Couples Relationship Education and Couples Therapy: Healthy Marriage or Strange Bedfellows?

This paper focuses on issues sparked by the Couples Relationship Education (CRE) field moving toward a more clinical model to meet the needs of an increasing number of distressed couples coming to CRE programs. We review the concerns raised and recommendations made by Bradford, Hawkins, and Acker (2015), most of which push CRE toward a more clinical model. We address these recommendations and make suggestions for best practices that preserve the prevention/education model underlying research‐based CRE. The three main issues are couple screening, leader training, and service delivery models. Our suggested best practices include: conducting minimal screening including the assessment of dangerous levels of couple violence, training leaders with key skills to handle issues raised by distressed couples as well as other couples who may place additional burdens on leaders, providing referrals and choices of programs available to participants at intake and throughout the CRE program, and adding (rather than integrating) clinical services to CRE services for couples who desire additional intervention. Finally, throughout the paper, we review other key issues in the CRE field and make recommendations made for future research and practice.     

Exploring the Enigmatic Link between Religion and Anti‐Black Attitudes

This review explores social psychological perspectives on the complex relationship between religion and anti‐Black prejudice in the United States. We examine the different ways in which religiosity has been conceptualized by behavioral scientists. We consider the methodological limitations of previous research, as well as how the advent of priming research introduces new empirical questions regarding religiosity and anti‐Black prejudice, such as whether activation of different religious conceptions (e.g., God versus religion) or priming via different types of stimuli (e.g., words versus images) produces different outcomes. Finally, we discuss the lack of diverse samples in the present literature and highlight the need for additional research with Black American respondents. Conclusions consider the real world implications of links between religion and anti‐Blackness for both White individuals (e.g., intergroup relations) and Black individuals (e.g., psychological functioning).     

Family systems consultation with an athletic team: A case study of themes

Abstract

Utilizing family therapy theory and techniques to consult with businesses and other organizations has grown in popularity. In recent years, systems consultation has also been utilized with athletic teams (Schindler-Zimmerman, Washle, & Rotinsky, 1990; Zimmerman & DeVoe, 1993; Zimmennan & Protinsky, 1993; Zimmennan, 1991, 1993). The literature on systems consultation and athletic teams has primarily focused on interventions, guidelines for consulting with athletic teams, common concerns of athletes and specific theories utilized. This article presents themes which emerged from a consultation case study with a university women's athletic team. The themes emerged from videotape analysis using qualitative methodology. This presentation of themes will give the reader a flavor of systemic consultation with athletic teams including typical issues, team structure, and the similarities between families and sports teams.