End-of-Life Conversations and Hospice Placement: Association with Less Aggressive Care Desired in the Nursing Home

Education about end-of-life care and treatment options, communication between family and health care providers, and having advance directives and medical orders in place are important for older adults with chronic, progressive decline and end-stage disease who spend their last days in the nursing home. This study used retrospective data (6 months before death) of long-stay nursing home decedents (N?=?300) taken from electronic health records to capture the end-of-life experience. Findings showed for almost all decedents, Do Not Resuscitate and Do Not Intubate orders were in place, and just over one-half had Do Not Hospitalize and No Artificial Feeding orders in place. A small proportion had No Artificial Hydration or No Antibiotic orders in place. Overall, there was congruence between documented medical orders and treatment received. Findings showed that use of hospice and discussions about particular life-sustaining treatments each had significant associations with having less aggressive medical orders in place. These results can inform best practice development to promote high quality, person-directed, end-of-life care for nursing home residents.     

Sexual Infidelity Among Married and Cohabiting Americans

Virtually all American couples, married or cohabiting, expect sexual exclusivity of one another. This article asks why some people are sexually exclusive while others have sex with someone besides their mate. Previous research has linked personal values, sexual opportunities, and quality of the marital relationship to extramartial sex. This paper integrates these findings in a multivariate model that incorporates factors informing sexual decision making as well as demographic “risk factors.” Nationally representative survey data show higher likelihood of sexual infidelity among those with stronger sexual interests, more permissive sexual values, lower subjective satisfaction with their union, weaker network ties to partner, and greater sexual opportunities. With these factors controlled, gender differences are substantially reduced or eliminated, although racial effects persist.     

Framing same-sex marriage: Media constructions of California's Proposition 8

Legislation regarding the legalization of same-sex marriages has been advocated for and opposed across distinct states in the United States. Claims makers on either side of the issue have attempted to have their voices heard in local and national newspapers. Newspaper personnel determine how to frame the issue, deciding which meanings associated with same-sex marriage will be highlighted and which will go unrepresented. This paper analyzes the media framing of Proposition 8 in California, a voter initiative prohibiting same-sex marriage, comparing frames across three newspapers: one local to California, the San Francisco Chronicle, and two national, the New York Times and the Washington Post. The paper illustrates shifts in frames from May 2008 to August 2010, a time period extending from the vote on the initiative through two court challenges. Overall, the results indicate that these newspapers more frequently frame same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue and that those attempting to block same-sex marriage do so as a function of discrimination. Less frequently, they frame same-sex marriage as a threat to heterosexual marriage. The findings show that the frequency with which the frames appear shift across newspapers as well as the time period of study.     

Child sex abuse and the Irish criminal justice system

The aims of this study were to develop scales to assess experiences of sexually abused children in the Irish criminal justice system (CJS); identify aspects of the CJS which children experience as negative; compare the perceptions of children, parents and professionals of sexually abused children's experiences of the CJS; and determine correlations between perceptions of children's CJS experiences and current psychological adjustment. Forty‐three children, 101 parents, 32 mental health professionals, 27 police officers and 21 lawyers completed parallel versions of the Criminal Justice System Questionnaire (CJSQ) which assessed satisfaction with aspects of the CJS relevant to sexually abused children, specifically: Gardaí (police), medical examination, Director of Public Prosecutions, waiting for court, court professionals, court context and the CJS. Fifteen scales were developed by conducting principal component analyses. Children gave negative ratings on nine of these, and on seven children, parents and professionals differed in their perceptions of how children experienced the CJS with mental health professionals viewing the impact of the CJS as more problematic than parents and children. Scores of children and parents on CJSQ scales correlated with indices of current psychological adjustment. These results point to the importance of making the Irish CJS more child‐friendly and for evaluating these reforms with the CJSQ. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beyond Heroes and Victims: Filipina Contract Migrants,Economic Activism and Class Transformations

This article employs anti-essentialist Marxist analysis to shed light on the diverse economic activities that Filipina contract migrants are engaged in at home and overseas. We point to the limitations of dominant representations of these women as 'heroes' of national development or 'victims' of a global capitalist economy, which tend to foreclose a discussion of multiple class processes engendered by transnational labour migration. In drawing on a fluid theory of class, we investigate how contract domestic workers are involved in multiple class processes that allow them to produce, appropriate and distribute surplus labour in innovative ways. We also discuss the activities of the Asian Migrant Centre, a non-governmental organization working with domestic workers in Hong Kong, whose efforts to inspire the entrepreneurial aspirations of these women reflect the importance of recognizing migrant workers' multiple economic identities. This analysis has implications for how we imagine the agency of contract workers, as well as the performativity of research and advocacy work.     

'It Won't Change the World But it Turned my Life Around': participants' views on the Personal Advisor Scheme in the New Deal for Disabled People

This article is a response to the largely negative commentary on the New Deal for Disabled People, in this journal and other leading social policy journals. It draws on a recent qualitative study of disabled people who have re-entered the labour force with the assistance of the Personal Advisor Scheme. Whilst it is acknowledged that the New Deal has its limitations and shortcomings, it is argued that the positive aspects of the scheme deserve to be highlighted. Also, it is suggested that the importance of enabling individuals who have experienced the scheme to voice their opinions and perceptions cannot be understated. By listening to the views and attitudes of those who have first hand experience of the scheme, policies and practices can be developed and redefined in ways, which incorporate the needs and views of the users.     

L'indicateur «Embauche des travailleurs» de la Banque mondiale: bilan des travaux et critiques

Cette note fait le point sur le débat suscité par le projet Doing Business de la Banque mondiale, et notamment par son indicateur «Embauche des travailleurs», censé mesurer la difficulté d'embaucher, la rigidité de la durée du travail et la difficulté de licencier. Les auteurs présentent les résultats des études qui l'ont utilisé, l'ont inspiré ou ont été influencées par cet indicateur. Ils se penchent ensuite sur les critiques de cet instrument qui pose des problèmes conceptuels et empiriques. Ils concluent par la formulation de suggestions pour les recherches à venir.     

Refining the Concept of Political Will: A Gender Perspective

While politics are known to be prevalent at managerial levels, there is currently little insight into what drives managers to engage in organizational politics and whether there are gender differences in this respect. In the current study we explore the concept of political will by using a qualitative approach based on 14 semi‐structured interviews with managers (five men and nine women) in a global semiconductor company. We identify key dimensions of managerial political will consisting of three attitudinal ambivalences: functional, ethical and emotional. We also examine gender differences along these dimensions and discuss managers' political will in the context of a masculine organizational setting. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and further research directions.     

Color-Blind Racism in Post-Obama America: An Examination of Attitudes Toward Hurricane Katrina Evacuees in Houston, Texas

The issue of racism in America continues to be an important topic, particularly in reference to whether and to what extent it still exists and continues to impact the life chances of racial and ethnic minorities. This article examines Bonilla-Silva’s theory of color-blind racism within the context of attitudes of respondents in Harris County, Texas, toward the evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Data from the 2006 and 2010 Houston Area Surveys are used to address whether color-blind racism frames impact citizen attitudes toward the evacuees and whether that impact differs pre- and post-Obama’s presidential election. The logistic and ordinal regression analyses reveal support for the impact of color-blind racism frames, particularly that of cultural racism, on attitudes toward the evacuees. Additionally, that impact, although stronger in the 2006 data, persists in 2010. Limitations and implications for future research are also discussed.