Public Perceptions About Sex Offenders and Community Protection Policies

Sex offenders and sex crimes provoke a great deal of anxiety in our society, and over the past decade, lawmakers have passed a variety of social policies designed to protect the public from sexual victimization. The purpose of this study was to examine public perceptions about sex offenders and community protection policies. Data were obtained from a sample of 193 residents in Melbourne, Florida. It was hypothesized that the public holds some inaccurate beliefs about sex offenders, and that there is strong public support for community protection policies. It was found that community members believe that sex offenders have very high recidivism rates, view sex offenders as a homogeneous group with regard to risk, and are skeptical about the benefits of sex offender treatment. The hypothesis that public perceptions contradict empirical research was supported. Community members were overwhelmingly in favor of public disclosure of information about registered sex offenders, although they did not express as much support for residence restrictions. Implications for public policy, and for the media's role in shaping public perceptions, are discussed.     

Psychosocial Interventions for Maltreated and Violence-Exposed Children

Child sexual, physical, and emotional abuse as well as child neglect and domestic violence, community violence, and Childhood Traumatic Grief may result in significant and long-lasting emotional and behavioral difficulties. This article reviews randomized controlled studies that have assessed child mental health outcomes for maltreated and violence-exposed children. Key points of this review include the following: (1) maltreated and violence-exposed children typically experience more than one of these types of traumas; (2) effective psychosocial treatments are available to address Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and behavioral problems in these children; (3) it is likely that treatments which effectively reduce mental health symptoms in children exposed to one type of child maltreatment or violence exposure will also be effective for other or multiple types; and (4) mental health outcomes are not the only important outcomes to address in future treatment or intervention efforts. These future directions for treatment intervention research are addressed.     

Interfacing Economics with Social Work Education

This paper explores the interface between economics and social work education in terms of the social worker generalist, administrator, and teacher suggesting what areas of economics should be emphasized and a basic set of readings. It also spells out three alternatives for implementing the interface.

The generalist needs basic knowledge of the functioning of the labor markets, employment policy, insurance, and subsidies as well as an understanding of economic decision making as it relates to setting priorities and budgeting. The planner-administrator needs economic analysis skills. It is suggested that doctoral students concentrate in a field related to human resources or public finance.     

Conducting research using web-based questionnaires: Practical,methodological, and ethical considerations

The use of the internet for social science research is becoming increasingly common. This paper outlines practical, methodological and ethical issues for researchers to consider when using web-based questionnaires. This is illustrated by consideration of the authors' own experience of conducting a study into the phenomenon of self-harm.     

The Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Economic Well-Being: A Comparison Across Household Types

Using survey data from Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) recipients in Madison County, New York, we evaluate the effectiveness of the EITC in improving the economic well-being of low-income households. In particular, we examine the impact of the EITC across household types. For tax years 2002 through 2004, we find that the EITC is responsible for significantly lowering the poverty rate of EITC recipients, from 57 to 49%. In fact, for households below the poverty line, the EITC fills 31% of the gap between their adjusted gross income and the poverty line. The EITC has the largest impact on single parent households, lowering their poverty rate by 11.2 percentage points and reducing their poverty gap by almost 35%. However, the EITC has negligible effects on the poorest households in the sample—childless singles. A majority (64%) of EITC recipients intends to use at least some of the refund on basic needs and almost half plan on using part of their refund for debt repayment. This suggests that the EITC helps the majority of recipients get by but does not increase their economic mobility. Somewhat surprisingly, single parent households in the sample are not that different from married parent households in terms of EITC amounts, poverty rates, use of credit, and participation in government programs, despite earning less.     

BOOKS RECEIVED

McGoldrick, M., (Ed.). (1998). Re-visioning family therapy: Race, culture, and gender in clinical practice .
Minuchin, P., Colapinto, J., & Minuchin, S. (1998). Working with families of the poor .
Tasker. F. L., & Golombok, S. (1997). Grouping up in a lesbian family: Effects on child developement .
Marsh, D., & Magee, R. (1998). Etbical and legal issues in professional practice with families .
Freeman, J., Epston, D., & Lobovitz, D. (1997). Playful approaches to serious problems .     

Re-inscribing Gender in New Modes of Medical Expertise: The Investigator-Coordinator Relationship in the Clinical Trials Industry

This article analyses the ways in which research coordinators forge professional identities in the highly gendered organizational context of the clinic. Drawing upon qualitative research on the organization of the clinical trials industry (that is, the private sector, for profit auxiliary companies that support pharmaceutical drug studies), this article explores the relationships between predominantly male physician-investigators and female research coordinators and the constitution of medical expertise in pharmaceutical drug development. One finding is that coordinators actively seek to establish relationships with investigators that mirror traditional doctor-nurse relationships, in which the feminized role is subordinated and devalued. Another finding is that the coordinators do, in fact, have profound research expertise that is frequently greater than that of the investigators. The coordinators develop expertise on pharmaceutical products and diseases through their observations of the patterns that occur in patient-participants' responses to investigational drugs. The article argues, however, that the nature of the relationships between coordinators and investigators renders invisible the coordinators' expertise. In this context, gender acts as a persistent social structure shaping both coordinators' and investigators' perceptions of who can be recognized as having authority and power in the workplace.     

Readers Comment

Abstract

Cardiac patients frequently experience anxiety and depression as major responses to a life-threatening event. Well-timed intervention by the social worker can assist in alleviating these responses and enhance psychological well-being by the use of counselling and other therapeutic techniques. Two case-studies are presented illustrating the range of work undertaken in a comprehensive approach to working with patients in both the acute and rehabilitation phases of cardiac crisis.     

Policy Planning Models: Heuristics for Education

Findings from a study of 229 students at five schools of social work in the introductory research course show: students with a good background in research learn best when a variety of content is introduced; students with poor backgrounds gain most with limited content. All students appear to learn best when taught by didactic methods and evaluated by objective examinations as compared to other methods. Differences in teacher characteristics such as age, field of study, and experience had little impact on student learning.