The Use of Self of the Therapist

This article explores how the Satir model facilitates the development of the self of the therapist, which Virginia Satir strongly advocated. Discovering and developing creative ways to externalize the internal hidden processes of people, she invited therapists to work on their own unresolved issues in their training through various methods such as: family of origin, family reconstruction, ingredients of an interaction, and parts party. Her goal was to increase self-esteem, foster better choice making, increase responsibility, and facilitate personal congruence through a therapeutic process. Although very relevant in the training and professional development of therapists, there has been little exploration or research of this topic.     

"The Plague Of Blood": HIV/AIDS and Ethics of the Global Health–Care Challenge

In this essay I explore the heuristic value of the concept of ethics of complexity, chaos, and contingency by applying its framework to the analysis of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Everyday human moral choices are outcomes of a moral impulse, and such an impulse is grounded in moral competence shaped by moral literacy. This literacy is constructed on the basis of a body of knowledge of culture, social context, environment, and the universe. It also includes the knowledge of religions and religious and secular ethical codes. I also distinguish between the social and cultural aspects of ethical systems. Both societies and cultures provide resources and constraints for the development of literacy and competence. An intentionally developed multifaith and multidisciplinary coalition may help us move away from various forms of social speciation and toward sociological mindfulness. This could help us remake the world into one that has more courage to care.     

Ethical Considerations for Therapists Working With Demographically Similar Clients

The increasing emphasis on multicultural competence within psychotherapy continues to highlight the need for being sensitive to key differences between therapist and client. However, this attunement to the psychotherapeutic impact of therapist–client differences may obscure the equally critical need to evaluate ethical problems associated with therapist–client similarities. It will be argued that therapists treating clients who are demographically similar to themselves encounter a unique set of ethical challenges that warrant careful consideration and caution precisely because of therapist–client matching. The extant research on matching therapists and clients based on demographic similarities is discussed, with a particular emphasis on psychotherapeutic outcomes and client preferences. Attention then turns to the nonrational heuristics and biases that can often cloud therapists’ ethical decision making regarding the appropriate uses versus contraindications for demographically matching therapists and clients. Within the discussion of nonrational heuristics and biases, suggestions are offered for managing related challenges for ethical decision making.     

The development of a human resource management (HRM) professional competence model: A pilot study

This study sought to develop and test a diagnostic tool for the measurement of professional human resource management (HRM) competencies in the South African context. Data on HRM competencies were collected from South African human resource (HR) practitioners (N = 189; females = 49.2%, blacks = 91.2%). Exploratory factor analyses resulted in three distinguishable HR competency dimensions: Professional behaviour and leadership (i.e. leadership-personal credibility, organisational capability, solution creation, interpersonal communication, and citizenship); Service orientation and execution (i.e. talent management, HR governance, analytics and measurement, and HR service delivery); and Business intelligence (i.e. strategic contribution, HR business knowledge, and HR technology).     

The effects of family composition,family health,parenting behavior and environmental stress on children's divorce adjustment

The traditional family composition model of children's divorce adjustment was compared to a family competence model. Subjects included 81 children whose parents remained married, were divorced, or were divorced and subsequently remarried. Divorced families had been separated for between 24 and 48 months. Custodial parents completed questionnaires regarding family functioning, occurrence of stressful life events, and child's psychosocial adjustment. Children completed questionnaires regarding parenting behaviors and self-esteem. A trained examiner conducted a structured diagnostic interview of the child. Multivariate analysis of covariance showed that family composition had a significant effect on the occurrence of stressful events and change in income but not children's adjustment. Hierarchical multiple regression correlations indicated the most powerful predictors of child adjustment were family competence variables which accounted for 21% of the variance in child adjustment scores. In contrast, family composition accounted for only 8% of variance in child adjustment scores. Further, hierarchical multiple regression correlations indicated that higher levels of family functioning were associated with families where parental hostility was low and parents displayed few rejecting behaviors while practicing consistent and appropriate discipline.     

From Social Withdrawal to Social Confidence: Evidence for Possible Pathways

Children born with a possible predisposition toward shyness face many social challenges. Researchers over the past four decades have begun to identify specific factors that influence shy children’s social skill development and their level of peer acceptance. The purpose of this article is to review factors across each developmental stage that have been found to either promote or hinder the development of social competence and peer acceptance in shy children. These factors include physiological differences, caregiver influences, emotion socialization, friendships, general peer support, coping skills, organized social activities, and socioeconomic status.     

Aggressive Children and Effective Communication

Testing a component of a theoretical model which postulates that low levels of communication effectiveness accompany the social and affective problems presented by aggressive children, the study compared the communication skills of a group of aggressive (n = 49) and nonaggressive (n = 49) elementary school children (selected on the basis of teacher ratings) in a structured and cooperative communication task. Based on direct observational measures of communication effectiveness and aggression, and on teacher, peer, and self-rating measures of peer rejection and depressive symptoms, results showed that (a) aggressive children exhibited less effective communication skills and more disruptive communication skills than nonaggressive peers; (b) aggressive children experienced higher levels of peer rejection and depressive symptoms than nonaggressive peers; and (c) group differences in communication effectiveness could not be accounted for by differences in observed aggression and remained significant, even after controlling for differences in peer status and affective functioning. These findings highlight the role that ineffective communication may play in the development and maintenance of aggression and have important theoretical and applied implications, which are briefly discussed. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Curriculum Evaluation and Assessment of Multicultural Genetic Counselor Education

Multicultural competence in genetic counseling integrates racial-cultural knowledge, awareness, and skills into clinical interventions and research practices. Researchers and educators often cite racial-cultural factors as obstacles for visible racial-cultural people seeking help. However, the professional's unfamiliarity of how his or her own racial-cultural group affiliations are influenced by the history of discrimination and oppression coupled with their lack of self-understanding of racial-cultural issues for him- or herself has also limited the effectiveness of genetic counseling. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Handbook of Cross-Cultural Genetic Counseling, a multicultural curriculum developed for genetic counselor education for increasing multicultural counseling competence. The multicultural curriculum was evaluated for its effectiveness of increasing multicultural counseling competence using a nonequivalent control group design. A participant's multicultural counseling competence was hypothesized to increase after being taught the curriculum. The curriculum was effective for increasing multicultural counseling competence. Additionally, achieved multicultural counseling competence was not influenced by when the curriculum was taught. Trend analyses measuring the longitudinal impact of the curriculum on multicultural competence were significant. Implications of the results are discussed.     

童年早期社会能力的发展：一个潜变量增长模型

对119名幼儿进行历时两年的三次追踪测试, 采用潜变量增长建模, 检验童年早期的社会能力是否呈线性增长, 并考察气质、性别、母亲受教育程度及其交互作用对社会能力发展水平与速度的预测作用。结果发现：(1)社会能力在两年中呈线性增长, 起始水平及发展速度均存在显著的个体差异; (2)女孩起始的社会能力水平高于男孩; 母亲受教育程度越高, 儿童起始的社会能力水平就越高; (3)气质节律性对社会能力增长速度的预测因儿童性别而异：节律性能够负向预测女孩社会能力的增长速度、正向预测男孩社会能力的增长速度。