A grassroots prototype for trauma-informed child welfare system change

The development of trauma-informed child welfare systems (TICWSs) that advance individual agency practice to target transformation of the system as a whole has been conceptualized but not documented. A grassroots effort to build a TICWS with key participants (e.g., Department of Human Services, Community Mental Health, Family Court, schools) in nine Michigan communities provides a field tested model for implementation. This article described what emerged as the core elements for a TICWS, which includes (1) development and support of a project champion, (2) trauma identification, (3) comprehensive assessment of traumatic impact, (4) evidence based trauma treatment, (5) establishing a common trauma language, and (6) trauma-informed decision-making. Several new instruments for assessing aTICWS are identified. Lessons learned are highlighted for consideration of communities seeking to develop TICWSs.     

Financial Capability in Children: Effects of Participation in a School-Based Financial Education and Savings Program

A groundswell of interest in young people’s ability to understand and handle financial decisions has generated keen interest in financial knowledge and effectiveness of financial education. This study examines an innovative four-year school-based financial education and savings program, called “I Can Save” (ICS). Using a quasi-experimental design, the study examines quantitative and qualitative data to analyze program effects on financial knowledge. Elementary school children who participated in ICS scored significantly higher on a financial literacy test taken in fourth grade than comparison group students in the same school, regardless of parent education and income. Results suggest that young children increase financial capability when they have access to financial education and it is accompanied by participation in meaningful financial services.     

天堂里的单身汉:一个国家的主题

文学中的单身汉具有多样性和特殊性的特点,并且已变成一种媒介,即研究社会和人类不同文化结构特点的媒介。同时单身汉主题的出现,也为小说理论提供了新的性别分类方法。它展现了一个弯曲的阶级和一种特定的文化特征;即使它不能完全呈现出来,其重要性也已建立在时代特征的框架上了。"唐人街的单身汉"为我们提供了一个研究潜在性特征结构的假想空间,通过自然主义的审美描写昭示对社会的看法。随着文学主题学批评对单身汉和男性结合主题关注的增多,单身汉主题自成一派,我们也意识到其政治意义的冗长和压制(压抑)。     

The perception of occupational stress and its relation to research and teaching among academic staff

Abstract

A sample of full-time teaching staff from a former polytechnic participated in a study to examine the relationships between their perception of occupational stress and their involvement in research. Information was obtained from 60% of staff approached. The mean scores on the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI) for job satisfaction and stress-related measures of mental health and physical health did not differ significantly from data obtained in previous studies on university academic personnel. Scores on these variables were not significantly related to research activity. The degree of satisfaction and degree of stress emanating from participation in research, in teaching and in administration were separately assessed in structured interviews.     

Micro-Political Strategies and Their Implications for Participative Decision Making

Drawing on both organizational behaviour and employee relations perspectives,the paper defines participation as `opportunity to influence decisions,' andconsiders the impact of the micro-political behaviour of organization membersin pursuit of their interests on the development of genuine participation.Three types of micro-political strategy are identified and their implicationsdiscussed: information control, flexibility, and stage-craft. The discussionis illustrated with findings from an international study of decision making,and brief comment is made on international cultural differences as acomplicating factor. It is suggested that the role of participation in enhancing the knowledge baseof the organization has been neglected. If genuine participation is to beinstituted, decision making will become more complex, requiring negotiation,not only of competing interests but also of what is to be accepted as`knowledge' in the organization. This in turn will place greater demands onthe intellectual skills and personal behaviour of participants.     

Women’s work and “women’s work”: LDS dual-earner couples and the work–family nexus

In the context of religious expectations that their primary obligations should be child care and maintenance of the home, how do Church of Latter-day Saint (LDS) women and their spouses view the relationship between women’s work and the family? Are these perceptions similar or dissimilar for men and women? This study addresses the work–family nexus by examining associations among religiosity, traditional gender ideology, work-to-family spillover, and family cohesion using data from a random sample of dual-earner LDS couples. Our findings indicate that for LDS men, women’s work outside the home is negatively associated with perceptions of family cohesion. However, this relationship is not significant for women. Gender, therefore, is a key factor in how women’s work is perceived among dual-earner Latter-day Saints.     

Social disorganization in a modernizing Dalit community

India has a traditional community justice forum, known as the panchayat, which settles disputes, keeping them from escalating into serious problems. However, this forum is in decline, with serious consequences for Indian communities. Here we analyze how the demise of the panchayat in the Dalit (untouchable) community of Pudur contributed to serious conflicts and crime. Panchayats have been impacted by India’s democratization, economic development, and urbanization. Dalits, especially, want to be independent, equal, and economically prosperous. In Pudur these needs have disrupted collective sentiment to an extent that fulfillment of them has become difficult. That several non-Dalits live in Pudur has made panchayat success even more unattainable. Socially disorganizing forces—modernization, opposing values of equality and caste hierarchy, intergenerational frictions, and Pudur’s unique history and caste composition—have all contributed to the panchayat’s demise and social ills. Modern societies looking for innovative solutions to crime through community justice can learn from Pudur’s negative experiences.     

Toward Improving Food Safety in the Domestic Environment: A Multi-Item Rasch Scale for the Measurement of the Safety Efficacy of Domestic Food-Handling Practices

To reduce consumer health risks from foodborne diseases that result from improper domestic food handling, consumers need to know how to safely handle food. To realize improvements in public health, it is necessary to develop interventions that match the needs of individual consumers. Successful intervention strategies are therefore contingent on identifying not only the practices that are important for consumer protection, but also barriers that prevent consumers from responding to these interventions. A measure of food safety behavior is needed to assess the effectiveness of different intervention strategies across different groups of consumers. A nationally representative survey was conducted in the Netherlands to determine which practices are likely conducted by which consumers. Participants reported their behaviors with respect to 55 different food-handling practices. The Rasch modeling technique was used to determine a general measure for the likelihood of an average consumer performing each food-handling behavior. Simultaneously, an average performance measure was estimated for each consumer. These two measures can be combined to predict the likelihood that an individual consumer engages in a specific food-handling behavior. A single "food safety" dimension was shown to underlie all items. Some potentially safe practices (e.g., use of meat thermometers) were reported as very difficult, while other safe practices were conducted by respondents more frequently (e.g., washing of fresh fruit and vegetables). A cluster analysis was applied to the resulting data set, and five segments of consumers were identified. Different behaviors may have different effects on microbial growth in food, and thus have different consequences for human health. Once the microbial relevance of the different consumer behaviors has been confirmed by experiments and modeling, the scale developed in the research reported here can be used to develop risk communication targeted to the needs of different consumer groups, as well as to measure the efficacy of different interventions.