Reproductive justice and support for young fathers

The current article addresses the interests and contributions of fathers to child development and well-being within a reproductive and social justice framework. We present an overview of research on the role of fathers in the lives of children from the prenatal period through early childhood, with an emphasis on fathers as partners and caregivers in promoting the reproductive health and safety of women and the healthy development of young children. We explore especially the challenges of young, at-risk fathers as well as system and practice opportunities that support their contributions as partners and parents. Our goal of the article is to extend the discourse on reproductive and social justice to include the shared responsibility of all parents and facilitate circumstances whereby children experience the support needed to become nurturing caregivers for the next generation.     

The influence of reporting mode on children's cued personal memories

The Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) is widely used in research contexts to measure the extent to which participants (children or adults) report specific or general memories in response to cue words. Recalling fewer specific and more general memories (overgeneral memory) has been shown to be linked to depression in adults, but findings for youth, in particular, are mixed. Different versions of the AMT may be one contributing factor, yet this issue has received little research attention. The current study investigated the influence of reporting mode (written vs. spoken) on the specificity, length, and content of memories provided by 8- to 10-year-old children (N?=?48). No significant differences were found in the number of specific responses given in the written and spoken modes. On the other hand, the spoken mode elicited longer and more detailed memories, although most content differences were eliminated when memory length was controlled. These findings suggest that different reporting modes can influence the nature of the memories reported, but the absolute differences are relatively small.     

Parental Personality,Relationship Stress,and Child Development: A Stress Generation Perspective

This study aimed to investigate associations among the parental personality dimensions of self‐criticism and dependency, parental relationship stress, and child development from a stress generation perspective. Data from 79 first‐time parents and their children aged 8–13 months, who were followed up in a two‐wave, 1‐year longitudinal study, were analysed within a multilevel structural equation modelling framework in order to account for within‐couple interdependence. Results revealed that, as hypothesised, both parental self‐criticism and dependency were associated with increased levels of relationship stress, which in turn were negatively related to child development. Hence, parental personality features in combination with relationship stress may be an important target in couple and family‐based interventions. Implications for further research on family dynamics and interventions are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sense of Competence and Beliefs About Parental Roles in Mothers and Fathers as Predictors of Coparenting and Child Engagement in Mother–Father–Infant Triadic Interactions

The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which a sense of competence and beliefs about parental roles in mothers and fathers influence coparenting and child engagement in triadic interactions during the first 2 years of the child's life, after other influential variables such as marital satisfaction and postpartum depression have been controlled for. The sample constituted 69 mother–father–infant families, whose sense of competence, beliefs in parental roles, postpartum depression, and marital satisfaction were assessed in our laboratory at 3, 9, and 18 months with self‐reported questionnaires. Coparenting support and conflict and child engagement were assessed with the Lausanne Trilogue Play. Results show that (i) predictors of coparenting and child engagement are not the same at each time point; (ii) a sense of competence in mothers is positively linked with coparenting support, particularly at 3 months, whereas in fathers, it is negatively linked with support, particularly at 18 months; (iii) discrepancies between mothers and fathers in beliefs about the importance of the mother's role is the main predictor of coparenting conflict at 18 months; and (iv) paternal beliefs about the importance of the father's and mother's roles are the main predictor of child engagement at 18 months. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palm Beach County Child Abuse and Neglect System Redesign: Initial Process Evaluation

For the families in Palm Beach County who entered the child abuse and neglect system as a result of having a child placed into emergency shelter, their experience was that the system was frequently intimidating, confusing, and fragmented. The reaction of the children and their families to this system was often defensiveness and resistance. To increase the system's effectiveness, it was redesigned and privatized. The redesigned system included centralized shelter placement, a comprehensive assessment, independent service coordination, and treatment service provision within a managed care model. By emphasizing family involvement and quality service provision, the goal was to increase voluntary participation and improve family outcomes. Based on initial data, it appears that the redesigned system has been successfully implemented and has made notable progress toward meeting its system flow timeframes. The initial data also indicate that high percentages of families are participating in and are satisfied with the system, that children are spending less time in shelter placements, and that only one family has reentered the system.     

心理健康培训对医护人员心理健康服务的影响

为探讨医护人员心理健康培训现状以及对心理健康服务的影响,采用《医护人员心理健康教育培训问卷》与《心理健康服务行为量表》对664名医护人员进行问卷调查。结果发现,分别有91.6%、65.2%的医护人员学习过心理健康相关课程或接受过相关培训,70.3%通过科普宣传途径学习心理健康知识;心理健康教育和培训正向预测心理健康服务,能够增加8.5%解释变异量。因此,医护人员接受心理健康教育与培训的内容和途径较为单一,对医护人员加强心理健康相关教育培训,可以增加其心理健康服务。     

Mobile technologies in use by those participating in Lutheran confirmation training in Finland

Abstract

This article focuses on the study of where mobile devices and social media tools are taken into consideration in the Finnish confirmation training entity as a new opportunity to work together. The research is based on the ethnographical method. The data was collected by observation in two confirmation training camp periods and interviewing confirmation training participants. The aim was to find out ways mobile devices were exploited in confirmation training pedagogy, how adolescents reacted to such mobile device use and how adolescents described their personal mobile device use. The research material is analysed by inductive content analysis. The findings are discussed in the theoretical context of the communities of practice (CoPs), originally formed by Lave and Wenger . According to the results, mobile device use, in the confirmation training programme did not seem to be that special for adolescents. At the same time, the youth considered it important to have the possibility to use mobile devices according to their own preferences. Using mobile devices in confirmation training challenged the traditional CoP setting, as adolescents used mobile technology more in their own way, being familiar with it in their earlier virtual communities of practice (VCoPs), instead of the plans of the workers of confirmation training.     

A preliminary investigation on improving functional communication training by mitigating resurgence of destructive behavior

Despite the effectiveness and widespread use of functional communication training (FCT), resurgence of destructive behavior can occur if the functional communication response (FCR) contacts a challenge, such as lapses in treatment integrity. We evaluated a method to mitigate resurgence by conducting FCT using a multiple schedule of reinforcement prior to extinction. After functional analyses of 2 boys’ destructive behavior and treatment with FCT (Study 1), we compared levels of resurgence during an extinction challenge either after a typical FCT sequence or after exposure to schedule thinning in the context of a multiple‐schedule arrangement (Study 2). Results for both participants suggested that schedule thinning using discriminative stimuli in a multiple schedule mitigated the resurgence of destructive behavior.     

The Patriarchal Mind as the Ignored Root of Interpersonal and Social Pathologies

The article begins with an integrative theory of neurosis and with the notion of the “patriarchal mind,” which I conceive as the psycho-social foundation of what we call “civilisation” and proceed to characterize as a despotic and repressive activity of the father on the mother and on the child in the family, and also of an analogous relation between the intellect on the emotional and on the instinctual sub-selves in the individual mind. Next, I propose that patriarchy entails four interrelated problems: (1) violent authority; (2) the eclipse of caring; (3) the repression of instinct; and (4) the invalidation of intuition; and point out that since these are evident in our well-recognized social problems, these may be traced down to the “patriarchal complex” that in turn defines patriarchal society. Finally, I develop the idea that not only is the patriarchal mind is embodied in each of the known interpersonal or character pathologies, but that each of these pathologies contributes to the systemic and cultural presence of the patriarchal mind. The corollary of this analysis is that the healing of both our interpersonal and social pathologies will depend on the healing of the patriarchal mind, which is conceivably possible to bring about through a specially designed education oriented to the balanced development of “three-brained beings,” in whom a balance has been achieved between the intellectual, emotional, and instinctive sub-selves that constitute our mind.