Editorial
| Pages | 2-3 |
| Published date | 14 April 2010 |
| Date | 14 April 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/jacpr.2010.0136 |
| Author | Jane Ireland,Nicola Graham‐Kevan,Michelle Davies,Douglas Fry |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Sociology |
Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research • Volume 2 Issue 2 • April 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd2
10.5042/jacpr.2010.0136
particularly if they are caring for tho se who
have exper ienced trau ma. This is what makes
the resear ch of Fa dden et a l so val uable. Its
novel natu re, coupled with it s peace f ocus
on collabo ration, was one of the drivi ng
reasons we as edit ors were particularly keen
for its inclusion. It was the ‘cross-b order’
collaboration of the work tha t we felt fitted
our remit and woul d prove of interest to our
readers. I t is als o an ext remely pract ice-focused
paper. As with the preceding paper, th ere is
a clear message he re of a need to develop
collaborative and sup portive prog rammes,
and a r ecognition of the i mportance of
transferring skills t o those who are d irectly
caring for others with a r ange of mental healt h
challenges. The impli cations of the paper
are clearl y delineate d by the authors, who
highlight the importan ce of brin ging individ uals
and often divided communities together on
issues of shared i nterest and concern.
Then we move swiftly on to a method-
orientated paper. Such papers are always
of value since they can encourage both
academics and practitioners to reflect on the
strategies and approaches that we adopt.
In their paper, Alexander Wettstein and
Mascha Jakob focus on the internal processes
associated with aggression, and use the General
Aggression Model (GAM) as the core theory
of choice. There is an increasing number of
papers reflecting on or researching the GAM
model. This is useful since it is a valuable,
individualised and interactive model to apply.
However, as with a number of models, the
extent to which it has been tested is limited and
this is why papers such as this are so valuable.
The authors’ choice of method to explore
environment and social (internal) processing is
of interest, since they appear to have really tried
to address the challenges we face in observing
naturally occurring aggression. No method
will ever be perfect – certainly not when our
aim is to observe unnoticed – and the current
paper presents some food for thought in this
Welcome to what is an extremely eclectic
edition of the Journal of Aggression, Conflict
and Peace Research ( J ACPR). As a publication,
it is really beginning to evolve now into the
journal that we wanted so much as editors to
bring to the academic and practice community.
Our intention was to develop a journal that
followed a clear theme but provided within it
papers of interest to a wide range of academics
and practitioners. The current edition does
appear to have clearly achieved this aim by
bringing together a varied collection of papers
covering the topics of peace and reconciliation,
domestic violence, sex offending and methods.
The papers all offer their own unique
contributions but are firmly centred in theory
and/or practice.
We open the edition with an insightful
paper by Gayle Brewer, Mark Roy and Yvonne
Smith on the psychosocial and health associates
connected to domestic violence. Although the
sample size is small, it is a highly specialised
one, which makes the study all the more
valuable to practitioners. Investigating women
recruited from a domestic violence service,
Brewer et al highlight the negative impacts
associated with domestic violence. The study
is particularly valuable in illustrating the role
of psychosocial factors. Indeed, the research
suggests that managing the psychosocial factors
should represent the intervention area of
particular focus, and practitioners will certainly
be aware of the cyclic nature of domestic
violence due to the psychosocial difficulties
that it can promote regardless of the severity of
the reported abuse. The importance of offering
health-related support to this client group is
thus clearly evidenced.
Still keeping with the theme of health, a
brief but very novel paper follows, presented
by Gráinne Fadden, Rebecca Heelis and
Michelle Palmer, on the needs of carers. Such
groups are often forgotten both by researchers
and by support services and yet they can
represent clear ‘secondary victim’ groups,
Editorial
To continue reading
Request your trial