Child Abuse and Divorce

Summary

This article addresses the problem of divorce situations in which there are also allegations of abuse. Its goal is to provide guidance for professionals evaluating these cases. It describes the challenges peculiar to cases where divorce and abuse allegations coexist, relevant research findings, and potential sources of bias. The article suggests a multidisciplinary approach may be the optimal strategy for evaluating these cases. Specific guidelines for evaluation and decision-making are provided.     

Mandated Reporting Among School Personnel

Summary

An empirical review and critique of existing state standards for batterer programs in the domestic violence field appeared timely, given the current debate about their status and utility. Although there has been a considerable amount of polemic discussion of the topic, relatively limited data have been reported. The present article surveyed the content of standards developed in 30 states within the United States. Five categories of interest were examined including: (1) the minimum length of treatment specified; (2) specification of treatment orientation, methods, and content; (3) preferred or allowable modalities of treatment; (4) whether research findings were mentioned or endorsed as a basis for development of treatment standards; and (5) methods for developing and revising standards. A related area, the minimum education required for providers, was also included as an area of interest to further describe the current pool of practitioners targeted for regulation. An analysis of the content of these standards was then performed with regard to existing peer-reviewed research in the field. The results are discussed in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of current standards, the areas in which further research is needed, and specific recommendations regarding steps that might be taken to improve existing efforts.     

Close monitoring as a contextual stimulator: How need for structure affects the relation between close monitoring and work outcomes

In this article, we argue and demonstrate that employees’ Personal Need for Structure (PNS) moderates the negative effects of close monitoring on job satisfaction, intrinsic work motivation, and innovative job performance (as rated by their supervisors). In a field study (N = 295), we found that employees low in PNS reacted unfavourably to close monitoring, whereas employees high in PNS reacted more favourably to close monitoring. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the negative effect of close monitoring on job satisfaction and intrinsic work motivation among low PNS employees can be explained by a reduction of perceived autonomy. In contrast, the positive effects of close monitoring on these favourable outcomes among high PNS employees were associated with increased role clarity.     

Managing diversity in organizations: An integrative model and agenda for future research

The literature on policies, procedures, and practices of diversity management in organizations is currently fragmented and often contradictory in highlighting what is effective diversity management, and which organizational and societal factors facilitate or hinder its implementation. In order to provide a comprehensive and cohesive view of diversity management in organizations, we develop a multilevel model informed by the social identity approach that explains, on the basis of a work motivation logic, the processes by, and the conditions under which employee dissimilarity within diverse work groups is related to innovation, effectiveness, and well-being. Building on this new model, we then identify those work group factors (e.g., climate for inclusion and supervisory leadership), organizational factors (e.g., diversity management policies and procedures, and top management's diversity beliefs), and societal factors (e.g., legislation, socioeconomic situation, and culture) that are likely to contribute to the effective management of diversity in organizations. In our discussion of the theoretical implications of the proposed model, we offer a set of propositions to serve as a guide for future research. We conclude with a discussion of possible limitations of the model and practical implications for managing diversity in organizations.     

Book reviews

This paper begins with a critical evaluation of British counselling psychology's aspirations for a scientific basis and considers some of the consequences in terms of theoretical assumptions and research practice. Through identifying certain empirical, theoretical and ideological problems inherent in the dominant tradition of quantifying inferred cognitive constructs (using the example of trainee self-talk), an alternative framework of discursive psychology is simultaneously introduced. the argument is made for a discursive study of storied meanings by trainee counselling psychologists about themselves and their work. This would potentially address two pivotal research areas. First, it affords both a personal and yet socially embedded framework for an increased understanding and more sensitive evaluation of the training process (with its acquisition of skills, knowledge, experience, competencies, etc.). Second, it offers an alternative approach to the problematic area of understanding unique and generic interactions between practitioners and their preferred psychological model(s) of therapy, thus challenging the theoretical and research cul-de-sac of competing modernist visions of purism, eclecticism and integration. Extending from these observations two research possibilities are suggested.     

The fieldwork model: An anthropological perspective on the process of change in long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy

The question of what takes place in the psychoanalytic consulting room, and whether it has any therapeutic effect on the patient, has consistently been behind various criticisms of the long-term psychoanalytically informed therapies. When it comes to goal-oriented talking therapies –the only ones favoured by the state mechanism – statistical proof of their efficacy is thought of as proof of their scientific value. However, disciplines such as social anthropology have consistently based their complex understanding of social phenomena in qualitative data. This article draws upon the anthropological fieldwork model. It also looks at how anthropological theory has evolved as a result of the increasing centrality of the fieldwork model and a gradual acceptance of the inter-subjective process. It aims to highlight how lived experience, the paradigm on which the fieldwork model is based, constitutes a highly effective way of understanding in depth the patient and the patient's history. Such understanding is in turn the main factor behind profound and lasting psychological change. It is argued here that psychotherapy research and practice could be enhanced by following the example of anthropological qualitative research.     

Nonrelativist Ethical Standards for Goal Setting in Psychotherapy

A number of authors have commented on the topic of mandated reporting in cases of suspected child maltreatment and the application of this requirement to researchers. Most of these commentaries focus on the interpretation of current legal standards and offer opinions for or against the imposition of mandated reporting laws on research activities. Authors on both sides of the issue offer ethical arguments, although a direct comparison and analysis of these opposing arguments is rare. This article critically examines the ethical arguments made by authors on both sides of the debate. The conclusion is reached that researchers should be mandated reporters of child maltreatment because the current arguments do not justify their exclusion from current ethical and legal standards. The author makes recommendations for the ethically responsible conduct of research in regard to this topic and legal implications are discussed.     

Ethical Conflicts in Commercialization of University Research in the Post–Bayh–Dole Era

Protection of intellectual property as well as its exploitation for monetary benefit have existed for centuries. However, commercialization of intellectual property had not entered the precincts of academic universities in a significant way until the introduction of the Bayh–Dole Act in the 1980s in the United States. The post–Bayh–Dole era has seen a quantitative increase in patenting activity in universities. This article summarizes the ethical conflicts ushered in by increasing commercialization of academic university research. Activities related to the protection and commercial exploitation of intellectual property have led to changes in academic culture that have given room for debate between the puritans and the modernists. Issues contended by the two groups have been identified, and both sides of the argument are discussed. The key to achieving “responsible commercialization of research” is to balance the Bayh–Dole ethos with the traditional Mertonian norms of academic research.     

Responsible Conduct of Research Training and Trust Between Research Postgraduate Students and Supervisors

The federal regulations of human research were written to permit the use of discretion so that research can fit the circumstances under which it is conducted. For example, the researcher and institutional review board (IRB) could waive or alter some informed consent elements if they deem this the morally and scientifically best way to conduct the research. To do so, however, researchers and IRBs would first have to use mature moral and scientific judgment. They might also have to rely on empirical research to discover the most effective way to act on their moral sense (e.g., to discover how best to approach potential research participants and explain the nature and purpose of the research participation for which they are being recruited, to ensure comprehension and competent decision making). On discovering the most ethical way to proceed, they would then need to look to the federal regulations of human research to discover how to document their decision and justify it within that somewhat flexible regulatory structure. Unfortunately, many IRBs and researchers fail to take these sensible steps to solve ethical problems and proceed immediately to a default requirement of the regulations that places science at odds with the regulations and, ostensibly, with ethics. The following articles in this special issue are about the process of learning to engage in ethical problem solving and using the flexibility permitted by the federal regulations. These articles extricate researchers from the mindset that has gotten them into trouble, and, ideally, provoke them to use mature common sense and moral judgment.