‘Pick me up and not a down down,up up’: how are the identities of people with aphasia represented in aphasia,stroke and disability websites?

Suddenly acquiring a permanent impairment means a person must learn to think differently (Frank, 1995), and he or she does so partly by telling stories. The most commonly told illness narratives are 'restitution' narratives. People with aphasia (a communication impairment commonly following stroke) surfed aphasia, stroke and disability websites, read the personal stories attached to them, and created their own narratives in response. Charitable and disability-related websites excluded people with aphasia through their tone, content and narrative 'voice.' Engagement with some websites was contingent on subscribing to a specific perspective on aphasia. Personal narratives attached to charitable websites were seen to reflect the organisational stance. In particular, idiosyncracies of aphasic language were often eliminated. When participants constructed their own web pages they replicated the stylistic traits that had previously been criticised. Identities are mercurial and difficult to pinpoint. Further work with people with aphasia using videoclips, soundclips and other non-text-based techniques to create illness narratives is planned.     

Evidence of a Housing Decision Chain in Rural Community Vitality*

Abstract The purpose of this research was to explore and explain the role housing plays in rural community vitality. Community vitality refers to economic strength and social well‐being. In spring 2002 we collected primary interview data from informants in 134 small rural communities in nine north‐central states and identified related secondary data from the U.S. census. We developed a structural‐equation‐path model, which supported a “housing decision chain” that influenced community vitality. Based on this research, local housing decisions do play an important role in community vitality. Strong local leaders use housing planning to secure funding to produce a change in the quantity of housing, which in turn positively influences community vitality. Housing inventory also mediated the effects of total population and percentage population change on community vitality, indicating that housing supply is a fundamental ingredient in community growth strategies. These findings support the conclusion that a combination of housing plans and strategies orchestrated by skilled, committed leadership strengthens rural communities. Heretofore the ling between housing and community vitality has not been investigated; evidence‐based data has been missing from the debate on viable rural community‐development strategies.     

The role of The Boffin as abject Other in gendered performances of school achievement

The gendered subjectivities of high achieving school pupils are examined, demonstrating the uneasy relationship between high educational achievement and peer popularity. Drawing on data from a study involving classroom observation and interviews with 71 high-achieving pupils across nine secondary schools in England, the article focuses on the gendered construction of The Boffin. Judith Butler's work, and Hannah Arendt's conception of pariahs and parvenus, are applied to analyse The Boffin as pariah, and as 'queer' in the classroom. The article explores the ways in which this construction is gendered, and the consequences of its application for girls and boys. It is argued that application of this stigmatised term functioned as a powerful deterrent to 'excessive' performances of achievement, for all pupils. But the risks are particularly acute for boys, to whom the 'naming' of Boffin appeared more readily applied, and for whom marginalization as Boffin appears especially perilous (risking particularly pernicious forms of punishment at the hands of other boys).     

Longitudinal Relations Among Parental Emotional Expressivity and Sympathy and Prosocial Behavior in Adolescence

Concurrent and longitudinal relations among parental emotional expressivity, children's sympathy and children's prosocial behavior were assessed with correlations and structural equation modeling when the children were 55–97 months old (N = 214; M age = 73 months, SD = 9.59) and eight years later (N = 130; ages 150–195 months old, M = 171 months, SD = 10.01). Parent emotional expressivity (positive and negative) and children's sympathy were stable across time and early parent‐reported sympathy predicted adolescents' sympathy and prosocial behavior. Parents' positive expressivity was positively related to sympathy and prosocial behavior, but in adolescence, this was likely primarily because of consistency over time. Early observed parental negative expressivity was negatively related to adolescents' prosocial behavior. Reported negative expressivity in childhood was negatively related to boys' sympathy in childhood and positively related to girls' sympathy behavior in adolescence. The later relation remained significant when controlling for the stability of parental expressivity and sympathy, suggesting an emerging positive relation between the variables for girls.     

Healthy relationship education for dating violence prevention among high-risk youth

A federal grant was awarded to provide the Love U2 healthy relationship curriculum to low-income, high-risk youth. This research sought to examine the relative effectiveness of a brief intervention with this curriculum compared to the much more intensive relationship education programs that have been previously provided to high-risk youth. Data were collected from 233 participants through measures of training and relationship outcomes pre- and post-training. Participants experienced high levels of training satisfaction, significant increases in relationship knowledge and self-efficacy related to conflict resolution. They also experienced a significant improvement in attitudes toward couple violence in the desired direction. Implications of these findings for promoting healthy relationships and reducing dating violence among high-risk youth are discussed.     

Ethical dimensions in trauma research

This article examines the methodological and ethical challenges in studying trauma caused by sexual abuse, poverty, homophobia, and racism. I propose that the challenges of studying trauma add nuance to perennial methodological questions about insider-outsider relations, research techniques, and the possible impact of research on social change. By drawing on a multiracial study I conducted that examined African American, Latina, and white women’s methods of coping with trauma, I trace how issues of identification and overidentification, boundary maintenance, narrative structures, and transference raise new ethical and methodological issues for researchers. I suggest that the longstanding sociological concern with oppression and injustice, and the trauma they often cause, requires continued exploration about why and how questions of ethics and methods are intertwined in trauma research. She is the author ofA Hunger So Wide and So Deep: American Women Speak Out on Eating Problems (U. of Minnesota Press, 1994) and co-editor (with Sangeeta Tyagi) ofBeyond A Dream Deferred: Multicultural Education and the Politics of Excellence (U. of Minnesota Press, 1993) andNames We Call Home: Autobiography on Racial Identity (Routledge, 1995).     

Mexican-American families: A psychoeducational approach for addressing chemical dependency and codependency

Chemical dependency and codependency are often referred to as family problems, and the ways in which families frame these problems may be influenced by their ethnic and cultural background. Increased efforts are being made to help families understand the problems that arise from alcohol and other drug abuse by utilizing approaches that take into consideration their unique cultural aspects. This article reviews some of the ways in which Mexican-American families, in particular, may view chemical dependency and codependency. More importantly, it describes the cultural adaptation of a psychoeducational program to help. Mexican-American parents, primarily mothers whose children are drug involved or who are considered to be at risk for drug use, better address these problems.     

The Impact of the Within My Reach Relationship Training on Relationship Skills and Outcomes for Low‐Income Individuals

A federal grant was awarded to provide the Within My Reach healthy relationships curriculum to low‐income, at‐risk individuals involved with various social service agencies. The effectiveness of this curriculum was evaluated for 202 participants through measures of training and relationship outcomes pre‐, immediately post‐ and 6 months posttraining. Participants experienced high levels of training satisfaction; significant increases in knowledge, communication/conflict resolution skills, and relationship quality; as well as a trend in the reduction of relationship violence. An important implication of this research is that MFTs may broaden their service delivery to at‐risk individuals by collaborating with community agencies to adapt established relationship enhancement programs, evidence‐based tools, and principles that complement traditional couples therapy.