Claire Burke Draucker

The Role of Electronic Communication Technology in Adolescent Dating Violence

PROBLEM Adolescent dating violence and electronic aggression are significant public health problems. The purpose of this study was to (a) identify ways in which technology is used in dating violence and (b) present examples of dating violence in which electronic aggression played a salient role. METHODS The data set included the transcribed narratives of 56 young adults who had described their adolescent dating violence experiences for an on going study. FINDINGS Eight ways in which technology is used in dating violence were identified using qualitative descriptive methods. CONCLUSIONS The findings indicate that electronic communication technology influences dating violence by redefining boundaries between dating partners.

Psychotherapy approaches for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse: an integrative review of outcomes research.

This review synthesized results of 26 outcomes research studies and two meta-analyses that evaluated abuse-focused psychotherapy techniques for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Different therapeutic approaches delivered in individual, group, or combination formats were evaluated with pre/post test, quasi-experimental, or randomized control designs. Accumulated research findings suggest that abuse-focused psychotherapy for adults sexually abused as children is generally beneficial in reducing psychiatric distress, depression, and trauma-specific symptoms. No one therapeutic approach was demonstrated to be superior. There was little evidence about the effectiveness of individual versus group therapy or the optimal treatment duration.

The emotional impact of sexual violence research on participants

Participation in research on sexual trauma may provoke disturbing memories and distressing emotions. Despite the proliferation of research on sexual violence during the last decade, little is known about the effects of study involvement on participants. Based on a review of the literature, the authors experiences as a sexual as a violence, researcher, and reflections of women who have participated in such research, this article explores the emotional impact of sexual violence research on participants. Although the risk of lasting harm stemming from participation in trauma research is a legitimate concern, the benefits of confiding a traumatic experience to a trustworthy other seem to outweigh the immediate distress that accompanies discussion of painful experiences. A useful framework for understanding the responses of research participants who talk or write about traumatic experiences is discussed.

Developing Distress Protocols for Research on Sensitive Topics

Two protocols that were developed to address risks related to emotional distress in an ongoing, qualitative, community-based study of adolescent dating violence are presented. The first protocol is for use in telephone screening to identify individuals at high risk of adverse emotional reactions. The second protocol guides interviewers responses to emotional distress expressed by participants during in-depth research interviews. The study is briefly described, and the process used to develop the protocols is discussed. The process of developing the protocols caused the authors to reconsider some previously held assumptions about human subject protections in research on sensitive topics.

Chronic pain and the family: theory-driven treatment approaches.

The chronic pain experience is the product of a complex interaction of many factors including biological, social, psychological, environmental, and familial. The presence of chronic pain can impact the family system with significant, negative consequences; the family may also be responsible, in part, for maintaining and perpetuating pain problems. The need to examine the family dimension of the chronic pain experience and offer family/couple therapy, should it be indicated, is vital to comprehensive pain management. Operant behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, and structural family therapy approaches are advocated for such families, along with a clear need for controlled evaluations of these approaches.

The Experience of Spirituality in the Lives of Hospice Patients

Addressing the spiritual needs of patients is a crucial dimension of holistic healthcare, but perhaps the most neglected. Interpretive phenomenology was used to explore the experience of spirituality in the lives of hospice patients. Semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with six hospice patients. A four-member interpretive team analyzed the data using the strategies outlined by Diekelmann, Allen, and Tanner (1989). The participants told rich stories about events that occurred throughout their lives. The nature of the stories suggested that the beliefs, values, and experiences that were important to them throughout their lives were also important to them as they were dying. The interpretive team concluded that participants’ spirituality was shown not by how they described their spiritual life, but rather by the way they organized their life narratives. An overall theme of “dying the way you lived” was identified. Two subthemes of “who is in charge” and “connecting and disconnecting” emerged from the data, suggesting that beliefs about control and the pattern of relationships with others, God, and environment give meaning and coherence to the way individuals understand the unfolding of their lives. The findings indicate that providing spiritual care for hospice patients involves forging meaningful connections, respecting the patients’ choices for managing their dying, and eliciting stories about life and death in order to understand their unique and personal spiritual needs.

A Coping Model for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse.

A causal model that identifies relationships among sexual abuse situation characteristics, based on Finkelhor and Brownes traumagenic model of childhood sexual abuse; the accomplishment of cognitive coping tasks, based on Taylors theory of cognitive adaptation; and long-term effects was tested in a group of 149 adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed paths and the goodness of fit of the model. Results indicated that the model did not fit the data, but conclusions related to the explanatory power of the model could not be drawn because of the low reliabilities of several of the scales. However, five of the hypothesized direct relationships and one of the hypothesized indirect relationships were significant. A revised model is proposed and examined.

Interaction Patterns Between Parents with Advanced Cancer and Their Adolescent Children

Objective: Advanced cancer profoundly affects those with the illness and their families. The interaction patterns between parents with advanced cancer and their adolescent children are likely to influence how a family experiences a parents dying process. There is little information on such interactions. This study aimed to develop an explanatory model that explains interaction patterns between parents with advanced cancer and their adolescent children and to identify strategies to prepare children for their lives after a parent dies.

Storying Childhood Sexual Abuse

A theoretical framework that explains how survivors of childhood sexual abuse tell others about their abuse experiences is presented. Data are drawn from open-ended interviews conducted with 74 individuals who experienced ongoing childhood sexual abuse by a family member or close acquaintance. Grounded theory methods were used to develop the framework. The psychosocial problem shared by the participants is that childhood sexual abuse both demands and defies explanation. The core psychosocial process used in response to this problem is storying childhood sexual abuse. The framework includes five processes, and the stories associated with each process vary in their nature and function. The processes and associated stories are (a) starting the story: the story-not-yet-told, (b) coming out with the story: the story-first-told, (c) shielding the story: the story-as-secret, (d) revising the story: the story-as-account, and (e) sharing the story: the story-as-message. Clinical applications of the framework are discussed.

Coping with a difficult-to-diagnose illness: the example of interstitial cystitis.

Some individuals who frequent medical facilities have physiologically based illnesses that are rare, difficult to diagnose, or typically underdiagnosed. These individuals may consult several physicians over a long period of time without obtaining a definitive diagnosis. Often, these individuals are women. In some instances, their symptoms are inaccurately attributed to psychological factors. Some women who suffer from interstitial cystitis, for example, have reported this experience. Four coping challenges faced by individuals with difficult-to-diagnose illnesses are suggested. These challenges are situational ambiguity, characterological attributions, blocked information seeking, and limited opportunities for downward social comparisons.