Questioning the “Slippery Slope”: Ethical Beliefs and Behaviors of Private Office-Based and Church-Based Therapists

Counselors and other mental health professionals whose primary office is in a church building often face unique challenges in maintaining appropriate client-therapist boundaries. A sample of 497 Christian counselors responded to an 88-item survey of their ethical beliefs and behaviors. Of the respondents, 148 reported a church as their primary work setting and 162 reported a private office as their primary work setting. Survey results were factor analyzed, then church-based therapists were compared with private office-based therapists regarding their views of ethical behaviors. Although church-based therapists take greater liberties with multiple-role relationships than private office-based therapists, they appear similar with regard to other ethical beliefs and behaviors. Results suggest that church-based therapists who take liberties in nonsexual multiple-role relationships are no more likely than other therapists to violate other ethical standards.     

Moral values of only and sibling children in mainland China

Seventh graders (N = 346) in Beijing and Shanghai were administered the Chinese Values Survey (M. H. Bond & the Chinese Culture Connection, 1987) and the Rokeach Values Survey (modified version; R. A. Cole, 1972) in 1992. Results showed no statistically significant difference in scores between only and sibling children who rated Chinese values and Rokeach terminal values. The 2 groups appeared to be significantly different in rating Rokeach instrumental values, but the effect sizes accounted for less than 2% of the variance. The stereotype of only children as being "spoiled" was not supported by the data.     

Chinese clients' belief systems about psychological problems in Singapore

This study explores Singaporean Chinese clients' beliefs about psychological problems by comparing their beliefs with those of non-clients and professional counsellors. These three samples were asked to indicate the extent to which they would agree with three belief models, the Chinese indigenous model, the Western psychological model, and the other model. It was found that clients and non-clients were more likely than therapists to endorse the indigenous belief model. Amongst the indigenous sub-models, Chinese medicine was the most endorsed across the three samples; and clients and non-clients endorsed Chinese medicine more than therapists did. The indigenous belief model, especially Chinese medicine was endorsed more by Buddhist and Taoist clients than Christian or non-religionist clients; and by clients holding lower educational qualifications.     

Values,achievement goals,and individual‐oriented and social‐oriented achievement motivations among Chinese and Indonesian secondary school students

This study examined how values related to achievement goals and individual‐oriented and social‐oriented achievement motivations among secondary school students in China (N = 355) and Indonesia (N = 356). Statistical comparisons showed the Chinese students endorsed more strongly than the Indonesian students on self‐direction and hedonism values, individual‐oriented achievement motivation, and mastery‐approach goals. Conversely, the Indonesian students endorsed more strongly than their Chinese counterparts on security, conformity, tradition, universalism and achievement values, social‐oriented achievement motivation, and performance‐approach and mastery‐avoidance goals. Values explained a significant amount of the variance in almost all of the dimensions of motivation. Etic and emic relationships between values and achievement motivations were found.     

Values Preferences by Gender for Nontraditional College Students Between 1992 and 1982

This study compared gender trends for self-reported work values of 384 nontraditional college students in 1982 and 335 different nontraditional college students in 1992. Results measured by D. Nevill and D. E. Super's (1989) Values Scale indicated that female values preferences moved toward Altruism and Variety and away from Autonomy and Advancement. Male values preferences remained relatively constant, except for a significant drop in Aesthetics. The most important finding was that there were many more similarities than differences in men's and women's values preferences for both 1982 and 1992. The top 3 rankings for both years were identical: Economic Security, Achievement, and Ability Utilization.     

Beliefs about stories: Parents' and therapists' explanations of childhood difficulties

Therapists and parents were given vignettes describing the behavioural and emotional difficulties of two nine-year-old children and were asked to rate the importance of a number of possible explanations for such difficulties. Broad agreement was found between parents and therapists, but also there were a number of significant differences. Parents endorsed more child centered explanations and put greater emphasis on physical and developmental factors, while therapists endorsed relationships factors and saw the beliefs of other family members as important. Therapists who were parents showed a pattern of responses that lay between those of parents and non-parent therapists.     

Rural Marriage and Family Therapists: A Pilot Study

Marriage and family therapists practice in more than a third of the rural counties in the United States. However, little is known about the practice patterns of marriage and family therapists who practice in rural settings. This pilot study examined the clinical practice and community involvement of a sample of licensed marriage and family therapists in rural Texas. The results contribute to a small but developing body of research about a relatively unknown group of practitioners.     

A Survey of the Attitudes and Practice Experiences of Home-Based Practitioners

This article reports on the findings from a study that assessed the attitudes and practice experiences of home-based therapists. Existing research in the field of couple and family therapy encompasses largely qualitative information detailing the experiences of this therapist population. We explored several hypotheses generated from the qualitative literature on home-based therapy. Study results corroborated much of the qualitative data on home-based therapists’ experiences and reveal the profile of today’s home-based therapists along with their attitudes and therapeutic practices. A surprising result was that various aspects of home-based therapy models seem incongruent with therapist attitudes about the delivery of home-based services.     

国有企业与民营企业员工工作价值观的比较研究

采用修订后的工作价值观调查表对我国大陆6省市的257名国有企业员工和219名民营企业员工进行了调查。结果表明,国有企业员工的工作价值观在舒适与安全维度上显著高于民营企业员工;在能力与成长维度上显著低于民营企业员工;在地位与独立维度上二者差异不显著。     

Clinical Supervision Dilemmas Related to Child Abuse in Wraparound Treatment

We conducted two separate, exploratory studies to evaluate the differences between the supervision of wraparound (in-home) and outpatient (office) child treatment interventions. Study one (n = 96) examined the structure and norms of supervision between groups as well as rates of general disclosure to direct supervisors. Study two (n = 116) specifically examined the frequency of child abuse and neglect encountered in each intervention setting, and the level of disclosure in supervision of these mandatory reporting events. Findings from the first study suggest that wraparound clinicians received significantly less individual supervision and colleague consultation than their office-based counterparts. Additionally, wraparound clinicians were significantly more likely to withhold information about client cases from their direct supervisors. In the second study, wraparound clinicians endorsed significant increases for observed child abuse, observed child neglect, and verbally reported child neglect compared to their office-based counterparts. In regards to mandatory reporting issues with children, wraparound clinicians were found to be significantly less likely to disclose issues pertaining to child neglect to their direct supervisors than office-based clinicians. Our studies show preliminary evidence for a needed increase of individual supervision in wraparound practice, in addition to a greater focus on clinician disclosures related to incidents of child abuse and neglect.     

The frequency and effect on outcome of different types of interpretation in psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral group psychotherapy

The therapeutic effects of interpretations by both therapists and other clients were recorded by observers in three cognitive-behavioral and three psychodynamic groups over a period of thirty one-and-one-half-hour group therapy sessions. There was no significant difference in the overall frequency of interpretations made in the two different therapy modalities; however, there was the expected difference in the types of interpretations made. Cognitive-behavior therapists and group members tended to interpret patterns of behavior or impact on others more frequently than did psychodynamic therapists and group members; while psychodynamic therapists and group members made more historical cause interpretations. However, contrary to expectations, both therapy modalities made more interpretations of patterns of present behavior than any other type. When these interpretations were converted into problem statements that were sent to outside raters after the termination of the groups, the outside raters judged that clients improved most when interpretations of a pattern of behavior were made; next most when interpretations of impact on others were made; and did not improve when interpretations of motive were employed in either modality.     

Small Groups: Studies in Social Interactions Edited by A. Paul Hare,F. Borgatta,and Robert F. Bales

Abstract

A large body of literature has supported the application of attachment theory to the understanding of psychotherapy. In addition, a more recent social psychological literature is exploring the application of attachment theory to the area of group dynamics and group process. The current study is designed to integrate these two distinct bodies of literature. In a preliminary fashion, we examined the relationship between group therapists’ group attachment styles and their assumptions and expectations of their patients’ attitudes about group psychotherapy. Seventy–six therapists completed the Smith, Murphy &; Coats (1999) measure of group attachment style. They also completed the Revised Group Therapy Survey (Carter, Mitchell, &; Krautheim, 2001) from the viewpoint of a typical patient they treat. As hypothesized, therapists with more group attachment anxiety assumed that patients would hold more negative myths and misconceptions about group treatment than therapists with less group attachment anxiety. The utility of a group attachment construct in future research and practice is discussed.     

Therapeutic Multiple Family Groups

The therapeutic effects of interpretations by both therapists and other clients were recorded by observers in three cognitive–behavioral and three psychodynamic groups over a period of thirty one-and-one-half-hour group therapy sessions. There was no significant difference in the overall frequency of interpretations made in the two different therapy modalities; however, there was the expected difference in the types of interpretations made. Cognitive–behavior therapists and group members tended to interpret patterns of behavior or impact on others more frequently than did psychodynamic therapists and group members; while psychodynamic therapists and group members made more historical cause interpretations. However, contrary to expectations, both therapy modalities made more interpretations of patterns of present behavior than any other type. When these interpretations were converted into problem statements that were sent to outside raters after the termination of the groups, the outside raters judged that clients improved most when interpretations of a pattern of behavior were made; next most when interpretations of impact on others were made; and did not improve when interpretations of motive were employed in either modality.     

Therapists' group attachments and their expectations of patients' attitudes about group therapy

A large body of literature has supported the application of attachment theory to the understanding of psychotherapy. In addition, a more recent social psychological literature is exploring the application of attachment theory to the area of group dynamics and group process. The current study is designed to integrate these two distinct bodies of literature. In a preliminary fashion, we examined the relationship between group therapists' group attachment styles and their assumptions and expectations of their patients' attitudes about group psychotherapy. Seventy-six therapists completed the Smith, Murphy & Coats (1999) measure of group attachment style. They also completed the Revised Group Therapy Survey (Carter, Mitchell, & Krautheim, 2001) from the viewpoint of a typical patient they treat. As hypothesized, therapists with more group attachment anxiety assumed that patients would hold more negative myths and misconceptions about group treatment than therapists with less group attachment anxiety. The utility of a group attachment construct in future research and practice is discussed.     

Happiness and life satisfaction in Rwanda

This study investigated predictors of happiness and life satisfaction in Rwanda. Data from the World Values Survey and gathered from 3 030 Rwandese (age ranging 16 to 90 years, mean age = 34.2, SD = 12.7; females = 50.5%) were pooled for the analysis. For the comparison, international World Values Survey data were utilised. A fixed effects multilevel regression model was used to predict happiness and life satisfaction from gender, health, socio-economic, and some subjective measures. Males had greater self-rated happiness and life satisfaction scores than females. State of health and sense of freedom of choice predicted both happiness and life satisfaction. Valuing of friends, weekly religious attendance, and national pride positively predicted happiness, whereas household’s financial satisfaction, full-time employment, high-income group, being a student, and sense of trust predicted life satisfaction. This study suggests that health status, household’s financial satisfaction and emancipative values could maximise subjective well-being in Rwanda.     

Their home is their castle: learning to do in-home family therapy.

The client's home is emerging as a typical site in which family therapy is delivered, yet training programs tend to train students in an office-based model. This qualitative study examines the process that three student interns went through as they learned to do home-based therapy after having been trained in a clinic setting. All three found that the experience of working in the clients' homes challenged their beliefs about therapy as well as the models of a professional relationship; all reformulated their views on therapy because of this challenge. A model is proposed that describes the students' journey from being a clinic-based to becoming a home-based therapist.     

Basic Personal Values and the Meaning of Left‐Right Political Orientations in 20 Countries

This study used basic personal values to elucidate the motivational meanings of “left” and “right” political orientations in 20 representative national samples from the European Social Survey (2002–2003). It also compared the importance of personal values and sociodemographic variables as determinants of political orientation. Hypotheses drew on the different histories, prevailing culture, and socioeconomic level of three sets of countries—liberal, traditional, and postcommunist. As hypothesized, universalism and benevolence values explained a left orientation in both liberal and traditional countries and conformity and tradition values explained a right orientation; values had little explanatory power in postcommunist countries. Values predicted political orientation more strongly than sociodemographic variables in liberal countries, more weakly in postcommunist countries, and about equally in traditional countries.     

Group heterogeneity and tolerance: The moderating role of conservation values

Does diversity promote tolerance? We propose that reactions to group heterogeneity depend on individual value priorities. In three studies we investigate how values moderate the effect of raising the salience of group heterogeneity (versus homogeneity) on tolerance. As hypothesized, the findings indicate that conservation values moderate the effects of the saliency of the group's heterogeneity. People high on conservation values were more tolerant when the group's homogeneity was made salient than when its heterogeneity was made salient. People low on conservation were either insensitive to information on the group's heterogeneity (Studies 1 and 2), or were more tolerant when the group's heterogeneity was made salient than when its homogeneity was made salient (Study 3). Values are also directly associated with tolerance: conservation values (as well as SDO and RWA in Study 3) were negatively associated whereas openness-to-change and self-transcendence values were positively associated with tolerance. These findings indicate the importance of integrating individual and contextual variables in theories of group processes.     

Likelihood of suicidality at varying levels of depression severity: a re-analysis of NESARC data

Although it is clear that increasing depression severity is associated with more risk for suicidality, less is known about at what levels of depression severity the risk for different suicide symptoms increases. We used item response theory to estimate the likelihood of endorsing suicide symptoms across levels of depression severity in an epidemiological data set. Regardless of depression severity, suicide attempts were less frequently endorsed than ideation, which was less frequently endorsed than feeling like one wanted to die. All suicide symptoms were generally less likely to be endorsed than other depression symptoms. There was a low probability of suicidality at depression levels that likely would not merit a diagnosis of major depression.     

Psychotherapy as a Process of Value Stabilization

The Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) and a confidence rating scale (CRS) were given to 13 experienced psychotherapists and 62 of their clients in field settings at the beginning and termination of therapy, or after 6 months. Results from the RVS demonstrate that therapists are more value stable than their clients and that clients shift their value systems toward their therapists' value configurations. Results from the CRS indicate that therapists are more confident than are clients and that clients' confidence increases across therapy.