Corrina D (Simon) Salo | University of Illinois at Chicago (original) (raw)
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Torture has been documented to occur in 81 countries (Amnesty International, 2008) resulting in 2... more Torture has been documented to occur in 81 countries (Amnesty International, 2008) resulting in 2–15 million torture survivors worldwide (Physicians for Human Rights, 2010). The problems torture survivors experience are best understood from an ecological perspective (i.e., understanding human behavior as contextual), but the solutions offered are rarely ecological in nature. Rather, most empirical literature on interventions for torture survivors discuss individually focused interventions only. This article is a critical review of the literature on interventions for immigrant survivors of politically sanctioned torture from an ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). A systematic literature review was conducted. The review included 22 articles, covering 13 interventions. Each article was coded to capture ecological intervention components. All interventions targeted individual-level change. Eleven interventions targeted additional ecological-levels surrounding survivors in the microsystem, macrosystem, and/or chronosystem levels of ecology. Interventions targeted several life domains, such as the legal, social, and occupational domains. Interventions included cultural adaptations such as using interpreters and designing interventions to be more congruent with the survivors' cultures. The current body of literature on empirically tested interventions for torture survivors is limited, with few interventionists testing their work empirically and fewer sufficiently addressing the ecological needs of torture survivors. More intervention development is needed to address the ecological needs of survivors and make interventions that are multilevel, community-based, and culturally situated (Trickett, 2009). Future research should aim to involve torture survivors through community-based participatory research and seek suggestions for research from within the survivor community, so that interventions can be situated within their cultural context. What is the significance of this article for the general public? It is important to consider the context surrounding an immigrant survivor of politically sanctioned torture when implementing psychosocial interventions, because failing to do so could mean the intervention is ineffective or harmful. This study shows that out of all relevant published interventions, many consider the environment immediately surrounding survivors (such as their family), but few go beyond that to address the role culture or society has on survivors.
The study articulates a contextual approach to research on acculturation of immigrants, suggestin... more The study articulates a contextual approach to
research on acculturation of immigrants, suggesting that
the relationship between acculturation and adjustment is
dependent on the cultural demands of the life domains
considered. Specifically, the study investigated the mediating
effects of adjustment in occupational and social life
domains on the relationship between acculturation and
psychological adjustment for 391 refugees from the former
Soviet Union. The study used bilinear measures of acculturation
to the host (American) and heritage (Russian)
cultures. Using Structural Equation Modeling, the study
confirmed the hypothesized relationships, such that the
positive effects of American acculturation on psychological
adjustment were mediated by occupational adjustment,
and the effects of Russian acculturation on psychological
adjustment were mediated by satisfaction with co-ethnic
social support. Psychological adjustment was measured in
two ways, as psychological well-being, using a measure of
life satisfaction, and as symptoms of depression and anxiety,
using the Hopkins symptom checklist (HSCL). Life
satisfaction served as a mediator between adjustment in
occupational and social domains and HSCL, suggesting
that it may be an intervening variable through which
environmental stress associated with immigration contributes
to the development of symptoms of mental disorder.
International Journal of …, Jan 1, 2006
Behavioral couples' therapy has a long history of success with couples and is an empirically vali... more Behavioral couples' therapy has a long history of success with couples and is an empirically validated treatment for marital discord (Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures, 1995). However, only about 50% of all couples in treatment experience long-term change (2 years). One of the founders of behavioral couples' therapy called for the therapy to return to its original roots in functional analysis . This produced integrative behavioral couples' therapy. As behavioral couples' therapy attempts to reach the maximum number of couples possible, we believe further attention to behavior analytic principles will continue to contribute to advances in the field. We propose that an operational analysis of forgiveness will help to strengthen behavioral couples' therapy by creating a direct module to handle some of the most entrenched situations, those commonly referred to as betrayal.
Torture has been documented to occur in 81 countries (Amnesty International, 2008) resulting in 2... more Torture has been documented to occur in 81 countries (Amnesty International, 2008) resulting in 2–15 million torture survivors worldwide (Physicians for Human Rights, 2010). The problems torture survivors experience are best understood from an ecological perspective (i.e., understanding human behavior as contextual), but the solutions offered are rarely ecological in nature. Rather, most empirical literature on interventions for torture survivors discuss individually focused interventions only. This article is a critical review of the literature on interventions for immigrant survivors of politically sanctioned torture from an ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). A systematic literature review was conducted. The review included 22 articles, covering 13 interventions. Each article was coded to capture ecological intervention components. All interventions targeted individual-level change. Eleven interventions targeted additional ecological-levels surrounding survivors in the microsystem, macrosystem, and/or chronosystem levels of ecology. Interventions targeted several life domains, such as the legal, social, and occupational domains. Interventions included cultural adaptations such as using interpreters and designing interventions to be more congruent with the survivors' cultures. The current body of literature on empirically tested interventions for torture survivors is limited, with few interventionists testing their work empirically and fewer sufficiently addressing the ecological needs of torture survivors. More intervention development is needed to address the ecological needs of survivors and make interventions that are multilevel, community-based, and culturally situated (Trickett, 2009). Future research should aim to involve torture survivors through community-based participatory research and seek suggestions for research from within the survivor community, so that interventions can be situated within their cultural context. What is the significance of this article for the general public? It is important to consider the context surrounding an immigrant survivor of politically sanctioned torture when implementing psychosocial interventions, because failing to do so could mean the intervention is ineffective or harmful. This study shows that out of all relevant published interventions, many consider the environment immediately surrounding survivors (such as their family), but few go beyond that to address the role culture or society has on survivors.
The study articulates a contextual approach to research on acculturation of immigrants, suggestin... more The study articulates a contextual approach to
research on acculturation of immigrants, suggesting that
the relationship between acculturation and adjustment is
dependent on the cultural demands of the life domains
considered. Specifically, the study investigated the mediating
effects of adjustment in occupational and social life
domains on the relationship between acculturation and
psychological adjustment for 391 refugees from the former
Soviet Union. The study used bilinear measures of acculturation
to the host (American) and heritage (Russian)
cultures. Using Structural Equation Modeling, the study
confirmed the hypothesized relationships, such that the
positive effects of American acculturation on psychological
adjustment were mediated by occupational adjustment,
and the effects of Russian acculturation on psychological
adjustment were mediated by satisfaction with co-ethnic
social support. Psychological adjustment was measured in
two ways, as psychological well-being, using a measure of
life satisfaction, and as symptoms of depression and anxiety,
using the Hopkins symptom checklist (HSCL). Life
satisfaction served as a mediator between adjustment in
occupational and social domains and HSCL, suggesting
that it may be an intervening variable through which
environmental stress associated with immigration contributes
to the development of symptoms of mental disorder.
International Journal of …, Jan 1, 2006
Behavioral couples' therapy has a long history of success with couples and is an empirically vali... more Behavioral couples' therapy has a long history of success with couples and is an empirically validated treatment for marital discord (Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures, 1995). However, only about 50% of all couples in treatment experience long-term change (2 years). One of the founders of behavioral couples' therapy called for the therapy to return to its original roots in functional analysis . This produced integrative behavioral couples' therapy. As behavioral couples' therapy attempts to reach the maximum number of couples possible, we believe further attention to behavior analytic principles will continue to contribute to advances in the field. We propose that an operational analysis of forgiveness will help to strengthen behavioral couples' therapy by creating a direct module to handle some of the most entrenched situations, those commonly referred to as betrayal.