Eating Morality: Food and the Goodness of Care in Northern Aboriginal Australia

This article contributes to anthropological discussions about care, food and morality by considering the gastro-morality of Yolngu people living in Galiwin’ku in the 2000s. I develop the concept of ‘trans-material morality’ to capture the ways that food takes on material, emotive and ontological forms of morality. Food is central to articulating expressions of care, as well to experiencing feelings of being cared for and, inversely, feelings of not being cared for. This is done by way of the meanings of good and bad that are attached to the food itself and by way of eating and acts of sharing and not sharing. I argue that largely because of food’s capacity to exist as trans-material morality, it is a particularly compelling thing with which to moralise, both in the intimate interactions of day-to-day life and in the grander theorising that human beings undertake to paint a picture of moral change.     

Speaking Out: Youth Led Research as a Methodology Used with Homeless Youth

Participatory action research is well documented with marginalized groups, but less is known about participatory action research with homeless youth. The use of youth led research as a methodology was examined among a population of homeless youth. Peer researchers (n = 10) reported on their experience utilizing youth led research methodology. Results indicate that youth led research is a promising methodology for use among homeless youth. Participants reported that the approach positively impacted the quality and quantity of data that could be collected from participants. Further, peer researchers reported individual benefits of feeling that participating in the project mattered, that people listened to them and that they had a voice.     

Lessons from a comparative study of user involvement

Abstract

Grounded in the context of the significant differences in service user involvement in social work education and research between the UK and Israel, a joint project between Anglia Ruskin University in the UK and Tel-Hai College in Israel was developed. Its aim was to develop a comparative research methodology to evaluate the outcomes of service user involvement in social work education. A main tenet of our research methodology consisted of partnering with a group of older people who used health and social care services as co-researchers from each country. This co-researching methodology together with the evaluation tools worked effectively in the two respective countries. The key findings highlight that while students in both countries valued the involvement of service users in their training, this occurred more so in Israel, where this is a very new development. Students in both countries developed rich concept maps illustrating the complexity of such an involvement. Yet, while the responses of both groups to vignettes describing user involvement scenarios reflected the positive impact of such an involvement, the UK students focused on the negative impact of potential risk more so than the Israeli students.     

Friends and family: regulation and relationships on the locked ward

This ethnographic project explored the lives of women with learning disabilities on three locked wards. Aspects of these women’s lives were regulated by the service; in particular, relationships with family outside the unit, and peer relationships inside the unit. The women in this study valued these relationships, but they were treated with ambivalence by the service. Success in future community integration and accessing community resources can be dependent on the nature and quality of relationships with others, and therefore services should acknowledge that service-users need to forge relationships of their own choosing.     

Are urge incontinence and aging risk factors of erectile dysfunction in patients with male lower urinary tract symptoms?

Introduction: Several studies have indicated that erectile dysfunction (ED) patients also suffer from lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). We investigated a group of men with LUTS and assessed their sexual function with the aim of being able to predict ED risk factors and introduce ED treatments earlier for this patient group.

Methods: International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), Overactive Bladder Symptoms Score (OABSS) and Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM) score were obtained from 236 men with LUTS at their first out-patients visit. Clinical parameters such as body mass index, prostate volume, residual urine volume and prostate specific antigen were also evaluated. The relationship between the SHIM score and other clinical data was analyzed.

Results: According to the SHIM score, ED in men with LUTS was severe 15%, moderate 19%, moderate to mild 28%, mild 17%, normal 7% and data was incomplete in 14%. Based on the results of a multivariate analysis, aging (p?p?=?0.024) were significantly correlated to severe and moderate ED. Furthermore, among OAB symptoms score items, urge urinary incontinence was a risk factor for severe and moderate ED (p?=?0.005).

Conclusion: Aging and OAB (notably urinary urge incontinence) are risk factors for severe and moderate ED in men with LUTS.     

Trends in the Motherhood Wage Penalty and Fatherhood Wage Premium for Low,Middle, and High Earners

Many studies have shown that women pay a wage penalty for motherhood, whereas men earn a wage premium for fatherhood. A few recent studies have used quantile regression to explore differences in the penalties across the wage distribution. The current study builds on this research and explores trends in the parenthood penalties and premiums from 1980 to 2014 for those at the bottom, middle, and top of the wage distribution. Analyses of data from the Current Population Survey show that the motherhood wage penalty decreased, whereas the fatherhood wage premium increased. Unconditional quantile regression models reveal that low-, middle-, and high-earning women paid similar motherhood wage penalties in the 1980s. The motherhood wage penalty began to decrease in the 1990s, but more so for high-earning women than for low-earning women. By the early 2010s, the motherhood wage penalty for high-earning women was eliminated, whereas low-earning women continued to pay a penalty. The fatherhood wage premium began to increase in the late 1990s, although again, more so for high-earning men than for low-earning men. By the early 2010s, high-earning men received a much larger fatherhood wage premium than low- or middle-earning men.     

Best practices for online Canadian prenatal health promotion: A public health approach

Background

Prenatal health promotion provides information regarding pregnancy risks, protective behaviours and clinical and community resources. Typically, women obtain prenatal health information from health care providers, prenatal classes, peers/family, media and increasingly, Internet sites and mobile apps. Barriers to prenatal health promotion and related services include language, rural/remote location, citizenship and disability. Online public health platforms represent the capacity to reach underserved women and can be customised to address the needs of a heterogeneous population of pregnant women.