Lorraine Green

Practitioner Review: The effectiveness of solution focused brief therapy with children and families: a systematic and critical evaluation of the literature from 1990–2010

BACKGROUND AND SCOPE Solution focused brief therapy (SFBT) is a strengths-based therapeutic approach, emphasizing the resources that people possess and how these can be applied to a positive change process. The current study provides a systematic review of the SFBT evidence base and a critical evaluation of the use and application of SFBT in clinical practice with children and families. METHODS Between 21 December 2010 and 12 May 2011 forty-four database searches (including, PsychInfo, ISI Web of Knowledge, ASSIA, British Education Index, Medline and Scopus), web searches and consultation with experts in the field were used to identify reports of SFBT studies published between 1990 and 2010. Studies were then screened according to trialled qualitative and quantitative assessment frameworks and reported according to the PRISMA guidelines. RESULTS A total of 38 studies were included in the review. Of these, 9 applied SFBT to internalizing child behaviour problems, 3 applied SFBT to both internalizing and externalizing child behaviour problems, 15 applied the approach to externalizing child behaviour problems and 9 evaluated the application of SFBT in relation to a range of other issues. CONCLUSIONS Although much of the literature has methodological weaknesses, existing research does provide tentative support for the use of SFBT, particularly in relation to internalizing and externalizing child behaviour problems. SFBT appears particularly effective as an early intervention when presenting problems are not severe. Further well-controlled outcome studies are needed. Studies included in the review highlight promising avenues for further research.

Pariah Profession, Debased Discipline? An Analysis of Social Work's Low Academic Status and the Possibilities for Change

This article analyses one important issue facing contemporary social work and social work education, that is social works subordinated academic status and its associated, poor professional credibility. This is linked to social works historical and socio‐political positioning. It is acknowledged that the issues associated with SWs poor intellectual standing are multifaceted and complex, but attempts are made to differentiate between the different tenets, whilst at the same time illustrating their linkages and interconnections. Although the conclusion points somewhat tenuously towards how some of the difficulties might be addressed, the article clearly demonstrates how entrenched many of the problems are and how the situation is in many ways worsening, rather than improving.

An overwhelming sense of injustice? An exploration of child sexual abuse in relation to the concept of justice:

This article explores the relationship between justice and child sexual abuse, developing a broader theoretical conception of justice than that customarily applied. The traditional legal perception of justice as the attempted prosecution of alleged perpetrators is widened to encompass justice as initial prevention of abuse, the fair treatment of children by the criminal justice and child protection systems, and the subsequent after-care and compensation of abused children and adults. Concepts of justice are therefore examined within a chronological lifecourse trajectory, as well as being extended from traditional notions of due process and desert to include understandings of justice as human rights, ‘fair shares’ and liberation. Particular social constructions of childhood are revealed to be highly significant regarding how justice is perceived and operationalized. Therefore, the interaction between perceptions of justice and responses to child sexual abuse is examined, relative to wider understandings of childhood.

Critical issues in the application of resilience frameworks to the experiences of deaf children and young people

In this chapter, the authors take a critical look at the application of resilience-based frameworks to the experience of deaf children/young people. They begin by discussing three key issues: the implications of defining deafness as risk or adversity, in the face of which one is required to be resilient; the significance of the socially constructed nature of outcome-oriented definitions of resilience in the context of deaf children; and the extent to which the individualization of resilience may obscure significant aspects of deaf children’s experience in society. They go on to look in detail at how factors and processes associated with resilience may be difficult or differently achieved in the case of deaf children arguing that research is not yet adequate to investigate from d/Deaf people’s perspective how they might define what it is to be resilient. The chapter reviews the small amount of specific research that does exist in relation to resilience and deaf children, but questions whether a concern with resilience is not just ultimately a rebranding of the evidence and insights of the much broader corpus of research concerning deaf children’s optimum development.

Children, health and gender: Recognition in nursing research?

AIM This paper examines the hitherto mostly unrecognised relationship between gender, health and children; its significance for nursing practice and how it has been considered in nursing research. BACKGROUND Holistic nursing practice with children requires adequate assessment and consideration of all potential influences on childrens lives. Socioeconomic disparities have received widespread attention and gender inequalities in adult health have been studied in some depth. The links between gender, health and children, however, have received little consideration. The paper first considers this context in depth; it then applies the context to research in practice. DESIGN Systematic review. METHODS A systematic literature search was undertaken on four mainstream nursing research journals over 38 months up to February 2007. A total of 567 articles met the key word searches. Duplicates, opinion pieces and articles not focusing on children were removed. The remaining 23 nursing studies relevant to child health were examined for their gender sensitivity. RESULTS Full consideration of gender issues was found largely to be absent in nursing research on children. Eight studies gave specific consideration to gender relevance, where boys and girls may have responded differently to care. Only six studies specifically addressed gender sensitivity. Allowing children a voice, however, was a strength in these studies, with 18 reflecting childrens views directly. CONCLUSIONS Major gaps still exist in research and theorisation relating to children, health and gender. These need to be acknowledged and investigated, particularly in relation to how they might impact on nursing care. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Nursing practice and research needs to account for all potential health issues, of which gender may often be important.

Taking the chaste out of chastisement: An analysis of the sexual implications of the corporal punishment of children

This article analyses research and theoretical material from sociological and psychological sources to explore the sexual implications of the corporal punishment of children. Through explicating and utilizing a social constructionist perspective, not only are the shortcomings of some of the current arguments against corporal punishment exposed, but such a perspective enables us to additionally understand how such practices can be construed in a sexualized manner, either by the child or the adult, and hence in some cases can be seen to constitute a form of sexual as well as physical abuse.

An unhealthy neglect? Examining the relationship between child health and gender in research and policy

This article examines health and social science research and literature in order to analyse the relationship between child health and gender. It contends that in general this is a neglected area, particularly in relation to the potential influence that gendered behavioural, cultural and psychological factors have on children’s health. The lack of attention to gender in the development and implementation of child health policy is illustrated and analysed using the Department of Health’s National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services (2004) as an exemplar of contemporary child health policy. The article concludes with suggestions for future research, which could impact positively on policy and related practice, in terms of leading to a wider awareness of the impact gender can have on child health.

Spanking and the corporal punishment of children: the sexual story

In the late 1970s there was a report in the British tabloid press that a manufacturer of school canes or straps (memory is uncertain after 25 years) was apparently indignant that his products were being sold in London sex shops, where they were favoured by “perverts”. The tone of the article comprised that mixture of moral outrage and titillation with which those familiar with the media will be well acquainted. With the cover of indignation, readers are allowed vicarious excitement and sexual thrill (Conrad, 1999). In the very different social climate of the early 21 century, it is hard to imagine this story being either told or received in quite the same way. Even in the UK (the last western European country to outlaw school corporal punishment), beating has been banned in all schools, and the recognition that spanking is for many people a sexual practice is widespread and would no longer count as news. Yet there remains at least a sense in which the story still works, if only in a diluted form. We have not gone all the way in seeing any sexual activity between consenting adults as acceptable, and smacking children is generally seen as an unequivocally non-sexual act and as regrettably necessary or even a good thing (McGillivray, 1997). Debates on corporal punishment still generate an extraordinary amount of heat on the part of those insisting on its legitimacy. It is even claimed that it is a religious duty – witness the christian parents in the recent BBC documentary “A Good Smack?” (2002) who state that “the Bible : : : does sanction smacking within a loving family environment”. The Labour Government has refused to extend to children that freedom from assault that all adults have, and have even famously defended the value of “loving smacks” (Gittens, 1998).