Recycling Judy and Corliss

This article analyzes the racial and sexual politics of the domestic sitcom Gimme a Break (NBC, 1981–1987). Gimme a Break starred black actress and singer Nell Carter as “Nell,” a former nightclub singer who was now the lascivious caretaker of a white family. As a single woman living with a single (widowed) white man and his children, the show's use of sexual humor clashed with its refusal to breach the interracial sex taboo. This article argues that Gimme a Break relied upon the delightful difference signified by Nell's black sass and sexuality, but labored to contain it. Part of this strategy was imbedded in Carter's grotesque body; its fat blackness was accorded hypersexuality through its link to the black blues tradition and aberrant black sexuality, but was also deemed unappealing, and therefore “safe,” within a white context. Another important strategy was to repeatedly deny that Nell and the white father were attracted to each other. However, the gags and storylines meant to disavow this attraction also had to first invoke it. The result of these contradictions and negotiations was that as long as the white father was present on the show, Nell's sexuality was potentially disruptive.     

Development and Validation of a Measure of Living Standards for Older People

Living standards are an effective way to assess socioeconomic status in relation to health but controversy remains about their assessment, particularly for older people. Sen’s capability framework shifts attention from material conditions to opportunities for choice enabled by material resources. To develop this promising approach, this paper reports on the development of a measure of living standards for older people based on Sen’s capability framework. Six living standards domains were established from thematic analysis of 143 interviews with people aged over 65 years in New Zealand. Questionnaire items were developed and tested to assess the extent to which older people had the freedom to pursue these domains. The 73 items were tested for face validity in interviews. Following this, a revised version was posted to 2,000 people aged over 65 years randomly selected from the New Zealand electoral roll and 1,064 completed questionnaires were returned. Item screening for response rates and spread reduced the items to 34. Confirmatory factor analysis of these 34 items suggested that the six theoretical domains were supported. Following model development, 25 items assessing the six domains were selected. Results to date show that this measure of living standards (LS-Cap) is a promising instrument to assess living standards as the freedom to access valued needs.     

Using Photovoice to Identify Service Needs of Older African American Methadone Clients

ABSTRACT

This article presents findings from a photovoice project designed to identify service needs of older-adult African American methadone clients, as well as their current barriers to and supports for abstinence. The project involved 10 participants (aged 53 to 63 years old) recruited from a methadone maintenance program in a large Northeastern U.S. city. Thematic analysis techniques were used to analyze participants’ narratives of their pictures. Transportation emerged as a significant challenge to accessing services, and caregiving was a motivation for remaining abstinent. Future research should use similar participatory methods and engage a broader group of aging people struggling with substance abuse.     

Beneath the Mask: A Group Therapy Model Supporting Children Infected With and Affected by HIV/AIDS

In 2007 a study was conducted to identify the outcomes of an activity-based psychosocial intervention called Leading the Way, a program designed for children infected with and/or affected by HIV/AIDS, based in Toronto, Canada. Qualitative and quantitative data showed that children who were unaware of the HIV status of their families experienced heightened anxiety and depression when compared to children who were aware of the presence of HIV in their families. Furthermore, data indicated that though the intervention positively influenced children's senses of self and their ability to cope and problem solve, deep social stigma surrounding HIV continued to profoundly affect the lives of these children. The ethical dilemmas involved in serving populations of children who have not been disclosed to regarding their own or a family members' HIV status came to light in the development of the program and are discussed in the analysis of data.     

Dramatherapy and Social Theatre: Necessary Dialogues by Jennings,S. (Ed.). Current Approaches in Drama Therapy by Johnson,D. R., & Emunah,R. (Eds.).

Some individuals make limited use of the services offered by treatment programs. Sometimes such individuals group infomally and may be observed congregating in the vicinity of the center they attend. Efforts to engage natural groupings of program members in their natural habitats and to utilize natural groups (as opposed to program organized therapeutic groups) as a vehicle for change is suggested. A pilot venture indicated the feasibility of this approach and helped to identify some of the issues and prohlems encountered in the potentials of undertaking this kind of program.     

Evaluation of Support Groups for Child Abuse Prevention: Outcomes of Four State Evaluations

ABSTRACT

Parent support groups have grown in popularity as a strategy for preventing child maltreatment, but there have been few evaluations of these groups. The purpose of this paper is twofold. One goal is to identify some of the major challenges in the evaluation of parent support groups and to provide strategies for minimizing these potential difficulties. The second goal is to illustrate successful evaluations of parent support groups (i.e., the Circle of Parents® program) in four states. Three of these states used a retrospective pretest method. Outcomes indicated positive performance across all domains of functioning, as measured by a self-report questionnaire. Strengths and limitations of the evaluations are discussed, and recommendations for future evaluations are provided.     

Exploring the moral experiences of Anishinaabeg children in Rapid Lake,Quebec

This study was developed to guard against the imposition of settler-based colonial ethnocentric conceptions of moral development by exploring the everyday moral experiences of children in an Anishinaabeg community. A focused ethnography of 33 children over 3.5 months was conducted, which included participant observation, group activities and individual and group interviews. Drawing on their unique cultural and social background, children showed they had rich moral understandings and acted as moral agents in matters that affected them. These results help advance our understanding of what is morally significant to Anishinaabeg children in their daily experiences, in line with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action.     

Cognitive function in toddlers with congenital heart disease: The impact of a stimulating home environment

Infants born with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at increased risk of neurodevelopmental difficulties in childhood. The extent to which perioperative factors, cardiac physiology, brain injury severity, socioeconomic status, and home environment influence early neurodevelopment is not clear. Sixty-nine newborns with CHD were recruited from St Thomas’ Hospital. Infants underwent presurgical magnetic resonance imaging on a 3-Tesla scanner situated on the neonatal unit. At 22 months, children completed the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-3rd edition and parents completed the cognitively stimulating parenting scale to assess cognitive stimulation at home. Level of maternal education and total annual household income were also collected. Hospital records were reviewed to calculate days on the intensive care unit post-surgery, time on bypass during surgery, and days to corrective or definitive palliative surgical intervention. In the final analysis of 56 infants, higher scores on the cognitively stimulating parenting scale were associated with higher cognitive scores at age 22 months, correcting for gestational age at birth, sex, and maternal education. There were no relationships between outcome scores and clinical factors; socioeconomic status; or brain injury severity. Supporting parents to provide a stimulating home environment for children may promote cognitive development in this high-risk population.     

Patterns of mutual exclusivity and retention: A study of monolingual and bilingual 2-year-olds

When children learn their native language, they tend to treat objects as if they only have one label—a principle known as mutual exclusivity. However, bilingual children are faced with a different cognitive challenge—they need to learn to associate two labels with one object. In the present study, we compared bilingual and monolingual 24-month-olds’ performance on a challenging and semi-naturalistic forced-choice referent selection task and retention test. Overall, both language groups performed similarly on referent selection but differed on retention. Specifically, while monolingual infants showed some retention, bilingual infants performed at chance and significantly worse than their monolingual peers.