Improving social psychiatric treatment in residential programmes for emerging dependence groups in Europe: cross-border networking, methodological innovations and substantive discoveries

A mini-symposium series of papers presenting the results of the European Commission-supported Biomed II project is introduced. The project accomplished a cross-border scientific networking engaging 31 European residential treatment programmes. The results showed that scientific development is best served by a flexible bureaucratic approach. 'Old' science and the 'new' science ways of working were balanced. 'History' and 'social networks' are the key concepts signalling the project knowledge gains. A treatment sample (N=723) was extracted from a database of 1028 current European cases. Non-drug-specific characteristics are as important as drug-specific characteristics in distinguishing emerging dependence groups. The project networking created a process that increased the level of involvement of science and the service communities. To sustain the gains of the project, a reaching out of existing European treatment services to extended family and friendship networks with a history of dependence-related problems will be required.     

Effects of Conservative Sociopolitical Attitudes on Public Support for Drug Rehabilitation Spending

Objective . In this article we investigate why traditionally conservative social groups show less support for spending on drug rehabilitation programs than for drug control spending in general. Methods . Using data from the 1984 through 1998 General Social Surveys, we first estimate logistic regressions of support for drug control spending across five sociopolitical cleavages. We then estimate effects of three types of sociopolitical attitudes on support for drug spending within traditionally conservative groups. Results . Resistance to rehabilitation spending among conservatives is related to their opposition to the welfare state, punitive attitudes toward criminals, and among whites, racial attitudes. Conclusions . Our findings suggest that citizens may withhold support for a social policy to the extent that it evokes negative associations with other salient sociopolitical issues or attitudes. We discuss the importance of these associations for understanding the relationships among political debate, public opinion, and policy outcomes.     

Work Design Issues in Lean Production from a Sociotechnical Systems Perspective: Neo-Taylorism or the Next Step in Sociotechnical Design?

The similarities and differences between twoparadigms, Lean Production (LP) and SociotechnicalSystems (STS) thinking, which currently compete for theattention of managers and scholars interested inimproving the design of work systems, are studied in thisarticle. In order to find the logic behind eachapproach, the design principles formulated by Chernshave been used to evaluate LP from an STS viewpoint with respect to work design issues. The two conceptsdiffer most with respect to their definition of systemboundaries, the control mechanisms they favor and theirvalue bases and assumptions about workers. The way control is exercised in each concept isclosely related to the production structure and hasfar-reaching consequences for the human resourcepolicies practiced. Although each approach has something to offer the other, the question whether thebest ideas of both can be synthesized in designing asuperior overall system cannot be answered so easily. Inthe end, it will require more than just choosing features of each approach to apply incombination; the differences in fundamental beliefsabout people need to be reconciled in the design of theorganization and its system.     

Partitioning Pearson's Chi-Squared Statistic for a Completely Ordered Three-Way Contingency Table

The paper presents a partition of the Pearson chi-squared statistic for triply ordered three-way contingency tables. The partition invokes orthogonal polynomials and identifies three-way association terms as well as each combination of two-way associations. This partition provides information about the structure of each variable by identifying important bivariate and trivariate associations in terms of location (linear), dispersion (quadratic) and higher order components. The significance of each term in the partition, and each association within each term can also be determined.
The paper compares the chi-squared partition with the log-linear models of Agresti (1994) for multi-way contingency tables with ordinal categories, by generalizing the model proposed by Haberman (1974).     

Simple correspondence analysis using adjusted residuals

Correspondence analysis is a versatile statistical technique that allows the user to graphically identify the association that may exist between variables of a contingency table. For two categorical variables, the classical approach involves applying singular value decomposition to the Pearson residuals of the table. These residuals allow for one to use a simple test to determine those cells that deviate from what is expected under independence. However, the assumptions concerning these residuals are not always satisfied and so such results can lead to questionable conclusions.One may consider instead, an adjustment of the Pearson residual, which is known to have properties associated with the standard normal distribution. This paper explores the application of these adjusted residuals to correspondence analysis and determines how they impact upon the configuration of points in the graphical display.     

男男性服务群体的性、性网络、艾滋风险——以东北地区为例

男男性服务者是近些年来地下性产业中的新兴群体,其在性身份认同、服务分层、组织类别等方面呈现出比女性性服务者更为复杂的生存样态。同时,艾滋病在男男性接触群体的迅猛传播,也使男男性服务者成为艾滋病防治工作的重点干预对象。文章采用参与观察、个案深入访谈和专题小组讨论的定性研究方法,对我国东北地区男男性服务网络进行调研和分析,对商业性网络的隐秘特征和运行机制、男男性服务者的多元性存在状态进行文化阐释,并在此基础上分析不同性取向群体、不同场所、不同服务种类的艾滋病风险因素并给予社会科学的干预建议。     

Making Rape Education Meaningful for Men: The Case for Eliminating the Emphasis on Men as Perpetrators,Protectors, or Victims

Analysis of college men's responses to a fictional woman revealing a rape experience indicate that men want to know how to support women who have experienced rape, however, they feel unprepared to do so. Additionally, men reported their previous education on rape as insufficient, inappropriate, and irrelevant leading us to conclude that rape prevention strategies that focus on men as perpetrators, potential victims, and/or protectors are less than ideal for reaching men. However, based on the men's responses in the interviews and reflective writing pieces, we suggest that teaching men to be supporters or allies of raped women holds promise for making rape education relevant to the men. The paper concludes with suggestions for practitioners on how to meet current rape prevention goals while shifting the focus of the training for men and encourages further empirical testing.