/library/oar/handle/123456789/321 2025-12-20T20:46:04Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/142364 Title: Romance fraud : its repercussions on victims’ wellbeing Authors: Gauci, Christine; Vella, Mary Grace Abstract: This research examines the consequences of online romance fraud on the well-being of Maltese middle-aged women. Qualitative data was gathered through interviews with female victims of romance fraud, aged 40 to 60, and professionals in law enforcement, psychiatry, and social well-being. The findings explore the impact on victims' self-perception, personal attributions, and biopsychosocial well-being. It also delves into trauma, perceptions of the criminal justice system, protective factors, coping mechanisms, and recovery. The study highlights the diverse risk factors and circumstances faced by victims, providing a multidisciplinary understanding of this complex issue. The research concludes with recommendations for policy and practice. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/142310 Title: ‘Parents as partners’ coparenting programme with parents of infants with a highly reactive temperament : a randomised controlled study Authors: Lanfranco, Ingrid M.; Abela, Angela; Cowan, Philip A.; Cowan, Carolyn Pape Abstract: The ‘Parents as Partners’ (PasP) coparenting programme was delivered to heterosexual parents of infants they described as showing a highly reactive temperament (HRT) following the completion of the Infant Behaviour Questionnaire–Revised (IBQ-R) during a standard post-natal visit in their local Health Centre Well Baby Clinic in Malta. Fifty-two participating Maltese couples, all coparenting a highly reactive infant of 8 to 12 months, were randomly assigned into an experimental (n = 30 couples) or control group (n = 25). The IBQ-R, Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS), and Parental Stress Index (PSI-4 SF) at pre- and post-intervention periods were filled out by randomised participants. Intervention group couples followed the 16-week PasP programme. All randomised couples were followed by a case manager monthly. Post-intervention results compared with controls showed reduced couple conflict occurring in front of the child, reduced parent–child dysfunctional interaction, and a reduction in negative child reactivity. Implications point to the importance of including fathers and reducing coparenting conflict in interventions designed to reduce behavioural difficulties in infants and young children. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/142206 Title: Beyond the surface : an exploration of family secrets as entry points into complex family dynamics Authors: Camilleri, Rosienne; Sammut Scerri, Clarissa Abstract: This paper explores how family secrets, silences, and disclosures encountered during childhood serve as pivotal elements in understanding complex family dynamics, as revealed through a qualitative study involving seven adult participants. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, in-depth interviews were conducted to examine the participants’ experiences of secrecy within their families. The findings suggest that family secrets, rather than being isolated occurrences, function as ‘entry points’ into more intricate and often hidden family dynamics and underlying issues. These secrets unveil deeper layers of family relationships and communication patterns, providing a portal into unresolved conflicts and unspoken tensions. Participants’ narratives disclosed a broad spectrum of themes, including parental depression, life-threatening illness, paternity uncertainty, financial struggles, infidelity, violence, abuse, and inheritance disputes. The enduring impact of these secrets on the participants’ development, maturation, and relational functioning stresses the importance of addressing such dynamics in systemic therapeutic interventions. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/142097 Title: Introduction : Developing psychotherapeutic innovation and imagination through phenomenology and qualitative research with particular reference to the nature of therapeutic knowledge Authors: Loewenthal, Del; Abela, Angela Abstract: "What psychotherapeutic research has been of benefit to your practice?" I (Loewenthal) was asked the above question on completing many years as the Founding Research Chair of a national psychotherapy organisation. Partly to my amazement, and partly with a dawning realisation that this was something I had always known, I realised my answer was (and is) 'not much'! However, this answer is dependent on what is regarded as 'research'. At the time then, and even more so now, research, at the very least in the case of psychotherapy, was becoming and has become synonymous with 'empirical' research. Yet there is also research that is 'theoretical' and research that is based in 'practice'. In both of these latter cases, I can give far more examples where I think such research has benefitted my work innovatively and imaginatively with clients/patients. These three distinctions of 'practice, 'theoretical', and 'empirical' research might sometimes be seen as having some loose similarity to the 'exploratory: 'descriptive, and 'causal' research types denoted in the classic text by Selltiz et al. (1959). 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z