Assessing Participation and Effectiveness of the Peer-Led Approach in Youth Sexual Health Education: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis in More Developed Countries

Sexual health education for young people is crucial not only for development of norms but also for protection against vulnerabilities during this stage in life. Although several systematic reviews have examined the effectiveness of peer-led sex education, none have focused on the extent of peer participation. The purpose of this review was to evaluate peer-led sexual health education interventions in more developed countries (MDCs). Electronic and manual searches across five social science, education, and medical databases were conducted. Fifteen articles were selected in total. Most (10 of 15) studies gave low or no responsibility to peers. The majority of articles found improvements in sexual health knowledge (13 of 14) and attitudes (11 of 15) at postintervention stages. Two studies showed improved self-efficacy, and three showed behavioral changes. A preliminary synthesis of effectiveness and level of participation was done. Meta-analysis revealed a large effect on knowledge change (Hedges’ g = 0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.43 to 1.25) and a medium effect on attitude change (Hedges’ g = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.80). Peer-led interventions could be a powerful tool. This review shows that this approach is effective in changing knowledge and attitudes but not behaviors. Further research and action are needed to understand optimal implementation.     

Recruitment and Retention of Latinos in Social Work Education: Building on Students’ Community Cultural Wealth

Spanish-speaking and culturally sensitive social workers are in high demand throughout the country to work with Latino clients. Latinos currently represent about 11% of active social workers, limiting the capacity of social work to effectively address the needs of the Latino population. Despite this shortage, little attention has been paid to the recruitment and retention of Latinos in social work. This article presents a case study that examines a BSW program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, at a bilingual, private college where 90% of students self-identify as Latinos. It details how the BSW program builds on the students’ community cultural wealth to ensure continued recruitment and retention of Latino students. Implications for social work education are discussed.     

Reply to the Commentaries: Of Course,We Do Not Yet Know What it is All About,But Functional Contextualism is a Good Place to Start

In this reply to the commentaries, we note several points of disagreement with Johnson and Greenman on theoretical and empirical grounds. We are particularly surprised by their assumption that attachment has already been established as the key mechanism of change in couple therapy, as our present findings do not support this idea. We also elaborate on Gurman's functional contextualist views and describe why IBCT may be a particularly helpful model for training new couple therapists in a contextualist way.     

The Political Economy of Institutional Landownership: Neorentier Society and the Financialization of Land

In recent decades a substantial shift in landownership has taken place in rural America as millions of acres of land have come under the ownership and control of various financial institutions. This article outlines a political economic framework for explaining and interpreting the significance of this proliferation of institutional investments into rural lands. Focusing on two of the nation's most important rural land resources—timberland and farmland—I suggest that we are witnessing an unprecedented integration between finance capital and landownership that harkens back to previous eras of rentier control. I further suggest that this increasing tendency to treat land as a financial asset—what I refer to as the “financialization of landownership”—gives rise to a number of contradictions that may have profound effects on rural communities across the United States. I conclude with a discussion of a land bubble and the role of institutional landowners in pushing up land prices in both timberland and farmland markets.     

The Distribution of Returns to Education for People with Disabilities

This article takes a first look at the distribution of returns to education for people with disabilities, a particularly disadvantaged group whose labor market performances have not been well studied or documented. Using a nonparametric approach, we uncover significant heterogeneity in the returns to education for these workers, which is drastically masked by conventional parametric methods. Based on these estimates, we construct the Sharpe ratio of human capital investment (taking into account its substantial risk), and our results corroborate the claimed importance of human capital in improving these workers’ wages. Our stochastic dominance tests show that the returns to education for workers with disabilities, as a group, may have been affected more adversely in the most recent recession, relative to their non-disabled counterparts.     

Muriel Dimen Interviewed by Andrew Samuels in the Context of the Publication of Her Book Sexuality,Intimacy, Power

Samuels interviewed Dimen in lieu of a book review for her Sexuality, Intimacy, Power. The interview was unstructured and dialogical and covered the following main topics: (a) professional issues in the field of psychoanalysis such as the relation of theory to practice and reflections on the nature and content of trainings in psychoanalysis; (b) issues in the broad areas of sexuality and gender including the question of moral relativism with respect to sexual behaviors historically designated as “perverse” and considerations of masculinity, femininity, and patriarchy; (c) intellectual considerations such as the relations between anthropology and psychoanalysis and the as yet indeterminate nature of the discipline of psychoanalysis, neither art nor science and not a hybrid of the two; and (d) the political, social, and cultural contexts within which psychoanalytic endeavors including the interview itself are taking place.     

Getting Real About Food Prices

The 2008 spike in world grain prices is widely recognised to have had serious impacts on food security and poverty, but these high grain prices are commonly described as low in historical terms – an inconsistency resulting from the use of advanced‐ and global‐economy price indices in calculating real prices. This ignores the high share of food in poor people's expenditures and the indirect effects of income growth on expenditure patterns of rich consumers. Poor consumers have not experienced the same falls in real food prices and are more vulnerable to price shocks. Different price indices must be developed to take account of differences between consumer groups.     

No sign of harm: issues for disabled children communicating about abuse

While all children may be the victims of abuse, disabled children are particularly vulnerable. This paper explores the views of professionals working with children using alternative/augmented communication systems on the issues relating to communication about abuse. Interviews were carried out with 20 staff from eight establishments for disabled children across Scotland. It describes the range of alternative/augmented communication systems used and the barriers to communication about abuse. Staff generally accepted the importance of providing the appropriate vocabulary in augmented communication systems, but systems that provide such vocabulary were not widely used. Staff considered that a major difficulty concerned the level of understanding disabled children might have about concepts of abuse. They were unsure how the appropriate vocabulary could be introduced in a natural way and how links could be made between the signs and their meanings. Staff saw themselves as those most able to protect the children, but it was felt that discovery of abuse was more likely to come from them noticing physical signs, behaviour or mood changes than from the child communicating explicitly about abuse. The need for appropriate training and increased coordination between social work, health and education is highlighted. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dog team walking: inter-corporeal identities,blindness and reciprocal guiding

As part of a broader sensory ethnographic exploration of place perception amongst international students who have recently arrived in Manchester (England), I conducted walking interviews with Abbie, who is from Barcelona and has a visual impairment. My work with Abbie and her dog-guide, Labrador Toni, offered me the opportunity to explore the development of emplaced knowledge as embodied, multi-sensory practice. As we walked as a three-in-one corporeal entity we operated as an inter-subjective being, challenging individualizing constructions of the self. During our interviews the importance of inter-corporeal space, the spaces between us, in facilitating our abilities to guide and follow each other was realized. For me as a researcher, this collaboration also afforded a re-prioritization of sensory awareness that feeds into a critique of ocular-centric approaches to research.