A Typology of Families - Five Family Systems

This typology of families is composed of five family systems named “Two Against the World”, “Children Come First”, “Share and Share Alike”, “Every Man for Himself”, and “Until Death Do Us Part”. Each may occur as a pure form but mixtures are common. Variables such as purity of the system, timing of the emergence of a system and the family's flexibility in shifting from one system to another determine outcomes for sickness or health. The therapist's ability to recognise these systems gives coherence to family therapy and improves its effectiveness.     

Relative Deprivation and Social Movements: A Critical Look at Twenty Years of Theory and Research*

The relative deprivation perspective was widely employed in the social movement literature of the late 1960s and early 1970s. In spite of the growing popularity of some newer approaches which criticize the relative deprivation perspective (resource mobilization or resource management perspectives), there have been no attempts to analyze and evaluate the relative deprivation perspective in any systematic fashion. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the “classic” relative deprivation literature in order to critically assess the perspective on the basis of its theoretical coherence and clarity and its empirical validity. The general conclusion reached is that while the relative deprivation perspective was an advance over earlier approaches which viewed social movements as resulting from the expression of irrational impulses, the relative deprivation perspective is itself affected by too many serious conceptual, theoretical, and empirical weaknesses to be useful in accounting for the emergence and development of social movements.     

Psychological Effects of Unemployment on Workers and Their Families

This paper reviews findings from a panel study of Boston area unemployed men and their families. Psychological effects of unemployment on workers and their wives are summarized, particularly for the first half year of joblessness. Family responses to job loss are also examined, including the role of the marital relationship in buffering workers' stress. Finally, policy and service implications of this research are discussed. Consideration is given not only to the mental health needs of workers, but to frequently overlooked qualities of efficacy and resilience among the unemployed.     

Tailored program evaluation: Past, present, future

This paper discusses measurement issues related to the evaluation of computer-tailored health behavior change programs. As the first generation of commercially available tailored products is utilized in health promotion programming, programmers and researchers are becoming aware of the unique challenges that the evaluation of these programs presents. A project is presented that used an online tailored health behavior assessment (HBA) in a worksite setting. Process and outcome evaluation methods are described and include the challenges faced, and strategies proposed and implemented, for meeting them. Implications for future research in tailored program development, implementation, and evaluation are also discussed.     

Muscle-power quality: does sex or race affect movement velocity in older adults?

To determine sex and race differences in muscle power per unit of muscle contraction, knee-extensor muscle power normalized for knee-extensor muscle volume was measured in 79 middle-aged and older adults (30 men and 49 women, age range 50-85 years). Results revealed that women displayed a 38% faster peak movement velocity than men and African Americans had a 14% lower peak movement velocity than Whites of a similar age when expressed per unit of involved muscle (p < .001). As expected, men exhibited greater knee-extensor strength and peak power per unit of muscle than women, but women had a faster knee- extension movement velocity per unit of muscle than men at the same relative strength level. Moreover, African Americans had greater knee-extensor muscle volume than Whites but exhibited lower knee-extensor strength and lower movement velocity per unit of muscle when tested at the same relative strength levels.     

Clinical social work education in palliative and end-of-life care: relational approaches for advanced practitioners

This paper describes the first post-Master's program in the US in end-of-life care for social workers. Developed at the Smith College School for Social Work, this program used innovative relational methods in student recruitment, curricular design, supervision, and leadership development, based upon input from the faculty, students, and field supervisors. Collaborations emerged with funders, agencies, and programs nationally. The program was based on a pedagogical stance that clinical work with dying people requires the capacity to be fully present- in individual, group, and family work; in interdisciplinary meetings; and in advocating for quality and equity of care-while attending to diverse and at-risk populations. Students deepened their clinical skills and took leadership in the field of end-of-life care.     

Statistical methodology for binary data from a set of partially structured two-way random cross-classifications

A complete two-way cross-classification design is not practical in many settings. For example, in a toxicological study where 30 male rats are mated with 30 female rats and each mating outcome (successful or unsuccessful)is observed, time and resource considerations can make the use of the complete design prohibitively costly. Partially structured variations of this design are, therefore, of interest (e.g., the balanced disjoint rectangle design, the fully diagonal design, and the "S"-design). Methodology for analyzing binary data from such incomplete designs is illustrated with an example. This methodology, which is based on infinite population sampling arguments, allows the estimation of the mean response, among-row correlation coefficient, among-column correlation coefficient, and the within-cell correlation coefficient as well as their standard errors.