Pediatric Chronic Illness Management: A Qualitative Dyadic Analysis of Adolescent Patient and Parent Illness Narratives

In pediatric chronic illness, little is known about the relational interactions between adolescent patients, parents, and illnesses and how they influence self-management of illness. We conducted interviews with 32 individuals (16 dyads) representing adolescents diagnosed with a chronic illness and their primary parent who had been referred to a psychosocial treatment program for challenges with illness management. Interviews were conducted individually and analyzed dyadically using grounded theory to better understand the relational processes that may be contributing to illness management difficulties. Results include a theory of patient–parent illness responses and how parental illness meanings play a role in adolescent self-management. Results can be used to better understand and treat family relational patterns that may be influencing pediatric illness management challenges.     

CEO burnout,managerial discretion,and firm performance: The role of CEO locus of control,structural power,and organizational factors

Despite the possibility of burnout resulting from dynamics in firms' upper echelons, little if any work has focused on chief executive officer's (CEO's) burnout and firm performance. Drawing on managerial discretion theory, this article analyzes the influence of CEO burnout on firm performance and the moderating roles of the individual (CEO locus of control), structural power (CEO duality and CEO tenure), and organizational characteristics (size, age, and resource availability) related to managerial discretion. Using a sample of 156 CEOs in Swedish firms, we find a negative association between CEOs who report higher burnout and firm performance. Our results confirm that CEO duality and resource availability ameliorate and firm size exacerbates the negative association between CEO burnout and firm performance. Contrary to our expectations, CEO locus of control, CEO tenure, and firm age do not influence this relationship. We discuss the implications of our research for upper echelons theory and strategic leadership theory.     

Toward Father‐friendly Parenting Interventions: A Qualitative Study

Levels of father participation in parenting interventions are often very low, yet little is known about the factors which influence father engagement. We aimed to qualitatively explore perceived barriers to, and preferences for, parenting interventions in a community sample of fathers. Forty‐one fathers across nine focus groups were interviewed using a semi‐structured interview. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Key barriers to father participation identified included: the perception that interventions are mother‐focused; beliefs about gender roles regarding parenting and help‐seeking; mothers’ role as ‘gatekeeper’; lack of knowledge and awareness of parenting interventions; and lack of relevance of interventions. Fathers reported preferences for specific content and intervention features, facilitator characteristics, practical factors, and highlighted the need for father‐targeted recruitment and advertising. Many of the barriers and preferences identified are consistent with previous research; however, fathers’ beliefs and attitudes around gender roles and help‐seeking, as well as the perception that interventions are predominantly mother‐focused, may be key barriers for community fathers. Strategies to overcome these barriers and better meet the needs of fathers in promoting and delivering parenting interventions are discussed.     

Producing mobility: visual narratives of the rural migrant worker in Chinese television

This paper employs literatures of mobility to explore the ways which rural migrant workers in China are represented publicly via television drama. Through an analysis of the popular serial Mingong, the paper examines the underlying politics of contemporary migration in China through three themes: the territorialisation of rural and urban spaces; the embodiment of boundaries via corporeal practices and subjectivities; and the politicisation of rural migrant desires. This analysis demonstrates the significance of television in crafting discursive understandings of mobility and migrants that are suffused with contemporary governmentalities of generating but also managing and excluding migration.     

Linking family engagement with a rights perspective: macro factors influencing practice

While child welfare practitioners in many countries are struggling to develop methods of effective family engagement, they operate within different national and cultural contexts that influence, both positively and negatively, the ability to engage with families. Increasingly, international comparisons are necessary to further understanding of the development of social work practice. This is particularly necessary because most countries utilize international frameworks (such as the United National Convention on the Rights of the Child) to provide guidance in the development of policies, programs, and interventions. Each country (and locality) struggles to advance practice to be more effective and humane. Our paper offers a comparative analysis focused on family-oriented and rights-based frameworks of different countries. Based on a review of current national policies and a review of the literature regarding family-based practices, we examine similarities and differences among four countries: the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States, and South Korea. These countries were selected because they have some similarities (advanced industrialized democracies, professional social work, and formal child protection systems) but have some differences in their social welfare systems (policies, specific practices, and socio-cultural context). These differences can be utilized to advance understanding regarding the promise and potential for family engagement strategies. We then discuss the utility of this comparison for theory-building in the arena of child-care practice and conclude by identifying the challenges and limitations of this work.     

On Hotelling’s T2 test in a special paired sample case

In a special paired sample case, Hotelling’s T² test based on the differences of the paired random vectors is the likelihood ratio test for testing the hypothesis that the paired random vectors have the same mean; with respect to a special group of affine linear transformations it is the uniformly most powerful invariant test for the general alternative of a difference in mean. We present an elementary straightforward proof of this result. The likelihood ratio test for testing the hypothesis that the covariance structure is of the assumed special form is derived and discussed. Applications to real data are given.     

Remembering the Future: Natural Disaster,Place, and Symbolic Survival

The Pacific Northwest coast of the United States is currently facing the threat of an earthquake and tsunami some experts predict will be the worst natural disaster in North American history. This region also must contend with predicted effects of climate change. Applying the sociological traditions of memory, silence, and place to the natural hazard context, I qualitatively explore how local residents collectively envision future disasters and their associated risks. Responsive narratives are developed from an array of local meanings and identities drawn from place. They tend to partially displace narratives that visualize disasters as disruptive agents of danger, mnemonically replacing them with symbols of survival, continuity, and community agency. Overall, I find that this collective displacement manifests in event‐ and place‐specific ways and partially silences disturbing aspects of potential disaster. These findings demonstrate the promise of analyzing the idiosyncratic ways that future environmental disaster is perceived and experienced. Because risk perception has been identified as a contributor to community resilience and capacity, these findings emphasize the need for local, place‐based approaches to disaster planning, particularly in small communities with resource‐extractive histories.     

Bioecological Implications of Narrative Exposure Therapy in Low‐Resource Settings: Individual,Family, Community,and Socio‐Political Contexts

Traumatic stress can have detrimental effects on individuals, families, and communities. Narrative exposure therapy (NET) is an evidence‐based intervention for decreasing individuals’ post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and has been tested in some of the most challenging contexts, such as in post‐conflict refugee camps. Although the focus of NET is on reducing individual PTSD symptoms, the impact of NET can be seen beyond the individual level. The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the ecological implications of using NET with trauma‐affected populations in low‐resource settings. We describe the implications of NET at the family, community, and sociopolitical levels using several case examples. Finally, we outline limitations and future directions for improving the delivery of NET in settings with limited resources.     

Linking Migration Intentions with Flows: Evidence and Potential Use

In the absence of reliable, internationally available migration flow data necessary for statistical forecasting, policymakers increasingly turn to survey data on emigration intentions to evaluate future migration trends. The important assumption – i.e. that there is a measurable and systematic relationship between the intention to migrate and actual migration – has not been firmly established at the international level. We examine the association between estimated population averages of emigration intentions and official migration flow data based on data for more than 160 countries. The results show a strong association between emigration intentions and recorded bilateral flows to industrialized countries, as well as between intentions and aggregated out‐migration. The results provide policymakers with a reliability assessment of survey data on emigration intentions and encourage future attempts to incorporate survey data in formal statistical migration forecasting models.     

The social movement for reproductive justice: Emergence,intersectional strategies,and theory building

This article reviews the literature on the reproductive justice social movement and provides an overview of its main theorical and empirical foundations and contributions. It begins by tracing the emergence of reproductive justice, grounding it in longstanding histories of resistance and Black feminist theorizing. It highlights intersectionality as a social movement strategy and tactic embraced by reproductive justice activists, and highlights reproductive justice organizing and scholarship that contributes to our theoretical understandings of the racial politics of reproduction and abolition. In so doing, this piece makes two interrelated contributions. First, it argues reproductive justice generates material and theoretical contributions beyond the scope of what is possible for reproductive health and rights frameworks. Second, it demonstrates that bringing reproductive justice into the focus of sociological inquiry is important for advancing social science scholarship.