Mary E. Dankoski

What's Love Got to Do with It?: Couples, Illness, and MFT

Abstract Marital interaction and health issues exert reciprocal influences upon each other, often differing along gender lines. Research shows that couple dynamics influence the immune, endocrine, and cardiovascular systems, and self-reported health status; and medical problems can affect all areas of a couples functioning, including communication, sexual and emotional intimacy, and role flexibility, for example. Many practicing marriage and family therapists (MFTs) are not familiar with these issues, since medical family therapy is a fairly new concept and many MFT programs do not cover such areas in depth. This paper will provide a broad overview of how medical issues affect couples and vice versa, will explore the impact of breast cancer on a couples functioning as a disease-specific example, and will include recommendations for practicing clinicians.

Affect Regulation and the Cycle of Violence Against Women: New Directions for Understanding the Process

The process of the intergenerational transmission of violence is not well understood. A risk and resilience model of criminal violence against women was investigated using secondary data. The sample was composed of adolescent male juvenile delinquents who had been physically abused by their parents, and who were followed up at ages 25 and 31. A series of structural equation models were fit to investigate whether dysregulated affect mediated the effects of attachment and family chaos on the adult perpetration of violence against women. These models support the hypothesis that affect dysregulation may act as a mediator. Results raise new ideas about the mechanisms by which violence may be transmitted across generations.

Flexibility in Faculty Work-Life Policies at Medical Schools in the Big Ten Conference

PURPOSE Women lag behind men in several key academic indicators, such as advancement, retention, and securing leadership positions. Although reasons for these disparities are multifactorial, policies that do not support work-life integration contribute to the problem. The objective of this descriptive study was to compare the faculty work-life policies among medical schools in the Big Ten conference. METHODS Each institutions website was accessed in order to assess its work-life policies in the following areas: maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave, extension of probationary period, part-time appointments, part-time benefits (specifically health insurance), child care options, and lactation policy. Institutions were sent requests to validate the online data and supply additional information if needed. RESULTS Each institution received an overall score and subscale scores for family leave policies and part-time issues. Data were verified by the human resources office at 8 of the 10 schools. Work-life policies varied among Big Ten schools, with total scores between 9.25 and 13.5 (possible score: 0-21; higher scores indicate greater flexibility). Subscores were not consistently high or low within schools. CONCLUSIONS Comparing the flexibility of faculty work-life policies in relation to other schools will help raise awareness of these issues and promote more progressive policies among less progressive schools. Ultimately, flexible policies will lead to greater equity and institutional cultures that are conducive to recruiting, retaining, and advancing diverse faculty.

A competency-based approach to recruiting, developing, and giving feedback to department chairs.

Academic health centers (AHCs) are under unprecedented pressure, making strong leadership during these challenging times critical. Department chairs have tremendous influence in their AHCs, yet data indicate that--despite outstanding academic credentials--they are often underprepared to take on these important leadership roles. The authors sought to improve the approach to recruiting, developing, and giving feedback to department chairs at their institution, the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM), by reorganizing these processes around six key leadership competencies: leadership and team development, performance and talent management, vision and strategic planning, emotional intelligence, communication skills, and commitment to the tripartite mission. Over a two-year period (2009-2011), IUSM faculty and administrators developed standardized recruitment procedures to assess potential chairs based on the six leadership domains, and searches are now streamlined through centralized staff support in the deans office. Additionally, IUSM offers a chair development series to support learning around these leadership competencies and to meet the stated professional development needs of the chairs. Finally, chairs receive structured feedback regarding their leadership (among other considerations) through two different assessment instruments, IUSMs Department Chair 360° Leadership Survey and IUSMs Faculty Vitality Survey--both of which the dean reviews annually. Strategically attending to the way that chairs are selected, developed, and given feedback has tremendous potential to increase the success of chairs and, in turn, to constructively shape the culture of AHCs.

Popcorn moments: Feminist principles in family medicine education

Abstract Feminist principles are rare in medical education and in the practice of medicine. The authors are feminist family therapists and feminist health communication scholars who are faculty in a department of family medicine. In this paper, they present their use of a feminist perspective and feminist methods in their teaching of family physicians in training. The use of a live supervision practicum, imported from marriage and family therapy training, is described as an example of how feminist family therapists can bring a much-needed but rarely taught perspective to medical education. This perspective represents a paradigm shift away from the traditional model in medicine, one that is based on objectivity and separateness, to a more empathic and connected stance which shifts power in the physician-patient relationship.