Homelessness and the High Performance Cycle: A New Lens for Studying Exit Strategies

ABSTRACT

Although social work scholarship has recognized the presence and utility of goals and goal setting among the homeless, the literature remains underdeveloped. This study evaluates the extent to which the work motivation literature, mostly applied in formal business settings, can improve current understandings of how persons successfully escape homelessness. Specifically, this study focuses on the high performance cycle, a model in organizational behavior research that outlines the specific processes involved in setting and achieving goals and that provides a robust framework for analyzing goal setting among homeless persons. The article compares those who have successfully exited homelessness to those who remain chronically homeless using 40 in-depth, semistructured interviews with homeless center clients in a multicity area in the Intermountain West. Interviews addressed the employment and housing histories of research participants, their views about living unhoused, and their attempts to exit homelessness. The participants' narratives matched themes described in goal-setting research, which suggests the utility of adopting processes outlined by the high performance cycle when assisting clients in exiting homelessness. Social service professionals can benefit by incorporating the goal-setting scholarship in their work with homeless populations. Future research might use quantitative surveys and experiments to determine the generalizability of this exploratory analysis.     

Stochastic modeling of particle movement with application to marine biology and oceanography

We consider some stochastic models that have been proposed for the trajectories of moving objects, including Brownian motion. This leads to the development of a general approach for dealing with paths including the use of functional stochastic differential equations. We then present an empirical example based on the surface drifting movements of a small satellite-linked radio transmitter tag after it detached from a whale shark in the western Indian Ocean. The daily estimates of the tag’s locations were determined from transmissions received at irregular times by polar-orbiting satellites of the Argos Data Collection and Location Service system.     

Determinants of residential Firewise behaviors in Central Oregon

As a result of climate change and past management practices, wildfires are becoming larger and occurring more frequently than ever before in the Western U.S. In order to mitigate the effects of this growing threat, fire management agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service have encouraged residents in at-risk communities to protect their homes, property and communities by adopting Firewise recommendations. Using annual random sample household surveys conducted in fire-prone central Oregon from 2011 to 2013, this study examines the impact of wildfire events (i.e., wildfire exposure and evacuation), risk perception, wildfire plan informedness, proximity to wildlands, and various demographic factors on resident Firewise behavior participation. Findings indicate that residents who have experienced a wildfire event, who are familiar with their county’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan, who perceive wildfire risk to their community, and who live in proximity or within a wildland area, were significantly more likely to engage in Firewise behaviors than those residents without these experiences, orientations or household locations.     

An inconvenient truth: why evidence-based policies on obesity are failing Māori,Pasifika and the Anglo working class

Public health initiatives around obesity have generally worked well for middle class Australians and New Zealanders. This message has not had the same impact in Anglo working class areas and certain CALD communities, especially Māori and Pasifika, where obesity rates remain highest. This paper employs qualitative data from interviews with eighty-five Māori and Pasifika migrants to Australia to explore attitudes to food purchasing and consumption behaviours and associated health risks. It is evident the individual, medicalised approach to improving obesity rates has not been effective and there needs to be a new culturally responsive structural approach. This would require governments to prioritise population health over existing relationships with commercial food manufacturers – especially in relation to spatial domination of commercialised fast food outlets in low socio-economic status districts and in the areas of sports and education sponsorship. We also explore the assumptions of evidence-based health policy more generally, providing a critique of who is represented and served by the commercial solicitation and management of health research. This includes what constitutes ‘evidence’, who is conducting and funding the research, who appraises and compares the data and how is it interpreted and employed.     

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy for Parents Raising a Child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study

Many couples raising children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often resilient in confronting unique parental demands, while others experience greater risk for relational distress. Research has shown that Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT) is efficacious with couples raising chronically ill children and relevant to the relational demands of parents of children diagnosed with an ASD. This pilot study tested the effectiveness of EFT with seven couples presenting with moderate to severe distress, who were also parents of a child diagnosed with an ASD. Results demonstrated significant decreases in marital distress at posttreatment and 6‐month follow‐up. The study also identified several unique themes associated with couple distress and the parenting experiences of this population.     

The Case for Better Maps of Social Service Provision: Using the Holy Cross Dispute to Illustrate More Effective Mapping

Third-sector organizations provide essential services, but not all types of organizations operate equally well given different intensities of public problems. This article argues for maps that would help social service funding bodies. Those maps would include three elements: (1) a measure of service demanded by a community, (2) data on the full range of organizations able to supply those services, and (3) a chart that identifies those organizations that provide services at different intensities of need. By providing information about the supply of organizations in a community, with measures of demand for services, state funding bodies, foundations, and individual philanthropists can make informed decisions about where to allocate funds. An ideal map is illustrated by using the case of the Holy Cross Dispute (2001), whereby a host of voluntary sector organizations provided a voice for residents in this divided Belfast community. The result is a call for more intensive mapping exercises of voluntary sector social service provision.     

The Effect of Negative and Positive Childhood Divorce Experiences on Professional Performers

The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth analysis of divorce by comparing levels of depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and availability of resources between professional performers who were children from divorces considered negative, divorces considered positive or neutral, and professional performers raised in 2-parent households. The results of this study indicated that performers raised in divorced families reported more depression, more anxiety, and lower levels of self-esteem than those who were raised in intact families. Additionally, results indicated that those who were raised in neutral to positive divorced families reported less depression, less anxiety, and higher levels of self-esteem than did those stemming from negatively divorced families. Implications for treatment and directions for future research are presented.