“At My Age … ”: Defining Sexual Wellness in Mid- and Later Life

Sexual wellness is integral to quality of life across the life span, despite ageist stereotypes suggesting sexual expression ends at midlife. However, conceptualizing sexual wellness in mid- and later life is complicated by a dysfunction-based narrative, lack of a sex-positive aging framework, and existing measures that are age irrelevant and limited in scope. This study aimed to address these limitations by providing a conceptualization of sexual wellness grounded in definitions from midlife and older adults. A sample of 373 midlife and older adults (M = 60, SD = 5.84) in the United States provided a definition of sexual wellness. Using thematic analysis, multiple researchers coded qualitative responses, and results suggested a biopsychosocial-cultural framework. Findings reflect that midlife and older adults provide multifaceted definitions inclusive of various behavioral experiences, including disengaging from sex. They are also keenly aware of physical and psychological limitations and strengths, and emphasize mutual experiences and synchronicity. Midlife and older adults also reflect on age, drawing comparisons to different phases of life and often displaying adaptability in adjusting expectations. When conceptualizing sexual wellness in this population it is imperative to capture this multidimensionality, include those who are not actively engaging in sex, and be aware of the influence of ageist and dys/function narratives.     

Social Work Research and Writing—the Tactics of Getting Published

Abstract

Social work academics face increasing institutional pressure to raise their publication output. International patterns suggest that good publication rates are the prerogative of only a few highly achieving authors. The reasons for this are complex and contradictory. This article considers the implications of changes in the publishing industry and in academic writing through conversations with highly published academics. Deliberate publication strategies, writing groups, and other collaborative practices are described as ways academics have come together to both survive this current regime and contribute meaningfully to social policy and professional practice.     

Systematic handling of missing data in complex study designs – experiences from the Health 2000 and 2011 Surveys

We present a systematic approach to the practical and comprehensive handling of missing data motivated by our experiences of analyzing longitudinal survey data. We consider the Health 2000 and 2011 Surveys (BRIF8901) where increased non-response and non-participation from 2000 to 2011 was a major issue. The model assumptions involved in the complex sampling design, repeated measurements design, non-participation mechanisms and associations are presented graphically using methodology previously defined as a causal model with design, i.e. a functional causal model extended with the study design. This tool forces the statistician to make the study design and the missing-data mechanism explicit. Using the systematic approach, the sampling probabilities and the participation probabilities can be considered separately. This is beneficial when the performance of missing-data methods are to be compared. Using data from Health 2000 and 2011 Surveys and from national registries, it was found that multiple imputation removed almost all differences between full sample and estimated prevalences. The inverse probability weighting removed more than half and the doubly robust method 60% of the differences. These findings are encouraging since decreasing participation rates are a major problem in population surveys worldwide.     

Girls with honour‐related problems in a comparative perspective

Schlytter A, Linell H. Girls with honour‐related problems in a comparative perspective
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 152–161 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. The aim of this study was to learn to perceive the indicators of honour‐related problems in a girl's everyday life. Our investigation included all girls aged 13–18 years who were about to be taken into care in 2006. The comparative analysis was based on 37 County Court cases in Stockholm County. The girls' exposure to harm in 13 of the 37 cases could be coupled to the demands and values of the honour culture. All the girls in the ‘honour’ group had been victims of mental abuse; they were more isolated than the girls in the ‘other reason’ group and none of the girls in the ‘honour’ group chose to meet their parents in court. We found that the honour culture life situation is new to the social services, which for these girls can mean that they do not have access to the same legal protection as other girls.     

Different problems – same treatment. Swedish juvenile offenders in community‐based rehabilitative programmes

Ginner Hau H, Smedler A‐C. Different problems – same treatment. Swedish juvenile offenders in community‐based rehabilitative programmes Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 87–96 © 2009 The Author, Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Young delinquents may be regarded as children in need of rehabilitation or as offenders deserving of consequences proportional to the committed crime. The focus has increasingly been on the latter, while research shows that individual risk assessment is essential for effective rehabilitation. This study explored self‐reported history of antisocial behaviour among Swedish male offenders 15–17 years of age (n= 189) who were sentenced to participate in rehabilitative programmes conducted by local social services. Antisocial behaviour was extensive and, according to a principal component analysis, consisted of three dimensions: (i) adolescent delinquency; (ii) violence and theft; (iii) drug‐related crimes. Using cluster analysis, the participants were divided into four subgroups representing different levels and characteristics of delinquency, which explained 73 per cent of the variance in antisocial behaviour. The conclusion is that assignment to rehabilitative programmes appeared unrelated to subgroups, i.e. to risk level. Organisational obstacles to an evidence‐based practice are discussed.     

Regional Labour Market Matching Functions and Efficiency Analysis

Abstract. Stochastic production frontiers are used for estimating regional matching functions where unemployment outflow is ‘produced’ by the unemployed and vacancies. The frontier is estimated using regional panel data from Finland from 1988 to 1997 and the Battese and Coelli frontier model, where the explanatory factors are included in the inefficiency term. The stochastic frontier matching function has constant returns, whereas in OLS estimation with fixed effects the returns are slightly increasing. Unemployment and vacancies in neighbouring regions have a spillover effect on efficiency. Excess job reallocation in a region deteriorates matching efficiency. The decomposition of total factor productivity change in matching to efficiency change and change in matching technology is also investigated by interpreting the matching frontier as a distance function and using Malmquist indexes. There is a downward trend in the technology, but short‐term variations are dominated by cyclical changes in efficiency.     

TOURING A SUPPLY CHAIN WITH STUDENTS: PEDAGOGICAL AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

This paper describes the supply chain tour, an expansion of the widely used facility tour pedagogy. A supply chain tour is a tour of facilities sequentially related in the creation of value that is designed to expose critical linkages and illustrate Supply Chain Management concepts and theories. Effectively using the supply chain tour pedagogy requires the instructor to create a standardized approach to managing the facility tour; a checklist is provided for this purpose. An example supply chain tour, used in the author's classes, is described.     

Desertification and the political agenda

Why, more than ten years after the United Nations Conference on Desertification, can so little progress on implementing the Plan of Action be reported? The answer lies, in part, in the characteristics of the issue. As an issue, desertification lacks definitional clarity, and geographic and resource specificity; it is intractable, long-term and latent; and it has a technical bias and no clearly defined villain. These characteristics make it difficult to muster the requisite political support needed to generate sustained policy attention from the public and decisionmakers. If the real problems encompassed by desertification are to be solved, the issue needs to be reframed and recast into a set of manageable and feasible objectives.