Frank Parsons's Enablers: Pauline Agassiz Shaw,Meyer Bloomfield,and Ralph Albertson

Frank Parsons was not the 1st American to recognize or address the need for vocational guidance. Why he, rather than his predecessors, is credited with initiating the field can be attributed to the largely overlooked contributions of 3 other persons: Pauline Agassiz Shaw, Meyer Bloomfield, and Ralph Albertson. The author calls attention to the contributions of these 3 remarkable individuals, and several others who supported them, in enabling and perpetuating Parsons's work.     

The Relationship of Attachment Variables to Career Decision‐Making Self‐Efficacy and Fear of Commitment

The present study indicated that both attachment bonds and self‐rated attachment style were significantly related to fear of commitment and, to a lesser extent, career decision‐making self‐efficacy. Given previous research showing that fear of commitment is related to career indecisiveness and “floundering,” the possible importance of attention to attachment bonds and styles in career counseling is suggested.     

Fieldwork in forbidden terrain: the state,privatization and human subjects regulations

In this paper we explore the intersection of the modern-state and fieldwork practices within the social sciences. Our contention is that during the past decade or so there has been an expansion in forbidden or restricted research terrain that threatens the present and future conduct of social research. We argue that this restriction has been engendered by two related developments: privatization and human subjects regulations. The social and political implications of these trends are considered. Her most recent books areMadwives: Schizophrenic Women in the 1950s (Rutgers University Press, 1987) andGender Issues in Field Research (Sage, 1988). He is the author ofCastles of Our Conscience: Social Control and the American State, 1800–1985 (Forthcoming, Polity Press, Cambridge, U.K.)     

An historical view of right to treatment

The patient's right to treatment is a clear mandate from the Supreme Court that the providers of mental health care must provide treatment. Important Supreme Court decisions have influenced the way in which professional nurses determine what constitutes adequate treatment on an individualized basis. Individualized treatment planning is rooted in meeting legal, regulatory, and funding requirements. The professional nurse is in a unique position to assess the patient's needs and to plan with others how those needs can best be met. Paraprofessional staff may implement those parts of the plan that do not require the direct intervention of the professional nurse. The technicians provide the daily care under the supervision and direction of the professional nurse. However, it is the professional psychiatric nurse who plays a critical role in providing active psychiatric treatment, who determines the nursing component of the treatment plan on an individualized basis, and who monitors the patient's environment, thus safe-guarding the legal rights of the mentally ill.     

A Political Critique of Kantian Ethics in Social Work

Correspondence to Stephen A. Webb, Department of Social Work, University of Dundee, DD1 4HN. Summary This paper addresses the Kantian theory of the subject whichis found in contemporary social work discourse on ethics andvalues. It is argued here that the Kantian idea of persons as(i) rational, (ii) autonomous, and (iii) ends-in-themselvesis wholly inadequate to the social work doctrine of ‘respectfor persons’. To show this, we counterpose a Foucauldianview of history, moral codes and theory of the person, and themeaning this can have in the social worker-client relation.This alternative reading claims that social work is essentiallya political practice which is constructed by various discursiveand institutional strategies of power. Therefore, it is suggestedthat social work needs a political reading of its own discourse.To this end we outline a Foucauldian micro-political analysisof the social work ‘subject’ or person as a pointwithin a field of discursive-knowledge based strategies.     

A comprehensive program for pregnant adolescents: parenting and prevention

Beginning in 1981 as an effort to reduce mortality rates of at-risk infants, the Teen Pregnancy Project of this agency has grown steadily into a multiservice program with many approaches, yet all services for its help-resistant population depend upon an outreach, home-visiting initiative to establish useful relationships with its clients.     

Interdisciplinary research at the Urban–Rural interface: The West ga project

As human populations increase, ecological and social issues become inextricably linked to a greater degree. Solutions to complex social–ecological problems can only be derived through the use of integrated research that can account for the interplay of many factors across traditional discipline lines. We are using such an integrated research to clarify relationships among socioeconomic drivers, ecological effects, and social and policy feedbacks associated with urban development of forested landscapes. Our approach is goal oriented and interdisciplinary in nature and involves a team composed of ecologists, anthropologists, and economists who exchange ideas and information across disciplinary lines. The team and approach has evolved through many of the barriers to interdisciplinary research that have been identified by other authors. Our goal is to develop a predictive capability in order to anticipate ecological and social implications of urban development on natural resources in the southeastern United States. Our integrated model and subsequent papers in this special issue are presented.     

Evaluation of vectorization/parallelization techniques: application to nonparametric curve estimation

The simulation of statistical models in a computer is a fundamental aspect of research in the field of nonparametric curve estimation. Methods such as the FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) or WARP (Weighted Average of Rounded Points) have been developed and analysed for computer implementation of the different techniques in this realm, with the aim of reducing the computation time as much as possible. In this work we analyse two techniques with this objective. These are the vectorization of the source code in which the different algorithms are implemented, and their distributed execution. It can be observed that the vectorization of the programs can improve the results obtained with techniques such as the FFT or WARP, or, in some cases, can prevent the use of these.