Anticipating Alternative National and Regional Futures in Energy Efficiency

Thirty-five stakeholder representatives and six observers from thirty organizations, interested in anticipating the adoption of energy efficiency for the Pacific Northwest, identified and described one hundred and seventy-eight national and regional trends extending to the year 2015 impacting energy efficiency, and proposed more than ninety actions for addressing these trends at the regional level. The representatives were engaged in a collaborative action planning workshop that was facilitated with the CogniScope methodology founded in the systems sciences. Convergence was achieved on eight highly influential actions as the highest priority.     

Aetiology of Coexisting Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drug Disorders: Perspectives of Refugee Youth and Service Providers

In the general population, people with comorbid mental health (MH) and alcohol and other drug (AOD) disorders (comorbidity) have great difficulty accessing appropriate services, and poor outcomes. Little is known about comorbidity in resettled refugees in Australia. This study was designed to identify risk factors and patterns of comorbidity development in young people from refugee backgrounds living in a disadvantaged urban region of Adelaide, South Australia. This qualitative study utilised in‐depth semi‐structured interviews (n = 30) with resettled refugee youth and workers from MH, AOD, and refugee support services. Thematic analyses were conducted to investigate the aetiology of MH and AOD disorders in young refugees. Interviews with both groups revealed how the interrelated nature of risk factors may place young people from refugee backgrounds at heightened risk of experiencing MH and AOD problems. The situations and conditions described by both groups are discussed under six main themes: pre‐migration experiences of torture and trauma; familial factors of intergenerational conflict; post‐migration adjustment difficulties in terms of language, culture, education, and employment; exposure to and availability of substances; maladaptive coping strategies and self‐medication; and access to information and services. Implications for psychologists and MH professionals are identified, emphasising the need for clinicians to understand the complexities surrounding the aetiology of comorbidity in these youth. The initial assessment needs to be comprehensive, including pre‐ and post‐settlement experiences and cultural and family dimensions of their current situation. Treatment may often need to simultaneously address multiple contributing factors and involve culturally sensitive psycho‐education.     

Women Healers: Global and Local Women’s Knowledge in Psychology—An Introduction

ABSTRACT

This article briefly addresses key events throughout recorded history of indigenous healing, highlighting the role of women and their work despite predominant patriarchal, societal views and subsequent hardships for women engaging in healing roles. Additionally, this article identifies terms and definitions that will be used throughout the special issue and introduces articles for the special issue which have been written by women around the world. The editors invite readers to question Western dominant discourse about healing, and, in particular, indigenous healing by women.     

Brief dynamic counselling: Making the right choice

Abstract

Brief dynamic counselling has become a frequently practised method of treatment. This paper examines the usefulness of short-term therapy for certain clients and describes the relevant selection criteria. However, it is argued that there exists a real danger to the client should they be inappropriately referred for this work. Demands upon therapy services often mean that therapists are under pressure to have a rapid ‘through-put’ of clients. This may lead to some clients being treated in a way that is unsuitable and inadequate for their needs. It is suggested that, more than being inadequate, such a situation could cause additional harm to the client. Professional assessment is considered to be of vital importance. Case material is included in order to illustrate the difference between clients who are likely to benefit from short-term counselling work and those for whom the longer time duration is an essential part of the therapeutic relationship and process. In terms of therapy service provision, the need for flexibility and the need for availability of a variety of treatments are discussed.     

INTEGRAL MEDICINE AND HEALTH

Integral Science provides the empirical rigor needed to shift medicine's worldview. The shift in science will give rise to Integral Medicine, which will emerge from the integration and transformational change of biomedicine, psychosocial approaches, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and other reform movements. The root metaphor of Integral Medicine is a healthy and sustainable ecosystem. At its heart are mind–body holism and collaborative learning. Healing and the creation of health will emphasize educational, self-care, and community support models. Implications are discussed for practice, research, and education.     

Freedom, Responsibility, and Agency

This paper first distinguishes three alternative views that adherents to both incompatibilism and PAP may take as to what constitutes an agent's determining or controlling her action (if it's not the action's being deterministically caused by antecedent events): the indeterministic-causation view, the agent-causation view, and "simple indeterminism." The bulk of the paper focusses on the dispute between simple indeterminism - the view that the occurrence of a simple mental event is determined by its subject if it possesses the "actish" phenomenal quality and is undetermined by antecedent events - and Timothy O'Connor's agent-causation view. It defends simple indeterminism against O'Connor's objections to it and offers objections to O'Connor's view.     

Mainstreams and Perspectives in Research on Learning (Mathematics) From Instruction

Le domaine de l’enseignement et de l’apprentissage des mathématiques est un exemple des plus représentatives de l’orientation des recherches sur l’apprentissage et l’instruction dans les différentes matières. Au cours du dernier quart de siècle écoulé, ce champ de questionnement a produit nombre d’investigations qui résultent d’une conception de l’apprentissage des mathématiques comme construction sociale de la signification et de la comprehension basée sur la modélisation de la réalité. Dans cet article, quelques tendances majeures et perspectives de recherche s.0s principalement aux Etats‐Unis et en Europe. Il y sera montré que d’une part, les investigations empiriques ont déjà produit des blocs de construction pour l’élaboration d’une théorie de l’apprentissage des mathématiques à partir d’instructions mais que, d’autre part, des questions et des problèmes majeurs requièrent d’être démêlés par la poursuite d’investigations. Ceci y sera documenté de façon exemplaire en utilisant comme cadre de référence quatre composants principaux d’une théorie de l’apprentissage des mathématiques à partir d’instructions: une théorie de l’expertise visant à analyser des compétences dans un domaine; une théorie de l’acquisition tendant à comprendre et expliquer les processus d’apprentissage qui conduisent à la réalisation de compétences; une théorie de l’intervention, focalisée sur la conception d’environnements enseignement‐apprentissage puissants pour provoquer ces processus d’acquisition; et une théorie de l’évaluation s’adressant au développement de méthodes et techniques pour la construction et l’application d’outils et instruments d’évaluation. The domain of mathematics learning and teaching is one of the most representative examples of the subject‐matter orientation in research on learning and instruction. During the last quarter of the past century this field of inquiry has produced a vast body of investigations, resulting in an enriched conception of mathematics learning as involving the (social) construction of meaning and understanding based on modeling of reality. In this article some of the main trends and perspectives in the field of research on mathematics learning and instruction are discussed, and illustrated with examples of empirical research, mainly carried out in Europe and the United States. It will be shown that, on the one hand, the available empirical investigations have already yielded substantial building blocks for the elaboration of a theory of mathematics learning from instruction, but that, on the other hand, major issues and problems need to be unravelled by continued inquiry. This will be documented in an exemplary way, using as a frame of reference four main components of a theory of learning mathematics from instruction: a theory of expertise, aiming at analysing competence in a domain; a theory of acquisition, attempting to understand and explain the processes of learning that are conducive to the attainment of competence; a theory of intervention, focusing on the design of powerful teaching–learning environments for eliciting those acquisition processes; and a theory of assessment, addressing the development of methods and techniques for the construction and application of assessment tools and instruments.     

Equine Facilitated Therapy for Children and Adolescents: A Qualitative Pilot Study

Despite recent growth in the use of equine facilitated therapy (EFT), and its potential to be an effective alternative to traditional therapeutic interventions, the literature has not yet provided a convincing explanatory account of the practices implemented within EFT. In this study, the author investigates consistency of clinical practices within the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) model of EFT. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with mental health professionals and equine specialists (N = 10) from six Australian EFT clinics. Thematic analysis of data revealed: an absence of an underpinning theoretical model; variations between clinical practices; lack of parental involvement in therapy for children/adolescents; and inadequate research into perceived mechanisms of change driving EFT. This article concludes with a set of recommendations directed at EFT practitioners in order to increase the rigor of practice and maximize the potential of this intervention.     

投入不足对基层孕产妇保健服务提供的影响

投入不足是影响我国孕产妇保健服务提供的重要因素。通过对项目县的服务提供者和妇幼卫生关键知情人访谈资料的分析,描述服务提供网络及现有资源状况,认为投入不足通过乡镇卫生院院长的重视和支持程度、妇幼专干和村医的工作积极性、人力资源的改善以及设备和设施的改进等六个方面阻碍了孕产妇保健服务的提供。