tough: Schools in challenging circumstances and the effectiveness of principals' leadership styles

The principal's leadership style is one of the most common ways of conceptualizing school leadership behaviours. We lack understanding, however, of how the effectiveness of school leadership styles varies across degrees of challenging circumstances. Data obtained from a quantitative survey of primary school teachers in Israel (N = 570) and from the Ministry of Education database were used to account for principals' leadership styles and their effectiveness in schools facing more challenging circumstances (N = 15) and in those facing less challenging circumstances (N = 46). Differences were found in the relations between principals' transactional behaviours on one hand and the teaching dimension of school culture and principals' perceived effectiveness on the other, as a function of challenging school circumstances. The study also found a difference in the relations of principals' transformational behaviours and the safety dimension of school culture, by level of challenging school circumstances. The data also revealed that in schools facing less challenging circumstances, principals' passive behaviours were related to students' achievements and principals' perceived effectiveness, but not in schools facing more challenging circumstances. The findings and their implications are discussed.     

The Inter-Life project: researching the potential of art,design and virtual worlds as a vehicle for assisting young people with key life changes and transitions

ABSTRACT

Careers work in the twenty-first century faces a key challenge in terms of digital technologies: to evaluate their potential for careers work in challenging settings. Given the rapidity of developments, technologies require evaluation in research innovations and naturalistic settings. Virtual worlds offer potential for careers and guidance work, and the therapeutic domain. To illustrate this, we present examples in which young people explore their feelings and ideas, plans and difficulties, while preparing for film-making. During this they develop important life transition skills. We argue that the power of virtual worlds – to support emotional and cognitive engagement – could be utilised in practice settings. We conclude that they are serious candidates as digital tools in the careers and guidance domain.     

Functional assessment, collaboration, and evidence-based treatment: Analysis of a team approach for addressing challenging behaviors in young children

This study examined the effects of functional assessment and positive behavior support on classroom behaviors of young children. An experimental program, entitled FACET, was implemented by school-based teams in pre-kindergarten through first-grade classrooms. Observations of child behaviors and classroom variables were compared between experimental and control classrooms. Results indicate that children in FACET classrooms made significant gains from baseline to post-intervention and exhibited a higher occurrence of positive behaviors and fewer negative behaviors compared to control children. Behavior gains were positively correlated with the level of treatment fidelity. These findings support the effectiveness of an intervention that incorporates functional assessment, collaboration, and evidence-based treatment with young children who exhibit challenging behaviors.     

Arrests, recent life circumstances, and recurrent job loss for at-risk young men: An event-history analysis

This study used longitudinal data from 202 at-risk young men to examine effects of arrests, prior risk factors, and recent life circumstances on job loss across a 7-year period in early adulthood. Repeated failure-time continuous event-history analysis indicated that occurrence of job loss was primarily related to prior mental health problems, recent arrests, recent drug use, and recent being married/cohabitation. It is argued that long-term effects of criminal justice contact on employment outcomes should be understood in the context of (shared) prior risk factors and recent life circumstances.     

Exploring the meaning of participation in a community art project: A case study on the Seeming project

In Australia, community art has drawn significant research attention in regard to its potential as a community development strategy. Despite the fact that researchers have presented evidence for the positive developmental outcomes of participation in community art projects, a gap remains in understanding how and why people's participation in a community art project can lead to those positive outcomes. This research explored the meaning of participation in a community art project from the vantage point of the people who experience it. Ten participants were interviewed about their participation in a community art project (The Seeming) held in Bendigo, Australia. Following thematic analyses we identified three themes of how participants viewed their participation in a community arts project. These themes included giving voice to the silenced, creation of social connections and challenging and reproducing stereotypes. Participation means coming together and the findings highlight the potential of community arts projects for promoting the creation of new relationships and new stories about community. However, there are also problematic stories about self and others that were not deconstructed. It is argued that the settings in which different groups join can be meaningfully extended if there is an explicit concern with consciousness raising and deconstruction of normative stories. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Oppression and discrimination among lesbian,gay, bisexual,and Transgendered people and communities: a challenge for community psychology

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people continue to experience various forms of oppression and discrimination in North America and throughout the world, despite the social, legal, and political advances that have been launched in an attempt to grant LGBT people basic human rights. Even though LGBT people and communities have been actively engaged in community organizing and social action efforts since the early twentieth century, research on LGBT issues has been, for the most part, conspicuously absent within the very field of psychology that is explicitly focused on community research and action–Community Psychology. The psychological and social impact of oppression, rejection, discrimination, harassment, and violence on LGBT people is reviewed, and recent advances in the areas of LGBT health, public policy, and research are detailed. Recent advances within the field of Community Psychology with regard to LGBT research and action are highlighted, and a call to action is offered to integrate the knowledge and skills within LGBT communities with Community Psychology's models of intervention, prevention, and social change in order to build better theory and intervention for LGBT people and communities.     

Giving voice to emerging science and theory for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people of color

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people of color may experience multiple layers of oppression, as they often not only contend with the negative societal reactions to their sexual orientation but also may experience racial prejudice, limited economic resources, and limited acceptance within their own cultural community. Despite the range of psychosocial issues that may be encountered by this population, and the need to understand factors that promote resiliency and well-being, the empirical psychological literature has virtually ignored LGB people of color. This article provides general background regarding the empirical research needs and concerns regarding LGB people of color and introduces the articles included in this special issue. Recommendations for increasing research with LGB people of color are offered.     

Transformational experiences in young people: the meaning of a safe haven

What do adolescents find meaningful in their exposure to spiritual education organised by religious or spiritual institutions? A qualitative study of adolescents participating in summer school events organised by the Religious Society of Friends and Sahaj Marg meditation system was carried out and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Two central themes emerged of ‘safe haven’ and ‘transforming processes’. The meaning of ‘safe haven’ was further examined and related to Gaston Bachelard’s evocation of the primordial sense of home.     

Caregivers, young people with complex needs, and multiple service providers: a study of triangulated relationships

Five patterns of service provider-caregiver-adolescent interaction are discussed using qualitative interviews and file review data from 44 youth with complex needs who were clients of more than one psychosocial service (child welfare, mental health, addictions, juvenile justice, and special education). Findings show that young people and their families become triangulated with service providers, either engaging with, or resisting, interventions. For young people with complex needs involved with multiple service providers, both positive and negative patterns of interaction contribute to the complexity of caregiver-child interactions. According to young people themselves, the most functional of these patterns, empowerment, was experienced as protective when it helped them to meet their personal needs and enhance communication. In contrast, four problematic patterns produced triangulations described as conflictual or unsupportive. The implications of these patterns for family therapy are discussed with an emphasis on the therapist as both clinician and advocate for better services from multiple providers.     

Fear of a black (and working-class) planet: young women and the racialization of reproductive politics

Racialized and class specific as well as gendered heterosexuality is compulsory for young women. Substantial academic literature addressed the incidence of premarital adolescent heterosexual intercourse paying particular attention to young working-class women and (especially in the US) to young women of color. During the 1980s, journals and academic texts in the US debated the so-called black underclass disregarding the effects of Reaganomics: increasing poverty, homelessness, ill health, and unemployment, which affected young African-American women. From a traditional (hetero)patriarchal standpoint, any teenage pregnancy is a problem. Hence pregnancy avoidance and planned parenthood focus on young working-class women and young women of color presumed to constitute the problem of the (hetero)sexually active teenager. The ideology of fetal rights as used in anti-abortion and pro-life arguments represents the life of a pregnant woman as in direct opposition to that of her fetus. The ideology of adolescence constructs all young people as inherently prone to irresponsibility, especially if they are female, working-class, and black. In the Third World, young women considered as irresponsible mothers more likely face enforced sterilization than access to abortion in the guise of genetic counseling for disabilities or without explicit consent during other gynecological operations. Feminists point out that under current legislation in England and Wales, fetuses defined as seriously handicapped can be aborted up to the moment of birth. The legacy of eugenicist ideas lives on in assumptions about the inherent deficiencies of young working-class women, young women of color, and young women with disabilities as potential mothers. Yet despite the institutional, cultural, and ideological force of appropriate heterosexual and reproductive activity, young women continue to challenge common sense definitions of normality and deviance.     

Counselling children and young people: A review of the evidence for its effectiveness

This paper summarises and presents the results of a BACP commissioned systematic scoping review on the research evidence on counselling children and young people. The methodology was based on a structured, hierarchical, systematic approach to searching and reviewing the research literature. Inclusion criteria defined the scope of the review in relation to a range of issues in counselling children and young people: behavioural problems and conduct disorders; emotional problems including anxiety, depression and post‐traumatic stress; medical illness; school‐related issues; self‐harming practices and sexual abuse. Four groups of counselling approaches were examined: cognitive‐behavioural; psychoanalytic; humanistic; and creative therapies. The findings indicate that the four therapeutic approaches are effective to a greater or lesser degree in relation to the range of issues. Although the findings show that there is little or no evidence for the effectiveness of some therapies for particular issues, this may not reflect the lived experience of children and young people engaged in counselling in a range of community and institutional settings. Instead, the absence of evidence is likely to reflect a lack of published studies that fit the inclusion criteria for this review.     

Seeing the beauty in everyday people: a qualitative study of young Australians' opinions on body image, the mass media and models

While governments have called for greater body size diversity in media imagery to promote positive body image and prevent disordered eating, the fashion and advertising industries often argue that average-size models do not appeal to consumers. Focus groups were conducted with 76 young Australian women and men to provide a previously neglected consumer perspective on this debate. Thematic analysis identified dissatisfaction with the restricted range of body sizes, and the objectification of women, in media imagery. Participants indicated a desire for change and positive reactions to average-size models in advertising, but also suggested barriers to their increased use, including concerns about the promotion of obesity. The results suggest that there is some consumer support for increased body size diversity in media imagery. Consumer and industry barriers, however, will need to be addressed in the future if this is to be an effective public health intervention to promote positive body image.     

Alternative death rituals in Switzerland: building a community of shared emotions and practices

New alternative death rituals are gaining significance in Switzerland, like in other contemporary Western societies. This article discusses how celebrants who are independent of any religious community shape alternative funerals and why such rituals may be able to function as a coping resource for a certain kind of participants. I argue that these rituals, co-produced by celebrants and the bereaved and including actively involved participants, can be seen as a re-conquest of ritual agency for lay people. By encouraging physical and mental contact with the deceased, the celebrants try to enable emotional arousal and create a temporary community of shared experiences and emotions and of the living and the dead. Elements of an individually crafted spirituality and a kind of nature religion represent both separation and continuing bonds between the living and the dead. As a consequence, such funerals serve as a resource in the face of death by integrating a singular death with the wider context.     

Music skills and the expressive interpretation of music in children with Williams-Beuren syndrome: pitch, rhythm, melodic imagery, phrasing, and musical affect.

This paper studied music in 14 children and adolescents with Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS), a multi-system neurodevelopmental disorder, and 14 age-matched controls. Five aspects of music were tested. There were two tests of core music domains, pitch discrimination and rhythm discrimination. There were two tests of musical expressiveness, melodic imagery and phrasing. There was one test of musical interpretation, the ability to identify the emotional resonance of a musical excerpt. Music scores were analyzed by means of logistic regressions that modeled outcome (higher or lower music scores) as a function of group membership (WBS or Control) and cognitive age. Compared to age peers, children with WBS had similar levels of musical expressiveness, but were less able to discriminate pitch and rhythm, or to attach a semantic interpretation to emotion in music. Music skill did not vary with cognitive age. Musical strength in individuals with WBS involves not so much formal analytic skill in pitch and rhythm discrimination as a strong engagement with music as a means of expression, play, and, perhaps, improvisation.     

Narrating survival and change in Guatemala and South Africa: the politics of representation and a liberatory community psychology

Peace accords and international interventions have contributed to the suspension of armed conflict and the censuring of repressive regimes in many parts of the world. Some governments and their opposition parties have agreed to the establishment of commissions or other bodies designed to create historical records of the violations of human rights and foster conditions that facilitate reparatory and reconciliatory processes. This paper explores selected roles that community psychologists have played in this process of remembering the past and constructing new identities towards creating a more just future. With reference to two community groups (in Guatemala and South Africa) we show how efforts to speak out about one's own experiences of political and military repression involve complex representational politics that go beyond the simple binary opposition of silencing versus giving voice. The Guatemalan group consisted of Mayan Ixil women who, together with the first author, used participatory action research and the PhotoVoice technique to produce a book about their past and present struggles. The South African group, working within the ambit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and in collaboration with the third author and others, explored ways of speaking about their roles in apartheid and post-apartheid society. Although both these initiatives can be seen as moments in on-going struggles to overcome externally-imposed repressive practices that censor the voices of marginalized communities, they also serve to dispel overly romanticized notions of univocal communities now liberated to express themselves in an unmediated and unequivocal fashion. The paper discusses how each group of women instead entered into subtly nuanced relationships with community psychologists involving a continual interplay between the authenticity of their self-representational accounts and the requirements of the discursive technologies into which they were being inducted and the material conditions within their sites of struggle. In both cases the group's agenda also evolved over time, so that what emerged was not so much a particular account of themselves, or even the development of a particular voice for speaking about themselves, but an unfolding process—for the groups and for the community psychologists who accompanied them—of becoming active players in the postmodern, mediated world of self-representational politics and social struggle.