Donna S. Martsolf

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.

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.

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.

Depression and codependency in women

Seven million American women are depressed, and 40 million Americans, primarily women, have been labeled as codependent. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of codependency in women undergoing treatment for depression, examine the relationship between codependency and depression, and determine which of the symptoms of codependency are most highly predictive of depression scores. Depression and codependency were measured in a sample of 105 depressed women by using the Beck Depression Inventory and the Codependency Assessment Tool. Descriptive statistics, Pearsons Product Moment Correlation, and multiple regression were used for analysis. Of these depressed women, 36% were moderately to severely codependent. Depression and codependency were strongly related, with the significant gamma = .92 (P < .001). Of the codependency subscales, Low Self-Worth and Hiding Self correlate most strongly with depression; Other Focus/Self-Neglect added the least-independent--explanatory power. Thus, future research should be directed toward the relationship of codependency to power, alienation of self, and personality disorders.

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.

Development and testing of the codependency assessment tool

Codependency constitutes a significant health risk, particularly for women, because codependent women are often involved in abusive and potentially harmful relationships. Individuals who are identified as codependent can engage in therapy and gain knowledge and freedom from such relationships. However, there is no reliable and valid measure of codependency that is consistently used to identify these individuals. This article describes the development and testing of the Codependency Assessment Tool, a multivariate tool that conceptualizes codependency as a construct comprising five factors: (1) Other Focus/Self-Neglect, (2) Low Self-Worth, (3) Hiding Self, (4) Medical Problems, and (5) Family of Origin Issues. The instrument has excellent reliability and validity. Its test-retest reliabilities = .78 to .94; Cronbachs alpha = .78 to .91. Criterion validity was determined to be established by using known groups; construct validity was established by comparing the codependency dimensions with depression.

Patterns of Dating Violence Across Adolescence

Adolescent dating violence (ADV) is a prevalent social and health problem associated with a number of adolescent risk behaviors and negative outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of dating violence across adolescence. We used cross-case analysis to analyze interviews with 88 young adults (men and women aged 18 to 21) who were involved in violent dating relationships as teens. We identified four patterns of dating violence throughout adolescence. We also identified two patterns for adolescents who had only one violent relationship based on the length of the relationship–contained ADV and prolonged ADV–and two patterns for those who had multiple violent relationships based on the level of violence severity–repetitive ADV and escalating ADV. Knowledge of these four patterns can be used to guide therapeutic interactions with teens and to develop pattern-specific prevention and intervention strategies.

Caring as a theoretical perspective for a nursing faculty mentoring program

This article describes a mentoring program developed for new nursing faculty. It was based on a caring theoretical perspective, promoting a caring environment where novice faculty can acquire the tools necessary to function as productive faculty. The program connected experienced faculty with new or less experienced teachers, providing assistance adapting to the role of educator and promoting socialization to the university environment. Benefits included: (a) adjustment to the new educational setting, (b) role-modeling by mentors having similar clinical interests, (c) availability of mentors as resource persons, (d) providing emotional support and feedback, (e) dialogue on student-related problems, (f) assistance with the reappointment process, and (g) interaction with other faculty.

Adaptive sampling: recruiting a diverse community sample of survivors of sexual violence.

Accessing vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations is a significant challenge for nurse researchers. Adaptive sampling is a procedure that has been used effectively in community-based research to recruit rare or hidden populations. Structured community assessment, as practiced by community health nurses, can be used to enhance adaptive sampling procedures to recruit research participants. This article1 describes adaptive sampling techniques, discusses how the techniques can be enhanced with a structured nursing community assessment, and describes how adaptive sampling was used successfully by nurse researchers to obtain a diverse and vulnerable community sample for a grounded-theory study of womens and mens responses to sexual violence.