Nonprofit organizations as franchise operations

This article examines the structural relationship between national nonprofit organizations and their local affiliates. For a substantial number of nonprofits, the national-local relationship can be modeled as a franchise relationship. The author considers ways in which the franchise system serves to mitigate a number of the organizational and economic problems facing nonprofits. Finally, particular devices used by franchises are examined, focusing on the ways in which national organizations tax their local affiliates and the extent of territorial restrictions placed on local affiliates.     

An Examination of Five Statistical Software Packages for Epidemiology

Five statistical software packages for epidemiology and clinical trials are reviewed. The five packages are EPI INFO, EPICURE, EPILOG PLUS, STATA, and TRUE EPI-STAT. Only DOS versions of these packages are compared and rated (Windows versions are discussed but not rated). Although the packages differ in their target audiences, interfaces, capabilities, and approaches, they are examined according to criteria that are of most interest to epidemiologists, biostatisticians, and others involved in epidemiologic and clinical research. A general discussion with recommendations follows the review of the statistical packages.     

Sexual and nonsexual dating violence perpetration: testing an integrated perpetrator typology

The present study tested the validity of an integrated sexual and nonsexual violence perpetrator typology outlined by Monson and Langhinrichsen-Rohling (1998) in a sample of 670 dating individuals. Two-hundred-and-sixty-five of the participants (87 men, 178 women) reported some act of sexual and/or physical dating violence perpetration in their lifetime. The data supported at least three perpetrator types, namely, the Relationship-only, Generally Violent/Antisocial, and Histrionic/Preoccupied types. Overall, these findings indicate that different factors may cause or maintain the intimate violence perpetrated within this heterogeneous population. There were important gender differences in perpetrator type membership, highlighting the differences in men's and women's use of violence. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to the development of typologies, their application to men and women perpetrators, as well as their utility for the assessment and treatment of perpetrators.     

Women's Career Progression in Law Firms: Views from the Top,Views From Below

Law continues to be an attractive career path for women. Yet evidence shows that women's careers in law stagnate with proportionally small numbers of women progressing up the hierarchy from law graduate to partner. In this study we investigated how gendering and class processes impact on women's career progression. A major contribution is that we explored the heterogeneous views held by women below and above the partnership line, in Auckland's top law firms. Drawing on Acker's gendering processes (1990, 2006a) plus the accumulation of appropriate capitals needed to progress, we analysed 52 interview accounts. The women lawyers themselves were divided on how gendering and class processes impact on their career progression. Women partners accepted the hierarchical employment model of law and were confident in their role and place. Women below the partner line, while frustrated by the personal and professional requirements for success, did not demonstrate agency for change. In concluding, we reflect on the potential for change in the profession.     

Interdisciplinary Collaboration for LGBTQ Students in Foster Care: Strategies for School Counselors

abstract

Unsafe and ill-prepared school environments exist for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students in foster care. School counselors are uniquely positioned to develop safe and inclusive schools for this vulnerable student population; however, strategies for interdisciplinary collaboration and advocacy with schools, families, and systems incorporated with LGBTQ youth in foster care are limited. This article explores how school counselors can advocate across disciplines for LGBTQ youth in foster care, including K-12 education systems, family/caregivers, and social service organizations providers.     

Dark Flow,Depression and Multiline Slot Machine Play

Multiline slot machines allow for a unique outcome type referred to as a loss disguised as a win (LDW). An LDW occurs when a player gains credits on a spin, but fewer credits than their original wager (e.g. 15-cent gain on a 20-cent wager). These outcomes alter the gambler’s play experience by providing frequent, albeit smaller, credit gains throughout a playing session that are in fact net losses. Despite this negative overall value, research has shown that players physiologically respond to LDWs as if they are wins, not losses. These outcomes also create a “smoother” experience for the player that seems to promote a highly absorbing, flow-like state that we have called “dark flow”. Past research has indicated that there may be a relationship between problem gambling status and dark flow, as well as between dark flow, depression, and gambling expectancies. In this study, we sought to further understand these relationships, while examining the influence of LDWs on game preference in the context of single versus multiline slots play. We used a realistic slot machine simulator equipped with a force transducer to measure how hard players pressed the spin button following different outcomes. This measure of arousal showed that LDWs were treated similarly to small wins. Participants overwhelmingly preferred the multiline game and experienced more positive affect while playing it, compared to the single-line game. Problem gambling severity index scores were related to dark flow in both games, but this relationship was stronger for the multiline game. Additionally, depression symptomatology and dark flow were strongly correlated in the multiline game, with significant relationships between depression and gambling expectancy, and gambling expectancy and dark flow ratings also emerging.     

An evaluation of Midwifery Group Practice. Part II: women's satisfaction

BACKGROUND: Midwifery Group Practice (MGP) is a continuity of midwifery care model for women of all levels of pregnancy risk available at a tertiary metropolitan hospital in Australia. This paper presents Part II of the demonstration study exploring the effectiveness of MGP, and reports on women's satisfaction with the model of care. METHODS: A Maternal Satisfaction Questionnaire was developed and sent to all women (n=120) enrolled in MGP over a three-month period. The questionnaire comprised two open-ended questions asking women to list up to three things they liked and did not like about MGP, and a structured section exploring levels of satisfaction through a five-point Likert response format. The open-ended questions were analysed using qualitative content analysis, and analysis of the structured part of the questionnaire was undertaken by comparing mean scores of satisfaction ranging from -2 (very negative attitudes) to +2 (very positive attitudes). RESULTS: Of the 120 women who were sent a Maternal Satisfaction Questionnaire, 84 returned their questionnaire (70% response rate). Three overarching themes were identified in the content analysis of open-ended questions, namely: Continuity of care; Accessibility; and Personal and professional attributes of the midwife. Analysis of the structured part of the questionnaire showed that women were satisfied with the care they received in MGP, as indicated by positive scores on all questions. CONCLUSIONS: Women being cared for in MGP are satisfied with their care.     

Health social movements and the hybridisation of ‘cause regimes’: an ethnography of a British childbirth organisation

This article reports on an ethnographic study of the UK’s largest health advocacy organisation dedicated to pregnancy, childbirth and parenting, the National Childbirth Trust or NCT. Working from interview data, textual materials and fieldnotes, we articulate three key phases in the NCT’s historically shifting relationships to feminism, medicine, the state and neoliberal capitalism. The concept of folded cause regimes is introduced as we examine how these phases represent the hybridisation of the organisation’s original cause. We argue that for the NCT the resulting multiplicity of cause regimes poses significant challenges, but also future opportunities. The apparent contradictions between cause regimes offer important insights into contemporary debates in the sociology of health and illness and raises critical questions about the hybrid state of health advocacy today. Focussing on cause allows for a deeper understanding of the intense pressures of diversification, marketisation and the professionalisation of dissent faced by third-sector organisations under current social and economic conditions.