Effect of Brief Staff‐Assisted Career Service Delivery on Drop‐In Clients

Brief staff‐assisted career counseling services based on cognitive information processing theory were evaluated using 138 drop‐in clients who completed pre‐ and postintervention self‐report measures of knowledge about next steps, confidence in making next steps, and anxiety about career concerns. Significant changes occurred in each dimension and were significantly associated with the quality of career adviser interaction. Participants rated the experience as highly positive. Decreases in anxiety about career concerns were unrelated to the intervention. Implications include that a brief service delivery model yields positive outcomes for many clients but requires adjustments in organizational culture, physical environment, practitioner approaches, and client expectations. Future research should examine relational variables related to decreased anxiety with a brief service delivery model, the degree to which this approach works with specific career needs, and client attributes leading to successful versus unsuccessful outcomes with this model.     

Greedy Spouse,Needy Parent: The Marital Dynamics of Gay,Lesbian, and Heterosexual Intergenerational Caregivers

It is well established that married heterosexual women do more intergenerational caregiving for aging parents and parents‐in‐law than married heterosexual men do. However, gay men and lesbian women's recent access to marriage presents new questions about the gendered marital dynamics of intergenerational caregiving. We use dyadic data with gay, lesbian, and heterosexual spouses to examine the marital dynamics of intergenerational caregivers. Results show that gay and lesbian spouses provided intensive time and emotional support for an intergenerational caregiver. In contrast, heterosexual women described their intergenerational caregiving as rarely supported and at times even undermined by their spouse. Dyadic data on heterosexual men corroborate women's accounts; heterosexual men rarely reported providing intergenerational caregiving, and thus heterosexual women rarely described providing spousal support. These findings provide new insight into the intermingled roles of “greedy” marriages and “needy” parents, wherein marital negotiations around caregiving vary by gender for gay, lesbian, and heterosexual marital dyads.     

Life Span Extension in Humans Is Self‐Reinforcing: A General Theory of Longevity

This article proposes that longevity is not merely the result of an absence of mortality but a self‐reinforcing and positively selected life‐history trait in social species. It argues that a small increase in longevity is amplified as (1) reductions in mortality at young ages increase natural selection for mechanisms of maintenance and repair at all older ages as well as increasing the potential for intergenerational transfers; (2) intergenera‐tional transfers of resources from old to young increase fitness (e.g., through improved health, skill, and competitive ability) of the young and thus favor the presence of older individuals in a population; and (3) the division of labor increases both efficiency and innovation at all levels, resulting in increased resources that can be reinvested. This theory is framed around the longevity‐oriented question posed two decades ago by the ger‐ontologist George Sacher, “Why do we live as long as we do?,” rather than the more prevalent question today, “Why do we grow old?” The article describes the foundational principles and the main phases of a model for the evolution of longevity mediated through social organization, and applies the concept specifically to human populations.     

Benefits of caseload midwifery to prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A discussion paper

Background

Exposure to alcohol prenatally can result in a child being diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Affected infants experience lifelong impairments that can involve, physical, cognitive, behavioural and emotional difficulties that impact on their functional capacity. Effective prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is critically needed in Australia. Reduction in the prevalence of this disorder will only be possible if we prevent alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

Temporary territories?: Responses to intrusions in a public setting

Do people create temporary territories in public settings? To address this question, territorial cognitions and behaviors regarding two types of study sites in a library—tables and carrels—were investigated. In the first questionnaire experiment subjects indicated that: carrel sites were more valuable for studying than table sites; they expected they would be more likely to defend a carrel site than a table site; and the perceived causes of carrel and table invasions differed. In the second field study an experimenter occupied seats that subjects had temporarily vacated. Results supported our hypothesis and the questionnaire results of the first experiment. In the carrel condition subjects were more likely to ask for their seat back than in the table condition. Thus, using the stringent demarcation and defense criterion it appears that people do create temporary territories in public spaces. Furthermore, the results suggest a close covariation between territorial cognitions and behavior, and the importance of desirability of locale for both of these. The implications of the results for territorial typologies, animal-human territorial differences, and future research on human territoriality were outlined.     

Rethinking The Care‐Market Relationship In Care Provider Organisations

Care provider organisations are under pressure from funding bodies and regulatory procedures to narrowly construct care in ways that preclude its relational, emotional and social characteristics. This process of subjecting care to a managerialist‐market logic, however, creates tensions between the organisation and its key stakeholders: care recipients, care‐workers and unpaid carers. These tensions are significant and are likely to place organisations under pressure to develop a more holistic approach to care. In addressing this issue, this paper draws upon the concept of bounded emotionality to argue that it is feasible for organisations to be both instrumental and caring, and thereby be responsive to the needs of all of their stakeholders. The paper concludes by discussing some of the practical implications of organisations adopting a framework of bounded emotionality, and suggesting some directions for future research.     

The Uneconomic Growth of Computing

A variety of models have been posited to account for the diffusion of computing technologies; the most widely accepted of these posits the cost-effectiveness of computing as the key inducement to investment in the technology. Alternative models stress less strictly rational considerations. These models have strikingly different implications for the repercussions of computing on staffing and efficiency in organizations. Other researchers have studied these relationships through cross-sectional analysis of aggregate data, without conclusive result. The panel study presented here pursues these relationships over time within 82 private-sector organizations. The analyses presented here do not support expectations that computerization reduces staffing or increases cost-effectiveness of operations.     

INTIMATE JUSTICE: CONFRONTING ISSUES OF ACCOUNTABILITY, RESPECT, AND FREEDOM IN TREATMENT FOR ABUSE AND VIOLENCE

Intimate justice theory is a set of nine interrelated concepts that describe the ethical dimensions of equality, fairness, and care in ongoing partnerships. Understanding ethical dimensions involves examining internalized beliefs and behavior in terms of their motivation and impact on the partner, particularly as they empower, disempower, or abuse power. The concepts of intimate justice theory are applied to confront disempowerment and abuses of power, to challenge internalized beliefs about how one should treat one's partner, to explore how internalized beliefs were developed through experiences in the family of origin, and to develop an awareness of the linkages between intimate partner abuse and social injustice. This article demonstrates how therapists can utilize three of the concepts-accountability, respect, and freedom-to structure the opening phase of treatment for abuse and violence. The primary focus of the opening phase is on establishing accountability for change in the abusive man and protecting the safety of the injured partner. This involves challenging the abuser's sense of entitlement and working to rethink what respect is and restoring freedom to his partner. The discussion incorporates the findings of an exploratory, qualitative study that investigated the experiences of 30 abusive men and their partners who were clients in a university-based counseling clinic. The article elaborates six interventions that can be utilized in clinical settings to structure treatment with abusive men.