Employee Perceptions of Perpetrators and Acts of Workplace Violence in Colleges and Universities

Workplace violence has captured the attention of both the popular press and the scholarly literature, leading to a greater awareness of its existence in society. One area that has been overlooked by the research is how employees perceive various types of workplace violence acts, as well as different types of perpetrators. This study examined employee perceptions of a variety of workplace violence acts and different perpetrators at a large, public university in the midwestern United States. The results indicate that employees perceive various types of workplace violence acts and different perpetrators in a variety of ways. Based on these findings, recommendations on how to improve awareness are suggested.     

Multidimensional Family Therapy HIV/STD Risk-Reduction Intervention: An Integrative Family-Based Model for Drug-Involved Juvenile Offenders

Drug and juvenile justice involved youths show remarkably high rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk behaviors. However, existing interventions aimed at reducing adolescent HIV risk behavior have rarely targeted these vulnerable young adolescents, and many approaches focus on individual-level change without attention to family or contextual influences. We describe a new, family-based HIV/STD prevention model that embeds HIV/STD focused multifamily groups within an adolescent drug abuse and delinquency evidence-based treatment, Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT). The approach has been evaluated in a multisite randomized clinical trial with juvenile justice involved youths in the National Institute on Drug Abuse Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies ( http://www.cjdats.org ). Preliminary baseline to 6-month outcomes are promising. We describe research on family risk and protective factors for adolescent problem behaviors, and offer a rationale for family-based approaches to reduce HIV/STD risk in this population. We describe the development and implementation of the Multidimensional Family Therapy HIV/STD risk-reduction intervention (MDFT-HIV/STD) in terms of using multifamily groups and their integration in standard MDFT and also offers a clinical vignette. The potential significance of this empirically based intervention development work is high; MDFT-HIV/STD is the first model to address largely unmet HIV/STD prevention and sexual health needs of substance abusing juvenile offenders within the context of a family-oriented evidence-based intervention.     

FORMAL AND INFORMAL MENTORSHIPS: A COMPARISON ON MENTORING FUNCTIONS AND CONTRAST WITH NONMENTORED COUNTERPARTS

Research on mentorships has suffered from fragmentation of key issues; specifically, type of mentoring relationship, functions served by the mentor, and outcomes of the mentoring relationship. A field study was conducted comparing 212 protégés who were involved in informally developed mentorships, 53 protégés involved in formal mentor-ship programs, and 284 individuals who did not have mentors. Individuals in informal and formal mentorships were compared along two mentoring dimensions: psychosocial and career-related functions. All groups were compared on three outcome measures: organizational socialization, job satisfaction, and salary. Results indicated protégés in informal mentorships reported more career-related support from their mentors and higher salaries than protégés in formal mentorships. For all outcome variables, protégés in informal mentorships also reported more favorable outcomes than nonmentored individuals. However, outcomes from protégés in formal mentorships were generally not significant from the other two groups. Implications for mentorship practices and research are discussed.     

Family Therapy for the Historian?— The Case of William James

Family therapists disagree over the utility of historical reconstruction for treatment. Following either a behavioral or a psychoanalytic paradigm, theorists insist that history is irrelevant or essential to the treatment process. This paper demonstrates how a variety of family therapy concepts were used in his historical research into the life of the family of William James, the American psychologist and philosopher (1842–1910). This is offered as evidence both that family theory has a contribution to make to the writing of history and that the historical process is important to family therapy. It is suggested that clinical actuality calls forth interventions within both paradigms, often by the same therapist with the same family. The alternatives need not be mutually exclusive, though theory-building is clarified by talking as if the therapist were confronted by an either/or choice.     

THE USE OF FUNCTIONAL JOB ANALYSIS IN ESTABLISHING PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR HEAVY EQUIPMENT OPERATORS

Research recently completed for a large international craft union provided the opportunity for an empirical assessment of functional job analysis (FJA) as a method for developing job-related performance standards. Based on content-oriented test development procedures, work sample tests were developed to measure operator achievement of these training standards. According to the results the tests significantly differentiated between skill levels of operating engineers in which the significant criterion factor was the degree of independence and autonomy the operator could be permitted in doing the work. FJA proved to be a useful technique for defining the work of operating engineers so that the knowledges, skills and abilities required can be easily communicated to the courts and the public.     

A Survey of Consultation Training as a Part of Counselor Education Programs

A survey was devised to obtain feedback from counselor educators throughout the country regarding the teaching of consultation skills in their master's degree programs. This survey was mailed to 410 counselor education departments, with the request that the faculty member most closely associated with teaching consultation at the master's level respond. Usable survey forms were returned by 144 programs. A phone follow-up survey of selected nonrespondents substantiated the indicated findings. Reported survey results indicate the extent to which counselor education programs include training in consultation skills, the number of students involved, and the emphasis placed on various consultation skills.     

Science,Values, and Teleological Explanations of Human Action

Science has traditionally eschewed telic explanations as scientific accounts of human behavior. Given a telic nature of humans, psychology and related fields must learn how to incorporate teleology into their accounts. The article presents an initial step in that direction.     

Résumé Preparation Workshop for University Students

A workshop to help university students prepare résumés is described and evaluated. Part of the workshop discusses the purpose of a résumé and describes its “advertisement” aspect. Another portion encourages participants to inventory their assets and experiences, and to gather information about their chosen occupational areas. The third segment of the workshop explains traditional formats, and the final segment offers suggestions for attractive layout and reproduction. Preliminary evaluations of workshop participants' and nonparticipants' résumés resulted in ratings that were higher for the workshop group. In general, it was found that persons who talk with counselors or friends about résumés produce more effective résumés than those who get their information only through reading materials. A pilot evaluation instrument is included. Implications of this study for counselors are discussed and suggestions for developing similar workshops are made.