Computer use monitoring and privacy at work

The rapid growth of new developments in communication technology has brought electronic monitoring to the forefront of today’s workplace concerns. This is an area that in recent years has drawn considerable attention amongst the media, academia and legal scholars demanding that employers do not intrude into employees’ online privacy via electronic monitoring in the workplace. However, electronic monitoring at work is not one-sided and it is arguable that employers have legitimate reasons to justify their action. This paper aims to examine employers’ justification for conducting electronic monitoring by highlighting the potential risk of financial and legal liabilities that employers may incur as a result of employees’ misuse of online services at work.     

The Influence of Supportive and Nonsupportive Persons in Helping Rural Women in Abusive Partner Relationships Become Free from Abuse

Many rural women in abusive partner relationships have reached to informal and formal support networks for assistance and have been negated, discounted, or treated in a nonsupportive manner. Women trying to end partner abuse rarely have found the help they seek from their communities; and family and friends may question, blame, or misunderstand women's situations. This study examined behaviors of supportive and nonsupportive persons and the effectiveness of support networks in helping rural women in abusive partner relationships become free from abuse. Supportive persons were found to help women access resources and extended informal and formal networks which in turn helped women become free from abuse. Nonsupportive persons hindered women's access to resources and facilitated in keeping women bound in abusive partner relationships. Partner abuse is a complex societal issue that involves a large network of support and services in order to help women become free from abuse, having implications to educators and service providers.     

Influencing expert judgment: Attributions of crime causality

Purpose. The present research aimed to investigate the effects of attribution on expert clinical judgment in comparison to semi‐experts and laypeople. Two research questions were addressed. First, would experts be less subject to attributional manipulations, in terms of their perceived ratings of dangerousness, than would semi‐experts or laypeople? Second, would experts be less subject to attributional manipulations, in terms of their assessments of offender responsibility, than would semi‐experts or laypeople? Method. A 3×3×2 mixed groups design was implemented. Participants read nine crime scenarios that had been internally or externally manipulated. For each scenario, participants were asked to rate offender dangerousness, offender responsibility, and the seriousness of the crime and to suggest a suitable sentence length. Targeted recruitment was employed, yielding 12 experts, 21 semi‐experts, and 22 laypeople. Results. Offenders were considered to be more responsible for their actions and more dangerous to others in the internal manipulations than in the external ones across all crime types and by all levels of expertise. Findings indicate that semi‐experts are less subject to the influence of attributional manipulations than both experts and laypeople. Marked similarities in the pattern of expert and lay person judgments can be observed from the present analyses. Conclusions. The current findings lend support to previous research in the area in that similarities between expert and lay person judgment were observed. However, through expanding and clarifying the levels of expertise investigated, the current findings highlight the need for greater research into the distinct ‘semi‐expert’ group.     

Violence exposure and health related risk among African American adolescent female detainees: A strategy for reducing recidivism

Juvenile crime and violent victimization continue to be significant social problems (Fitzpatrick, Piko, Wright, & LaGory, 2005); in that, adolescents, females in particular, are likely to participate in health related risk behaviors as result of having been victimized or exposed to a violent environment. Specifically, abuse, neglect, sexual molestation, poverty, and witnessing violence are well known risk factors for the development of trauma-related psychopathology and poor outcomes relative to delinquency, drug and alcohol abuse, and HIV risk behaviors (Steiner, Garcia, & Matthews, 1997). HIV infection is a common public health concern disproportionally affecting adolescent African American female detainees. This unique population has a serious history of violence exposure, which subsequently tends to lead to engaging in risky sexual behaviors, mental health problems, and abusing substances. Also, as a result of little to no intervention, this population is recidivating at an alarming rate, a problem that may further exacerbate the expression of health-related risk behaviors among African American adolescent female detainees. The authors briefly describe a pilot program to be implemented in the juvenile justice system that is based on the Model of Accumulated Risk (Garbarino, 1996), Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model (1994), and the Positive Youth Justice Model (Butts, Bazemore, & Meroe, 2009). The program proposes to reduce risky sexual behaviors, teach alternatives to abusing substances, treat mental health concerns, and reduce the rate of recidivism through "positive youth development", PYD (Butts, Bazemore, & Meroe, 2009). Tying elements of wraparound services and reeducation together, this program addresses salient concerns that may have an impact on an adolescent detainees' success following their release from prison in a holistic manner.     

An evaluation of the effectiveness of positive behavioural support within a medium secure mental health forensic service

A number of recent influential reports recommend the use of proactive and preventative approaches such as Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) in the management of challenging behaviours. Although evidence supporting the use of PBS is mainly drawn from studies of learning disability and child populations, it is recognised that PBS could have a much wider utility. In this study, PBS was implemented in a medium secure forensic mental health service, a novel context. Impact was evaluated using an adapted version of the Checklist of Challenging Behaviour at baseline and then at 3 monthly intervals for a year. Significant reductions were observed in aggression frequency, management difficulty and severity and other challenging behaviour frequency and management difficulty. Reductions in challenging behaviour were still evident after six months for the full group and twelve months for the sub-group with the exception of other challenging behaviour management difficulty. In contrast, no such significant differences were found for a control group. This study indicated that PBS was an effective intervention in the management of challenging behaviour in this forensic mental health context.     

Roadblocks and drunk driving: A time series analysis

Deterrence theory suggests that drunk driving can be reduced when the certainty of apprehension is improved. Sobriety checkpoints or roadblocks have been implemented in several jurisdictions to increase both the number of drunk drivers apprehended and the public’s perception of the risk of apprehension. The present study was conducted to obtain additional information on the effectiveness of such checkpoints as implemented in a medium sized urban community. A time series design consisting of 126 weeks of data was utilized to measure the impact of sobriety checkpoints on the number of alcohol related crashes. The research methods utilized, results obtained, and suggestions for further research are presented.     

Young adults' coping style as a predictor of their alcohol use and response to daily events

Limited resources for coping with stress have been associated with psychological disturbance and alcohol abuse among adults. In the current investigation, both retrospective questionnaires and prospective monitoring measures were used to test young adults' trait coping styles as predictors of their weekly alcohol consumption. Individuals who reported deficits in emotion focused and avoidant coping strategies drank more often than subjects with all other styles of coping. These subjects also exhibited greater overall alcohol consumption that subjects who employed high levels of emotion focused coping but low levels of avoidant coping. Results therefore support the idea that young adults' coping styles are related to their use of alcohol Analyses also showed strong positive correlations between questionnaire and monitored measures of drinking, but only moderate associations between the two measures of coping. Measurement methodologies of the current investigation are discussed in terms of their clinical and research applications.This research was supported in part by a NIAAA grant No. 1R29AA09135-01 to Kim Fromme and by two University of Delaware undergraduate research grants to Kathy Rivet.Received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1988. Major research interest focuses on the ways in which alcohol use influences young adult's participation in a variety of risky activities.