Problem Gambling and its Impact on Families: A Literature Review

This paper offers an overview of the existing literature concerning problem gambling and families and identifies gaps in current research knowledge on this topic. Relevant theoretical perspectives are outlined and the role of familial factors in the development of problem gambling is discussed. This is followed by a focused review of the effects of problem gambling on family members, specifically the spouse, children and parents. Available treatments and therapies for family members are also reviewed. The paper concludes by identifying the limitations of existing knowledge and some directions for future research on this topic.     

The Impact of Variability and Patient Information on Health Care System Performance

In the delivery of health care services, variability in the patient arrival and service processes can cause excessive patient waiting times and poor utilization of facility resources. Based on data collected at a large primary care facility, this paper investigates how several sources of variability affect facility performance. These sources include ancillary tasks performed by the physician, patient punctuality, unscheduled visits to the facility's laboratory or X‐ray services, momentary interruptions of a patient's examination, and examination time variation by patient class. Our results indicate that unscheduled visits to the facility's laboratory or X‐ray services have the largest impact on a physician's idle time. The average patient wait is most affected by how the physician prioritizes completing ancillary tasks, such as telephone calls, relative to examining patients. We also investigate the improvement in system performance offered by using increasing levels of patient information when creating the appointment schedule. We find that the use of policies that sequence patients based on their classification improves system performance by up to 25.5%.     

Monastic Blessings: Deconstructing and Reconstructing the Self

This paper explores the development and maintenance of the self among members of an Orthodox Christian monastery. The principal communicative resource by which members effect their unique social order, the blessing sequence, is interpreted as a spiritual technology for altering processes of reality construction, especially those associated with agency and selfhood. The deconstruction and reconstruction of the monastic self is essential to their membership in the community and a necessary preparation for the achievement of their shared objective: immediate experience of Ultimate Reality. This study demonstrates the interdependence of communicative practice and psychological experience and suggests that specific interactive routines may be identified and enacted in order to secure desirable psycho-social outcomes.     

Psychosocial factors and safety behaviour as predictors of accidental work injuries in farming

Farming is one of the most hazardous occupations in terms of the incidence and seriousness of accidental injuries. Research with other occupational groups has drawn attention to the role of psychosocial factors and stress. Such research needs to be extended to agriculture. Since stress may be a problem faced by farmers, there is a particular need to investigate the associations between farm accidents and work stressors and stress reactions. Using multivariate logistic regression analyses, this study aimed to uncover the best psychosocial predictors of injury, while controlling for exposure-related confounders. From a randomly selected sample of 794 farms, 10% of all farms in Ringkoebing County, Denmark, 393 farmers completed completed weekly accident registration over 12 months. The study sample consisted of 310 farmers who also completed questionnaires on psychosocial factors. Results indicated that farm stressors (including perceived economic problems), stress symptoms, and safety behaviour were predictors of occupational farm accidents. Higher levels of stressors and stress symptoms and poor safety behaviour were all associated with an elevated risk of injury. In the case of stress symptoms, the relation with accidents occurred via an interaction with safety behaviour. The combination of high levels of stress symptoms and poor safety behaviour was associated with a particularly high accident risk.     

Early‐Onset Alcohol Use Among Native American Youth: Examining Female Caretaker Influence

This article investigates the influence of female caretaker substance use on early‐onset youth drinking among Native American families in the Northern Midwest. Data include 603 Native American families, with reports from female caretakers and youths aged 10 – 13 years. Two potential caretaker influences are taken into account: adolescent modeling of caretaker behaviors and the effects of caretaker substance abuse on parenting. Results of bivariate and path analysis provide support for the influence of caretaker substance use on adolescent drinking from both perspectives; these effects vary, however, depending on the type or degree of adult substance use, or both.     

Mental Disorders,Comorbidity, and Postrunaway Arrests Among Homeless and Runaway Adolescents

This study examined the associations between lifetime mental disorder, comorbidity, and self‐reported postrunaway arrests among 428 (187 males, 241 females) homeless and runaway youth. The analysis examined the pattern of arrests across five lifetime mental disorders (alcohol abuse, drug abuse, conduct disorder, major depressive episode, and posttraumatic stress disorder). The adolescents, ranging from 16 to 19 years old, were interviewed directly on the streets and in shelters in four Midwestern states using computer‐assisted personal interviewing. Extensive self‐reports of early life history, behaviors since running away from home, and diagnostic interviewing (UM‐CIDI and DISC‐R) were used to estimate possible disorders. There was a high level of postrunaway arrests reported by the youth; more than half were arrested at least once after the initial runaway, with the average of 4.4 times. Consistent with the hypotheses, there were differential associations between individual mental disorders and involvement with the criminal justice system. Only externalizing disorders such as substance abuse and conduct disorder were related to arrest. Street youth with multiple externalizing and internalizing disorders were more likely to be arrested than nondisordered youths.