Concepts and Precepts In Social Work Education

While a single elective course in human sexuality is a useful supplement to core social work courses in preparing students for the sex-related problems they will encounter, a more comprehensive sequence of learning experiences is necessary for those who wish to develop greater competence in this area.

This article describes such a sequence offered by the University of Hawaii School of Social Work which focuses on treating and preventing sex-related problems experienced by various populations, particularly the sexually oppressed These learning experiences include class and field activities, research projects, and guided experiences as sex educators at local agencies, as producers of a weekly radio program, and as leaders of small discussion groups for a basic sex education course.     

Knowledge and Attitudes of University Health Service Clients about Genital Herpes: Implications for Patient Education and Counseling

Abstract

Genital herpes virus infection is an important target for health education efforts because of its apparently rising incidence in the college student population and because it can have potentially serious psychological as well as medical consequences. In order to better understand the health education and counseling needs of students, the present study surveyed knowledge and attitudes about genital herpes of 190 university students using a gynecology clinic and of 161 students using a general medical clinic. The students were found to have a high degree of familiarity with the disease, its cause, and mode of transmission, but tended to view the consequences of the disease as more severe than is actually warranted by the common medical complications. There was some degree of misinformation about prevention and treatment of the disease and some negative attitudes about patients suffering from it, but the survey respondents endorsed a high level of responsible behavior with regard to the disease and expressed some optimism about the possibility of adapting to it. These findings suggest specific misconceptions about genital herpes that might be amenable to a mass education approach. They also suggest the need for a counseling program that centers around reasonable reassurance and appropriately positive psychological and medical management for newly diagnosed patients.     

International Patterns of Interpersonal Tactile Communication: A Field Study

An awareness of how touch is employed in communicative interactions among peoples of different nations can be a critical requisite to effective inter-cultural communication. This study examined cross-sex, interpersonal, public touch to determine whether (1) the number of body areas touched varied between members of different societies; (2) the type of relationship between dyadic partners influenced tactile behavior; and (3) the amount of total body areas touched for each society correlated with latitude of origin. Variation in interpersonal touch as a function of nationality was confirmed. Results also confirmed that touch between dyads from an international sample was affected by type of relationship. Correspondence in the occurrence of tactile behavior among dyads from similar latitudes of origin was not confirmed. Findings call into question the designation of Northern European and U.S. cultures as non-contact.     

A DIRECT TEST OF THE EFFICIENT MARRIAGE MARKET HYPOTHESIS

This paper takes Becker's efficient marriage market hypothesis at face value, and directly confronts it with data from Hong Kong. The theory of optimal assignment is used to develop an empirical model of spouse selection, which resembles a Tobit model. This model can address positive or negative assortative matching as well as marginal product pricing in marriage markets. We also use a computer algorithm to solve the assignment problem for imputed marital output. The degree to which the actual pairing of husbands and wives corresponds to the optimal pairing provides a goodness-of-fit test of the efficient marriage market hypothesis. ( JEL C51, C61, C78, J12)     

Demographic and Organizational Variables That Affect Southeastern College and University Student Health Promotion

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between demographic and organizational variables and college student health promotion efforts. Two hundred and forty-one college administrators from 14 southern states were surveyed to determine factors that may affect college student health promotion programming. Enrollment, tuition, affiliation, and highest degree offered were the demographic variables that were examined. The organizational variables were goals, control, motivation, interaction, and decision making. The methods of gathering information regarding student health problems, the kinds of health promotion programs offered, the methods of publicizing the programs, and the extent of student participation in health promotion programs were the dependent variables.

The statistical tests for the effects of the demographic and organizational variables on student health promotion efforts indicate that a relationship does exist. Combined multiple regression analysis equations that include all of the organizational variables demonstrated graphically the effects of interaction among the independent organizational variables and the dependent variables. These combined equations were better predictors of student health promotion programs and services than any of the organizational variables taken separately. Future studies of the factors that affect student participation in health promotion programs, the extent of student participation, and the effects of a student participation should be conducted.     

STATISTICAL MODELS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR WITH HETEROGENEOUS VALUES AND CONSTRAINTS

In a market with heterogeneous individuals, the fact that a particular group of individuals are the consumers of a particular product already indicates that there exist systematic differences between them and the average person. Simple tools from statistical theory are used here to analyze the implications of consumer diversity. It is argued that an increase in consumer diversity will increase the gains from trade, and that there is a "shadow price of heterogeneity" associated with product quality. Throughout the discussion, the significance of consumer self-selection and the distinction between "average" and "marginal" will be emphasized.     

The muse as mother

This paper suggests that the concept of the muse in relation to the creative process is more than a myth or cultural artifact. It is argued that the muse is a psychic recollection of our memories of the female who presided over our first experiences of consciousness as we traversed the borders of inner and outer reality—that is, the mother. The shift of consciousness required in creative activity triggers recall of this figure. Object relations theory, recent findings from infant research, and the intuitive observations of several authors are used to support this thesis. Clinical examples illustrate the application of this concept in treatment.