Unsafe Feelings Among Teachers

Abstract

Teachers feeling unsafe in front of their classes tend to show a reduced commitment to their educational task. This can have a negative effect on pupils' performance and may cause behaviour problems. Feelings of unsafety are generally associated with pupils' antisocial behaviour.

We examined this proposition and found the correlation between the two factors to be less direct than is generally supposed. Subjective criminality-related factors (subjective victimization risk and own victimization experience) and well-being (including job perception, satisfaction with the pupils) are very important intermediate factors.

Measures intended to reduce teachers' feelings of unsafety should, therefore, not focus directly on pupil behaviour but on the situation in which the teacher has to work. More in particular, attention should be paid to the development of a positive image of and a respectful attitude towards young people, to teamwork and teacher support, and to the optimization of conditional factors (class size, work pressure, etc.).

The research material was collected via questionnaires completed by 1,432 teachers from 91 schools and secondary analyses of questionnaire data from 4,829 pupils (12 — to 18-year-olds) from the same schools. To complement the questionnaire data, twelve focus groups with teachers and eight with pupils were organised.     

Bullies and Victims

Abstract

This study presents the results of a phenomenological study with sixteen elementary school children identified as bullies or victims. Implications for school counselors and educators are also discussed.     

A Community Model for Prevention Services

Abstract

Experience in Ionia county and Newaygo county in developing prevention services is described. These efforts, starting with needs assessment, illuminate principles underlying a community model for prevention services.     

Intersectional Disadvantage: Exploring Differences Between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Parents with Intellectual Disability in the New South Wales Child Protection System

Background: Parents with intellectual disability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents are overrepresented in child removal but research has not explored the intersection of Aboriginality and intellectual disability in child protection.

Methods: A case file review of 45 parents with intellectual disability (n = 14 Aboriginal and n = 31 non-Aboriginal) engaged in care proceedings in New South Wales was undertaken. Parent and child demographics and investigation triggers and outcomes were compared.

Results: Aboriginal parents were significantly younger than non-Aboriginal parents at initiation of an investigation, twice as likely to be investigated due to concerns about parenting capacity, and more likely to have children removed than non-Aboriginal parents.

Conclusion: The intersection of Aboriginality and intellectual disability appears to increase the risk of negative encounters with child protection systems. Targeted support for young Aboriginal parents and greater disability awareness and cultural sensitivity by child welfare workers are needed.     

School Violence Prevention

Abstract

Objective: This study was designed to describe the level of violence in three high schools and to test the effects of universal and targeted strategies to reduce this violence.

Design:A repeated measures design with two baseline scores and two intervention scores was used during a two year period. Two rural high schools served as control schools with a single intervention high school.

Participants: All freshmen at the three high schools completed a self-report measure of school violence; 420 completed the study at the end of their sophomore year.

Method: Multiple universal and targeted interventions to prevent school violence were used for slightly more than one year. Scores on student Victimization and Perpetration, gathered one year apart, were compared using a pre-test post-test model.

Findings: Student reports of perpetration at the intervention school were significantly lower than the combined scores at the control school. Students, teachers, and administrators reported improved awareness, knowledge, and skills to implement violence prevention programs.

Conclusions: A comprehensive program that includes university and high school partnerships has the capability to reduce school violence during a short period. Despite limitations to the study, continued use of research partnerships to decrease school violence is war-ranted.     

Stress management training for low income women

Summary

Stress Management Training for Low Income Women, a time‐limited psychoeducational intervention directed at both cognitive and behavior change, was developed as a prevention model for the Michigan Department of Mental Health. It has been evaluated with 5 populations: white women in smaller communities in Michigan (3) and Connecticut, and inner‐city black women.

Across five projects and various measures, these evaluations show a significant decrease in depression, an increase in the sense of mastery and an increase in self‐esteem.     

The Challenges of Multiple Roles

Abstract

This paper reviews the problems and benefits associated with combining work and family when children are young, then proceeds to discuss both implications for research and some strate-/ gies (individual and structural) for easing tensions between the two domains.     

BOOK REVIEWS

ABSTRACT

THE WELFARE OF CHILDREN. (2ND ED.). Lindsey, Duncan (2004). New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. 451 pp., $24.95, p.b. ISBN 0-19-513671-3. Reviewed by Sandra Yudilevich.

CULTURALLY COMPETENT PUBLIC CHILD WELFARE PRACTICE. Samantrai, K. (2004). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. 184 pp., $59.95 pb, ISBN 0-534-37055-1. Reviewed by Jane S. Wimmer.     

BOOK REVIEWS

ABSTRACT

A HISTORY OF CHILD PROTECTION IN AMERICA. Myers, John E. B. 2004, 460 pp., ISBN 1-4134-2301-9 (softcover), ISBN 1-4134-2302-7 (hardcover). Reviewed by Leslie Leighninger.

CHILD WELFARE IN THE LEGAL SETTING: A CRITICAL AND INTERPRETIVE PERSPECTIVE. O'Brien, Thomas M. New York: The Haworth Press, 2004, 302 pp., ISBN 0-7890-2351-2. Reviewed by Sue D. Steib.     

Breaking Fresh Ground

ABSTRACT

In the present paper, the author introduces her roles and duties at her current job. The author then describes how she got into community psychology and primary prevention and how her graduate school and previous work experiences have influenced her current work. Focusing on primary prevention, the author delineates how the two community psychology concepts -primary prevention and action research -can be applied to the promotion of adolescent mental health in the Korean society. The author then adds advice for foreign students who are considering studying community psychology in the U.S.     

Emerging Risks of Violence in the Digital Age

Abstract

This research focuses on the evolving area of cyberviolence and draws on a pioneering study to discuss benefits and risks of online interaction among adolescent girls. This new area of inquiry introduces educators to the social and cultural communities of the Internet, a virtual venue with unique perspectives on power, identity, and gender for children and youth.

This research focuses on the evolving area of cyberviolence and draws on a pioneering study to discuss benefits and risks of online interaction among adolescent girls. This new area of inquiry introduces educators to the social and cultural communities of the Internet, a virtual venue with unique perspectives on power, identity, and gender for children and youth.     

Putting a Toe in the Water

SUMMARY

This article describes the author's experience entering a second career in community psychology in mid-life. The issues relating the author's first career and community psychology are discussed, as are his current activities, interests and reflections.     

Welcome baby programs

SUMMARY

Several successful prevention programs are recognized as exemplars of implementation. Complicated multidimensional interventions with different goals and directed at different target populations have been conducted with a high degree of fidelity using a common set of strategies. Future research priorities involve identifying the specific factors that promote implementation and determining what levels of implementation are necessary to achieve maximum program impact.     

Juvenile Delinquency in Japan

SUMMARY

Juvenile delinquency in Japan is examined with respect to Japanese culture. The cultural changes in Japan since World War II, and especially since 1970, have affected family, school, neighborhood, and peer relationships. Changes in juvenile delinquency are presented and discussed within the context of these historical and cultural changes in Japanese society.     

Parenting education: Primary prevention in a rural community

SUMMARY

The present paper describes the educational background and current role of a community psychologist conducting tobacco control studies at a research institute affiliated with a university medical school. This includes how the author originally became interested in community psychology as an undergraduate, chose a graduate training program and postdoctoral fellowship, and how this training was instrumental in obtaining the current position.     

Individual differences in safe behavior: A safety practitioner's viewpoint

SUMMARY

This paper focuses on the school as a setting for community-based prevention of factors that place learners at risk such as poverty, violence, substance abuse, learning difficulties and HIV/AIDS. It examines the development of school-based structures aimed at addressing these issues. The health promoting and inclusive schools approaches are explored as strategies to address these and other barriers to learning.

Reference is made to innovative practice at a school in a disadvantaged community outside of Cape Town. The case study reveals how school-based teams could be utilized to mobilize school communities in generating solutions to the difficulties that they encounter.     

African American and Latino Youth and Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome

Abstract

Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) is found more frequently in inner-city African American and Latino youth than in European American youth. Previous research on PTSD and its relationship with inner-city violence, minority youth, school violence and institutionalized oppression is examined. School counselor's roles and possible interventions are discussed and an interdisciplinary collaborative model for helping students with PTSD is introduced.     

Attitudinal and Academic Effects of Service-Learning

SUMMARY

We examined perceived learning and attitude change in classes in Cognitive Psychology and Sensation and Perception in which some but not all of the students did service-learning with autistic children or in other settings. Attitudes toward people served became more positive based on questionnaire and journal entry data, and in one class, service-learning students felt they learned more about course material from their experiences.     

Infant Mental Health Services

Abstract

In order to identify newborns at psychosocial risk so that intervention could be provided proactively, a screener was developed for use by nurses in the hospital. The situational and interactional content of the screener are described. The screener was validated against I month and 1 year scores on measures assessing the environment and parent-infant interaction. Correlations with 1 year data suggest predictive validity.