Assessment and Social Construction: Conflict or Co-Creation?

Assessment procedures in social work emerged within the historicalcontext of modernist empiricism. They are lodged in assumptionsof objectivity, measurement accuracy, value neutrality and scientificexpertise. Within the context of postmodern constructionism,the grounds for traditional assessment are thrown into question.While such critique may seem to threaten the assessment tradition,such a conclusion is unwarranted. Rather, one may locate withinthe assessment tradition and constructionist writings converginglines of thought. Through the collaborative extension of twoassessment exemplars—the genogram and the ecomap—wesuggest new and more promising potentials for assessment practicesin social work.     

The Impact of Cross-Race Mentoring for “Ideal” PhD Careers in Sociology

This article reports the results of a study of the impact of two kinds of mentoring, as in individual, instrumental mentoring by white male advisors versus supportive/communal, homophilous (same race/ethnicity) mentoring on the likelihood of minority scholars having an “ideal” or “archetypal” career trajectory when compared to two other control groups. Using unobtrusive data, we test a series of hypotheses concerning the likelihood of attaining selected aspects of an “ideal” career including employment at a research-extensive institution, scholarly publications, tenure, grants, and disciplinary recognition. We find that having a white male instrumental advisor increases the likelihood of having an “ideal” career for participants in the American Sociological Association's (ASA) national pre-doctoral Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) who have the advantage of having access to both types of mentoring when compared to a random group of largely white PhDs.     

A Novel,Self-guided,Home-Based Intervention to Improve Condom Use Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men

Abstract

Objective: This pilot study tested the efficacy of a brief, novel, theory-driven, self-guided, home-based intervention designed to promote condom use among young men who have sex with men (YMSM). Participants: Thirty YMSM were recruited from a large public US midwestern university during spring of 2012. Methods: The intervention was tested using a repeated measures design with the primary follow-up assessment occurring 6 weeks after enrollment. Results: Forty-five percent of men reported a reduced frequency of unprotected insertive penile–anal intercourse in the past 30 days compared with baseline (p = .01). Consistency of condom use improved (p = .013), as did motivation to use condoms correctly, condom use self-efficacy, and condom attitudes. All participants indicated that they were glad they participated, would recommend the program, and that overall, they had liked the program. Conclusions: This pilot study supports an expanded trial of this intervention with MSM at high-risk of acquiring human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted infections (HIV/STIs).     

Resilience as Effective Functional Capacity: An Ecological-Stress Model

This article presents the premise that resilience rests on an ecological-systems conceptual base that explains how people adapt to stress and maintain their daily functioning. The resilience ecological-stress model presented here uses the ecological-systems perspective, commonly known as the person-environment approach, as a unifying, overarching framework to describe an integrated approach for social work research, education, and practice. It evolved over two decades as theory related to ecological systems theory and risk and resilience approaches were synthesized into a coherent whole.     

Family building: A social psychological study of fertility decisions

Decision theory, coupled with a hierarchically arranged questionnaire format, is discussed as a possible approach to the prediction of birth planning decisions. The empirical success of the scheme is examined in terms of interrelating attitudes, behavioral intention, desired family size, and birth planning behavior.This project was supported by Research Grant HD-07225-01A1 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Center for Population Research, by NICHD Center Grant HD-09397-01 to the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, University of Washington, and by the University of Washington Graduate School Research Projects Fund, from the Public Health Service Biomedical Research Support Grants, Grant #RR07096. The authors thank Dr. Barbara H. Beach for her help with the data analyses. Requests for reprints should be sent to Brenda D. Townes, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195.     

PEACENIKS AND WARMONGERS' FRAMING FRACAS ON THE HOME FRONT:

Research on collective action framing has tended to focus on inter- and intramovement interpretation of grievances, often assuming that hegemonic frames are taken for granted. The Persian Gulf conflict of 1990–1991 offers an empirical opportunity to extend the theoretical boundaries of social movement framing by incorporating, and identifying, the active framing strategies of dominant actors. From this vantage point, we can begin to see in what ways both dominant and oppositional discourses (and policy) are aided and constrained.     

Partnership Choice and Childbearing in Norway and Spain

Cohabitation has, in a number of countries, become a genuine alternative to marriage. Where this occurs, will we see a convergence in fertility behavior between the two partnership options? We address this question by comparing two societies, Norway and Spain, that contrast sharply not only in the evolution of cohabitation, but also in overall birth rates and public support for families. Using the Generations and Gender Survey for Norway (2007/2008) and the most recent Fertility, Family and Values Survey for Spain (2006), we estimate a three-equation multi-process model for selection into a union and fertility in order to take into account unobserved heterogeneity. For Norway, we find a significant association between selection into either partnership type and fertility, whereas for Spain, a newcomer to cohabitation, we find a significant association between fertility and selection into marriage.     

Occupational stress and biomechanical risk in a high fashion clothing company

Psychosocial discomfort may amplify job-related risk factors. The aim of this study is to evaluate job stress in a high fashion clothing company with upper limb biomechanical overload due to repetitive and forceful manual activities. Biomechanical risk was analyzed and in part reduced using the OCRA Check list. A total of 518 workers (433 females and 85 males) were investigated to determine anxiety (by STAI 1 and 2), occupational stress (using the Italian version of the Karasek Job Content Questionnaire) and perception of symptoms. Final biomechanical assessment did not reveal high risk jobs, except for cutting. Although the perception of anxiety and job insecurity was within the normal range, all the workers showed a high level of job strain (correlated with the perception of symptoms) due, probably, to very low decision latitude. It was suggested that job strain may increase the perception of symptoms. Moreover, the result of this study indicates that musculoskeletal overload has to be further analyzed since its low level is not in agreement with the level of discomfort due to the repetitive tasks.     

Assessment for and response to adverse childhood experiences

Literature strongly suggests that early exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) disrupts crucial normal stages of childhood development and predisposes these individuals to subsequent psychiatric sequelae. Even with these data, little is found in nursing literature that discusses ACEs and their impact on adult mental health. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to address how nurses approach communication with clients about and assess for traumatic life experiences. In addition, screening measures for ACEs will be presented, along with discussion about ethical responsibilities of health professionals and researchers in asking about abuse.     

A Study of Labor Allocation Strategies in Cellular Manufacturing

Current research studies in cellular manufacturing have considered environments constrained only by the machine resource, when in fact the flexibility of manufacturing cells is derived mainly from its allocation of the labor resource. This research specifically examines the labor resource in cellular manufacturing, also known as group technology (GT), through a series of simulation experiments on a hypothetical GT shop and recommends conditions under which different labor allocation strategies may be appropriate. The effects of various product routings and scheduling policies on labor allocation are also examined.