Variables Affecting Readiness to Benefit From Career Interventions

This article identifies and briefly describes the broad range of variables that may influence clients’ readiness to benefit from career interventions. The article also discusses consequences of low readiness for effective use of career interventions and addresses implications for practice as well as for future research. Variables contributing to low readiness for effective use of career interventions include personal characteristics and circumstances; knowledge of self, options, and decision making; and prior experience with career interventions. Consequences of low readiness for using career interventions include premature disengagement, negative perception of skills and interests, selective acquisition of incomplete information, premature choice foreclosure, protracted exploration, dependent decision‐making style, and poor evaluation of options.     

Growth curve analysis of complete and incomplete longitudinal data

Growth curve analysis is reviewed for both complete and incomplete data structures. Specific attention is paid to the incomplete data model of Kleinbaum and its applicability to the mixed longitudinal study. Design considerations and efficiency for various incomplete longitudinal studies are also discussed.     

REVISITING KEY ISSUES ABOUT COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR,ORGANIZING, AND ROLE ENACTMENT

This article addresses the benefits of using a structural code and a role analysis framework for conducting organizational research in the context of a disaster. In the present article, I apply that code and framework to Thomas Forrest's earlier analysis of a organization, the Interfaith Emergency Center (IEC), that emerged during the Detroit civil disturbance of 1967. Kreps' structural code is applied to the same set of interviews and documents that constituted the database for Forrest's original case study (Disaster Research Center data archives). I first document the origins and restructuring of the IEC using the structural code. I then perform a role level analysis that builds on Bosworth and Kreps' three dimensional framework. That framework addresses the expectational, relational, and behavioral dimensions of role enactment. Revisiting Forrest's original study results in a more theoretically rich analysis of how and why the IEC emerged in the way that it did during the emergency period.     

The Role of Implied Motion in Engaging Audiences for Health Promotion: Encouraging Naps on a College Campus

Abstract

Objective: Lack of sleep among college students negatively impacts health and academic outcomes. Building on research that implied motion imagery increases brain activity, this project tested visual design strategies to increase viewers’ engagement with a health communication campaign promoting napping to improve sleep habits. Participants: Participants (N = 194) were recruited from a large southwestern university in October 2012. Methods: Utilizing an experimental design, participants were assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: an implied motion superhero spokes-character, a static superhero spokes-character, and a control group. Results: The use of implied motion did not achieve the hypothesized effect on message elaboration, but superheroes are a promising persuasive tool for health promotion campaigns for college audiences. Conclusions: Implications for sleep health promotion campaigns and the role of implied motion in message design strategies are discussed, as well as future directions for research on the depiction of implied motion as it relates to theoretical development.     

Cycles of shame: Menstrual shame,body shame,and sexual decision‐making

Although numerous factors have been implicated in women's sexual decision‐making, less attention has been focused on how their feelings about their bodies and reproductive functions affect these processes. Recent findings link menstrual shame to lower levels of sexual activity and higher levels of sexual risk; however, the mechanisms behind these relations remain unexplored. Accordingly, this study investigates the contributions of menstrual shame and global body shame to sexual decision‐making among 199 undergraduate women. Using structural equation modeling, we evaluated a mediated model, whereby menstrual shame is indirectly associated with sexual decision‐making via body shame. As expected, women who reported feeling more comfort about menstruation also reported more body comfort and, in turn, more sexual assertiveness, more sexual experience, and less sexual risk.     

Effects of a single outlier on arma identification

Fox (1972), Box and Tiao (1975), and Abraham and Box (1979) have proposed methods for detecting outliers in time series whose ARMA form is known (or identified). We show that the existence of a single aberrant observation, innovation, or intervention causes an ARMA model to be misidentified using unadjusted autocorrelation (acf) and partial autocorrelation estimates. The magnitude, location, type of outlier, and in some cases the ARMA's parameters, affect the identification outcome. We use variance inflation, signal-to-noise ratios, and acf critical values to determine an ARMA model's susceptibility to misidentifi-cation. Numerical and simulation examples suggest how to iteratively use the outlier detection methods in practice.     

Research Notes

In the summer of 1995, a required MSW course was taught simultaneously to two sections of students at the University of Georgia, 11 on the main campus and 9 at a branch campus. Each section was alternately taught using live instruction or distance learning (two-way interactive television). At the conclusion of the course, students evaluated each method of teaching using Biner’s (1993) instrument for measuring attitudes toward televised courses. Live instruction was rated significantly higher than distance learning. Although distance learning technology has potential for augmenting social work educational resources, it has not yet demonstrated comparable outcomes in terms of student learning.