‘I Became a Mom’: Identity Changes in Mothers Receiving Public Assistance

ABSTRACT

This phenomenological study used individual, semistructured, face-to-face interviews to explore motherhood experiences among 15 women receiving public assistance in a large urban area on the West coast. A primary phenomenon observed was that motherhood was described as an experience of identity change, with resulting emotional, behavioral, and sense-of-self changes. Within this broad theme, two categories emerged: the experience and process of change, and consequences of change. It was concluded that motherhood may serve as an important catalyst for change in some women and that the context of poverty is essential for understanding the motherhood experience. These results suggest that interventions aimed at leveraging emerging motherhood identities may be beneficial in setting women on the path out of poverty, drug addiction, and incarceration. Future research should examine the consequences of maternal change within the specific context of the stages of change documented in the recovery process from drug addiction.     

A Look at State‐Level Risk Assessment in the United States: Making Decisions in the Absence of Federal Risk Values

State environmental agencies in the United States are charged with making risk management decisions that protect public health and the environment while managing limited technical, financial, and human resources. Meanwhile, the federal risk assessment community that provides risk assessment guidance to state agencies is challenged by the rapid growth of the global chemical inventory. When chemical toxicity profiles are unavailable on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Integrated Risk Information System or other federal resources, each state agency must act independently to identify and select appropriate chemical risk values for application in human health risk assessment. This practice can lead to broad interstate variation in the toxicity values selected for any one chemical. Within this context, this article describes the decision‐making process and resources used by the federal government and individual U.S. states. The risk management of trichloroethylene (TCE) in the United States is presented as a case study to demonstrate the need for a collaborative approach among U.S. states toward identification and selection of chemical risk values while awaiting federal risk values to be set. The regulatory experience with TCE is contrasted with collaborative risk science models, such as the European Union's efforts in risk assessment harmonization. Finally, we introduce State Environmental Agency Risk Collaboration for Harmonization, a free online interactive tool designed to help to create a collaborative network among state agencies to provide a vehicle for efficiently sharing information and resources, and for the advancement of harmonization in risk values used among U.S. states when federal guidance is unavailable.     

Does Fundraising Professionalization Pay?

Although fundraising organizations in the third sector have gone through a progressive professionalization process, it remains unclear whether this development has led to any financial benefits. This article focuses on the question of whether or not it pays off for fundraising organizations to invest in professionalization. The data for this study come from 165 organizations representing 45 percent of the Swiss fundraising market. We first propose the term “organizational fundraising capability” as a new construct for measuring the degree of professionalization and rationalization in fundraising management. We then analyze its relationship to overall net revenue from donations as well as the growth of net revenue from donations. Our analysis indicates that, in addition to organizational size measured by total revenue, revenue share from donations, and expansion strategy, fundraising capability makes an important contribution to explaining both an institution's net revenue from fundraising and the level of increase in net donations. The consequences for the development of professionalization and rationalization in fundraising are discussed.     

Chilean Adaptation and Validation of the Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale–Short Form

The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of a short version of the Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale (FDAS–SF; Fisher, 1978) in the Chilean context. Participants were 260 individuals who were divorced or separated. The FDAS–SF included 22 of the original 100 items, and its factorial structure was evaluated using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Instead of the 6 original subscales proposed by its author, the structure that showed the best fit to the data was composed of 5 subscales: self-worth, disentanglement from the ex-partner, anger, grief, and social trust. The social self-worth subscale was excluded. Reliability analyses revealed good internal consistency of the subscales and adequate convergent validity with depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction. Given the psychometric properties of this short version, it can be concluded that the FDAS–SF can be used in the Chilean context to evaluate the adjustment to divorce and separation.     

Unintended Consequences of Land Rights Reform: The Case of the 1998 Uganda Land Act

Empirical studies of land rights privatisation have tended to underemphasise the unintended impacts of land rights reform relative to establishing whether the predicted impacts have occurred. This article, in reviewing some of the unintended consequences of the 1998 Uganda Land Act, draws attention to ways in which intended impacts may be undercut by lack of both consultation and foresight in anticipating responses to new legal provisions and by lack of adequate resourcing of the reform process. It also recognises that unintended outcomes may sometimes reflect appropriate adaptations of legal provisions at the local level, and briefly considers what light the Ugandan experience can throw on recent proposals for Normalisation of informal property rights in the Third World.     

Determinants of Migrant Career Success: A Study of Recent Skilled Migrants in Australia

Australia has been aggressively pursuing skilled migrants to sustain its population and foster economic growth. However, many skilled migrants experience a downward career move upon migration to Australia. Based on a survey of recent skilled migrants, this study investigates how individual (age, years of settlement, qualifications), national/societal (citizenship and settlement), and organization-level (climate of inclusion) factors influence their career success. Overall, we found that: (1) age at migration matters more than length of settlement in predicting skilled migrant career success; (2) citizenship uptake and living in a neighbourhood with a greater number of families from the same country of origin facilitate post-migration career success; and (3) perceptions of one's social/informal networks in the workplace – a dimension of perceived organizational climate of inclusion – also have a positive impact on migrant career outcomes.     

Identity and Self-Presentation in the House/Ball Culture: A Primer for Social Workers

Members of the house/ball subculture, a segment of the population of young men and transgendered people of color who have sex with men in the United States, are examined in relationship to self-identity and presentation. To enhance cultural awareness and understanding for helping professionals, historical backdrop, categories of identity, theoretical applications, and insight concerning the social network and fluidity of self within the house/ball community are described and examined. Case illustrations demonstrate the importance of cultural competence concerning this marginalized population, especially when considering HIV prevention and care, health disparities, violence, and poverty.     

Social Trust and E-Commerce: Experimental Evidence for the Effects of Social Trust on Individuals' Economic Behavior

In this study, an experimental design embedded in a nationalsurvey is used to examine the impact of social trust on participationin e-commerce. To what extent does generalized trust in peopleinfluence economic behavior, particularly in newly establishedrealms such as the Internet? Although some previous work hasposited a role for social trust in encouraging both e-commerceand economic development more generally, evidence has been basedon cross-sectional associations and, primarily, at the aggregatelevel of entire countries. While these relationships have beensuggestive, studies have yet to confirm a causal role for socialtrust in influencing e-commerce. Would increasing levels ofsocial trust actually encourage greater e-commerce participation?This study combines the representativeness of a national surveywith the internal validity of an experimental design to answerthis question.     

Group work in mindfulness-based interventions with youth: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

Almost all mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are delivered in group format. Given the benefits of group work for children/youth, the authors wondered how researchers studying MBIs discussed and analyzed the group-work component of the MBI. The authors conducted a scoping study with the aims of analyzing relevant research regardless of design to explore the range of research activity, to summarize findings, and to identify gaps in knowledge. Our research questions asked, (1) How is group work described and discussed in the research literature that explores MBIs with children and youth? (2) When group work is discussed, what factors are the focus of discussion? and (3) Is group work considered an important aspect in the delivery of MBIs? Ultimately, the authors identified 94 articles that met their inclusion criteria. The researchers that discussed group work identified rationales for the group delivery, benefits of group work, the need for a cohesive and safe environment for learning, the relevant role of the group facilitator, cultural implications, and challenges associated with group delivery. Engagement of youth in an MBI and the importance of the group process were identified as main issues. The authors concluded that all of the factors contributing to change as a result of having participated in an MBI need to be better understood, and that group work should be given more attention in the delivery and study of MBIs. Thus, the facilitation of an MBI can be better understood as can the mechanisms of change.