The differential impact of solution‐focused brief therapy questions was tested. A total of 246 subjects described a personal problem they wanted to solve and were randomly assigned to one of four interventions that involved answering problem‐focused versus solution‐focused questions: a problem‐focused condition, a miracle condition, a scaling condition or an exception condition. Before and after answering the questions, participants completed measures of positive and negative affect, self‐efficacy, goal attainment, action steps and solution‐focused thinking. The miracle and exception conditions were more effective than the problem‐focused condition in reducing negative affect. The scaling condition generated more action steps than the miracle question or the exception question. These findings support solution‐focused ideas on the different effects of solution‐focused questions, but also suggest that solution‐focused and problem‐focused questions might be more similar than different in their immediate impact on clients.Practitioner points: Solution‐focused and problem‐focused questions are more similar than different in their immediate impact on clients. Among solution‐focused questions, the miracle question and the exception question are more effective in reducing negative affect, and scaling questions in generating specific action steps. Integrative therapists could use solution‐focused questions not only with clients who seem more optimistic but also with less solution‐minded ones. ​

There is consistent evidence that attitudes are important in understanding how people react and behave toward victims and perpetrators of intimate partner violence against women. Researchers have typically measured these attitudes through self-reports. However, explicit measures are prone to socially desirable responding. The overall objective of our research is to provide multimethod measures of public attitudes (explicit and implicit) toward intimate partner violence against women. An opportunity sample of 190 Psychology undergraduates (32 men and 158 women) took part in this study and completed two self-reports: the Inventory of Distorted Thoughts about Women and Violence, and the Inventory of Beliefs about Wife Beating. In addition, they completed a personalized Implicit Association Test, the Gender Violence Implicit Association Test. This study provides evidence of the best way to apply the Gender Violence Implicit Association Test (with feedback) and the best procedure for estimating the Implicit Association Test effect (built-in error penalty). The findings are also consistent with previous research and exhibit a significant disparity between explicit and implicit measures of attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women. These findings, although still preliminary, provide interesting information that affirms the need to incorporate implicit measures of attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women into research on this social problem.

Recent decades have seen a growing acknowledgement of violence against women (VAW) as a serious social and public health problem of epidemic proportions. The prevention of VAW and intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) has become a priority within this context, and includes various prevention strategies such as social participation and helping behaviors. In different countries, conducting research on help-seeking behavior and bystander intervention in cases of VAW is a common practice, but addressing these issues is much less common in Spain. In this context, the objective of this study is to provide a preliminary estimation of the volume of bystanders in cases of IPVAW in Spain between 2005 and 2020 (since the entry into force of Organic Law 1/2004), their willingness to intervene and, in the case of intervention, the type of helping behavior (real or hypothetical) preferred, using the sources (secondary data) available (specifically, survey data, as the surveys of social perception of gender violence and the 2014 and 2019 macro-surveys, and also administrative data, as the database of reports filed). The data analyzed allow us to determine that, in fact, in the cases of IPVAW there are usually persons within the victim’s inner circle who are firsthand witnesses or have been informed by the victim of the existence of this type of violence, but, although the bystanders generally claim they would engage in an active and supportive response, this is in fact not always the case. These results underscore the need to develop intervention programs aimed at IPVAW bystanders to improve their reaction and contribute to the development of helpful and efficient active responses.

Violence against women (VAW) is gender-based violence directed at women and girls on account of being female that can take on multiple forms and manifest in different contexts. Among the many possible forms of VAW, this article focuses on “piropos”, a type of stranger harassment situation. Specifically, the objectives of this study were two-fold: to analyze the usefulness of a tool to evaluate social attitudes towards this form of VAW and to analyze the influence of sociodemographic variables and prior victimization (whether as a witness or victim) on attitudes towards this type of violence among Spanish youth. An opportunity sample of 538 young Spanish people took part in this study. They filled out a sociodemographic data sheet, a victimization questionnaire designed ad hoc, and a questionnaire on attitudes towards “piropos”. The results obtained indicate that the questionnaire was adequate for use as a tool to evaluate social attitudes towards this type of VAW and suggest its applicability for future studies on attitudes towards “piropos” as a type of stranger harassment situation in a Spanish context. Moreover, the results on victimization not only corroborate the magnitude of street sexual harassment in Spain and a direct effect of gender on the perception of the violence experienced, they also reinforce the need to further investigate new aspects. Regarding attitudes towards “piropos”, the results obtained indicate that, in general, participants demonstrated negative attitudes or rejection, and these feelings were particularly strong among women.

Intimate Partner Violence Against Women (IPVAW) has been defined as a violation of human rights and a serious public health problem rooted in social inequality between women and men. Nevertheless, a significant amount of scientific literature on the topic of IPVAW continues to exclude the gender perspective in both research design and the interpretation of results, despite its conceptual and explanatory relevance. This paper considers certain gender-blind practices in the research on IPVAW. Based on this analysis, we propose explicitly stating the theoretical assumptions inherent in the definition of the construct and clarifying the intended interpretation for measures, so that they can be incorporated into the analysis of validity, and we argue in favor of the need for interdisciplinary studies based on multicausal explanatory models, which incorporate the category gender as a transversal explanatory factor of this type of violence, as well as multi-method approaches, with the aim of overcoming issues of construct underrepresentation and construct-irrelevant variance.

Background: New technologies are an integral component of today’s society and can complement existing suicide prevention programs. Here, we analyzed the use of new technologies in the prevention of suicide in 8 different European countries. Objective: The aim of this paper was to assess the opinions of professionals in incorporating such resources into the design of a suicide prevention program for the region of Zamora in Spain. This investigation, encompassed within the European project entitled European Regions Enforcing Actions against Suicide (EUREGENAS), includes 11 regions from 8 different countries and attempts to advance the field of suicide prevention in Europe. Methods: Using a specifically designed questionnaire, we assessed the opinions of 3 different groups of stakeholders regarding the use, frequency of use, facilitators, content, and format of new technologies for the prevention of suicide. The stakeholders were comprised of policy and public management professionals, professionals working in the area of mental health, and professionals related to the social area and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). A total of 416 participants were recruited in 11 regions from 8 different European countries. Results: The utility of the new technologies was valued positively in all 8 countries, despite these resources being seldom used in those countries. In all the countries, the factors that contributed most to facilitating the use of new technologies were accessibility and free of charge. Regarding the format of new technologies, the most widely preferred formats for use as a tool for the prevention of suicide were websites and email. The availability of information about signs of alarm and risk factors was the most relevant content for the prevention of suicide through the use of new technologies. The presence of a reference mental health professional (MHP) was also considered to be a key aspect. The countries differed in the evaluations given to the different formats suggesting that the cultural characteristics of the country should be taken into account. Conclusions: New technologies are much appreciated resources; however they are not often underused in the field of suicide prevention. The results of this exploratory study show that new technologies are indeed useful resources and should be incorporated into suicide prevention programs.