Separate Spheres or Increasing Equality? Changing Gender Beliefs in Postwar Japan

This research investigates change in gender beliefs in Japan during a period of economic hard times in the late 1990s. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme on the Japanese population from 1994 (n = 1,054) and 2002 (n = 872), we examined how cohort replacement and intracohort change contributed to changes in gender beliefs. We found important differences from the patterns of change reported for many Western countries, namely, a decoupling between societal trends in the female labor force participation rate and beliefs about gender. Such differences may be attributable to factors such as the high societal valuation of the housewife role compared to that in other postindustrial countries and sanctions against full‐time employment for women in Japan.     

Students Who Strip: The Benefits of Alternate Identities for Managing Stigma

We apply interactionist theories that highlight the contextual nature of stigma and the relational quality of stigmatization to the case of college students who work as topless dancers. We explore how the “toll of stripping” might be mediated by having an alternate, positive identity like “student.” Our analysis demonstrates that students who strip are distinctive from other strippers in important ways that stem from their salient, positive identity as students. Although they often feel as if they live a “double life” because they hide their occupation from family and friends, they benefit from sharing their student goals and ambitions with club customers. “Student” is a socially acceptable identity to share in routine social interactions and helps student strippers frame dancing as a transient occupation, offering them an opportunity to maintain a positive sense of self while buffering them from some of the negative effects of stripping.     

Decision Making in a Standby Service System*

A standby service option allows a firm to lower its risk of not having sufficient capacity to satisfy demand without investing in additional capacity. Standby service options currently exist in the natural gas, electric, and water utility industries. Firms seeking standby service are typically large industrial or institutional organizations that, due to unexpectedly high demand or interruptions in their own supply system, look to a public utility to supplement their requirements. Typically, the firm pays the utility a reservation fee based on a nominated volume and a consumption charge based on the volume actually taken. In this paper, a single‐period model is developed and optimized with respect to the amount of standby capacity a firm should reserve. Expressions for the mean and variance of the supplier's aggregate standby demand distribution are developed. A procedure for computing the level of capacity needed to safely meet its standby obligations is presented. Numerical results suggest that the standby supplier can safely meet its standby demand with a capacity that is generally between 20 to 50% of the aggregate nominated volume.     

Understanding predictive information criteria for Bayesian models

We review the Akaike, deviance, and Watanabe-Akaike information criteria from a Bayesian perspective, where the goal is to estimate expected out-of-sample-prediction error using a bias-corrected adjustment of within-sample error. We focus on the choices involved in setting up these measures, and we compare them in three simple examples, one theoretical and two applied. The contribution of this paper is to put all these information criteria into a Bayesian predictive context and to better understand, through small examples, how these methods can apply in practice.     

The Income and Health Effects of Tribal Casino Gaming on American Indians

The legalization of American Indian casino gaming in the late 1980s allows examination of the relationship between income and health in a quasi-experimental way. Revenue from gaming accrues to individual tribes and has been used both to supplement tribe members’ income and to finance tribal infrastructure. We assembled annual data from 1988–2003 on tribal gaming, health care access (from the Area Resource File), and individual health and socioeconomic characteristics data (from the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System). We use this information within a structural, difference-in-differences framework to study the effect of casino gaming on tribal members’ income, health status, access to health care, and health-related behaviors. Our difference-in-differences framework relies on before-after comparisons among American Indians whose tribe has at some time operated a casino and with-without comparisons between American Indians whose tribe has and those whose tribe has not initiated gaming. Our results provide identified estimates of the positive effect of gaming on American Indian income and on several indicators of American Indian health, health-related behaviors, and access to health care.     

Celebrating Spring Festival with a Chinese Family

Bring gifts The nice thing about visiting Chinese families is that while k is polite to bring gifts, generic gifts are expected and even welcome. You don＇t have to go overboard, nor do you have to spen...     

On the significance of social control: Treatment‐entry pressures,self‐choice and alcohol and drug dependence criteria one year after treatment

Storbjörk J. On the significance of social control: treatment‐entry pressures, self‐choice and alcohol and drug dependence criteria one year after treatment This article explores how self‐choice and treatment‐entry pressures are associated with one‐year treatment outcome (dependence symptoms, 0–6, 12 months) among alcohol and drug misusers, respectively. Informal pressures (from family and friends), formal pressures (related to work, healthcare, social services, social allowances, child custody) and legal pressures (related to the police, criminal justice system, compulsory treatment) were analysed. A sample (N= 1,210) representative of the addiction treatment system of Stockholm County was interviewed when starting a new treatment episode and after one year. Regression analyses indicated that self‐choice and pressures are associated with outcome among alcohol misusers but not among drug misusers when controlling for background factors and severity. Self‐choice (without pressures) correlated with a good outcome (a lower number of dependence criteria). Pressures were generally associated with poorer outcome. Alcohol misusers who had experienced threats regarding child custody did better in comparison with those not experiencing such pressure. The difference in results by drug type and implications were discussed.     

A perfect storm: Challenges encountered by family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease during natural disasters

ABSTRACT

Since Hurricane Katrina there has been a movement across the U.S. to examine best practice for disaster response within the aging population. However, little is known about the experience of natural disasters from the perspective of family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD). In this exploratory, qualitative study, family caregivers (n=27) were interviewed about their experience with the historic 2015 South Carolina flood. By using thematic analysis, themes were identified to better understand what unique challenges caregivers of person with ADRD experienced. While many caregivers stated they had experienced a natural disaster previously, none had ever done so in their current caregiving role. The caregiving role affected their ability to prepare for the storm and influenced their decision-making regarding evacuation and utilization of recovery resources. Thus, caregivers were confronted by a “perfect storm” of circumstances and uncertainty. Family caregivers need to have actionable emergency plans for disasters that are specific to their role as caregivers of persons with ADRD. Study implications also suggest the role social work professionals can have in educating, advocating, evaluating, and coordinating support to assist caregivers of persons with ADRD as a potentially vulnerable and at-risk population during all phases of disaster.     

The Social Work Role in Reducing 30-Day Readmissions: The Effectiveness of the Bridge Model of Transitional Care

The hospital experience is taxing and confusing for patients and their families, particularly those with limited economic and social resources. This complexity often leads to disengagement, poor adherence to the plan of care, and high readmission rates. Novel approaches to addressing the complexities of transitional care are emerging as possible solutions. The Bridge Model is a person-centered, social work-led, interdisciplinary transitional care intervention that helps older adults safely transition from the hospital back to their homes and communities. The Bridge Model combines 3 key components—care coordination, case management, and patient engagement—which provide a seamless transition during this stressful time and improve the overall quality of transitional care for older adults, including reducing hospital readmissions. The post Affordable Care Act (ACA) and managed care environment’s emphasis on value and quality support further development and expansion of transitional care strategies, such as the Bridge Model, which offer promising avenues to fulfil the triple aim by improving the quality of individual patient care while also impacting population health and controlling per capita costs.