Invitation to Research: Invitation to Learn

This article analyzes the process of acquiring informed consent from parents of economically disadvantaged children 7 to 12 years of age at a Boys &; Girls Club in a Midwest city. The article addresses the following question: What are the obstacles in mainstream research to including children’s voluntary participation in research that intends to benefit their lives? The lessons gained from requesting an invitation into the lives of poor children through informed-consent processes inform future social work research methods.     

Peer Status Among Incarcerated Female Offenders: Associations With Social Behavior and Adjustment

Peers are a powerful socializing force, especially during adolescence. Whether peer status holds the same meaning, correlates, and consequences for female offenders remains unknown. Using a peer nomination technique in a sample of incarcerated females (N = 86, age 15–24 years), our study is the first to examine the association between peer status and psychopathology in a correctional facility. Results indicated that a key indicator of likeability was prosocial behavior; popularity was related to leadership; and social impact was associated with aggression. Popularity might serve as a buffer against, and social impact as a risk factor for, psychosocial problems. Findings shed light on peer status as a mechanism underpinning female offenders' problem behaviors and an entry point for targeted interventions.     

Pay Dissatisfaction and Intention to Leave

This article examines the power of a particular type of employee attachment—client embeddedness—in buffering the adverse effect of pay dissatisfaction on employee intention to leave. Based on a sample of 153 personal care workers employed by a disability service organization, this article finds that client embeddedness—the attachment that employees can experience as a result of interactions with clients or customers—dampens the adverse effect of pay dissatisfaction on employee intention to leave. This finding has implications for the development of appropriate recruitment and retention practices in not‐for‐profit organizations.     

Social services for sexual minority youth: Preferences for what,where, and how services are delivered

As part of an internet-based study to investigate experiences of sexual minority youth in the U.S., 544 youth, ages 14–19, were surveyed about their need for services, where they preferred to receive these services, and their preferred method of service delivery. The survey was anonymous and youth were recruited from LGBTQ-specific listservs and venues as well as through social networking sites as a way of reaching youth often not represented in LGBTQ surveys. Youth highly endorsed many types of services, settings, and modes of delivery. Some subgroup differences emerged. Transgender youth and those uncertain about their gender identity expressed stronger interest than others in services to address stress, family issues, and self-defense, and in receiving support and guidance from LGBTQ adults. Few differences in service preferences along demographic lines such as race/ethnicity emerged; however, African American youth were more likely than others to prefer services offered in a place of worship. Contrary to predictions, geographic and community variables were not related to service type, delivery format, or location preferences.     

Effectiveness of Job Aids and Post Performance Review on Staff Implementation of Discrete Trial Instruction

Discrete-trial instruction (DTI) is a well-established instructional method for teaching children with autism. Accurate implementation of DTI procedures requires that staff be well trained. This study examined the effectiveness of job aids followed by post performance review of strengths, errors, and accuracy on discrete trial instructional accuracy in three participants who conducted DTI within their current job positions. Additionally, primary training procedures were embedded within a meta-shaping procedure, which involved the gradual and systematic introduction of three levels of behavioral components required for accurate implementation of the DTI sequence with mastery criteria set at 90% accuracy across all three levels. As demonstrated in a changing criterion within a multiple baseline design, staff demonstrated increases in DTI accuracy following the initiation of the job aid condition; however, some degree of performance-based feedback was required to establish high levels of procedural fidelity across the DTI sequence. Performance accuracy on maintenance probes remained at high levels. These findings provide support that job aids followed by performance-based feedback may be an effective and efficient method for shaping high levels of DTI procedural fidelity in staff. Additionally, gradual shaping of the DTI accuracy may scaffold performance, minimize errors, and increase social validity.     

Part II: Quantitative Evaluation of Choices Used in Setting Noncancer Chronic Human Health Reference Values Across Organizations

Environmental and public health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), develop human health reference values (HHRV) that set “safe” levels of exposure to noncarcinogens. Here, we systematically analyze chronic HHRVs from four organizations: USEPA, Health Canada, RIVM (the Netherlands), and the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. This study is an extension of our earlier work and both closely examines the choices made in setting HHRVs and presents a quantitative method for identifying the primary factors influencing HHRV agreement or disagreement.⁽¹⁾ We evaluated 171 organizational comparisons, developing a quantitative method for identifying the factors to which HHRV agreement (that is, when both organizations considering the same data set the identical HHRV values) is most sensitive. To conduct this analysis, a Bayesian belief network was built using expert judgment, including the specific science policy choices analysis made in the context of setting an HHRV. Based on a sensitivity of findings analysis, HHRV agreement is most sensitive to the point of departure value, followed by the total uncertainty factor (UF), critical study, critical effect, animal model, and point of departure approach. This analysis also considered the specific impacts of individual UFs, with the database UF and the subchronic‐to‐chronic UF being identified as primary factors impacting the total UF differences observed across organizations. The sensitivity of findings analysis results were strengthened and confirmed by frequency analyses evaluating which choices most often disagreed when the HHRV and the total UF disagreed.     

Part I––Comparing Noncancer Chronic Human Health Reference Values: An Analysis of Science Policy Choices

The goal of this study was to systematically evaluate the choices made in deriving a chronic oral noncancer human health reference value (HHRV) for a given chemical by different organizations, specifically those from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Health Canada, RIVM (the Netherlands), and the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. This analysis presents a methodological approach for comparing both the HHRVs and the specific choices made in the process of deriving an HHRV across these organizations. Overall, across the 96 unique chemicals and 171 two‐way organizational comparisons, the HHRV agreed approximately 26% of the time. A qualitative method for identifying the primary factors influencing these HHRV differences was also developed, using arrays of HHRVs across organizations for the same chemical. The primary factors identified were disagreement on the critical or principal study and differential application of the total uncertainty factor across organizations. Of the cases where the total UF was the primary factor influencing HHRV disagreement, the database UF had the greatest influence.