Does Engagement Matter? Marital Intentions and Relationship Quality Among Cohabiting African Americans

Despite growing cohabitation rates, few studies have examined the relationship between engagement status and relationship quality among cohabiting couples, especially among Black Americans. This study used data from 30 cohabiting Black couples (n = 60) to examine whether perceptions of love, commitment, relationship satisfaction, and intimacy problems differ by whether cohabitors are engaged to be married. Results indicated that engaged Black cohabitors reported higher love scores than non-engaged Black cohabitors. They also had slightly more intimacy problems, but only in bivariate models. There were no significant differences in commitment or satisfaction between engaged and non-engaged Black cohabitors. Additional analyses revealed no variation in effect of engagement on relationship quality by gender. Results suggest that practitioners and policymakers should be careful not to make assumptions about relationship quality according to engagement status or gender in cohabiting Black relationships. The meaning and implications of engagement among cohabiting Black Americans may be changing.     

Reverse exchange of healthcare devices: the case of hearing aid equipment in the UK

Abstract

Reverse exchange (RE) in dealing with the return, recycle and reuse of products is receiving a growing focus. When properly handled, RE in healthcare can deliver an economic benefit of cost minimisation and has extensive positive impacts on both human health and the environment (Li and Olorunniwo 2008 Li, X., and F. Olorunniwo. 2008. “An Exploration of Reverse Logistics Practices in Three Companies.” Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 13 (5): 381–386. doi:10.1108/13598540810894979[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) but to date, RE research is mostly limited to pharmaceutical return. This paper investigates the potential for RE benefits in the UK National Health Service (NHS) supply chain for medical devices. Hearing aids supplied to adults with hearing loss are used as an illustrative example. This research applied a consensus approach through the use of dispersed nominal groups in order to obtain qualitative data on information, barriers, solutions and priorities to support findings. Findings illustrate that the end user behaviour of returning the device, and the requirement by NHS Procurement for manufacturers to meet RE targets are secondary to the importance of audiology departments who have the autonomy to design RE processes and successfully implement initiatives. A schematic highlighting the information and materials flow of the supply chain and the barriers and facilitators to RE is presented for hearing aid devices with potential for transferability to other small medical device supply chains.     

Development of the India Patriarchy Index: Validation and Testing of Temporal and Spatial Patterning

Social Indicators Research - While existing indices of gender equality measure the role of women’s status and position, they inadequately contextualize the broader construct of patriarchy, a...     

Confronting the “Threat” of Private Practice

Although an increasing number of social workers are engaging in private clinical practice and a majority of entering MSW students plan to do so, content on private practice is generally not included in MSW curricula. This article reports on a 1992-93 survey of faculty and student attitudes concerning various aspects of studying private practice in MSW programs. It compares the views of the two groups, assesses the implications for social work education, and encourages creative approaches to integrating the realities of professional practice with the traditional values and mission of social work.     

Research Self-Efficacy

This article discusses challenges that educators face in attempting to develop culturally competent social workers who understand the dynamics of oppression and embrace a commitment to promoting social justice. An educational model is described, focusing on the use of an interactive Web forum aimed at providing a safe vehicle for student dialogue. Usage patterns of the website are summarized and data from student evaluations are analyzed. The authors provide recommendations based on evaluating the use of computer technology to meet the challenges inherent in teaching and learning processes related to combining cultural diversity and societal oppression content.     

Working in collaboration—a therapeutic intervention for abused children

In this article we report and reflect upon a service offered in one locality of the UK to children who have been abused. The evaluation shows the value of close working relationships between agencies, and the very positive way that such interventions are viewed by the children and those involved with their care. It is also evident that an eclectic style of therapeutic work is able to produce improvement in aspects of the children's behaviour, most particularly in the area of family life and relationships. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How Can We Train Leaders if We Do Not Know What Leadership Is?

Views of leadership that focus on the traits andbehaviors of the leader are commonly used to developtraining programs. Although these leadership trainingprograms have some application, they suffer from several problems. First, there is no reasonableagreement on what traits or behaviors are leadershiptraits or behaviors. Second, there is no way todifferentiate what makes a good leader from what makes an effective manager or an effective person.And third, people who emerge from these trainingprograms rarely become what anyone might define as goodleaders. A view of leadership as a community development process is explored as an alternative totraditional leadership approaches, and its implicationsfor training and education are discussed.     

A multicriteria decision making model for reverse logistics using analytical hierarchy process

Product recovery activities such as recycling, refurbishing and direct reuse are becoming integral to manufacturing supply chains. This study presents a multicriteria decision making model for reverse logistics using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The AHP model evaluates a hierarchy of criteria and subcriteria, including costs and business relations, for critical decisions regarding network design. Using sensitivity analysis with AHP, the work provides insights into the preference ordering among eight alternative network configurations. For instance, the choice of test sites is largely dependent on the potential for cost savings on testing procedures and transportation of scrap, and this decision is not sensitive to the importance of business relations. By contrast, the choice of collection sites is largely determined by the relative importance of business relations considerations vs. cost considerations. As well, the processing location decision favors a third-party reprocessor if there is little need to protect proprietary product knowledge and cost savings is very important. The model is demonstrated using three case studies of real-world applications.