Past and new victimization among African American female drug users who participated in an HIV risk-reduction intervention

This study examined to what extent a women- and culturally-specific sexual risk reduction intervention resulted in a decline of new victimization intervention. Additionally, we sought to identify factors associated with new victimization, defined as victimization during the 6 months after enrollment in the study. Female African American drug users (N = 333, ages 18-59 years) completed questionnaires. Past victimization was a major predictor of new victimization. The likelihood of new victimization, however, declined significantly when compared to past victimization. Factors associated with victimization included enhanced intervention assignment, frequency of drug use, lifestyle factors such as criminal behavior, drug use in a public setting, and living in an unstable situation. Results indicate the need to incorporate strategies to reduce victimization in HIV/AIDS and other health-related prevention and intervention programs.     

Sense of belonging and depressive symptoms among GLB adolescents

Research has indicated that gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) adolescents are at an increased risk of mental health problems. Research has also indicated that experiencing a sense of belonging is important for one's mental health. This study investigated sense of belonging to the general community and sense of belonging to a GLB specific youth group (Minus18) as predictors of depressive symptoms among self-identified GLB adolescents (N = 99). Participants completed the Sense of Belonging Instrument and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results showed that although sense of belonging to the general community and sense of belonging to the Minus18 community were both directly related to depression, only sense of belonging to the general community contributed significantly to the prediction of depression when they were entered simultaneously in a regression analysis. Results also showed that sense of belonging to the general community mediated the relation between sense of belonging to the Minus18 community and depression. These findings suggest that interventions aimed at increasing sense of belonging to a GLB-specific community are likely to be of indirect benefit to the mental health of GLB adolescents, whereas interventions aimed at increasing sense of belonging to the general community are likely to be of direct benefit to the mental health of GLB adolescents.     

Finding Known Journal Articles: Comparing a Citation Linker to an A-to-Z List

OpenURL links provide access to full-text articles from citation databases; however, end users who have found citations outside of library databases must find the full text of their journal articles another way. Many OpenURL link resolvers offer a citation finder service which allows the end user to search for specific known items at the article level. This paper studies the usability of the “citation linker” search from Ex Libris' SFX®. Twenty-one volunteers tested finding known journal articles using both a standard A-to-Z list and SFX' citation linker search. The researchers compare results from the two search interfaces, document the problems found, recommend which interface makes the best default search interface, and suggest improvements to the citation linker interface.     

“Involved in something (involucrado en algo)”: Denial and stigmatization in Mexico’s “war on drugs”

This article responds empirically to the question posed by Stan Cohen about “why, when faced by knowledge of others’ suffering and pain—particularly the suffering and pain resulting from what are called ‘human rights violations’—does ‘reaction’ so often take the form of denial, avoidance, passivity, indifference, rationalisation or collusion?”. Our context is Mexico's “war on drugs.” Since 2006 this “war” has claimed the lives of around 240,000 Mexican citizens and disappeared around 60,000 others. Perpetrators include organized criminal gangs and state security services. Violence is pervasive and widely reported. Most people are at risk. Our study is based on qualitative interviews and focus groups involving 68 “ordinary Mexicans” living in five different Mexican cities which have varying levels of violence. It investigates participant proximity to the victims and the psychological defense mechanisms they deploy to cope with proximity to the violence. We found that 62 of our participants knew, directly or indirectly, one or more people who had been affected. We also found one dominant rationalization (defense mechanism) for the violence: that the victims were “involved in something” (drugs or organized crime) and therefore “deserved their fate.” This echoes prevailing state discourses about the violence. We argue that the discourse of “involved” is a discourse of denial that plays three prominent roles in a highly violent society in which almost no-one is immune: it masks state violence, stigmatizes the victims, and sanctions bystander passivity. As such, we show how official and individual denial converge, live, and reproduce, and play a powerful role in the perpetuation of violence.     

More Participation,Happier Society? A Comparative Study of Civil Society and the Quality of Life

A ‘good society’ has recently been portrayed as one in which citizens engage in voluntary associations to foster democratic processes. Arguably, such a good society is considered as one where people are content with their own lives as well as public life. We consider whether participation in civil society leads to more satisfied individuals on the one hand and a better evaluation of society at a country level on the other. With data from the first round of the European Social Survey, we illustrate that participation in voluntary associations not only depends on individual characteristics, but that there is a clear country-level effect on civil society. This can be explained with measures of quality of society after socio-demographic determinants have been controlled for. Nonetheless, it remains difficult to say what comes first: a ‘good society’ or a thriving civil society.

Écrire l’incertitude. Le travail à bord des navires de commerce entre stabilisations,prises de risques et responsabilisations

Because of the many sources of uncertainty and opportunities for separation between sailors and the ship, work on board a merchant ship requires a panoply of tools that contribute to the continuity of activity and the identification of active agents. Writing is one of these instruments. Observation of the ship's different written media reveals the difficulty and, at the same time, the need for this organization to be maintained. They reveal the existence of a particular connection between land and sea, while raising issues of responsibility.     

Child Well‐Being: What Does It Mean?

The notion of child well‐being appears in a large number of publications nowadays. Our review of the literature underlines both the oddly pathogenic approach to child well‐being and the scarcity of papers discussing a still poorly defined notion. Through this review, we identified the recourse to a binary language; from there, we derived five theoretical axes that heed the multidimensional and multilevel nature of well‐being, although for each one, a pole is here predominantly developed. We argue in favour of an override of a one‐dimensional, single‐level, unipolar approach to child well‐being and an exploration of its otherwise underdeveloped positive, hedonic, subjective, spiritual and collective dimensions.     

加拿大与美国都市圈内政府治理差异分析

本文探讨地方公共机构尤其是地方行政机构如何改变其结构和手段,以应对新的地区化和都市化的挑战。通过分析35个美国和加拿大的城市群,评估政府机构在多大程度上采用了怎样的方法去规划、实施和监督都市化政策,并重点研究都市圈机构和都市圈的财税政策。     

Perspectives of Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse: An Exploration of the Adjustments to Self-Structure through Meaning-Making in Therapy

This critical literature review explored how adult survivors of child sexual abuse experienced adjustments to their self-structure through meaning-making in therapy. Following extensive searches of academic databases, 15 studies were identified for review. Using thematic analysis, eight themes emerged. The eight identified themes of trust, acknowledgement, evolution, acceptance, integration, congruence, relational, and agency represented distinct but interrelated components of self-structure. The findings also indicated that self-structure components may be both intra- and interrelational in nature and that movement in one theme may facilitate movement in another. While recognizing that the nature of the research captured a composite of experiences, it was found that there was a consistent movement and fluidity as to how participants arrived at an adjusted position for each of the themes. A suggested theoretical framework was developed showing the components of the self-structure impacted by meaning-making and the nature of the adjustments made. Recommendations are made regarding future research.