Experiences and early coping of bereaved spouses/partners in an intervention based on the dual process model (dpm)

This study was designed to test the effectiveness of the Dual Process Model (DPM) of coping with bereavement. The sample consisted of 298 recently widowed women (61%) and men age 50+ who participated in 14 weekly intervention sessions and also completed before (O1) and after (O2) self-administered questionnaires. While the study also includes two additional follow-up assessments (O3 and O4) that cover up to 14-16 months bereaved, this article examines only O1 and O2 assessments. Based on random assignment, 128 persons attended traditional grief groups that focused on loss-orientation (LO) in the model and 170 persons participated in groups receiving both the LO and restoration-orientation (RO) coping (learning daily life skills). As expected, participants in DPM groups showed slightly higher use of RO coping initially, but compared with LO group participants they improved at similar levels and reported similar high degrees of satisfaction with their participation (i.e., having their needs met and 98-100% indicating they were glad they participated. Even though DPM participants had six fewer LO sessions, they showed similar levels of LO improvement. Qualitative data indicate that the RO component of the DPM might be more effective if it is tailored and delivered individually.     

Environmental stewardship footprint research: linking human agency and ecosystem health in the Puget Sound region

Urbanization processes challenge ecosystem health in many metropolitan areas. New policy and program approaches are needed to restore and sustain natural systems as public agencies and organizations face greater demands and declining budgets. Environmental stewardship is an often overlooked intervention strategy, and the full potential of civic engagement by citizens on behalf of ecosystem health is little understood. Using a coupled systems approach, integrated analysis of social and ecological footprints can lead to greater theoretical understanding and more effective programs at the landscape scale. Here we outline two pilot studies as part of an emergent research program that is investigating the extent and impact of environmental stewardship. Qualitative interviews of stewardship managers revealed multiple dimensions of motivations and purposes for stewardship, ranging from the practical to the conceptual. A regional organization census yielded a surprisingly large number of organizations that conduct stewardship, with social and ecological values being of comparable emphasis. The initial research is based in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, U.S., but results have relevance to other urban areas. Pilot study findings now guide additional research effort about motivations, organizational networks, and theory of integrated socio-ecological systems to be derived from comprehensive footprint analysis of stewardship activity.     

Confronting adolescent bias and intolerance through cross-cultural immersion: an American-Croatian collaboration.

This article describes a partnership to develop youth leaders and positive interventions to reverse the cycles of violence and bigotry that come when young people experience the pain and trauma of growing up in a war zone. In Croatia, Project REACH (Recreational and Educational Activities for Children's Health) serves youth who have lost their families--and their innocence--in the senseless war and "ethnic cleansing" of the former Yugoslavia. Its partner, The Children's Village (CV), provides residential treatment services for youth who have lost their families as a result of chronic abuse or neglect and who have been exposed to high levels of family and community violence in one of the most beleaguered urban areas in the United States. The partnership exposed young people from these two supposedly different parts of the world to experiences that would enable them to examine their lives, their biases, and their assumptions about the world. It was hoped that participating youth would come to see their own potential to be leaders in breaking a cycle of violence, promoting tolerance and understanding, and creating a positive effect on the world around them.     

A HEURISTIC TECHNIQUE FOR TESTING FOR THE PRESENCE OF INTERACTION IN NONREPLICATED FACTORIAL EXPERIMENTS

Abstract  This paper suggests univariate and multivariate techniques for investigating interaction in nonreplicated factorial experiments. The tests can detect certain types of interaction, but they are not powerful against all possible alternative hypotheses. The two-way factorial experiment is discussed in some detail and an example is used to demonstrate the procedure. The procedure is compared to other tests for interaction. These comparisons show that the procedure can detect some types of interaction which other tests cannot. Likewise other tests can detect interaction this procedure cannot.     

Toward ethical approaches to the inclusion of peers with disabilities

What would it mean for program leaders and caregivers to shape the thinking of typically developing youth toward their peers with disabilities in a way that we could regard as ethically sound? The author weaves examples from his research in settings such as Girl Scout troops and Boys and Girls Clubs as well as his own parenting experiences to answer this question. He has found that it is commonplace for program leaders, coaches, and others to avoid direct discussion or acknowledgment of the disabilities of children in their groups, in the mistaken belief that this is the best way to demonstrate that all children are equal and to avoid the perception of discrimination. His interpretation is that this is not a product of thoughtlessness but of caring staff and volunteers who believe they are doing the right thing--the ethical thing--by avoiding acknowledgment of individual differences. Disabilities--even when they are readily apparent--are treated as if they were invisible. Rather than giving disabilities the "silent treatment," the author challenges us to go beyond the prevailing ethos and find ways to build on naturally occurring opportunities to learn more about individual needs and supports.     

Direct and indirect effects of unionization and government employment on fringe benefit provision

The separate influences of unionization and government employment on the provision of two major fringe benefits, pensions and health insurance, are investigated. Each influence is decomposed into a direct effect and an indirect effect through earnings. The sum of these effects often differs in size from estimates that ignore the two distinct effects. Moreover, studies that argue that both unions and governmental employees capture greater fringe benefits focus on the direct effect, yet estimates usually have not isolated this effect.     

Differences in Pharmacokinetics Between Children and Adults—II. Children''s Variability in Drug Elimination Half-Lives and in Some Parameters Needed for Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling

In earlier work we assembled a database of classical pharmacokinetic parameters (e.g., elimination half-lives; volumes of distribution) in children and adults. These data were then analyzed to define mean differences between adults and children of various age groups. In this article, we first analyze the variability in half-life observations where individual data exist. The major findings are as follows. The age groups defined in the earlier analysis of arithmetic mean data (0-1 week premature; 0-1 week full term; 1 week to 2 months; 2-6 months; 6 months to 2 years; 2-12 years; and 12-18 years) are reasonable for depicting child/adult pharmacokinetic differences, but data for some of the earliest age groups are highly variable. The fraction of individual children's half-lives observed to exceed the adult mean half-life by more than the 3.2-fold uncertainty factor commonly attributed to interindividual pharmacokinetic variability is 27% (16/59) for the 0-1 week age group, and 19% (5/26) in the 1 week to 2 month age group, compared to 0/87 for all the other age groups combined between 2 months and 18 years. Children within specific age groups appear to differ from adults with respect to the amount of variability and the form of the distribution of half-lives across the population. The data indicate departure from simple unimodal distributions, particularly in the 1 week to 2 month age group, suggesting that key developmental steps affecting drug removal tend to occur in that period. Finally, in preparation for age-dependent physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modeling, nationally representative NHANES III data are analyzed for distributions of body size and fat content. The data from about age 3 to age 10 reveal important departures from simple unimodal distributional forms-in the direction suggesting a subpopulation of children that are markedly heavier than those in the major mode. For risk assessment modeling, this means that analysts will need to consider "mixed" distributions (e.g., two or more normal or log-normal modes) in which the proportions of children falling within the major versus highweight/fat modes in the mixture changes as a function of age. Biologically, the most natural interpretation of this is that these subpopulations represent children who have or have not yet received particular signals for change in growth pattern. These apparently distinct subpopulations would be expected to exhibit different disposition of xenobiotics, particularly those that are highly lipophilic and poorly metabolized.     

A culturally responsive practice model for urban Indian child welfare services

This article describes collaboration among a university, a state child welfare agency, and a Native American community organization to develop a culturally driven practice model for urban, Native American child welfare. The approach includes a strategy to build resources to serve Native American clients, a training program for child welfare and court personnel using a culturally responsive curriculum, and an advocacy program that monitors for Indian Child Welfare Act compliance and provides assistance to child welfare workers and the court. The discussion identifies challenges and opportunities in addressing the needs of urban Native American communities. The article concludes with principles for culturally responsive practice for urban Native American child welfare practice.