The highs and lows of working with sexual offenders: A New Zealand perspective

Abstract

The positive effects on clinicians responsible for the treatment of sexual offenders are little understood. The few available studies have focused upon the negative sequelae of this work. The current study of clinicians working therapeutically with sexual offenders at a community-based organization aimed for a more balanced picture of the effects of sex offender treatment provision. Using qualitative methods, both negative and positive aspects of this work emerged within three main themes: taking an optimistic perspective, working for community outcomes and supportive agency culture. Although the study revealed many challenges for therapists, these were found to be counterbalanced against rewards, affording a high degree of personal and professional fulfilment from working within this field.     

Can Museums Help Build a European Memory? The Example of the Musée de l’Europe in Brussels in the Light of “New World” Museums’ Experience

The important role museums played in the construction of nation-states in the late 18th century and in the 19th century generated an abundant literature. In today’s word, these institutions of knowledge are unanimously recognized as lieux de mémoire, capable of generating publics and, more or less successfully, self-identifying (mostly national) collectives. The present chapter intends to analyze how two history museums are projecting a questioning a sense of belonging and its problematic relation to a common present through the celebration of a common past. In particular, we are interested in how supra-national identities are negotiated through these traditionally national agencies of culture in the exhibition C’est notre histoire!, held in 2007–2008 at the Musée de l’Europe in Bruxelles and at the National Museum of Australia, opened in Canberra in 2001. The National Museum of Australia will be regarded as an example of recent negotiations and dissents on an alternate post-national identity construction. It can allow us to revisit the idea of Europe’s museums made of new uses, practices and discourses on multiple identities and groups who were traditionally forgotten in or excluded from a clear-cut national identity. It will also allow us to examine the scenographic representations of a European identity which can not be summarized as the juxtaposition of fixed national narratives and artefacts.     

Gender Differences in Anxiety Trajectories from Middle to Late Adolescence

Although developmental trajectories of anxiety symptomatology have begun to be explored, most research has focused on total anxiety symptom scores during childhood and early adolescence, using racially/ethnically homogenous samples. Understanding the heterogeneous courses of anxiety disorder symptoms during middle to late adolescence has the potential to clarify developmental risk models of anxiety and to inform prevention programs. Therefore, this study specifically examined gender differences in developmental trajectories of anxiety disorder symptoms (generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder) from middle to late adolescence in a diverse community sample (N?=?1000; 57?% female; 65?% White), assessed annually over 2 years. Latent growth curve modeling revealed that girls exhibited a slight linear decrease in generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder symptoms, whereas boys exhibited a stable course. These models suggested that one trajectory was appropriate for panic disorder symptoms in both girls and boys. Growth mixture models indicated the presence of four latent generalized anxiety disorder symptom trajectory classes: low increasing, moderate decreasing slightly, high decreasing, and very high decreasing rapidly. Growth mixture models also suggested the presence of five latent social anxiety disorder symptom trajectory classes: a low stable trajectory class and four classes that were qualitatively similar to the latent generalized anxiety disorder trajectories. For both generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder symptoms, girls were significantly more likely than boys to be in trajectory classes characterized by moderate or high initial symptoms that subsequently decreased over time. These findings provide novel information regarding the developmental course of anxiety disorder symptoms in adolescents.     

Introduction: Social Media,Political Marketing and the 2016 U.S. Election

This essay introduces the contributions of the volume “Social Media, Political Marketing and the 2016 U. S. Election.” Using a variety of methodological approaches, the authors investigate the communication strategies of the Democratic and Republican candidates for president together with the responses of their audience. Collectively, this research offers insights into how new communication technologies are changing both political marketing and the ways candidates and voters interact.