Benefits of community meetings in the corporate setting after the suicide of a coworker

When an employee commits suicide, his or her coworkers are confronted unexpectedly with issues related to the sudden traumatic death. Being inundated with questions, grappling with acceptance of the loss, and exploring how this could have happened are factors that can complicate the bereavement process and delay a return to workplace homeostasis. Understanding the dynamics and issues related to grief and bereavement after sudden traumatic death potentially can accelerate the recovery process and promote restoration of workforce normalcy for employees and organizations. This can be significantly important to corporate managers and administrators who must maintain ongoing productivity despite such disruption, while promoting adaptive coping for their employees.     

On Bayesian Inference for Proportional Hazards Models Using Noninformative Priors

In this article, we investigate the propertiesof the posterior distribution under the uniform improper priorfor two commonly used proportional hazards models; the Weibullregression model and the extreme value regression model. We allowthe observations to be right censored. We obtain sufficient conditionsfor the existence of the posterior moment generating functionof the regression coefficients. A dataset involving a lung cancerclinical trial and a simulation are presented to illustrate ourresults.     

The market for foster care: an empirical study of the impact of foster care subsidies

When parents are suspected of child abuse or neglect, their children may be placed with foster families. We estimate the relationship between the monthly subsidies paid to foster families and the quantity of foster care services provided. The empirical model uses variation in subsidies and foster care populations within 37 states and the years 1987–1995. One innovation in our approach is that we exploit the idea that states do not appear to set market clearing rates, as evidenced by a foster home shortage during this time period. In this case of excess demand, variation in the monthly subsidy traces out the supply curve. Our results show that states with high demand may be able to use economic incentives to recruit foster families.

Age, ethnicity, and use of complementary and alternative medicine in health self-management

Drawing on models of health self-management, we develop hypotheses that age and ethnicity will modify associations among indicators ofpoor health and use of complementary and alternative medicine. These hypotheses are evaluated using the 2002 National Health Interview Survey with the Alternative Health Supplement. Results produced partial support for hypotheses that the effects of ailments on use of complementary and alternative medicine differ by age. Results suggest that ailments such as bodily pain, chronic conditions, and functional impairment are associated with use of complementary and alternative medicine among midlife and younger adults, but these associations are generally attenuated among older adults. Hypothesized ethnic differences received weak support. These findings suggest that different interpretations of ailments and appropriate responses may explain why complementary and alternative medicine is used by fewer older adults. The results also highlight the significance of social and cultural factors in understanding patterns of complementary and alternative medicine use in the adult population.     

Adoption of evidence-based practices among substance abuse treatment providers

This research was conducted at a Substance Abuse Forum designed to address local community needs by focusing on Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) in addiction treatment. The purpose of the study was to assess substance abuse treatment professionals' readiness to adopt EBPs, experience with EBPs, and attitudes toward EBPs, as well as agency support for EBPs. A total of 119 addiction treatment providers completed pre-test measures, and 82% completed a post-test. Eighty-three percent of participants reported using some EBPs in the past year, and 75% reported currently using EBPs. Participants who were currently licensed or certified in addictions had less negative attitudes toward EBPs than those without credentials. While respondents reported agency support for EBPs, most expressed interest in further training. This study underscores the movement toward EBPs in addiction treatment and the need for effective dissemination and training in this area.