Start Over and Survive : A Brief Intervention For Substance Abuse in Early Psychosis

Over the last decade, brief intervention for alcohol problems has become a well-validated and accepted treatment, with bried interventions frequently showing equivalence in terms of outcome to more extended treatments (Bien et al, 1993). A recent review of this studies found that heavy drinkers who received interventions of less than 1 h were almost twice as likely to moderate their drinking over the following 6-12 months as did those not receiving intervention (Wilk etal, 1997).Some studies have used motivational interviewing (MI) strategies (Monti et al, 1999); others have simply given information ajnd advice to reduce drinking (Fleming et al, 1997). Leaflets or information on strategies to assist in the attempt or follow-up sessions are sometimes provided (Fleming et al, 1997). In general practice research, provision of one or more follow-up sessions increases the reliability of intake reductions across studies (Poikolainen, 1999).

I got drunk and lost my virginity : young women's magazines and the management of sexual identity

It has often been argued that young woman’s magazine’s, like Cosmopolitan, Cleo Dolly and Seventeen, constitute a significant instrument in the patriarchal repression of young women - their hegemonic success lying in the fact that they appear to be sites wherein young women are ‘free’ from the elements of coercion so obviously in evidence within other terrains, such as the school and the family. This paper will suggest an alternative approach to these magazines. Rather than locating such texts within an overall model of repression and patriarchal domination, it will be argued here that they can be regarded as practical manuals which enrol young women to do specific kinds of work on themselves. In doing so, they form an effective link between the governmental imperatives aimed at constructing particular personas (such as, for example, ‘the sexually responsible young woman’), and the actual practices whereby these imperatives are operationalised. These manuals do not prevent young women from learning to ‘project a unique self’, they constitute a significant source of practices and techniques through which particular types of self are shaped.

An intervention for substance abuse in schizophrenia

Describes a cognitive-behavioral intervention for alcohol and cannabis abuse with schizophrenic patients. The intervention integrates substance abuse treatment with other aspects of psychosis management, including assessment, use of anti-psychotic medication, and training in coping skills.

Safeguarding Rural Australia : Data Report No. 2 - Intentional Violence

This report focuses on our examination of extant data which have been sourced with respect to intentional violence perpetrated or experienced by males in regional and remote Australia. The nature of intentional violent acts can be physical, sexual or psychological or involve deprivation or neglect. We have presented under the headings of: self-harm including suicide; homicide; assault, sexual assault and the threat of assault; child abuse; other family and intimate partner violence; harassment, stalking and bullying; alcohol related social violence; and animal abuse. State variations in interpersonal violence are also presented. Additional commentary resulting from exploration, examination and analyses of secondary data is published online in complementary reports in this series.

Safeguarding rural Australia : addressing masculinity and violence in rural settings. Data report No. 4 - Risky behaviour - misuse of alcohol, illicit drugs, firearms use and abuse, other risky behaviour

This report focuses on our examination of extant data which have been sourced with respect to personally and socially risky behaviour associated with males living in regional and remote Australia . The AIHW (2008: PHE 97:89) defines personally risky behaviour, on the one hand, as working, swimming, boating, driving or operating hazardous machinery while intoxicated with alcohol or an illicit drug. Socially risky behaviour, on the other hand, is defined as creating a public disturbance, damaging property, stealing or verbally or physically abusing someone while intoxicated with alcohol or an illicit drug. Additional commentary resulting from exploration, examination and analyses of secondary data is published online in complementary reports in this series.

Cognitive behavioral interviewing for adult disorders : a practical handbook

This is a guidebook for clinicians on how to conduct assessment interviews with patients presenting with common psychological disorders. The orientation is behavioural and cognitive; so the book has wide applicability, as most clinicians explicitly or implicitly accept this combination of models as a useful basis for assessing and treating these problems. The problem areas covered are: fear and anxiety problems; depression, obesity; interpersonal problems; sexual dysfunction; insomnia; headache; and substance abuse.

Introduction to the development of the ISPCAN child abuse screening tools

The World Report on Children and Violence, (Pinheiro, 2006) was produced at the request of the UN Secretary General and the UN General Assembly. This report recommended improvement in research on child abuse. ISPCAN representatives took this charge and developed 3 new instruments. We describe this background and introduce three new measures designed to assess the incidence and prevalence of child abuse and neglect.

Men's intimate partner abuse and control : reconciling paradoxical masculinities and social contradictions

Intimate partner abuse and control is one of the most common forms of violence against women, and is considered an international problem of social, political, legal and human rights significance. Yet few studies have attempted to understand this problem from the perspective of male perpetrators. This gap is addressed by conducting in-depth interviews with 16 able-bodied men of white European ancestry born and educated in New Zealand or Australia, who have been physically violent and/or emotionally, intellectually, sexually or financially controlling of a live-in female partner. This thesis extends and deepens the dominant ways of thinking about men’s intimate partner abuse by utilising a new theoretical framework compatible with contemporary feminist scholarship. A synthesis of Connell’s theory of masculinities and Bourdieu’s field theory is utilised for the purpose of exploring more nuanced, complex understandings of manliness and men’s relationships with men, women and social structures. Through such an analysis, this thesis finds that men’s perpetration of power and control over women is driven by a need to avoid the stigma of appearing weak. As a consequence, their desire and ability to show love, care and empathy is suppressed in favour of a presumed honourable manliness, and their female partners are used as weapons in the pursuit of symbolic capital in the form of recognition, prestige and acceptance from real and/or imagined men. This research also uncovers the complex interplay between masculine practices and particular social contexts. For example, the norms of practice encountered from those in authority, such as teachers, sports coaches, police, court judges and workplace management, influences the decision making of the men in this study, to use, or not to use, physical violence, psychological abuse and structural control. The principal conclusion is that there is a repertoire of paradoxical masculinities and contradictory social messages available to the men in this study. But gender policing by other men, complicit women and those in authority provides little room for legitimate complexity in masculine practices. Perpetrators in this study reconcile these conflicts of interest by generally avoiding subordinated masculinity and possible ostracism, and instead practicing more heroic hegemonic masculinities by abusing and controlling women and particular other men. This thesis concludes that for intimate partner abuse and control to cease, changes in power structures have to occur at all levels of society.

Critical review of Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission Inquiry into abuse of children in foster care : social work's contribution to reform

This paper profiles Queensland's recent Crime and Misconduct Commission Inquiry into the abuse of children in foster care. The authors welcome the outcome as an opportunity to highlight the problems encountered by child protection jurisdictions in Australia and internationally, and they applaud some of the Inquiry's findings. However, the paper argues that the path to reform is hampered by insufficient accountability by government and management, and an inadequate challenge to the ideologies underpinning contemporary child protection policy and practice. The authors conclude with a call to value and assert social work's contribution to child protection systems so as to vastly improve outcomes for children and families.

Preventing sexual violence?

This article critically assesses the main social policy responses to preventing rape following much feminist struggle to make sexual violence a public matter of legitimate concern. It considers the preventative potential of legal measures, anti-violence campaigns waged by feminist and men's groups in the US and Australia, public education campaigns in Schools and Universities, and public awareness campaigns sponsored by the state.We argue that sexual violence is not amenable to quick fix strategies that place responsibility for prevention entirely on individual men or women. While we recognise that responsibilising victims and individualising offenders is consistent with wider global shifts in social policy calling upon individuals to manage their own risk, we argue that the increasing reliance on such neo-liberal social policy is especially problematic in preventing rape. The paper suggests ways to resist this which place greater emphasis on the promotion of sexual ethics; the eroticisation of consent; the reinvention of the norms of romance to include both these, and the complete separation of the psycho-social-symbolic connections between sex and violence, and ultimately the re-evaluation of the cultural expectations of masculinity and femininity.