Blues and Emotional Trauma

The process of bringing the visceral, bodily aspect of emotional experience into language plays a vital role in the working through of painful emotional states. Such visceral-linguistic unities are achieved in a dialogue of emotional understanding, and it is in such dialogue that experiences of emotional trauma can be held and transformed into endurable and namable painful feelings. The blues is a wonderful example of such dialogue. In the unifying experience of the blues, songwriter, performers, and listeners are joined in a visceral-linguistic conversation in which universally traumatizing aspects of human existence can be communally held and borne.     

A statewide introduction of trauma-informed care in a child welfare system

Most children in the care of the child welfare system have been exposed to multiple traumas in addition to the stressor of being removed from their home. Because the risk for mental health problems following exposure to trauma is high, a critical need exists to introduce trauma-informed practices into the child welfare system. The purpose of this study is to evaluate initial stages of a trauma-informed training program for the Arkansas Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS). In Phase 1, 102 (75%) of DCFS area directors and supervisors participated in 10 regional, two-day workshops modeled after the National Child and Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) trauma-informed training for child welfare. Pre- and post-training evaluations demonstrated significant improvements in participants' knowledge of trauma-informed practices. A three-month follow-up with directors and supervisors indicated that use of trauma-informed practices increased significantly and that such changes were correlated with pre- versus post-training improvement in knowledge. Most participants were able to partially implement action steps established at the time of training; however, a number of barriers were cited as preventing full implementation, including time constraints, heavy caseloads, lack of staff, and limited resources. Results are discussed in light of plans under way for Phase II training for all DCFS front-line staff.     

A population-based inquiry of homeless episode characteristics and early educational well-being

Child homelessness and educational well-being is an area of national research that requires more precise investigation to address mixed findings. The aim of this study was to extend the investigation of the relations between homelessness and educational well-being by determining if timing and frequency of homeless episodes are differentially associated with children's academic and classroom engagement outcomes. This investigation used a comprehensive research model to study the effects of these homeless episode characteristics within a large urban student cohort. Additionally, this study accounted for co-occurring early risk factors. Findings indicated that having a first homeless episode in early childhood was associated with non-proficiency in mathematics and academic engagement problems. Also more frequent homeless episodes were related to truancy in third grade. These results stress the importance of early intervention for homeless children and underscore the need to further understand the variation in young children's homeless experiences.     

Getting Involved: Exploring Latino GBT Volunteerism and Activism in AIDS and LGBT Organizations

The purpose of this article is to investigate the community involvement (e.g., volunteerism, activism) of Latino gay and bisexual men and transgender persons (GBT) in two areas: AIDS/LGBT and other general causes. Drawing from volunteering and identity theories, we explore the following: Who is likely to get involved? What factors affect variation in the levels of involvement? Where do Latino GBT participate and what do they do? Data come from a cross-sectional sample (N = 643) of Latino GBT in Chicago, Illinois, and San Francisco, California. We found high levels of involvement, but primarily focused on AIDS/LGBT. Involvement appears to be driven by income, early involvement, role modeling, and childhood stigmatization of gender nonconformity.     

Capacity Building Contributions of Short-Term International Volunteers

Previous research suggests that international volunteer service may have both positive and negative effects on host organizations. Applying a capacity-building perspective, this study uses semistructured interviews to ask staff in hosting organizations to identify the main outcomes of short-term volunteer service. These views were compared with perspectives of staff from matched organizations that do not host international volunteers. Findings suggest that international volunteers may increase organizational capacity by supplying extra hands, providing technical and professional skills, contributing tangible resources, and enhancing intercultural understanding. Volunteers may also challenge organizations as they absorb staff time and resources. Staff members from both types of organizations identify individual and institutional variables that may affect the quality of these outcomes, including volunteers' language capacity and the intensity of the service placement.     

When and with whom to cooperate? Investigating effects of cooperation stage and type on innovation capabilities and success

In times of saturated markets and decreasing product life cycles, the continuous development and successful launch of innovations are essential for profit-oriented organizations of any kind. Interorganizational cooperation enables companies to get better access to knowledge and capabilities in order to generate and successfully introduce innovations. While scientific research and management practice have acknowledged the importance of cooperation, little research effort is dedicated to empirically determine the effectiveness of cooperation intensity within different stages of the innovation process (cooperation stage) and with different partners (cooperation type). This article aims to fill these gaps by empirically examining the effects of cooperation intensity with different kinds of partners (horizontal, vertical and institutional cooperation) in different stages of new product development (concept and product development as well as implementation stage) on innovation capabilities and success of individual companies. Drawing upon a sample of 154 high-tech companies from the German B-2-B sector, our results reveal that it is in general beneficial for a company to cooperate. However, cooperation in concept and product development primarily improves a company's innovation capabilities while cooperation in the implementation stage primarily enhances innovation success of a company. With respect to cooperation type, vertical, horizontal as well as institutional cooperation significantly enhance innovation capabilities and success of a company. However, cooperation with institutional partners was found to be the most important contributor throughout all stages.     

The Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability (HIFA) Demonstration program. A new initiative to cover the uninsured.

Seeking to keep his promise to give states more flexibility while expanding health insurance coverage to low-income people, President George W. Bush released a proposal to reform Medicaid and The Children's Health Insurance Program. This initiative, the Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability Act (HIFA), represents a significant change in Medicaid policy. Whether states will find this proposal a useful tool to expand coverage remains to be seen.     

Managed care liability.

Debate is heating up concerning proposals that patients have the right to sue their managed care plans for damages from wrongful denial of benefits or delays in care. Some states have recently passed legislation to address this issue and it is expected to be an area of intense legislative debate during this year. As managed care entities increasingly enter the realm of medical decision-making, the additional burden of this responsibility is taking shape. Whether managed care plans should be treated like providers of care and be held accountable for decisions that impact patient outcomes, or be viewed only as insurers is a policy question of immense proportion.