No abstract

We describe the assessment and treatment of a mother who was a victim of domestic violence and of her 10-year-old son, both of whom were living in a domestic violence shelter. The Parent-Child Interaction Assessment-II Modifying Attributions of Parents intervention (PCIA-II/MAP; Bohr, 2005; Bohr et al., 2008; Bohr & Holigrocki, 2005) is a structured brief treatment using video recordings from a parent's play with his or her child. The play involves using toy people and animals to complete story stems related to a trip to the zoo (see Holigrocki, Kaminski, & Frieswyk, 1999, 2002). The therapist shows the parent video excerpts of the interaction, invites reflection and commentary, and collaborates with the parent to change how she makes sense of her child's behaviors. The pretreatment assessment revealed a depressed, fearful, highly stressed mother with a harsh parenting style. Her son experienced significant distress; had behavior problems; and viewed adults as harsh, fragile, irresponsible, and unavailable. Posttreatment gains were evident in the parent's reduced depression and greater parenting sensitivity; however, parenting stress and child behavior problems remained elevated. We emphasize the utility and application of a multimodal assessment that integrates rating scales, free response, and video-recorded interactions.

We present a case example of a 9-year-old, biracial girl and her mother. We integrate data collected from rating scales (e.g., Child Behavior Checklist; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001), a free response measure (Thematic Apperception Test; Murray, 1943), and a direct observation measure (Parent-Child Interaction Assessment-II; Holigrocki, Kaminski, & Frieswyk, 1999, 2002) and reveal how a child sexual abuse victim's internal representations and symptoms manifest in both an interpersonal context and in the realm of play. We discuss assessment findings regarding how they provide for an idiographic understanding of the child.

Cognitive-affective, defensive, and neurobiological aspects of victim-victimizer relational dynamics are illustrated. Observations of a 26-year-old mother and her 9-year-old son during a semistructured play task and projective and objective assessment data provide the sources of inference regarding how the parent and child's thematic structures are relationally expressed, maintain their psychopathology, and foster a victim-victimizer interactional cycle. By way of complementary interpersonal, psychological, and neurobiological processes, a victim-victimizer relational dynamic is maintained and intergenerationally transmitted.

I describe community counseling clinics embedded with a Lutheran University and aligned with Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) values. Our clinics, like many others, serve the underserved and are often dependent upon external support. To ensure operational stability, they must articulate their mission alignment with host institutions and funders. In so doing, funders readily see how their values are enacted and embodied within the supported program. Examples of mission alignment, data supporting alignment, and the benefits of alignment for the program, funder, and those served are provided.