Sexual Abuse in Malawi: Patterns of Disclosure

Potential human immunodeficiency virus transmission makes prompt disclosure of child sexual abuse in Africa critical. The pattern of disclosure of 133 children presenting to the largest hospital in Malawi were analyzed. Eighty percent presented early enough for effective use of HIV postexposure prophylaxis. Seventy-five percent of children made a disclosure of child sexual abuse; 29% spontaneously and 47% after prompting. Disclosures were most commonly made to a parent, and age did not affect the pattern of disclosure. The number of children reporting child sexual abuse is increasing, possibly because of increasing awareness, availability of services, and fear of HIV. Although prompt disclosure rates were relatively high, facilitating easier disclosure of child sexual abuse by a free telephone help-line and better training of teachers may be helpful.     

Alzheimer's in the Workplace: A Challenge for Social Work

It is estimated that 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder (ADRD) with approximately 500,000 of these persons younger than 65. Moreover, the number of people affected by the disease will increase 350% by the middle of this century. Although research exists on organizational policies with regard to caregivers, very little is known about how organizations deal with employees themselves who show symptoms of ADRD. This article reports on a pilot study of employers' responses to dementia as it impacts both caregiving employees and employees who themselves show signs of cognitive impairment.     

Paddock Rites: Integrative Ritual in the Racing Community*

This paper explores a focal ritual in the community of horseracing known as the paddock. Using data gathered through participant observation, the author interprets the paddock ritual within the context of the racing community and its status hierarchy. The ritual integrates members of the racing community in relation to their social prestige and thus contributes to the social order. The paddock accomplishes this integrative function by according marginal members of the racing community temporary public recognition and acknowledgement of their contributions, both of which mitigate the alienation these individuals routinely experience.     

Relationship power,decision making,and sexual relations: an exploratory study with couples of Mexican origin

This study explored how couples of Mexican origin define power in intimate relationships, what makes men and women feel powerful in relationships, and the role of each partner in decision making about sexual and reproductive matters. Interviews were conducted with each partner of 39 sexually active couples and data were analyzed using content analysis. Results indicate that power is perceived as control over one s partner and the ability to make decisions. Women say they feel more powerful in relationships when they make unilateral decisions and have economic independence. Men feel powerful when they have control over their partner and bring home money. Respondents agreed that women make decisions about household matters and children, while men make decisions related to money. Findings indicate that whereas couples share decision making about sexual activities and contraceptive use, men are seen as initiators of sexual activity and women are more likely to suggest condom use.     

Enhancing victim empathy for sex offenders

Victim empathy is a widely used component of sex offender treatment throughout North America and Great Britain. Yet, it has been controversial over the past few years. One of the complications involves giving empathy a solid definition. Empathy was defined as the capacity to express compassion for victims. A multi-level system was developed to help specify the definition. The second issue concerns which methods to use in enhancing victim empathy. A variety of techniques are provided as specific ways in which clinicians can help enhance an offender's empathy level.     

How Will We Know It When We See It? Conceptualizing the Ethical Organization

How might one conceptualize the ethical organization? The argument presented here is that the truly ethical organization accentuates three main components. First it must be law-abiding in its basic execution of its organizational ethical responsibility. Second, the organization must exercise strong ethical leadership in its day-to-day operations and policies. Finally, at the organizational level, there must be ongoing monitoring processes ensuring compliance of the organization. Specific techniques for consistent, ongoing monitoring and enforcement of ethical compliance by an objective party are described.     

Self-Help for Grandmothers Parenting Again

Increasingly, grandmothers are parenting grandchildren in homes where parental presence is sporadic or nonexistent. A disproportionate percentage of African American grandparents fall in this category. The author reviews the literature on the African American grandmother in the context of the African American family and describes a practice model for service provision to those women who seek support as they parent again.     

The sovereign state v Foucault: law and disciplinary power

A Foucauldian analysis of discourse and power relations suggests that law and the juridical field have lost their pre–eminent role in government via the delegated exercise of sovereign power. According to Foucault, the government of a population is achieved through the wide dispersal of technologies of power which are relatively invisible and which function in discursive sites and practices throughout the social fabric. Expert knowledge occupies a privileged position in government and its essentially discretionary and norm–governed judgements infiltrate and colonise previous sites of power. This paper sets out to challenge a Foucauldian view that principled law has ceded its power and authority to the disciplinary sciences and their expert practitioners. It argues, with particular reference to case law on sterilisation and caesarean sections, that law and the juridical field operate to manipulate and control expert knowledge to their own ends. In so doing, law continually exercises and re–affirms its power as part of the sovereign state. Far from acting, as Foucault suggests, to provide a legitimating gloss on the subversive operations of technologies of power, law turns the tables and itself operates a form of surveillance over the norm–governed exercise of expert knowledge.