Unravelling Subjective Quality of Life: An Investigation of Individual and Community Determinants

Subjective quality of life is a popular measureof outcomes across fields as disparate asmedical research, community and healthpsychology and sociology. Its widespread usehas led to recent calls for a betterunderstanding of the psychological determinantsof the construct, emphasising the need to builda substantial body of knowledge around whatdetermines and impacts on perceptions of lifequality if it is to live up to currentexpectations as an outcome variable. This studyused two likely determinants of quality oflife, an individual level variable, loneliness,and a community level variable, aspects ofsense of community, and investigated theirassociation with subjective quality of life.Confidence in the results of the study wasstrengthened by repeating it in two separatetowns, matched on fundamental demographicvariables. The results revealed that subjectivequality of life was consistently associatedwith the individual level variable, loneliness,in both towns. Lonely people consistentlyreported significantly lower quality of life,particularly in the domains of intimacy,community involvement and emotional well-being.Once loneliness had been accounted for, thecommunity level variables showed much weaker,and generally no association with reportedquality of life. The importance of continuingto empirically identify variables that impactupon subjective quality of life is discussed.     

‘Fantasies of Consensus:’ Planning Reform in Sydney, 2005–2013

This paper examines the battle to reform and streamline the planning system in Sydney, Australia, between 2005 and 2013. It analyses the strategies the State of NSW has pursued to manage ongoing conflicts over development, and reflects on the challenges the State has encountered in its attempt to redefine democratic engagement, justify decisions, claim legitimacy and forge a consensus around a more pro-development planning system. While New South Wales’ planning reform strategies have pursued an apparently ‘post-political’ agenda (Swyngedouw, Apocalypse forever? Post-political populism and the spectre of climate change, Theory Culture and Society, 27(2–3):213–232, 2010), using policy solutions to depoliticize difficult decisions, the reform process has exacerbated rather than defused conflicts. The story raises questions about the extent to which the new governing strategies of a post-political era can offer effective forums to forge consensus, or to stage-manage agreement over metropolitan development conflicts.     

Hand over fist: a chronicle of Cold War photography

Group Material’s Timeline: The Chronicle of US Invention in Latin and Central America (1984) at P.S.1’s Center for Contemporary Art explored the framing devices of installation art and photography in tandem, as a means of reconfiguring the distribution of the sensible at the height of the Cold War. In response to escalating crisis (including continuous Central Intelligence Agency operations being carried out in Nicaragua and El Salvador), this activist project employed postmodern strategies such as appropriation, pastiche and a resistance to conclusiveness in order to suggest provocative and unexpected dialogues between disparate artworks and artefacts across time and geopolitical difference. Artists ranging from Richard Prince and Barbara Kruger to John Heartfield, Tina Modotti and Arellano Bolivar, among others, come together as signs of political and aesthetic conflict, as networks of visual culture that complicate dominant narratives of spatial and temporal reality during the Cold War era. Closer analysis of such works reveals historical ruptures alongside continuities, relayed by official government policy, mass media and the art world more broadly. By excavating a long-standing history of conflict, Timeline addresses the stakes of the ownership of meaning itself in the mid-1980s, with implications regarding art production and politics for generations to come.     

“The One-Box Challenge: Providing a Federated Search That Benefits the Research Process” Revisited

A doctoral student approached the column editor and suggested that an update on a “The Balance Point” column entitled “The One-Box Challenge: Providing a Federated Search That Benefits the Research Process” (2006) would be of interest and useful to readers, and the editor agreed. Contributors to the original column were asked to reflect upon their experiences with federated searching, including successes and failures over the past 10 years, and to provide insights into future challenges and issues. This edition of “The Balance Point” focuses on the ongoing challenges, lessons learned, possible future directions, and issues involved in providing one-box searching to library patrons.     

Community Resources in a Diverse City: Supermarket Location and Emerging Racial Hierarchies

Disparities are pronounced along racial/ethnic lines in the USA. Convention draws our attention to blacks and whites, but increased racial/ethnic diversity in the USA requires shifts in that focus. We contribute to studies of racial/ethnic stratification by interrogating the association between racial/ethnic composition and supermarket location in Houston, Texas. First, we assess the benefits of a new approach to defining the racial/ethnic composition of local areas, an approach that acknowledges an increasingly complex racial/ethnic demography. Second, we contribute to our understanding of emerging racial/ethnic stratification hierarchies by examining the position of the racial/ethnic composition categories relative to one another. Our results suggest a persistent link between racial/ethnic composition and supermarket location, which highlights entrenched black disadvantage coupled with malleable middle positions for Hispanic areas. The associated stratification hierarchy is gradual in nature, yet there is evidence supporting arguments that the USA is moving toward a tri-racial system.     

Putting the pieces together for queer youth: a model of integrated assessment of need and program planning

Needs assessments require staff with the necessary expertise to design the study, collect the data, analyze the data, and present results. They require money, time, and persistence, because the people one wishes to assess often are difficult to access. This article argues for the centrality of a well-done needs assessment when developing services for LGBTQ youth. Needs assessment methodology and adjunctive uses of the needs assessment data also are discussed. The authors present a needs assessment of LGBTQ youth living in out-of-home care in San Diego, California, as an example of the purpose, practicality, and power of a comprehensive needs assessment. The needs assessment identified several issues, as well as additional data supporting the project's necessity. The data also identified the most significant obstacles youth face in accessing housing and supportive services. Through the data collection process, non-LGBT housing providers better understood their need for additional training, and housing and city leadership communities obtained and spread knowledge of the project.     

Building a stable workforce: recruitment and retention in the child care and early years sector

The paper presents findings from research aimed at identifying effective approaches to the recruitment and retention of child care workers, conducted to assist the UK Government's Childcare Strategy. The paper explores the practices and views of child care employers, Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships (EYDCPs) and child care workers in a range of settings (including day nurseries, playgroups and out‐of‐school care). Two key issues explored in the paper are the need for greater employer responsibility for increasing diversity in the child care workforce; and for a stronger emphasis on staff retention, through improved human resource practices in parts of the child care sector.     

Professional development in national organizations: insights from Girls Incorporated

The largest national youth organizations have targeted, comprehensive professional development systems. For one of them, Girls Incorporated, its mission "to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold" drives sophisticated, evaluated professional development for affiliate staff and trustees.