Systems Consultation challenges two basic assumptions of family therapy: first, that what family therapists should be doing is curing pathology; second, that family interactions can be understood by focusing on families to the exclusion of larger systems. In asking whether therapy is the best and only model for what family therapists do, this book registers a definitive no. In its place it offers a systems consultation role that more accurately captures the range of activities therapists can and currently do engage in.
This volume focuses on the interaction between consultant and client, explaining how to achieve the healthy, helping relationship so essential to effective consultation.
Computer-Based Medical Consultations: MYCIN focuses on MYCIN, a novel computer-based expert system designed to assist physicians with clinical decisions concerning the selection of appropriate therapy for patients with infections. It discusses medical computing, artificial intelligence, and the clinical problem areas for which the MYCIN program is designed, and it describes in detail how the MYCIN program helps physicians in making decisions. Comprised of seven chapters, this volume begins with an overview of MYCIN and the criteria used in its design. It then discusses data structures and control structures in the context of prior work regarding rule-based problem-solving, inferential model building and inexact reasoning in medicine. The book also explores MYCIN'S ability to answer questions with respect to its knowledge base and the details of a specific consultation, evaluation and future extensions of the MYCIN system, the limitations and accomplishments of MYCIN, and its contributions in artificial intelligence and computer-based medical decision making. This book is a valuable source of information for computer scientists and members of the medical community.
Public Consultation and Community Involvement in Planning is the definitive introduction to public consultation for developers, students and planners. The past decade has seen a complete transformation in consultation and community relations in the UK, from increased requirements to consult, to the introduction of neighbourhood planning and a revolution in online communication. Public Consultation and Community Involvement in Planning takes readers through consultation from the basics right through to emerging trends to demonstrate how a successful consultation process can benefit both the developers and the local community. The book begins with a definition of consultation and community involvement and an explanation of their role within the development process, before going on to clarify the legal, ethical, practical and ideological concerns to be addressed by the consultation process. Consultation strategy is explored step by step, and social media and online consultation is explored in detail. This is the first comprehensive guide to modern public consultation within the UK development sector and will be essential reading for developers, students and planners.
The rapid changes in the composition of school-age youth around the world have catalyzed a growing concern about how to address children’s mental health and education. Grounded in this increasingly global perspective, The International Handbook of Consultation in Educational Settings is designed to provide a multicultural/transnational approach to consultation theory, research, training, and practice in educational settings. With chapters written by geographically diverse and prominent scholars across the field of school psychology, this handbook captures the range of ways in which consultation services are trained, implemented, and researched internationally. Written for practitioners, researchers, faculty members, and graduate students in the fields of school psychology, school counseling, special education, and educational psychology, this volume is the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive look at consultation in learning environments across the world. The International Handbook of Consultation in Educational Settings offers various perspectives on models, implementation, training, and research on school consultation. After an introduction to the volume by the editors, contributors to Part II examine school-based consultation around the world to explore how consultation services are implemented in different countries. Part III addresses cross-cultural issues in consultation, particularly at a systems level. Part IV presents themes related to processes and issues in the implementation of consultation by focusing on approaches in various countries. The chapters in Part V focus on consultation training, offering insights into the development of students and professionals into effective consultants in cross-cultural and systemic contexts. Part VI describes how practitioners can contribute to the body of research on consultation through careful planning and implementation of their work. Finally, the editors summarize key concepts and findings in a concluding chapter.
Based on a broad range of case studies, Organization and Management Problem Solving is an insightful text designed to improve the application of organization theory and systems thinking in teaching and practice. This book illustrates the five key themes in the nature of organization and managementa'technical, structural, psychosocial, managerial, and culturala'through the analysis of measured incidents tested by students. A clear theoretical framework supports the case studies, allowing the text to have practical relevance to contemporary settings and to be recognized as a model for describing, analyzing, and responding to organization and management problems. The model integrates the thinking of many writers on organization and problem solving including Ackoff, Blake, and Mouton; Schein, Kast, and Rosenweign; and Mitroff and Lippitt. The approach eliminates causal conditions and emphasizes responsive problem solving. Theory is applied and expanded as needed to a broader social context, engaging the reader in a thorough understanding of the nature and development of organization theory and problem solving. This book is relevant to consultants, academics, and professional managers in a number of settings (academic, military, business organizations, and research institutes) and disciplines (including development and change, management, human resources, social psychology, communication, sociology, and psychology).
Based on a recently completed project of cultural consultation in Montreal, Cultural Consultation presents a model of multicultural and applicable health care. This model used clinicians and consultants to provide in-depth assessment, treatment planning, and limited interventions in consultation with frontline primary care and mental health practitioners working with immigrants, refugees, and members of indigenous and ethnocultural communities. Evaluation of the service has demonstrated that focused interventions by consultants familiar with patients’ cultural backgrounds could improve the relationship between the patient and the primary clinician. This volume presents models for intercultural work in psychiatry and psychology in primary care, general hospital and specialty mental health settings. The editors highlight crucial topics such as: - Discussing the social context of intercultural mental health care, conceptual models of the role of culture in psychopathology and healing, and the development of a cultural consultation service and a specialized cultural psychiatric service - Examining the process of intercultural work more closely with particular emphasis oto strategies of consultation, the identity of the clinician, the ways in which gender and culture position the clinician, and interaction of the consultant with family systems and larger institutions - Highlighting special situations that may place specific demands on the clinician: working with refugees and survivors of torture or political violence, with separated families, and with patients with psychotic episodes This book is of valuable use to mental health practitioners who are working in multidisciplinary settings who seek to understand cultural difference in complex cases. Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurse practitioners, primary care providers and trainees in these disciplines will make thorough use of the material covered in this text.
While there is considerable evidence for the effectiveness of school consultation teams for interventions with difficult or at-risk students, relatively little has been written on the implementation of such teams. This book details that process and describes the important features of the Instructional Consultation Team, including methods and instruments for evaluating student progress and system functioning. Bringing together literature on school consultation and school change, this volume enables the school-based professional who takes the role as change facilitator not only to implement new, more effective services, but also to ensure that the services become established functions of the school system.
