Differences between lesbians and heterosexual women in disordered eating and related attitudes

This study examined differences between lesbians and heterosexual women on disordered eating, awareness and internalization of cultural attitudes concerning thinness, and body esteem concerning weight, physical condition, and sexual attractiveness. In this community sample, lesbians exhibited higher levels of body esteem concerning sexual attractiveness and lower levels of internalization of cultural standards. No differences were found on awareness of cultural standards, disordered eating, or body esteem concerning either weight or physical condition. Implications are discussed.     

Student Reflections on Vulnerability and Self-awareness in a Social Work Skills Course

Self-awareness is generally considered core to effective social work education and professional practice. This paper examines student reflections on personal vulnerability and self-awareness in social, educational, and professional contexts. Ethics approval and student consent was obtained to analyse entries from the online learning component of a second year interpersonal skills course. The week 7 workshop, which focused on the concept of self-awareness, was contextualised and triggered by an online viewing of a relevant TED talk on the power of vulnerability. Qualitative analysis of student entries from this week revealed three core themes: (a) a provocative stimulus, which emphasised the usefulness and challenging nature of the TED talk in the context of workshop learning; (b) vulnerability, scarcity, and blame, which highlighted student identification with stimuli material and their emerging self-awareness; and (c) the importance of self-awareness and connection, which illuminated the students’ beginning applications of theory to practice.

IMPLICATIONS

• Interpersonal skills courses can be well supported by a diverse range of online and classroom stimuli.

• The intentional scaffolding of self-reflective activities can support early skills development and promote self-awareness.

• The analysis of student reflections can contribute to effective and responsive curriculum design.

     

Evaluating the Perceived Efficacy of Randomized Security Measures at Airports

Both the increase in traveler numbers and the heightened threat posed by terrorism in recent years represent significant challenges to airport security measures. To ensure that a high level of security is maintained, randomized security checks have been proposed as a promising alternative to traditional security approaches. The use of randomized checks means that only a specific number of people are selected for security screening. However, the likely effects of such a change in security procedures on travelers’ security perceptions and on the deterrence of criminal activities remain unclear. Thus, the present study examines how varying the percentage of people screened during security checks influences people's security perceptions. In two online experiments, the participants were asked to imagine that they sought to smuggle an explosive dummy past an airport security check. The only information provided was the number of people screened during security checks, which was manipulated between-subjects in the first experiment and within-subjects in the second experiment. The participants then had to rate their security perception (i.e., the perceived likelihood of successfully smuggling the explosive dummy). The findings show that people perceive traditional security checks to be safer than randomized checks, irrespective of whether 90% or 30% of people are screened. Hence, if randomized security checks would indeed be implemented, it would automatically lead to a decreased perception of security. Furthermore, this decreased security perception might lead to an actual reduction in security, as the deterrence of criminal activities could also be reduced.     

Racial Prejudice and Fear of Criminal Victimization by Strangers in Public Settings*

In this article we examine the extent to which racial (antiblack) prejudice conditions the effect of the race of strangers encountered in public settings on whites' fear of being crime victims in those settings. We hypothesize that encountering black strangers. as opposed to white strangers, evokes greater fear of being a crime victim in prejudiced whites than in whites who are not prejudiced. Data collected using the factorial survey method support this hypothesis. These results indicate that research dealing with whites' fear of being crime victims in public settings needs to consider both the race of potential criminals and the racial attitudes of potential victims.     

Didn't we just see you? Time to recurrence among frequently encountered families in CPS

In child protection services, multiple maltreatment recurrences, or chronic maltreatment, has been a concern drawing increased attention because of its persistent harm to the children and the need to consider more effective intervention strategies to meet its unique needs. Timing has been an important issue in understanding the pattern of chronic maltreatment. No existing research has examined the influence of the interval between previous maltreatment incidents on future recurrences. The current study uses state administrative data to conduct longitudinal analyses to examine how the interval between previous maltreatment incidents is associated with the likelihood of future maltreatment occurrence among children who encountered multiple maltreatment recurrences. The findings suggest that short intervals are associated with increased likelihood of encountering a future recurrence, while controlling various covariates. The findings suggest the possibility of including the interval between previous maltreatment incidents as an indicator for child maltreatment risk assessment, and the need for developing responsive intervention strategies to stop the trend of chronic maltreatment.     

‘I Became a Mom’: Identity Changes in Mothers Receiving Public Assistance

ABSTRACT

This phenomenological study used individual, semistructured, face-to-face interviews to explore motherhood experiences among 15 women receiving public assistance in a large urban area on the West coast. A primary phenomenon observed was that motherhood was described as an experience of identity change, with resulting emotional, behavioral, and sense-of-self changes. Within this broad theme, two categories emerged: the experience and process of change, and consequences of change. It was concluded that motherhood may serve as an important catalyst for change in some women and that the context of poverty is essential for understanding the motherhood experience. These results suggest that interventions aimed at leveraging emerging motherhood identities may be beneficial in setting women on the path out of poverty, drug addiction, and incarceration. Future research should examine the consequences of maternal change within the specific context of the stages of change documented in the recovery process from drug addiction.     

“The Panhandle is Different than the Peninsula”: How Rural Colleges in Florida Implemented Education Reform

When it comes to the creation of higher education policy, state legislators are challenged with addressing the diverse academic needs of college students enrolled across a spectrum of institutions. In this paper, we explore how 203 individuals at five rural-serving colleges in Florida engaged in state-wide developmental education (DE) reform using the theoretical framework of “situated cognition.” Specifically, we ask whether the colleges implemented DE reform in unique ways that may have differed from their non-rural counterparts and what their rationale was for doing so. Our work indicates that institutional culture and capacity generated a combination of strengths and constraints in how reform played out in a rural context. In some ways, a rural-serving identity made colleges more flexible and better able to adjust their advising and curricular structures to comply with the mandates of SB 1720. But in other ways, rural-serving institutions lacked the resources necessary to adequately support students and campus personnel through this dramatic transition toward new ways of providing DE. In looking toward the passage and implementation of future education reform, we call upon policymakers to consider more deeply the design of policies to ensure they support rural and non-rural colleges alike.     

PROMOTING SCHOLARSHIP THROUGH DESIGN

How can new media positively transform scholarly practices? One possible way is for scholarly archives such as e-journals and digital libraries to better support the needs and practices of their users, instead of the publishing process. This article examines what it might mean to promote cognitive and social aspects of 'scholarship' through innovative archive design. Design requirements for supporting both scholarly tasks and scholarly communities are derived by analysing existing cognitive and social theories. A theoretical framework for guiding archive design is introduced: the contextually enriched document framework. This framework suggests that: document interfaces should enable practitioners to progressively enrich documents with important contextual information arising from social processes; and archive managers should engage in proactive practices to facilitate use and assist practitioners in realizing the benefits of the new technology. Both the design requirements and the framework are illustrated with examples from an existing electronic journal - The Journal of Interactive Media in Education .     

Deaths at the borders database: evidence of deceased migrants’ bodies found along the southern external borders of the European Union

Irregular migrants and asylum seekers have died and continue to die attempting to cross the external borders of the EU without authorisation, seeking to enter the territories of its Member States. Yet, remarkably little is known about these ‘border deaths’. In 2015, the Human Costs of Border Control project published the Deaths at the Borders Database for the Southern EU, an open-source ‘evidence base’ of individualised information about people who have died border deaths between 1990 and 2013, sourced from the death management systems of Spain, Gibraltar, Italy, Malta and Greece. It is the first database on border deaths in the EU to be based on official sources as opposed to the news media. The project involved searching 563 state-run death registry archives and deductively selecting the death certificates of persons who died border deaths. This paper describes, in detail, the making of the Deaths at the Borders Database: from the systematic, multi-sited, quantitative data collection and qualitative case studies, to the construction and final results of the Database itself.     

Engaging undergraduate social work students in research through experience-based learning

Social work programmes internationally have taken diverse approaches to research training in their curricula. This paper presents an Australian case study of engaging undergraduate social work students in research using experience-based learning. The case study explores the potential of experience-based learning to assist in overcoming the ‘anxiety’, students are observed to report in relation to research training and education. The social work programme at the University of Newcastle, Australia has embraced an experience-based learning model since 1991. Despite a research active and engaged staff and a commitment to research-informed pedagogy, educators continue to observe students as indifferent and reluctant to engage in research training. To address this, work-integrated learning was strengthened in the research course to enable students to design, develop and deliver practice-relevant research in partnership with local support services. Preliminary evaluation of the course highlights both potential and the pitfalls of experience-based learning approaches to research training. While found to enhance research engagement and demystify its role in practice, experience-based learning was associated with significant resource and time imposts. These findings suggest cautious consideration of structure and scope is essential for experience-based learning to be a feasible approach to research training at the undergraduate level.