Unguided self-help through bibliotherapy can produce enduring improvement for individuals with social anxiety disorder.

The results suggest that the Internet-based self-help program on its own is efficient in the treatment of university students with social phobia. Adding group exposure sessions did not improve the outcome significantly.

Through a lens of identity and the self, this article analyses the views of 39 primary carer fathers incarcerated in Victoria focusing specifically on the points of intersection between fathers and their children. Using the prison visiting room and phone conversations by way of illustration it explores differing expressions of masculinity and seeks to understand the conflict of identity that exists for fathers within these liminal, inbetween spaces. We aim to address a gap in research and theory by providing new insights into fathering and conflicting constructions of masculinity within the prison as seen in 'frontstage' and 'backstage' selves and by exploring how fathers perform fathering within this space. We conclude by summarising the key theoretical and practical implications of our work.

This article explores how prison staff in Australia view their work and how their work is viewed by others, by applying a theoretical framework of ‘dirty work’. ‘Dirty work’ is a social construction that refers to tasks that are ‘physically, socially or morally tainted’ ( Ashforth and Kreiner, 1999 ; Hughes, 1958 ) and this article will apply this concept to prison staff in Australia for the first time. The discussion is based on qualitative research in seven different Australian prisons, ranging from high to low security. The article illustrates how staff responds to working in a ‘dirty’ profession by reframing, refocusing, and recalibrating their daily work tasks; how the staff uniform can be utilised as a status shield and protector from taint; and how the stigma of ‘dirtiness’ tends to foster strong occupational and workgroup cultures which in turn makes cultural change of a profession difficult. The consequences of the dirty work stigma for staff and prisoners are discussed, with a focus on informal interactions, case work and dynamic security.

The Scandinavian countries have become known for their low rates of imprisonment and relatively humane prison conditions. What, though, has made possible this model of imprisonment, so different from that of the Anglophone world? This article argues that contemporary Scandinavian prison policy has been the product of long-term socio-political forces and cultural values leading to three distinct phases of prison development: (1) 1870s-1930s: separate confinement, penance and the influence of Lutheran pastors in prison practice; (2) 1930s-1960s: welfare, medicalization and work; (3) 1970s-present: a tension between the 'normalization' of prison life against recent concerns with security. The article traces in the development and interplay of these three phases against the background of social, political and cultural change in Scandinavia.