Predictors of client retention in alternative to prison substance abuse programs

Increased treatment retention among substance abusing individuals has been associated with reduced drug use, fewer arrests, and decreased unemployment, as well as a reduction in health risk behaviors. This longitudinal study examined the predictors of client retention for alternative to prison substance abuse treatment programs through assessing the roles of motivational factors and the client-worker relationship. The sample was comprised of 141 male felony offenders who were legally mandated to community based long-term residential drug treatment programs. The primary measures used in the study were the consecutive days a participant remained in treatment, Stages of Change Readiness Model and Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES), the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI), and The Readiness Ruler. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted for four hypotheses (a) participants who are more motivated to change at the time of entry will remain in treatment longer, (b) participants who have a strong therapeutic alliance will remain in treatment a greater number of consecutive days than participants who have weaker therapeutic alliance, (c) motivation to change, as measured at treatment entry, will be positively related to therapeutic alliance, (d) during the course of treatment variation in motivation to change will be predicted by the therapeutic alliance. Results support the following conclusions: Among clients in alternative-to prison programs the number of days in treatment is positively related to their motivation to change. The therapeutic alliance is not a predictor of the number of days in treatment. Motivation to change, particularly recognition of a drug problem, is positively related to the therapeutic alliance. Changes in motivation to change in response to treatment are positively related to the therapeutic alliance among clients in an alternative to prison substance abuse treatment programs. These results carry forward prior research and have implications for social work practice, research, and social welfare policy.

Entre o comentário e a entrevista: “A Opinião de José Sócrates” (RTP1), “A Opinião de Luís Marques Mendes” (SIC) e “Os Comentários de Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa” (TVI)

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Comunicação Social como parte dos requisitos para obtenção de grau de mestre em Jornalismo.

Petr Eben's oratorio Apologia Sokratus (1967) and ballet Curses and Blessings (1983): An interpretative analysis of the symbolism behind the text settings and musical style

The Czech composer Petr Eben (1927-2007) has written music in all genres except symphony, but he is highly recognized for his organ and choral compositions, which are his preferred genres. His vocal works include choral songs and vocal-instrumental works at a wide range of difficulty levels, from simple pedagogical songs to very advanced and technically challenging compositions. This study examines two of Eben‘s vocal-instrumental compositions. The oratorio Apologia Sokratus (1967) is a three-movement work; its libretto is based on Plato‘s Apology of Socrates. The ballet Curses and Blessings (1983) has a libretto compiled from numerous texts from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries. The formal design of the ballet is unusual—a three-movement composition where the first is choral, the second is orchestral, and the third combines the previous two played simultaneously. Eben assembled the libretti for both compositions and they both address the contrasting sides of the human soul, evil and good, and the everlasting fight between them. This unity and contrast is the philosophical foundation for both compositions. The dissertation discusses the multileveled meanings behind the text settings and musical style of the oratorio and ballet in analyses focusing on the text, melodic and harmonic construction, and symbolism. Additional brief analyses of other vocal and vocal-instrumental compositions by Eben establish the ground for the examination of the oratorio and ballet and for understanding features of the composer‘s musical style. While the oratorio Apologia Sokratus was discussed in short articles in the 1970s, the ballet Curses and Blessings has never previously been addressed within Eben scholarship. The dissertation examines the significant features of Eben‘s music. His melodic style incorporates influences as diverse as Gregorian chant and folk tunes on the one hand, and modern vocal techniques such as Sprechgesang and vocal aleatoricism on the other. His harmonic language includes bitonality and polytonality, used to augment the tonal legacy of earlier times, together with elements of pitch collections and limited serial procedures as well as various secundal and quartal harmonic sonorities derived from them. His music features the vibrant rhythms of folk music, and incorporates other folk devices like ostinato, repetitive patterns, and improvisation.

Os projectos comenius 1 nas escolas do Concelho de Silves: Contributo para a avaliação dos impactos percepcionados pelos professores-coordenadores, nas diferentes dimensões do processo educativo

Este estudo teve como principal objectivo ser um contributo para a compreensão e identificação dos impactos importantes que os Projectos Europeus, na área da Educação, no âmbito da sub-acção Comenius 1 - Parcerias entre Escolas, do Programa Sócrates, tiveram e têm na comunidade educativa do concelho de Silves. O estudo parte, assim, da seguinte questão de investigação: Quais são os impactos percepcionados pelos professores coordenadores dos projectos Comenius 1 nas diferentes dimensões do processo educativo? Neste sentido, estabeleceram-se as seguintes questões secundárias: • Como se construíram e implementaram estes Projectos nas Escolas? • De que forma é que estes Projectos foram integrados no desenho curricular da escola? • Quais foram as maiores dificuldades sentidas pelos responsáveis pelos Projectos na implementação dos mesmos? Através de uma metodologia qualitativa, foram realizadas entrevistas semi­estruturadas a cinco professores de escolas diferentes do Concelho de Silves e recorreu-se à análise documental e de testemunhos. Os resultados parecem indicar que a implementação deste tipo de projectos nas escolas deixa impactos em todos os intervenientes (na Escola, no Conselho Executivo, nos Professores da escola e das escolas parceiras, no Pessoal não Docente, na Comunidade Envolvente, na Família, no responsável pelo Projecto e nos alunos) e que, muitas vezes, esses impactos só se verificam a longo prazo. Verificamos também que a implementação destes projectos segue três princípios essenciais: a planificação, a realização e a avaliação sendo que as escolas tentam integrar os projectos no seu Projecto Educativo. As maiores dificuldades sentidas verificaram-se a nível da organização da escola, da carga burocrática inerente ao projecto e do pouco envolvimento e participação de alguns professores. Sugere-se que a Escola aposte cada vez mais na implementação deste tipo de projectos, pois estes podem contribuir para uma Escola mais democrática, mais flexível, com mais qualidade, mais motivadora e mais Europeia. ABSTRACT; The aim of this study was to understand and to identify the biggest impacts that the Community's education-related action programmes "Socrates" (namely Comenius 1) have in the School policy. So, the central question of this research was to find out, from the coordinators points of view, which were the most important impacts of the Comenius projects. This central question led to the formulation of the following three questions: a) How were the Comenius projects implemented at school? b) How were the Comenius projects integrated in school organisation and structure? c) Which were the difficulties coordinators had to face in order to organize and implement a Comenius project? Using a qualitative methodology, semi-structured interviews were held with five teachers from different schools in the region of Silves. The following instruments were used during the research: analysis of documents and interviews. The results of the research revealed that the Comenius projects have impacts (although they take a lot of time to be felt) on School, on School heads, on other teachers, on School staff, on the region, on parents, on coordinators and on pupils. They also revealed that the preparation, the activities and the evaluation are important moments to implement Comenius project and that all the projects are included in the School policy. The biggest difficulties had to do with the school organization, with the coordination work and with the lack of motivation and of participation of some colleagues. It is suggested that schools should implement more Comenius projects, because they can lead to a more democratic, flexible, motivating and European School.

Manos manchadas de sangre: los orígenes cristianos del mito antijudío del crimen ritual

La acusación antijudía del crimen o asesinato ritual gozó de una enorme popularidad en la Edad Media. A mediados del siglo XII, surgió de forma “espontánea” en diferentes lugares de la Europa medieval y dio lugar a infinidad de variantes. Su versión definitiva fue la del asesinato, preferentemente por crucifixión, de un niño cristiano a manos de los judíos con el fin de incorporar su sangre al pan ázimo. Sin embargo, su origen más remoto debe buscarse en la Antigüedad. De hecho, su más incipiente desarrollo puede encontrarse ya a comienzos del siglo V en el historiador cristiano Sócrates (Hist. Eccl., VII, 16), quien cuenta que hacia el año 415, en Inmestar (Siria), con motivo de las celebraciones de la fiesta de Purim, los judíos, embriagados por el vino, amarraron a un niño cristiano a una cruz y lo asesinaron. El relato de este hecho monstruoso plantea algunas dudas acerca de lo acontecido. Seguramente la historia sea falsa y se sitúe en el contexto de una ley del Codex Theodosianus del año 408 (XVI, 8, 18) que prohibía insultar a la Cruz durante la celebración de dicha festividad judía.

Sócrates entre a ética e a ironia : o pensador ateniense segundo as interpretações de Hegel e Kierkegaard

O intuito deste artigo é analisar a relação entre a ética e a ironia no pensamento socrático. Para tal, serão utilizadas as interpretações de Hegel e de Kierkegaard sobre o tema. A proposta é comparar as duas interpretações e destacar semelhanças e diferenças na compreensão da ética e da ironia socráticas. _______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT

Socratic ironies: reading Hadot, reading Kierkegaard

This paper examines the seemingly unlikely rapport between the ‘Christian existentialist’, radically Protestant thinker, Søren Kierkegaard and French classicist and historian of philosophy, Pierre Hadot, famous for advocating a return to the ancient pagan sense of philosophy as a way of life. Despite decisive differences we stress in our concluding remarks, we argue that the conception of philosophy in Hadot as a way of life shares decisive features with Kierkegaard’s understanding of the true ‘religious’ life: as something demanding existential engagement from its proponent, as well as the learning or recitation of accepted doctrines. The mediating figure between the two authors, the paper agrees with Irina (2012), is Socrates and his famous irony. In order to appreciate Kierkegaard’s rapport with Hadot, then (and in contrast to Gregor, who has also treated the two figures) we first of all consider Hadot’s treatment of the enigmatic ‘old wise man’ who remains central to Kierkegaard’s entire authorship. (Part 1) However, to highlight Hadot’s Socratic proximity to Kierkegaard (in contrast to Irina), we set up Hadot’s Socrates against the contrasting portrait readers can find in John M. Cooper’s recent work on Socrates and philosophy as a way of life. Part II of the essay turns back from Hadot’s and Kierkegaard’s Socrates towards Hadot’s own work, and argues—again moving beyond both Gregor and Irina’s works on Hadot and Kierkegaard—that the shape of Hadot’s ‘authorship’, including his remarkably classical style, can be understood by way of Kierkegaard’s notion of indirect communication. In our concluding remarks, in the spirit of Kierkegaard, we pinpoint the fundamental difference between the two thinkers, arguing that for Hadot in contrast to Kierkegaard, a stress on existential commitment in no way speaks against the philosophical defence of a form of rational universalism. Reading Hadot via Kierkegaard allows us to appreciate Hadot’s novelty as attempting to ‘squaring the circle’ between an emphasis on subjectivity and, as it were, the subjective dimensions of philosophers’ pursuit of rational universality.

Hunting Plato's agalmata

In this essay I argue that to understand Plato's philosophy, we must understand why Plato presented this philosophy as dialogues: namely, works of literature. Plato's writing of philosophy corresponds to his understanding of philosophy as a transformative way of life, which must nevertheless present itself politically, to different types of people. As a model, I examine Lacan's famous reading of Plato's Symposium in his seminar of transference love in psychoanalysis. Unlike many other readings, Lacan focuses on Alcibiades' famous description of what caused his desire for Socrates: the supposition that beneath Socrates' Silenus-like language and appearance, there were agalmata, treasures, hidden in his belly. I argue that this image of Socrates can also stand as an image for how we ought to read and to teach Plato's philosophy: as harbouring different levels of insight, couched in Plato's philosophy as literature.

Democratic corporealities of love : the architectural cinema and eroticized publics of Pauline Kael

The American film critic Pauline Kael’s career interestingly parallels the Cold War period but nobody has explored this yet. Filling that gap, this essay constructs Kael’s writings and critic’s persona as a contribution to a discourse of international democracy. Kael was part of a generation of American critics who took seriously the importance of art to politics. However, she goes further than her contemporaries by energizing this relationship through her emphasis on corporeality—both on screen and off screen—and on the eroticized body. A discernible philosophical lineage runs from Plato’s version of love as described by Socrates in The Symposium to Kael’s writings and bodily habits. In this lineage, love is figured as relational and desiring. A second line of relationship between Plato and Kael is in the way they each connected erotic discourses to the very similar architectures of the andrôn (men’s quarters), for Plato, and the modern American cinema or screening room, for Kael. Plato and Kael draw out the inherent spatial energy of these places (which is most evident at the borders of andrôn and cinema) through the interactions they construct of images and talk with the erotic, love-based relationality of bodies. They thereby maximize the bodily powers of these architectures as places where a public of differences and (inevitably) “loose” democracy might form. Kael’s advocacy doesn’t suggest a formal political program so much as a more feminine democracy of erotic discourses allied to an energizing architecture suitable to the accumulation of plural, participatory corporealities.