Treatment and Prevention of Elder Abuse and Neglect: Where Knowledge and Practice Meet—A Model for Intervention to Prevent and Treat Elder Abuse in Israel

Successful handling of elder abuse and neglect requires various interventions. This article presents findings from an evaluation study of a model for intervention implemented in three municipalities in Israel. Data from 558 older adults, exposed to abuse and treated through the program, and interviews with victims, abusers, and professionals revealed that improvement was achieved in 66% of the cases. In 20% of the cases, the abuse was stopped. The most widespread type of intervention consisted of individual counseling. Legal intervention yielded the highest rate of improvement (82%). Provision of supportive services for victims of neglect was found to be most effective (82% of improvement in the situation).     

M/Otherland

This article introduces El Vez, an important performance artist and musician, whose translation of Elvis extends far beyond local audiences. In our historical moment of shrinking public outlets for the circulation and discussion of alternative and oppositional perpectives, his creator, Robert Lopez, has opened up a discursive space – on the terrain of popular music, in the unlikely genre of Elvis impersonation – that enables both critique of the status quo and dialogue concerning progressive social transformation. This article investigates Lopez's artful superimpositions of Chicana and Chicano realities and cultural icons on to the iconography, soundings and lyrics that cluster around Elvis, and claims that Lopez subverts both the myth of ‘Elvis as the embodiment of the American Dream’ and the reactionary assumption that American national identity and cultural belonging are (or should be) equated with exclusionary representations of whiteness. This article also argues that the content of his live and recorded stage shows (which are part strip-tease, part Chicana/o studies, part labour history, and part history of popular music course) respond to hegemonic discourses that fault racialized immigrants and working-class people for the consequences of global economic restructuring, and that his aesthetics of resistance subvert both dominant and subaltern dictates for strict, unyielding definitions of identity, sexuality and citizenship. Finally, it suggests that the positive reception of Lopez's performances by racialized, marginalized, displaced and economically outcast youth in Germany speaks to an identification with Chicana/o struggles that is not based on a specific ethnicity, but instead on an articulation of oppositional politics. In this context, Lopez's music enables the possibility of building coalitions beyond the constraints of the nation-state.     

Impact of Traumatic Events on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among Danish Survivors of Sexual Abuse in Childhood

Childhood sexual abuse can be extremely traumatic and lead to lifelong symptomatology. The present study examined the impact of several demographic, abuse, and psychosocial variables on posttraumatic stress disorder severity among a consecutive sample of treatment-seeking, adult child sexual abuse survivors (N = 480). The child sexual abuse sample was characterized by severe trauma exposure, insecure attachment, and significant traumatization, with an estimated 77% suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, more than twice the level of the comparison group. Regression analyses revealed risk factors associated with the development of posttraumatic stress disorder in which the strongest predictors being additional traumas, negative affectivity, and somatization. The findings add to existing research confirming the stressful nature of child sexual abuse and the variables that contribute to the development and severity of posttraumatic stress disorder.     

Development of the Geographical Proportional-to-size Street-Intercept Sampling (GPSIS) method for recruiting urban nightlife-goers in an entire city

Abstract

We developed the Geographical Proportional-to-size Street-Intercept Sampling (GPSIS) method in order to obtain a sample of nightlife-goers which accounted for the diversity of spaces, patrons and locations within two Swiss cities. Popular nightlife zones were identified and quantified using social media data and local experts’ knowledge. Young people were recruited in the streets on Friday and Saturday nights on three consecutive weekends using the ‘fixed-line method, pro-rated for the zone’s estimated popularity. Of the 3092 young adults approached, 896 agreed to pre-register. The importance of recruitment in multiple zones and over multiple weekend-days was evidenced by significant variations in participant demographics and registration rates between recruitment zones, times and weather conditions. To conclude, by combining a geographical approach with in situ recruitment, GPSIS has considerable potential as a tool for recruiting samples that represent the diversity of the nightlife population and spaces.     

Making the developmental system work better for children: lessons learned implementing an innovative programme

Pathways to Prevention is an early prevention project founded on developmental systems theory operating through a schools‐community agency‐university partnership in a socially disadvantaged area of Brisbane. Circles of Care is a Pathways programme also implemented on a small scale by the same agency in a regional city. The Circles programme is designed to strengthen connections between schools, families and community services, and harmonize activities in these settings by surrounding children with identified needs with a supportive group of adults. A Circle, which includes at least the child, parent(s), teacher and agency staff, sets goals, mobilizes resources for the child, family and school, and monitors progress. The client is conceptualized not as the child but as a dysfunctional developmental system, with better outcomes for children as the ultimate goal. Qualitative evaluation at the two sites showed that while Circles worked well at the level of practical support and relationship building and did achieve good child outcomes, its capacity to achieve collaborative practice and strengthen system relations was limited by entrenched organizational structures and cultures. However, one site, with more support for collaboration across organizational boundaries, suggested that system alignment is achievable on a larger scale with vision and leadership for organizational reform.     

The hub continent. Immigrant networks, emigrant diasporas and FDI

This paper studies the relations between bilateral FDIs and immigrant networks of France, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain, and the emigrant diasporas of Italy and Spain. It focuses on skilled and unskilled immigrants and on ties with developing and developed countries. Results evidence two different network models: FDIs of UK, Germany and France are prompted by the ties of skilled immigrants, while those of Italy and Spain are only influenced by their respective diasporas. The disparity may stem from history. Differently from the findings of previous literature, the effects of networks with developing countries are similar to those with rich economies.     

Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor polymorphism rs2229765 and circulating interleukin-6 level affect male longevity in a population-based prospective study (Treviso Longeva--TRELONG)

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signaling modulation has been associated with increased lifespan in model organisms, while high levels of circulating interleukin-6 (IL-6) are a marker of disability and mortality. In the prospective, population-based "Treviso Longeva"--TRELONG Study from Italy (n = 668, age range 70-105.5 years at baseline, followed for seven years) we investigated the effects of survival on the IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) gene polymorphism rs2229765, the IL-6 gene promoter polymorphism rs1800795, and plasma concentrations of IGF-1 and IL-6, alone or in combination. We found a sex-dependent effect for the IGF-1R rs2229765 polymorphism, as male carriers of the homozygous A/A genotype survived longer, while the IL-6 rs1800795 genotype did not influence overall or sex-specific longevity. Higher IL-6 levels were more detrimental for survival among males than females, while IGF-1 had no dose-response effect. These findings sustain the hypothesis that sex-specific longevity relies on detectable differences in genetic and biochemical parameters between males and females.     

Black Adoption Placement and Research Center at 25: placing African-American children in permanent homes (1983-2008)

The Black Adoption Research and Placement Center is a nonprofit organization delivering culturally specific adoption and foster care services. The organization developed as a response to concerns in the African-American community about the high numbers of African-American children entering and not exiting the public foster care system. The organization has undergone significant transformations over its 25-year history in relation to social, political, and economic changes that have altered the ways that the agency finances and delivers services. The history of Black Adoption Research and Placement Center presents an organization that has weathered many challenges because of its strong leadership, its committed governing body, its external relationships, and its internal operations.     

Noisy zones of proximal development: Conversation in noisy classrooms

Despite the importance of context in studies of language use, sociolinguists have ignored the impact of noise on conversational interaction. This inattention is of particular concern in classrooms where language is a learning tool. Our research on interaction in noisy settings took place in English language elementary school classrooms with students in grades 3, 5, and 7, whose first language was English. Students were observed during regular classroom activities. Employing a novel method, in which students wore ear‐level microphones, we obtained stereophonic recordings of the noise and conversation that reached each listener's ears. A dosimeter measured the noise levels in each classroom. Analyses of students’ patterns of conversation suggest that noise levels impeded the intended development of complex conversational interaction and collaborative learning. This study also questions the place of acoustics in understanding context, and the significance of the hearer's perspective in sociolinguistic studies of conversational interactions.