Stage of Change as a Predictor of Attrition Among Men in a Batterer Treatment Program

This study assessed the contribution of the men's stage of change to the prediction of attrition among men attending a batterer treatment program. As outlined by the transtheoretical model of change, men were classified into the precontemplation, contemplation, or action stage based on their level of change motivation and behavior. It was hypothesized that men in the precontemplation stage would dropout of treatment at higher rates than men in later stages of change. Participants were 308 men who enrolled in a batterer treatment program over the course of 1 year, 61.4% of whom dropped out of treatment. Counselor rated, but not self-rated stage of change significantly predicted treatment completion once traditionally used demographic, contextual, and personality variables were taken into account. Specifically, men identified by counselors as being in the precontemplation stage were 2.3 times as likely as men rated in the contemplation stage and 8.8 times as likely as men rated in the action stage to dropout of treatment. Referral source, age, and history of arrest also made significant contributions to the prediction of attrition. The best combination of predictors led to the successful classification of 72% of the cases, 98% of the dropouts but only 19% of the completers. Discussion focuses on the limitations of current findings and their implications for the use of the transtheoretical model to predict attrition from batterer treatment.     

Using Profile Analysis for Assessing Need in Domestic Violence Courts

This study utilizes profile analysis to evaluate the social and economic justice impacts of domestic violence court processes. Data were gathered from all cases involved in a Domestic Violence Unified Family Court in one Florida county from January 1 through December 31, 2003. Findings suggest domestic violence courts are not responding equitably to victims (petitioners), which means that some petitioners may be revictimized by the system. Furthermore, in cases involving criminal behavior, the court system’s focus on criminality may not be having an impact on reducing the recurrence of domestic violence.     

International Dimensions: What Is the Role of Third Parties?

In the Arab–Israeli arena, third parties have traditionally played a prominent role. External intervention has tended to peak when violence threatens international interests (e.g., the 1973 Arab–Israeli War), or when the parties are unable to sustain a negotiating process. Whether providing political and security assurances aimed at mitigating insecurity or offering economic inducements to underwrite peace accords, third parties have made a number of positive contributions toward managing the conflict.     

A comparison of management adaptations for joined‐up government: Lessons from New Zealand

Despite considerable attention, helping agencies to work more effectively together is one of the most important contemporary challenges of public administration theory and practice. The New Zealand Better Public Services (BPS) Results program has been an unexpected success in this area and provides a positive case study. In 2012, the New Zealand government set targets for solving 11 important social problems where responsibility crossed agency boundaries and has made significant measurable progress in all 11 problems. This paper explores the conditions that may have enabled the most progress and possible management adaptations when these initial conditions are not fully met. In particular, the case demonstrates how goal commitment can be supported where there exist a large number of potential actors and how interagency trust can be built in the absence of existing relationships.     

Lost in Aggregation: Improving Event Analysis with Report‐Level Data

Most measures of social conflict processes are derived from primary and secondary source reports. In many cases, reports are used to create event‐level data sets by aggregating information from multiple, and often conflicting, reports to single event observations. We argue that this pre‐aggregation is less innocuous than it seems, costing applied researchers opportunities for improved inference. First, researchers cannot evaluate the consequences of different methods of report aggregation. Second, aggregation discards report‐level information (i.e., variation across reports) that is useful in addressing measurement error inherent in event data. Therefore, we advocate that data should be supplied and analyzed at the report level. We demonstrate the consequences of using aggregated event data as a predictor or outcome variable, and how analysis can be improved using report‐level information directly. These gains are demonstrated with simulated‐data experiments and in the analysis of real‐world data, using the newly available Mass Mobilization in Autocracies Database (MMAD).     

Roadmaps to Representation: An Experimental Study of How Voter Education Tools Affect Citizen Decision Making

Efforts to educate citizens about the candidates and issues at stake in elections are widespread. These include distributing voter guides describing candidates’ policy views and interactive tools conveying similar information. Do these voter education tools help voters identify candidates who share their policy views? We address this question by conducting survey experiments that randomly assign a nonpartisan voter guide, political party endorsements, a spatial map showing voters their own and the candidates’ ideological positions, or both a spatial map and party endorsements. We find that each type of information strengthens the relationship between voters’ policy views and those of the candidates they choose. These effects are largest for uninformed voters. When spatial maps and party endorsements send conflicting signals, many voters choose candidates with more similar policy views, against their party’s recommendation. These results contribute to debates about citizen competence and demonstrate the efficacy of practical efforts to inform electorates.

     

“Developing a community soul”: A Comparative Assessment of the Australian Assistance Plan in Three Regions, 1973–1977

The Australian Assistance Plan (AAP) was an innovative yet largely forgotten social welfare program from the 1970s. A key platform of the Whitlam Labor government, which established a series of Regional Councils for Social Development across Australia, the AAP reframed citizens’ participation in their communities, stimulated voluntary organisations and volunteering and attempted to transform engagement among all levels of governments and the voluntary sector. Through an analysis of three Regional Council case studies in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, this article focuses on the themes of regionalism and regional distinctiveness in order to assess how questions of regional difference can impact on the development of policy practices.