DECENTRALIZATION AND PARTICIPATORY SERVICE DELIVERY

User participation has been promoted to improve the quality, responsiveness, and outreach of public services in India. This qualitative study evaluates new grassroots institutions—Village Education Committees and Mothers’ Committees—in Andhra Pradesh, which promoting parents’ participation in the management and monitoring of local schools and maternal/child health services. Although the committees were found to have increased participation in public affairs by the poor and brought about some improvements in service quality, inclusive and meaningful participation has often been hindered by illiteracy and lack of information, as well as caste, gender, and socioeconomic inequalities. The article suggests that there are considerable tensions between inclusive participation and committee effectiveness as members need skills, status, and resources in order to have a meaningful impact on service provision. In addition, research findings point to the need for more structured opportunities for committee members to interact with authorities and service providers, as well as for children to voice their concerns and ideas. Lastly, in order to tackle childhood poverty more holistically, the focus of these committees should be revised to give greater emphasis to improving service quality improvements and cross-sectoral synergies, rather than the current move narrow focus on infrastructural development and singlesector initiatives.     

Measuring youth connections: A component of relational permanence for foster youth

This article presents the development and preliminary validation of the Youth Connections Scale, a measure of youth connectedness as a component of relational permanence for youth in out-of-home placement. The instrument measures different domains of youth's connectedness, including the number and strength of connections to caring adults and the types of support perceived by youth. Results of a pilot validation study of the instrument, with a sample of 53 adolescents in out-of-home care, indicate good concurrent validity and high test–retest reliability. Child welfare and youth-serving agencies can use this instrument in their efforts to strengthen and measure the connectedness and relational permanence of youth.     

The Impact of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Use on Sexual Anxiety,Satisfaction, and Esteem Among Gay and Bisexual Men

Gay and bisexual men (GBM) with heightened fears of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquisition have reported high levels of sexual anxiety and low sexual self-esteem. Similarly, sexual satisfaction has been reported to be lower among some GBM who rely solely on condom use as HIV prevention. We sought to explore whether pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) had an impact on the sexual satisfaction, anxiety, and esteem of GBM. As part of a longitudinal cohort study of 1,071 GBM, participants reported at three time points on PrEP use and completed the Multidimensional Sexual Self-Concept Questionnaire (MSSCQ). A total of 137 GBM began taking PrEP in the 24 months following baseline. Comparing their responses during times before initiating PrEP and after, within adjusted multilevel models, there was a significant decrease in sexual anxiety (B = ?0.27, p = 0.03) but no significant changes in sexual esteem or satisfaction. Our findings indicate important psychological improvements resulting from PrEP initiation. Further research should explore the potential for other psychological benefits of PrEP use among GBM.     

Designing a campus support program for foster care alumni: Preliminary evidence for a strengths framework

Campus support programs for foster care alumni (FCA) have emerged in an attempt to improve higher education outcomes for former foster youth. However, these programs have little empirical or theoretical literature to guide their development. We present a case study of a newly developed campus support program for FCA which utilizes a strengths perspective. We analyze quantitative and qualitative data collected before and during the first two years of program operation to explore whether a strengths perspective can be successfully applied to the unique needs of FCA in higher education. Results reveal that the strengths perspective has potential and identifies three areas in which this approach appears to effectively intersect with challenges faced by FCA, a) promoting positive identities as survivors, b) respecting autonomy, and c) mobilizing assets of resilience, perseverance, and community. We discuss the benefits and challenges of helping students address these issues. Our findings also reveal that the strengths perspective is not redundant with traditional higher education retention models, and in the three areas identified, is diametrically opposed to the students' previous experiences with the foster care system.     

Hookah and Cigarette Smoking Among African American College Students: Implications for Campus Risk Reduction And Health Promotion Efforts

ABSTRACT

Objective: To identify individual and institutional risks and protections for hookah and cigarette smoking among African American (AA) college students. Participants: AA college students (N = 1,402; mean age = 20, range = 18–24 years; 75% female) who completed the Fall 2012 American College Health Association–National College Health Assessment II. Methods: Respondents were stratified into 4 mutually exclusive groups by last-30-day smoking status: cigarette-only use (5.1%), hookah-only use (5.9%), dual use (2.4%), and nonuse (86.6%). Multinomial logistic regression models identified the relative odds of exclusive and dual hookah and cigarette smoking. Results: Current hookah and cigarette smoking rates were comparably low. Age, gender identity, current substance use, interest in tobacco use information, and student population prevailed as risks and protections for hookah and cigarette smoking. Conclusions: Campus health promotion campaigns may need to tailor messages to AA students, particularly those who use substances, to underscore the health risks of hookah and cigarette smoking.     

Lesbian Mothering in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence

SUMMARY

Twenty-four lesbian mothers (12 African American, 9 White, and 3 Latina) who had experienced physical abuse by a same-sex partner were interviewed. Three types of IPV were found: intimate terrorism, situational violence, and mutual violent control. Further, relationships between mothers/abusers, mothers/children, and abusers/children were examined. Regarding relationships with abusers, 71% of mothers reported lengthy sagas, 17% had worked it out, and 13% made a clean break from the abuser. Regarding relationships with their children, 48% of mothers hid the violence, 26% minimized it, and 26% openly communicated about the situation. Relationships between abusers and the mothers' children were found to be either co-parental (29%), playmate (21%), abusive (21%), or non-parental (21%). Correlations among relational and demographic variables were also examined.     

The Use of Tracking Technologies for the Analysis of Outdoor Mobility in the Face of Dementia: First Steps into a Project and Some Illustrative Findings From Germany

As people age in place, cognitive impairment is a major threat to maintaining out-of-home mobility. The SenTra project measures outdoor mobility by taking advantage of tracking technology in an interdisciplinary project involving researchers from geography, social work, gerontology, psychology, and medicine disciplines. The project assesses mobility patterns of urban-dwelling demented and mildly cognitively impaired elders and cognitively intact persons over a period of 3 years in Israel and Germany. The main objectives are to learn more about out-of-home mobility by means of global positioning system/geographical information system technology, to analyze the relationships between cognitive functioning, mobility behavior, and well-being, to examine the ethical implications of the use of advanced tracking technologies in this population, and to assess the potential of tracking technologies in the diagnosis of various types of cognitive impairment. The article presents preliminary findings to illustrate the potential of interdisciplinary data analyses to be performed later in the project. Pilot data were drawn from a combined psychiatric, psycho-social, and tracking data assessment of a group of 19 men and women between 63 and 80 years of age (7 who were healthy, 6 who were mildly cognitive impaired, 6 who were demented) living in Germany. The findings revealed that healthy participants have better health and higher levels of well-being and smaller networks compared to elders who are cognitively impaired. Examples of daily outdoor trips indicate meaningful mobility patterns and the need to combine psycho-social and geographical data to understand the relationships between outdoor mobility, socio-structural dimensions, behavior patterns, and well-being. By achieving its aims, the project will be able to make a substantial contribution to basic, applied, and clinical knowledge gaps in the area of mobility and cognitive impairment research.     

林肯与达尔文：同场演出的两位伟人

怎么会有如此巧合？查尔斯·达尔文与亚伯拉罕·林肯诞生于同年同月同日-1809年2月12日。在全部历史事件中,它只不过是一个小小的脚注。虽然它只是一个巧合,但却是个令人感慨万千的历史巧合。大家都知道达尔文和林肯是19世纪近乎神话般的两位伟人。但谁会想到将他们两人相提并论,把进化论和美国的南北战争放在一起加以比较和研究？