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Carr, Alan
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Carr, Alan
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Carr, Alan
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Now showing 1 - 10 of 214
- PublicationPerceptions of the criminal justice system and its association with well-being following a report of child sexual abuse(National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers (NOTA Ireland), 2007)
; ; ; 129 - PublicationService needs of carers for people with intellectual disabilities: Profiles of high-need and low-need groupsA cluster analysis of responses of 78 carers of people with learning disabilities to service needs scales identified high-and low-need groups, each with distinct profiles. In comparison with the low-need group, the high-need group reported greater needs for familial social support; help explaining their child's handicap to others; assistance with leisure activities for their handicapped member; extrafamilial social support; financial assistance; information on services for families with a handicapped member; information on child development and management; and respite care and counselling. Those in the high-need group perceived the handicapped person for whom they cared to have more behavioural problems and safety skills deficits. The carers in the high-need group also had lower levels of perceived social support and higher levels of family stress. Although high-and low-need groups displayed these disparate psychosocial profiles, they were demographically similar and did not differ in terms of the level of disability of the handicapped people for whom they cared.
481 - PublicationThematic review of family therapy journals 2011In this article the contents of the principal English-language family therapy journals published in 2011 are reviewed under these headings: child-focused problems, adult-focused problems, couples therapy, medical family therapy, military family therapy, theory, research, training, the new Journal of Couple and Family Psychology and Human Systems twenty-first anniversary.
425Scopus© Citations 1 - PublicationResistance, dilemmas and crises in family therapy: a framework for positive practiceWhen clients believe that they have not got the personal resources to cope with the demands of either living with their problems or taking steps towards the resolution of these, stating their therapeutic dilemma may precipitate a therapeutic crisis. A therapeutic dilemma is a concise statement of the disadvantages and difficulties associated with leaving the presenting problem unresolved and the disadvantages and risks entailed by solving the problem. Invariably, therapeutic crises involve some family members doubting an interactional formulation of the family's problems and redefining these as individual difficulties of a specific family member. That is, someone in the family becomes defined as bad, sad, sick or mad. The pressure to collude with the family and other network members in abandoning an interactional construction of the problem and accepting an individual description is usually very intense. When therapists follow this route they become part of the problem maintaining system. In this paper a framework for conceptualizing therapeutic crises and guidelines for their management are described. These guideline allow the therapist to avoid becoming involved in problem maintenance and to retain a position from which to promote problem resolution. The framework and guidelines evolved within the context of a brief integrative approach to consultation with families who require help with child-focused psychosocial difficulties.
381Scopus© Citations 2 - PublicationThurlow house assessment programme for families with physically abused children(Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 1988)
; ; ; A comprehensive assessment programme for families where physical child abuse has occurred is described in this paper. The programme is informed by a multifactorial understanding of child abuse. Programme staff are members of a multidisciplinary team based in a Department of Child and Family Psychiatry. The main function of the programme is to provide a sound basis for long term - planning in cases of no n - accidental injury396Scopus© Citations 2 - PublicationThe Beavers, McMaster and Circumplex Clinical Rating Scales: A study of their sensitivity, specificity and discriminant validityTo asses the sensitivity and specificity of clinical rating scales from the Beavers, McMaster and Circumplex models of family functioning videotapes of 60 families engaging in a standardized family task interview were rated using the three rating scales. The 60 families included 20 containing a child with an emotional disorder, 20 containing a child with a mixed disorder of emotions and conduct; and 20 in which none of the children presented with clinically significant difficulties. The three rating scales accurately classified 85-90% of normal controls; 70-90% of cases containing a child with a mixed disorder of emotions and conduct; and 55-65% of families containing a child with an emotional disorder. On the rating scales, the Beavers and McMaster models showed particularly high levels of sensitivity in detecting clinical cases, whereas the Circumplex rating scale was particularly good at classifying nonclinical cases accurately.
599Scopus© Citations 14 - PublicationA controlled trial of group cognitive behaviour therapy for Irish breast cancer patients(Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2010-02)
; ; ; The aim of this study was to evaluate a manualized cognitive behavioral group intervention for early-stage breast cancer patients. Sixty-nine women were recruited at an Irish specialist oncology hospital and assigned to a 6-week cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) program or an educational control group. Participants were assessed at baseline, 6 weeks, and 6-month follow-up. Groups × Time (2 × 3) ANOVAs showed that the program did not lead to greater improvement on standardized measures of coping, quality of life, or mood compared with the control group. Regression analyses showed that maladaptive coping and distress at baseline were predictive of psychological adjustment at follow-up. Level of distress was also predictive of quality of life at follow-up. Repeated measures ANOVAs of data from cases in the intervention group showed that patients who completed the program showed significant improvement in problem severity, impact of problems, coping ability, and goal attainment from pre- to posttreatment, and these gains were maintained at follow-up for problem severity and impact of problems, but not for coping ability or goal attainment. Participation in the program did not lead to less health service usage during the period from baseline to follow-up, compared with the educational control group. A controlled trial provided limited evidence for the effectiveness of brief cognitive behavior intervention in enhancing psychological adjustment of early-stage breast cancer patients with nonclinically significant levels of psychological distress. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of the program for patients with elevated levels of psychological distress and limited coping resources.498Scopus© Citations 16 - PublicationFamily therapy training on a clinical psychology programmeThe report describes the intake interviewing exercise in a family therapy training unit developed for postgraduates in clinical psychology. The teaching method includes pre-class reading, video modelling, and simulated practice with live feedback. The academic material and other similar practice exercises are contained in the core textbook for this unit.
Scopus© Citations 4 311 - PublicationEvidence based practice in family therapy and systemic consultation II : Adult focused problemsEvidence for the effectiveness of family-based treatments from critical literature reviews and controlled trials is considered for the following list of adult-focused problems: marital distress, psychosexual problems, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, psychotic disorders, alcohol abuse, chronic pain, and the family management of neurologically impaired adults. Evidence-based practices which may be used within the context of marital and family therapy and systemic consultation arising from the review are discussed.
Scopus© Citations 54 594 - PublicationPower and influence in systemic consultationThe disagreement between Haley and Bateson over the usefulness of the concept of power in accounting for problems in human systems is described. Seven propositions which address the main issues raised by the Haley-Bateson debate are then set out. Finally some clinical and ethical implications of these propositions are presented.
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