Feminist Therapists: A Qualitative Exploration of Values and Practices within Context

Feminist theorizing has had a marked impact on the field of marriage and family therapy (MFT). Previous research has shown that a feminist perspective in therapy is commonly operationalized through a number of behaviors, such as equalizing power between the therapist and client and addressing social inequality in clients’ lives. To date, however, little work has examined how feminist therapists apply their feminist values to professional contexts beyond the therapy room. As a result, scholarship overlooks how feminist therapists themselves are embedded in a mental healthcare system where issues of power and societal context influence to their ability to conduct feminist therapy. The current study remedies this gap by investigating how feminist MFTs enact their feminist values in professional contexts beyond the therapeutic encounter. Specifically, this study addresses three primary objectives: (a) explore how feminist MFTs enact their values in relation to their colleagues, (b) examine strategies of feminist MFTs in relation to the institutional structure of managed care, and (c) examine strategies of feminist MFTs in relation to the current diagnostic system for mental disorders. Data were gathered from 21 self-identified feminist MFTs through semi-structured qualitative interviews and analyzed with techniques associated with grounded theory methodology. Results revealed how feminist MFTs negotiate their feminist values and practices with respect to power and institutional structures. These findings are discussed in the context of the medicalization of mental health and the labor that feminist therapists perform in order to achieve their goal of providing clients with access to high-quality mental healthcare

Estabelecimento de um Índice de Mudança Confiável para o GAD-7

Aim: It is increasingly important for mental healthcare providers and researchers to reliably assess client change, particularly with common presenting problems such as anxiety. The current study addresses this need by establishing a Reliable Change Index of 6 points for the GAD-7. Method: Sample size included 116 online community participants using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and archival data for 332 clinical participants. Participants completed measures of the GAD-7 and the MDI in 2 rounds. Using previously established cutoff scores and Jacobson and Truax’s (1991) method, we establish a Reliable Change Index which, when applied to 2 administrations of the GAD-7, indicates if a client has experienced meaningful change. Results: For the GAD-7, the mean score for the clinical sample was 10.57. For the community sample at Time 1, the mean score was 4.14. A Pearson’s correlation was computed to assess the 14-28-day test-retest reliability of the GAD-7, r(110) = .87, indicating good test-retest reliability. Conclusion: Using the RCI equation, this resulted in an RCI of 5.59. For practical use the RCI would be rounded to 6.Objetivo: É de extrema importância que os profissionais de saúde mental e investigadores consigam avaliar de forma fidedigna a mudança do cliente, especialmente no que diz respeito a problemas comuns como é o caso da ansiedade. O presente estudo aborda esta necessidade estabelecendo um Índice de Mudança Confiável de 6 pontos para o GAD-7. Método: A amostra incluiu 116 participantes de uma comunidade online utilizando a Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) juntamente com dados de arquivo de 332 participantes clínicos. Os participantes completaram os instrumentos de avaliação GAD-7 e MDI em 2 momentos. Utilizando scores de cutoff previamente estabelecidos e o método de Jacobson e Truax’s (1991), foi estabelecido o Índice de Mudança Confiável (RCI) que, quando aplicado a dois administradores do GAD-7 indica se um cliente experienciou uma mudança significativa. Resultados: Para o GAD-7, o mean score para a amostra clínica foi de 10.57. Relativamennte à amostra comunitária no primeiro momento, o mean score foi de 4.14. Foi utilizada a correlação de Pearson para avaliar a fiabilidade teste-reteste de 14-28 dias do GAD-7, r(110) = .87, indicando uma fiabilidade de teste-reteste boa. Conclusão: Utilizando a equação RCI, o resultado diz respeito a um RCI de 5.59. Para que exista uma utilização prática, é necessário que o RCI seja próximo de 6

Your Morals Depend on Language

Should you sacrifice one man to save five? Whatever your answer, it should not depend on whether you were asked the question in your native language or a foreign tongue so long as you understood the problem. And yet here we report evidence that people using a foreign language make substantially more utilitarian decisions when faced with such moral dilemmas. We argue that this stems from the reduced emotional response elicited by the foreign language, consequently reducing the impact of intuitive emotional concerns. In general, we suggest that the increased psychological distance of using a foreign language induces utilitarianism. This shows that moral judgments can be heavily affected by an orthogonal property to moral principles, and importantly, one that is relevant to hundreds of millions of individuals on a daily basis.</p

Your morals depend on language

Should you sacrifice one man to save five? Whatever your answer, it should not depend on whether you were asked the/nquestion in your native language or a foreign tongue so long as you understood the problem. And yet here we report/nevidence that people using a foreign language make substantially more utilitarian decisions when faced with such moral/ndilemmas. We argue that this stems from the reduced emotional response elicited by the foreign language, consequently/nreducing the impact of intuitive emotional concerns. In general, we suggest that the increased psychological distance of/nusing a foreign language induces utilitarianism. This shows that moral judgments can be heavily affected by an orthogonal/nproperty to moral principles, and importantly, one that is relevant to hundreds of millions of individuals on a daily basis.This research was partially supported by grants from the Spanish Government (PSI2011-23033, CONSOLIDER-INGENIO2010 CSD2007-00048, ECO2011-25295, and ECO2010-09555-E), from the Catalan Government (SGR 2009-1521), from the 7th Framework Programme (AThEME 613465), the University of Chicago’s Wisdom Research Project and the John Templeton Foundation, a National Science Foundation grant BCS-0849034, and *Language Learning*’s Small Grants Research Program. Alice Foucart was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Catalan Government (Beatriu de Pinos). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Experiment 2′s participants’ details.

<p>Experiment 2′s participants’ details.</p

Percentage of utilitarian decisions by proficiency (Experiment 2).

<p>Percentage of utilitarian decisions for the two versions of the trolley problem in the native language condition and the foreign language condition, divided by self-rated proficiency level.</p

Percentage of Utilitarian Decisions by Language Condition in Experiment 1.

<p>Percentage of Utilitarian Decisions by Language Condition in Experiment 1.</p

Percentage of utilitarian decisions (Experiment 2).

<p>Percentage of utilitarian decisions for the two versions of the trolley problem in the native language condition and the foreign language condition.</p

Experiment 2′s participants’ details.

<p>Experiment 2′s participants’ details.</p