Screening for recommended antenatal risk factors: How long does it take?

Background

Detection and management of antenatal risk factors is critical for quality care.

Field education in crisis: experiences of field education coordinators in Canada

Significant multi-layered challenges with delivering quality practicum experiences to social work students have led field education coordinators to release a joint statement that social work field education in Canada is in a state of crisis. This article presents the results of a two-year mixed methods study that sought to investigate and describe the challenges in order to enhance understanding of the crisis from the perspective of Canadian social work field education coordinators. The results indicate that social work education programs in Canada face four key challenges in regard to field education that can be further divided into two sections: (a) the social work practice field and (b) social work field education administration. The two key challenges associated with the social work practice field are: (a) social work practice contexts and realities and (b) practicum shortages and saturation. The two key challenges associated with social work field education administration are: (a) practicum procurement and field instructor recruitment and retention; and (b) expectations and workloads of field education coordinators. To address these challenges, collaborative development of a multi-level strategy aimed at moving beyond the current state of crisis toward a sustainable model of social work field education in Canada is recommended.     

Using Concept Mapping to Develop a Statewide Kinship Care Coalition: A Case Study

Increasingly, community coalitions are being developed to address a myriad of social challenges. However, documented research efforts related to planning processes associated with coalition formation are few. This case-study documents the use of concept mapping (CM) to d elineate a conceptual framework for developing a statewide kinship care coalition in one southeastern state. CM is a mixed-method research approach that analyzes qualitative data via nonmetric multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses. After a review of relevant literature, this article discusses CM processes associated with this endeavor and examines implications for future use of CM for coalition formation and development.     

Rape: is there an app for that? An empirical analysis of the features of anti-rape apps

This study of mobile phone apps designed to prevent sexual violence (n?=?215) is a quantitative analysis of all their features (n?=?807). We analyze the intended users (victims, bystanders, and perpetrators) and rape prevention strategies of each feature, finding that anti-rape app design generally reinforces and reflects pervasive rape myths, by both targeting potential victims and reinforcing stranger-danger. To demonstrate that these limitations are primarily cultural rather than technological, we conclude by imagining apps with similar technical features that resist rather than reinforce rape myths. This study offers an empirical investigation of the relationship between technical design and social norms, and a unique methodology for uncovering the ideologies that underlie design.     

Has the American Public’s Interest in Information Related to Relationships Beyond “The Couple” Increased Over Time?

Finding romance, love, and sexual intimacy is a central part of our life experience. Although people engage in romance in a variety of ways, alternatives to “the couple” are largely overlooked in relationship research. Scholars and the media have recently argued that the rules of romance are changing, suggesting that interest in consensual departures from monogamy may become popular as people navigate their long-term coupling. This study utilizes Google Trends to assess Americans’ interest in seeking out information related to consensual nonmonogamous relationships across a 10-year period (2006–2015). Using anonymous Web queries from hundreds of thousands of Google search engine users, results show that searches for words related to polyamory and open relationships (but not swinging) have significantly increased over time. Moreover, the magnitude of the correlation between consensual nonmonogamy Web queries and time was significantly higher than popular Web queries over the same time period, indicating this pattern of increased interest in polyamory and open relationships is unique. Future research avenues for incorporating consensual nonmonogamous relationships into relationship science are discussed.     

Function-Altering Effects of Rule Phrasing in the Modulation of Instructional Control

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - This study evaluated the effects of four instructional variants on instruction following under changing reinforcement schedules using an operant task based on...     

Improving Profits by Bundling Vertically Differentiated Products

We consider a firm managing a category of vertically differentiated goods, that is, products which differ with respect to an attribute for which all consumers prefer more to less. The goods can be sold individually, in which case they are referred to as components, or in bundles. The firm chooses the assortment of components and bundles and their selling prices to maximize profit. We show that each bundling strategy (pure components, pure bundling or mixed bundling) can be optimal and obtain closed‐form expressions for the optimal selling prices. We provide insights on the structure of the optimal assortment and prices. In particular, we show that, when consumers benefit from consuming the components jointly, the products in the optimal assortment form nested sets. When consumers do not benefit from the joint consumption of components, the bundles should be offered at a positive discount. We find that bundling vertically differentiated products can significantly improve profits, even if consumers do not benefit from consuming the components jointly. The value of bundling comes from increased sales: a firm, which understands that its customers may buy multiple types of components, offers bundles of components, incentivizing customers to buy more.     

Differences Between African Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites Utilization of Clergy for Counseling with Serious Personal Problems

There is a paradox in research on African Americans and non-Hispanic whites in the utilization of clergy. Research finds that African Americans have higher levels of religious service attendance and higher levels of contact with clergy. Research also finds that despite this, African Americans are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to seek out assistance from clergy for psychiatric disorders including depression and anxiety. The goal of this paper was to investigate race differences in the use of clergy for counseling for serious personal problems. It uses the National Survey of American Life. We find that non-Hispanic whites were more likely than African Americans to use clergy for a serious personal problem. The significant difference between African Americans and non-Hispanic whites appeared to be mediated by the fact that African Americans were more likely to have seen clergy in a religious setting and non-Hispanic whites were more likely to have seen clergy in other settings including hospitals.