A Relational Cultural Approach to Working With Clients With Eating Disorders

The authors examine eating disorders through the conceptual framework of relational cultural theory (RCT). Taking into account the importance of relationships and connection, it is suggested that RCT may be a useful lens for conceptualizing and working with people who are experiencing eating disorders. Ways that RCT can be applied to enhance prevention efforts and recommendations for combining relationally focused counseling with evidence‐based individual eating disorder treatment are presented.     

A Relational Frame and Artificial Neural Network Approach to Computer-Interactive Mathematics

The Psychological Record - Fifteen participants unfamiliar with mathematical operations relative to reflections and vertical and horizontal shifts were exposed to an introductory lecture regarding...     

A Relational Approach to Genetic Counseling for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Ethical issues arise for genetic counselors when a client fails to disclose a genetic diagnosis of hereditary disease to family: they must consider the rights of the individual client to privacy and confidentiality as well as the rights of the family to know their genetic risk. Although considerable work has addressed issues of non-disclosure from the client’s perspective, there is a lack of qualitative research into how genetic counselors address this issue in practice. In this study, a qualitative approach was taken to investigate whether genetic counselors in Australia use a relational approach to encourage the disclosure of genetic information from hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) clients among family members; and if so, how they use it. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 genetic counselors from selected states across Australia. Data collection and analysis were guided by a basic iterative approach incorporating a hybrid methodology to thematic analysis. The findings provide indicative evidence of genetic counselors employing a relational approach in three escalating stages––covert, overt and authoritative––to encourage the disclosure of genetic information. The findings lend credence to the notion that genetic counselors envision a form of relational autonomy for their clients in the context of sharing genetic information, and they depart from individualistic conceptions of care/solely client-centered counseling when addressing the needs of other family members to know their genetic status.     

The Influence of Verbal Responses to Common Greetings on Compliance Behavior: The Foot-In-The-Mouth Effect

This study reports the results of three field experiments which demonstrate that asking someone how they feel, having them verbally respond, and then acknowledging that response, facilitates compliance with a charitable request. The findings are discussed with respect to the influence of public commitments on behavioral consistency.
Before you ask anyone for a donation, you first ask them how they're feeling. After they tell you they're feeling good, and you tell them you're glad they're feeling good, the/11 be more likely to contribute to helping someone who isn't.     

A Socioecological Approach to Relational Demography: How Relative Representation and Respectful Coworkers Affect Job Attitudes

Purpose

This paper advances a socioecological perspective toward understanding the relationship between demography and job attitudes by considering the joint effects of individual ethnicity and ethnic group relative representation—the degree to which an individual’s own demographic group is represented similarly in their organization and the community in which the organization is located.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Hierarchical polynomial regression analyses of census and survey data from 57,000 employees of 142 hospitals in the United Kingdom suggest that ethnic group relative representation is related to ethnic minority employees’ job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

Findings

An asymmetric pattern emerged wherein the effect of under-representation on turnover intentions was stronger than the effect of over-representation. Moreover, the effects of relative representation varied with respectful treatment by coworkers; relative representation had little effect on attitudes of employees who reported low levels of coworker respect but generally enhanced attitudes when respect was high.

Originality/Value

This work points to the meaningful role that socioecological factors can play in what are typically considered to be intraorganizational phenomena, thereby highlighting the need for organizational research to assess relevant aspects of the communities in which organizations are embedded.

     

Responses to Self-Threat: Linking Self and Relational Constructs with Approach and Avoidance Motivation

Over the past few decades, researchers have amassed a large body of evidence documenting the consequences of self-esteem (SE), attachment styles, rejection sensitivity (RS), domain-specific aspects of SE (e.g., contingencies of self-worth), and RS (e.g., race-RS; appearance-RS) following self-threats. The present article suggests that these personality constructs share a common substrate reflecting approach and avoidance temperament and motivation. Approach and avoidance temperaments are theorized to interact with intrapersonal and interpersonal experiences to shape approach and avoidance motivation. Personality constructs serve as dispositional markers of underlying approach-avoidance motivational orientations, which, in turn, lead to predictable patterns of goal pursuit following self-threats. Individuals who feel self-confident and relationally secure (e.g., high SE, securely attached, and low RS individuals) respond to self-threats by adopting approach-motivated goals to attain positive outcomes. Individuals who lack self-confidence and feel less relationally secure (e.g., low SE, avoidantly attached, and high RS individuals) respond to self-threats by decreasing approach motivation and/or increasing avoidance-motivated goals to prevent negative outcomes. Consequences of adopting approach- and avoidance-motivated goals are discussed.     

Filial Obligations: A Comparative Study

The nature of the special obligation that a child has towards her parent(s) is widely discussed in Confucianism. It has also received considerable discussion by analytic commentators. This essay compares and contrasts the accounts of filial obligation found in the two philosophical traditions. The analytic writers mentioned above have explored filial obligations by relating them to other special obligations, such as obligations of debt, friendship, or gratitude. I examine these accounts and try to uncover the implicit assumptions therein about the scope and nature of such filial obligations. I then similarly examine Confucian filial obligations (CFOs) by relating them to these other special obligations of debt, gratitude, and so on. My findings are used to highlight crucial differences in the scope and conception of filial obligations in these two traditions.     

Relational Financial Therapy: An Innovative and Collaborative Treatment Approach

An intervention model for couples reporting both relationship and financial stress was developed and evaluated. The model utilized co-therapy teams of marriage and family therapists and financial planners who employed a five-session treatment approach in working with 12 couples. Findings demonstrated numerous benefits of this collaborative model. A recommendation was made that academic programs and professionals in MFT and Financial Planning develop similar interdisciplinary collaborative efforts.     

A Relational Theory of the Visible

Axiomathes - On the basis of previous studies in relational biology and the phenomenological calculus, in my contribution I outline the mathematical foundations of biological perception generally,...     

Family-Focused Relational Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach and Its Application to Adult Children of Divorce

This paper presents an integrative model of treatment—family focused relational psychotherapy—and applies it to work with adult children of divorce (ACDs). Three areas of assessment are identified—(a) assessment of individual ego development, (b) assessment of family of origin functioning, and (c) assessment of the nature of the parents' divorce (e.g., level of conflict). Based on this assessment, the treatment model is presented, which integrates strategies from relational/psychodynamic therapy, family of origin work, and experiential techniques. Case examples are presented to demonstrate the appropriate integration of these techniques with clients at different levels in the assessment schema. In addition, a review of the literature on the long-term effects of divorce on children suggests several specific issues that may arise in treatment. These include low self-esteem, emotional distress, externalizing problems, and interpersonal problems such as fear of commitment, difficulty trusting, a high rate of divorce, and strained relationships with parents.     

Puja as One Dimension of a Sensitive,Relational Approach to Community Health Care Provision

This article compares two projects designed to train groups of rural Rajasthani women as community health workers. Through ethnographic research conducted during the training periods of each project I highlight stark differences in the management and structural approaches. The successful project recognised the importance of rituals, specifically puja, in the daily lives of participants. Both the NGO management and the trainees performed daily rituals that helped foster a supportive network. Sensitivity combined with a wider insight into the practical realities and constraints facing women in rural Rajasthan contributed to the long-term success of the second project. The first project has folded. I argue a lack of open dialogue and real connection with participants meant the project’s management were unable to adapt /tailor the program to the needs and experiences of the women involved.

Filial Obligations: A Contextual, Pluralist Model

In this article I investigate the nature and extent of filial obligations. The question what (adult) children owe their parents is not only philosophically interesting, but also of increasing relevance in ageing societies. Its answer matters to elderly people and their adult children, and is relevant to social policy issues in various ways. I present the strongest arguments for and against three models of filial obligations: the ??past parental sacrifices?? model, the ??special relationship?? model, and the conventionalist model. There is something to be said??and after consideration of objections something remains to be said??for all three models. In other words: filial obligations have more than one source, and an adequate model of filial obligations should reflect this. On its own, each of the above models is one-sided. They also fail to show the connections between the question of filial obligations and various other issues, such as issues of gender justice, the extent of institutionalization of eldercare, and social conventions regarding filial responsibility. Therefore, I integrate what I think we should keep from the aforementioned models into a contextual, pluralist model, which places filial obligations in a broader social and cultural context and relates them to issues of social justice. The model also highlights the difference between general and specific filial obligations, and the factors that determine their nature and extent, thus enabling a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of filial obligations.     

A Structural Approach to the Single-Parent Family

Although the single-parent family is becoming a predominant family structure, there is a surprising scarcity of articles discussing its typical problems or detailing specific therapeutic approaches. This paper attempts, first, to list some core problems encountered by all single parents and, second, to present a sequence of therapeutic approaches geared toward dealing with these problems.
Structural theory, with its emphasis on subsystems, generational boundaries, and organizational patterns, provides a framework for viewing the built-in vulnerabilities of the single-parent family unit. Minuchin's ( 3 ) emphasis on generational boundaries and the problem of enmeshment underlies the theoretical and therapeutic approach presented here. I have drawn heavily on Haley's ( 2 ) idea that the therapist must be an authority, a problem-solver, and a teacher. Finally, the emphasis on creating new organizational patterns is most thoroughly explored in Aponte's ( 1 ) discussions of "underorganized families" (many of whom are single-parent families).     

Relational Psychoanalysis: A Review

Relational psychoanalysis, a relatively new and evolving school of psychoanalytic thought, is considered by its founders to represent a “paradigm shift” in psychoanalysis. The relational approach, initiated by the publication of Jay Greenberg and Stephen Mitchell's book, Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory in 1983, has developed into a movement with its own substantially separate literature. This paper reviews both the history and theoretical origins of the relational movement, as well as important theoretical premises and viewpoints now associated with the relational school.