“I Didn’t Feel Equipped”: Social Work Students’ Reflections on a Simulated Client “Coming Out”

Few studies have examined social work students’ reflections on and experiences working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and questioning persons and addressing the intersection of race/ethnicity and sexuality within practice. This study explored current master’s of social work student (n = 11) and recent graduate (n = 7) reflections on conducting an objective structured clinical practice interaction with an African Canadian youth coming out as a lesbian. Narrative thematic analyses of reflective dialogues highlighted a variation of competence in gay affirmative practice across attitudes (managing personal reactions), knowledge (addressing diversity; terminology and information), and skills (readiness; challenging heterosexism). Curriculum development and agency-based training is recommended to address gaps in knowledge and competence regarding gay affirmative approaches.     

Race,Power and Social Action in Neighborhood Community Organizing: Reproducing and Resisting the Social Construction of the Other

Scholars argue in favor of social action in community organizing to address the oppression experienced by racialized groups. This study examines how community organizing practice in one diverse neighborhood constructed race to understand the potential for social action. Using interview and observational data with 16 community organizers working in 1 diverse, low-income neighborhood in Québec, Canada, I examine the social construction of race through the lens of postcolonial theory and the writings of Michel Foucault. I argue that a discourse of neutrality existed among community organizers, which was tied to state policy and a colonial discourse embedded therein. The resulting disconnect between race and power in community organizing practice not only forecloses on social change efforts, it also extends a state-driven nation-building agenda into community. As the basis for an anticolonial approach to neighborhood community organizing, I juxtapose the discourse of neutrality in community organizing with strategies that recoupled race and power by drawing attention to efforts among community organizers that were antagonistic to the discourse.     

Enhancing Student Gerocompetencies: Evaluation of an Intergenerational Service Learning Course

This article describes the development and evaluation of an intergenerational service-learning course designed to promote social work gerocompetencies. Service-learning opportunities were structured into the course, including an optional evidence-based falls prevention program, for older adults, entitled A Matter of Balance (MOB). Significant differences between pre- and posttest scores on the Geriatric Social Work Competency Scale (GSWCS) were noted for students in the service learning course (n = 13). Once MOB was introduced as an independent variable, the MOB participants scored the highest mean posttest scores for 2 GSWCS domains: values, ethics, and theoretical perspectives; and intervention. The benefits of utilizing social work gerocompetencies to guide course objectives, content, and student outcomes are discussed.     

Eating habits and physical activity in dieter and non-dieter youth: A gender analysis of English and Spanish adolescents

A high prevalence of youth is overweight or obese, and a frequent lack of monitoring of their weight control strategies is observed. Consequently, this paper compares the eating habits and physical activities of male and female dieters and non-dieters. Data are obtained from the large cross-national WHO collaborative study “Health Behavior in School-aged Children 2010”. The current sample consists of 9,444 students aged 11, 13 and 15 years from England and Spain. Participants are asked about dieting, vigorous and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, breakfast frequency and fruit, vegetable, sweet and soft drink consumption. A logistic regression is used to examine the differences between dieters and non-dieters with regard to the aforementioned eating and physical activity habits. Differences between genders, countries, and those associated with BMI (body mass index) are also considered. The results suggest that the reality of weight control differs from the major health promotion recommendations during adolescence.     

Hand force of men and women over 65 years of age as measured by maximum pinch and grip force

This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the impact of age and gender on 4 measures of grip and pinch force of well elderly community dwellers and to provide normative values. The hypotheses were that age and gender affect pinch and grip force and that these 2 factors might interact. Hand strength of 224 seniors 65-92 years old was tested. Grip and pinch force decreased in successively older age groups past 65 years. Men's grip force exceeded that of women in all age groups. Men's hand-force decline was steeper than that of women over successive age groups, suggesting that gender differences in force decreased with age. Trends were the same for all 4 types of grip- and pinch-force measurement but were most clearly visible in grip and key-pinch force. Norms were provided for seniors age 65-85+ years in 5-yr increments.     

Trust, confidence, procedural fairness, outcome fairness, moral conviction, and the acceptance of GM field experiments

In 2005, Swiss citizens endorsed a moratorium on gene technology, resulting in the prohibition of the commercial cultivation of genetically modified crops and the growth of genetically modified animals until 2013. However, scientific research was not affected by this moratorium, and in 2008, GMO field experiments were conducted that allowed us to examine the factors that influence their acceptance by the public. In this study, trust and confidence items were analyzed using principal component analysis. The analysis revealed the following three factors: "economy/health and environment" (value similarity based trust), "trust and honesty of industry and scientists" (value similarity based trust), and "competence" (confidence). The results of a regression analysis showed that all the three factors significantly influenced the acceptance of GM field experiments. Furthermore, risk communication scholars have suggested that fairness also plays an important role in the acceptance of environmental hazards. We, therefore, included measures for outcome fairness and procedural fairness in our model. However, the impact of fairness may be moderated by moral conviction. That is, fairness may be significant for people for whom GMO is not an important issue, but not for people for whom GMO is an important issue. The regression analysis showed that, in addition to the trust and confidence factors, moral conviction, outcome fairness, and procedural fairness were significant predictors. The results suggest that the influence of procedural fairness is even stronger for persons having high moral convictions compared with persons having low moral convictions.     

Labeling of nanotechnology consumer products can influence risk and benefit perceptions

Currently, there is no mandatory labeling for products containing synthetic nanoparticles. The public as well as other stakeholders have positive views about mandatory labeling. However, little is known how such a label influences the risk and benefit perception of a product. Consumers may infer that a label is a signal that there are risks associated with this technology. Data were collected in a survey experiment (N= 1,382). Participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions. The control group received a picture of a sunscreen container without a label. One experimental group received a picture of a sunscreen container with a label. The other groups received, in addition to the sunscreen container with a label, some risk or benefit information. Results suggest that labeling of products may reduce consumers' benefit perception and increase risk perception. Labeling nanotechnology consumer products may change the public perception of the products. Respondents may have relied on the affect heuristic for assessing the risks and benefits of the sunscreen.     

A study of supply chain integration in the aeronautics sector

Competitive pressure, high development costs, long lead times, rapidly changing technologies and the risks inherent in projects combined with the delays seen in the latest aircraft models (with the rise in costs that these have entailed) highlight the need to reorganise the supply chain in the aeronautics sector paying special attention to an improvement in inter- and intra-organisational integration. The aim of this study is to analyse the situation of supply chain integration (SCI) in the aeronautics sector using three dimensions (information integration, coordination and resource sharing and organisational relationship linkage), considering both internal integration and external integration with customers and suppliers. A group of first-tier supplier experts analyse the dimensions and assess the degree to which the factors that define SCI have been achieved. The results enable strengths and weaknesses to be determined and indicate possible improvements to the situation that is detected with clear managerial implications.     

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

The number of individuals with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia is growing at a staggering rate. Thus, it is essential that social workers in geriatric settings are knowledgeable about this disorder and the appropriate interventions to use at all stages of the disease. The purpose of this article is to examine the types of non-pharmacological, psychosocial treatments that are used to manage the behavioral manifestations and changes in the mood of individuals with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. While great strides have been made in pharmacological treatments of Alzheimer's disease, less attention has been given to the types of psychosocial interventions that are readily employed in community-based and long-term care settings to assist in the care of these individuals. This article provides an overview of psychosocial interventions, as well as identifies the direction for future evidence-based treatment studies, for individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia.     

Bayesian design in queues: An application to aeronautic maintenance

We exploit Bayesian criteria for designing M/M/c//r$M/M/c//r$ queueing systems with spares. For illustration of our approach we use a real problem from aeronautic maintenance, where the numbers of repair crews and spare planes must be sufficiently large to meet the necessary operational capacity. Bayesian guarantees for this to happen can be given using predictive or posterior distributions.