Protective Factors Interrupting the Continuity From School Bullying to Later Internalizing and Externalizing Problems: A Systematic Review of Prospective Longitudinal Studies

A systematic review is presented, based on prospective longitudinal studies, on protective factors that interrupt the continuity from bullying perpetration at school to externalizing problem behaviors later in life; and from bullying victimization to later internalizing problems. Some common factors were established, which seem to interrupt the continuity from school bullying perpetration and victimization to later maladjustment problems. These included having a good performance at school and good social skills, coming from a stable (undisrupted) family, being attached to parents, and having prosocial friends. Findings are consistent with the wider resilience literature on factors that confer emotional and behavioral adjustment to school youth. This is not surprising given the interconnectedness and common pathways between bullying and other risk behaviors. Effective antibullying and other multicomponent programs may successfully interrupt this long-term continuity. Future intervention research should be informed by the resilience literature and incorporate existing findings in future program planning.     

Elements of Successful Change: The Service Tasmania Experience to Public Sector Reform

For Tasmanians accessing Government services has traditionally required visits to various Lead Agency locations, as service delivery was fragmented and bureaucratic. The Tasmanian Government adopted a customer‐focused approach implementing ‘Service Tasmania’ a One‐Stop‐Shop service delivery concept. This paper investigates what led to the success of this public service reform and in particular what change management practices were applied during the change effort. Ten common factors of successful change have been identified in the literature; these are explored determining their relevance throughout this initiative. Data were collected with semi‐structured interviews conducted with 63 staff plus senior management. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach and open coding was applied during the first pass through the data to reach the initial codes identifying critical terms and generic key issues. Findings confirm that several management interventions were necessary to address resistance and conflict issues and keep the government reform project on track.     

How the ‘entry’ defines the ‘exit’: contradictions between the political and military strategies adopted in 2001 and how they have deleteriously affected the longer-term possibilities for stabilisation in Afghanistan

Focusing on the period 2001–2003, the paper discusses how the Western military intervention in Afghanistan changed power structures early on, undermining the political settlement in the long term and culminating in the present electoral crisis. Key concepts, a theoretical framework and the initial military approach (including how the initial military strategy undermined an indigenous solution for toppling the Taliban) are outlined and literature focused on hybrid governance and ‘legitimacy’ as an important but overlooked facet of peace-building is presented. Examples of ‘lessons learned’ in relation to the failure to engage with traditional forms of governance–early on in the Afghan conflict—are set out. The objective is to show that the military strategy adopted in 2001–2002 had adverse long-term consequences that were hard to reverse later on (e.g. by shifting the goalposts of military activity to, for example, a counter-insurgency strategy from 2005 onwards). This paper does not aim to resolve these paradoxes in the Afghan context going forward but offers implicit recommendations based on ‘lessons learned’.     

Reforming United Kingdom's health care system

The paper's focus is on the notably pragmatic style and processes of reform in the UK. Selected key themes illustrate aspects of this. They comprise: the separation of purchaser-provider responsibilities and the development of an internal market in health care. Many of the changes now being introduced were not part of the original proposals put forward in 1989. They emerged in response to Ministers' wishes or preferences as they became caught up in implementation and were held accountable for its achievement. In assessing the NHS reforms, a major problem has been the lack of sound, independent research to evaluate their impact. The limited, though growing, research that has been conducted suffers from being unable to distinguish causality from association. Few reliable conclusions about the impact of the reforms can be drawn from research. It remains virtually impossible at this time to draw up a definitive, overall balance sheet. A number of political lessons are identified. If the preconditions prevailing in the UK in late 1988 and early 1989 were to exist elsewhere then reforms similar to those in the UK may be forthcoming. It is important, however, not to overlook the particular factors evident in any country which will ultimately determine the nature of health care reforms and their outcome.     

The Good Lives Model – new directions for preventative practice with children?

The study of young offenders has tended to focus on adolescents, despite knowledge that those who are engaging in criminality during childhood are more likely to experience long-lasting, life-impairing consequences. This qualitative study investigated how child offenders experience the process of desisting from crime. It was hoped that this would provide further insight for those involved with prevention programmes for young offenders. Seven young people aged between 10 and 18, engaging with the Preventing Youth Offending Project (PYOP) in the UK were interviewed, and the data collected was subject to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four themes emerged from the narratives, all converging on a changed self-identity for those successfully desisting. PYOP aims to enhance the lives of young people, and this approach appears to encourage this identity transformation through the provision of purposeful activity, supported education and mentoring. The increasing popularity of strengths-based enhancement approaches to rehabilitation, such as the Good Lives Model (GLM), is discussed in relation to its potential role in the prevention of criminality in young people. It is proposed that the GLM principles could provide essential foundations for early intervention approaches as well as rehabilitative measures for established offenders.     

The Effects Of Children'S Age and Delay on Recall in a Cognitive or Structured Interview

The study examined; (i) whether the enhanced cognitive interview (ECI) would aid event recall when used with children, (ii) whether the effects of a delay between the witnessed event and interview would have an impact on the effectiveness of the ECI, (iii) whether the age of the child would have a bearing on the effectiveness of the ECI, and (iv) which category(ies) of event recall might be effected. Thirty-two 8 to 9 year old children and thirty-two 11 to 12 year old children were shown a video recording of a staged shoplifting. Half were interviewed four hours after viewing the event and half after a six day delay. Children were interviewed individually using either the ECI or a structured interview (SI). Those interviewed using the ECI recalled significantly more correct details (especially detail pertaining to actions) with no increase in the reporting of erroneous information. The ECI was found to be a reliable interviewing technique regardless of age and delay.     

Deficits in Theory of Mind,empathic understanding and moral reasoning: a comparison between young offenders and non-offenders

Previous research suggests a lack of pro-social skills is characteristic of an antisocial or offending personality. It is therefore reasonable to assume that an inadequate understanding of another's mental state may contribute to antisocial or offending behaviour. Forty-six young-adult male offenders and a control completed measures to assess: Theory of Mind (ToM), empathic understanding (EU) and moral reasoning. Significant differences in the performance of young-adult offenders and the control group were detected in ToM, EU and moral reasoning with young-adult offenders scoring lower than the control group. A positive association was also found between ToM, EU and moral reasoning. These findings contribute to a further understanding of how individuals make sense of, and respond to, the social world around them. The ability to measure ToM, EU and moral reasoning and subsequently identify any specific deficits, as well as recognise the link between these three key skills, is not only useful for researchers but it will also allow practitioners to tailor existing (or develop new) interventions specific to the needs of an individual. This could be particularly useful in terms of recidivism when applied to those involved in antisocial or offending behaviour.     

Predicting dropout from a residential programme for adolescent sexual abusers using pre-treatment variables and implications for recidivism

Abstract

This study addresses the prediction that dropout from a UK specialized residential treatment program for adolescent sexual abusers can be determined from pre-treatment variables. Participants were 49 adolescents aged 12–16?years, who had sexually abused children, peers/adults or both. Of the variables examined, 25 showed a significant association with treatment dropout. A scale, consisting of 20 items, was designed to predict treatment dropout. As a measure it showed internal consistency (alpha?=?0.84) and predictive validity. Treatment dropout was linked to a greater risk of recidivism: offences of a general; violent; and combined violent or sexual nature. Missing data confounded the overall small sample size; therefore, a brief checklist of factors associated with dropout was produced as a guide for treatment managers and clinicians.     

Personality as a vocation: the political rationality of the humanities

In responding to periodic government demands that it provide a rational justification for its activities as a public utility, the humanities academy typically appeals to the absolute ethical and intellectual values of liberal education. This paper investigates the nature of this response and its relation to the governmental field. The historical, ethical and political claims involved in the appeal to liberal education are discussed and rejected. It is argue that the cultivation of personhood has neither a single (‘complete’) from nor a privileged home in the university arts faculty. Weber's sociology of ethical orders is used to frame a discussion of intellectual cultivation as a specific vocation or discipline of life. From Foucault's conception of ‘govermentality’ the paper draws an account of share of political rationality dependent of the historical deployment or particular intellectual and political technologies. The problem of the political rationality rationality of the humanities is then discussed in terms of the unplanned historical convergence of the disciplines of cultivation and the technologies of government¹.