title: Sexual offender risk assessment strategies: is there a convergence of opinion yet?

authors: Boer, Douglas Pieter

subjects: risk assessment

abstract: While there is no convergence of opinion in the academic literature, many clinicians have already adopted a convergent approach to risk assessment, whether through deliberate adoption of complementary instruments or through informal clinical modification of risk assessment instrument findings.  The present paper suggests that a convergent approach to risk assessment may be both the most responsible and most appropriate approach at this time, given the lack of research to substantiate a strong superiority of one type of instrument (actuarial risk tests versus structured clinical guidelines) over the other as well as the complementary nature of these types of tests in terms of how risk is conceptualized and analyzed.  The research in a convergent approach is meager and this issue deserves some attention to ensure that all clinicians doing risk assessments of sexual offenders are providing the most information possible to decision makers to protect the rights, safety, and security of our clients (the correctional and justice systems, the public, and the offenders).

text: Sexual offender risk assessment strategies: is there a convergence of opinion yet? While there is no convergence of opinion in the academic literature, many clinicians have already adopted a convergent approach to risk assessment, whether through deliberate adoption of complementary instruments or through informal clinical modification of risk assessment instrument findings.  The present paper suggests that a convergent approach to risk assessment may be both the most responsible and most appropriate approach at this time, given the lack of research to substantiate a strong superiority of one type of instrument (actuarial risk tests versus structured clinical guidelines) over the other as well as the complementary nature of these types of tests in terms of how risk is conceptualized and analyzed.  The research in a convergent approach is meager and this issue deserves some attention to ensure that all clinicians doing risk assessments of sexual offenders are providing the most information possible to decision makers to protect the rights, safety, and security of our clients (the correctional and justice systems, the public, and the offenders).

year: 2006

title: Long-term evolution of an Oligocene/Miocene maar lake from Otago, New Zealand

authors: Fox, Beth R.S.

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Foulden Maar is a highly resolved maar lake deposit from the South Island of New Zealand comprising laminated diatomite punctuated by numerous diatomaceous turbidites. Basaltic clasts found in debris flow deposits near the base of the cored sedimentary sequence yielded two new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates of 24.51 ± 0.24 and 23.38 ± 0.24 Ma (2σ). The younger date agrees within error with a previously published ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar date of 23.17 ± 0.19 Ma from a basaltic dyke adjacent to the maar crater. The diatomite is inferred to have been deposited over several tens of thousands of years in the latest Oligocene/earliest Miocene, and may have been coeval with the period of rapid glaciation and subsequent deglaciation of Antarctica known as the Mi-1 event. Sediment magnetic properties and SEM measurements indicate that the magnetic signal is dominated by pseudo-single domain pyrrhotite. The most likely source of detrital pyrrhotite is schist country rock fragments from the inferred tephra ring created by the phreatomagmatic eruption that formed the maar. Variations in magnetic mineral concentration indicate a decrease in erosional input throughout the depositional period, suggesting long-term (tens of thousands of years) environmental change in New Zealand in the latest Oligocene/earliest Miocene.

text: Long-term evolution of an Oligocene/Miocene maar lake from Otago, New Zealand Foulden Maar is a highly resolved maar lake deposit from the South Island of New Zealand comprising laminated diatomite punctuated by numerous diatomaceous turbidites. Basaltic clasts found in debris flow deposits near the base of the cored sedimentary sequence yielded two new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates of 24.51 ± 0.24 and 23.38 ± 0.24 Ma (2σ). The younger date agrees within error with a previously published ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar date of 23.17 ± 0.19 Ma from a basaltic dyke adjacent to the maar crater. The diatomite is inferred to have been deposited over several tens of thousands of years in the latest Oligocene/earliest Miocene, and may have been coeval with the period of rapid glaciation and subsequent deglaciation of Antarctica known as the Mi-1 event. Sediment magnetic properties and SEM measurements indicate that the magnetic signal is dominated by pseudo-single domain pyrrhotite. The most likely source of detrital pyrrhotite is schist country rock fragments from the inferred tephra ring created by the phreatomagmatic eruption that formed the maar. Variations in magnetic mineral concentration indicate a decrease in erosional input throughout the depositional period, suggesting long-term (tens of thousands of years) environmental change in New Zealand in the latest Oligocene/earliest Miocene.

year: 2015-01-01

title: The Development and Evaluation of a Cultural Competency Training Programme for Psychologists Working with Māori: A Training Needs Analysis

authors: Waitoki, Waikaremoana

subjects: Māori

abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a cultural competency training programme for clinical psychology students to work with Māori consumers.  A pilot programme (study 1) was developed from the international and national cultural competency and bicultural training literature.  Following the pilot, it was identified that the programme could be made more robust by conducting a second study the training needs analysis using the critical incident technique.  Study two was conducted with 30 experienced clinical psychologists who had worked with Māori clients.
  
The training needs analysis sought to identify the awareness, knowledge and skills (AKS) that the experienced psychologists used in their practice with Māori.  An unexpected finding from study two was that the psychologists used distinctly Māori-cultural practices incorporating Māori tikanga and Māori knowledge with their clients even though they had little or no bicultural course content in their clinical training.  The data from the pilot programme, and the training needs analysis were used to refine the final workshop.  
The workshop was delivered to two university sites over a two-day period using intern clinical psychologist.  The programme evaluation had three components: (1) analysis of pre and post programme questionnaires; (2) analysis of the retrospective questionnaires (3) and an analysis of a participant’s case report on a Māori consumer. 
The themes that evolved from this research are that the critical incident technique is a useful way of identifying bicultural training material that would otherwise go unnoticed.  In relation to training evaluation, there is a real need to develop meaningful measures of bicultural competency acquisition for clinical students.  The finding advances the proposition that a distinct Māori psychology exists that could potentially challenge the relevance of Western psychology for Māori.  
A contextual theme underpinning bicultural training programmes is that training and practice occurs against the backdrop of Pākehā dominance in all aspects of academia and society. Consequently, there is a need to find a balance between Māori and Western psychological knowledge.  Future uses of this research will be in developing and evaluating bicultural training programmes, developing appropriate measures of cultural competency acquisition and assessing the potential for a distinct Māori psychology.

text: The Development and Evaluation of a Cultural Competency Training Programme for Psychologists Working with Māori: A Training Needs Analysis The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a cultural competency training programme for clinical psychology students to work with Māori consumers.  A pilot programme (study 1) was developed from the international and national cultural competency and bicultural training literature.  Following the pilot, it was identified that the programme could be made more robust by conducting a second study the training needs analysis using the critical incident technique.  Study two was conducted with 30 experienced clinical psychologists who had worked with Māori clients.
  
The training needs analysis sought to identify the awareness, knowledge and skills (AKS) that the experienced psychologists used in their practice with Māori.  An unexpected finding from study two was that the psychologists used distinctly Māori-cultural practices incorporating Māori tikanga and Māori knowledge with their clients even though they had little or no bicultural course content in their clinical training.  The data from the pilot programme, and the training needs analysis were used to refine the final workshop.  
The workshop was delivered to two university sites over a two-day period using intern clinical psychologist.  The programme evaluation had three components: (1) analysis of pre and post programme questionnaires; (2) analysis of the retrospective questionnaires (3) and an analysis of a participant’s case report on a Māori consumer. 
The themes that evolved from this research are that the critical incident technique is a useful way of identifying bicultural training material that would otherwise go unnoticed.  In relation to training evaluation, there is a real need to develop meaningful measures of bicultural competency acquisition for clinical students.  The finding advances the proposition that a distinct Māori psychology exists that could potentially challenge the relevance of Western psychology for Māori.  
A contextual theme underpinning bicultural training programmes is that training and practice occurs against the backdrop of Pākehā dominance in all aspects of academia and society. Consequently, there is a need to find a balance between Māori and Western psychological knowledge.  Future uses of this research will be in developing and evaluating bicultural training programmes, developing appropriate measures of cultural competency acquisition and assessing the potential for a distinct Māori psychology.

year: 2012