Training with o (observing) and T (treatment) teams in live supervision: reflections in the looking glass*

Working with a treatment and observing team at the same time, behind the oneway mirror, offers a variety of ways to: (a) generate multiple realities; (b) work with two different models of family therapy simultaneously; and (c) provide feedback on the teams' own roles, rules and group process. The process that 6 trainees and two supervisors used with T and O teams to examine their own coevolution as a therapeutic system using the Milan model of family therapy and Ericksonian hypnotherapy is described. The article concludes with a discussion of the advantages and pitfalls of this type of dual supervision.     

AIDS as a political issue: working with the sexually prostituted in the Philippines

An estimated 200,000-500,000 men, women, and children work in prostitution in the Philippines in a variety of venues, including brothels, nightclubs, pubs, massage parlors, and other legitimate entertainment establishments. Few, however, are voluntary prostitutes. Many people who work as prostitutes have been recruited from the provinces, kept in conditions similar to slavery, and forced to earn money from prostitution to pay for their transportation, board, and lodging. Many prostitutes work in urban centers and tourist resorts in the countryside. During the 1970s, then President Ferdinand Marcos promoted tourism as a major industry, effectively marketing attractive Filipinas to tourists. Sex tourism has flourished in the country ever since. Thousands of prostitutes are also located in Olongapo and Angeles, 2 cities north of Manila, from where they serve the sexual desires of US military personnel. The presence of US military personnel in the Philippines has always been associated with prostitution. The country's social hygiene centers, prostitutes in Manila and Davao, and AIDS education are briefly discussed.     

Socioeconomic, medical care, and public health contexts affecting infant mortality: a study of community-level differentials in Peru

Socioeconomic, medical care, and public health contexts are examined in Peruvian communities for their relationship to infant mortality. A deviant case analysis is used to uncover characteristics important in the social structure of Peruvian communities. Results from fieldwork in two "deviant" communities suggest that economic diversity, income disparity, social class fluidity, and women's autonomy, along with refined measures of medical care and public health resources, are important in understanding differentials in mortality. Attention is drawn to the community context and to the interplay of socioeconomic determinants affecting infant mortality.     

Contemporary immigration: theoretical perspectives on its determinants and modes of incorporation

This article reviews conventional theories about different aspects of labor migration: its origins, stability over time, and patterns of migrant settlement. For each of these aspects, the authors provide alternative explanatory hypotheses derived from the notions of increasing articulation of the international system and the social embeddedness of its various subprocesses, including labor flows. A typology of sources and outcomes of contemporary immigration is presented as a heuristic device to organize the diversity of such movements as described in the empirical literature.     

Remittances from labor migration: evaluations,performance and implications

2 evaluative views of worker remittances draw opposite conclusions. The negative one posits that remittances increase dependency, contribute to economic and political stability and development distortion, and lead to economic decline that overshadows a temporary advantage for a fortunate few. The positive view sees remittances as an effective response to market forces, providing a transition to an otherwise unsustainable development. They improve income distribution and quality of life beyond what other available development resources could deliver. The implications are tested for labor supply countries to Europe and the Middle East. The implications of the negative are not supported. Although the dire predictions of the pessimistic view have not materialized, the converse - contributions of remittances to economic performance - should not be overstated due to a lack of data.     

A relation for the covariances of order statistics from n independent and non-identically distributed random variables

We derive a simple relation satisfied by the covariances of order statistics in the i.i.d. case and then generalize it to the case when the variables are independent and non-identically distributed. This relation could be employed successfully either to check the calculations or to reduce the amount of direct computations involved in evaluating the covariances of order statistics from an outlier model.     

The right to life

In this issue is a lengthy, thought-provoking essay on the issues raised by unwanted pregnancy. Written by Robert Wennberg in 1984 for the Christian Scholar's Review (13:4), the article has been edited and condensed for our purposes and is quite relevant, I believe, for the student health population. Any practitioner who cares for students wrestling with these issues should at least acknowledge the moral and philosophical dilemmas presented. As one who has walked both sides of the argument, I find Wennberg's fair-mindedness compelling. In closing his article, the author raises the question of what will happen when it becomes possible to accomplish an "abortion"--or removal of the fetus from the mother--without killing the fetus. Will this procedure be acceptable to the average single college student? The New York Times, in an article on "High Tech Babies" (February 21, 1986), raised ethical questions posed by the technology of frozen embryos. Who decides what is to be done with frozen embryos? To whom do they belong? Do they have rights? The theoretical issues raised by Wennberg are already forcing themselves upon us. Whether we like it or not, the future is now. Regardless of your beliefs on this controversial topic, I urge you to read this article. Dr. Wennberg has also just completed a book on this subject, Life In The Balance.