“Do They Think I Am a Pack Rat?”

This case study presents details of the life of one older man who lived in seclusion and squalor, surrounded by hoarded possessions. This man was one participant of a focused ethnography of eight older adults who received home care. All participants in the original ethnography were identified by their community care coordinators as exhibiting hoarding behaviors. The case study presented here provides rich narrative and photographic detail in order to add strength to what has already been presented in previous research articles about compulsive acquisition. The narratives reveal examples of debilitating dysfunction, distress associated with decision making, broad acquisition of free things, compulsive buying, and ritualistic discarding. Quotes included in the case study stem from the original ethnography.     

Staffing-Related Deficiency Citations in Nursing Homes

There is evidence that staffing characteristics influence quality of care in nursing homes. Federal and state surveyors conduct inspections of homes to assess their compliance with regulatory standards, including requirements related to staffing. Deficiency citations are issued when these standards are not met. This article examines the relationship between operational, facility, and market characteristics and organizational performance measured as staffing-related deficiency citations. Online Survey Certification of Automated Records (OSCAR) data from 2000 through 2007 were used with multinomial logistic regression analyses to identify factors associated with deficiency citations for staffing. Chain members and facilities with poor quality of care were more likely to receive deficiency citations for staffing. Greater bed count and competition between nursing homes were associated with a decreased likelihood of deficiency citations for staffing. Staffing-related deficiencies within nursing homes vary according to various operational, facility, and market characteristics.     

A Day at the Zoo Through the Lens of Jessica Benjamin's Bonds of Love

In this photo-based essay I bring Jessica Benjamin's project of transforming relationships of domination to a day at the zoo. The interrogation of the human/animal dualism illuminates relational moments of mutuality across species. Managing the tension between sameness and difference without collapse into hierarchical configuration, the human-animal connection may take its place in the project of transforming relationships of domination and extending the circle of ethical care.     

Social Workers’ Attitudes Toward Older Adults: A Review of the Literature

Ageist attitudes toward older adults have been recognized as barriers to recruiting and training competent social workers. This article provides a systematic review of the literature that focused on social workers’ and social work students’ attitudes toward older adults and working with older adults. The authors sought empirical studies that used an attitudinal measure of ageism with a social work sample, and a total of 20 articles met the criteria. Characteristics of the studies’ participants, methodology, instruments, and results were evaluated. This article discusses the findings and offers implications for future research.     

A Model for Change: Legislative Advocacy to Improving Access for the Uninsured and Underinsured in New York State 1

Advocates can successfully improve access to health care for people without health insurance. This article demonstrates the success of what began as a local advocacy effort to improve access to health care on Long Island, which later grew to become a major statewide advocacy movement. It explores the process taken by local coalition members to successfully fight for monumental public health legislation—first locally then statewide—to improve access to hospital care for the medically indigent. Using New York State as a model, it includes several approaches that could facilitate the enactment of legislation in other states. The experiences of New York advocates suggest that with focused collaborative efforts it is feasible to promote significant changes to public health laws to benefit the uninsured and underinsured.     

Developing intercultural competence and global citizenship through international experiences: academics’ perceptions

International education is a key priority for Australian universities, government and employer groups. For students, an international professional experience is uniquely placed in providing opportunities for developing intercultural learning, intercultural competence and global citizenship. Employers see graduates with international experiences as interculturally competent, viewing them as proficient in analysing and responding appropriately to culturally significant values and perceptions. This research seeks to understand how students are prepared for international experiences and how intercultural learning is integrated into course programmes. Academic staff responsible for international experiences were interviewed in one-on-one qualitative interviews about their practices and perceptions of preparing students for these experiences. Although all international programmes were procedurally well planned, we found that most participants did not include intercultural pedagogies into their programmes, nor did they purposefully seek to develop intercultural competence and global citizenship in their students. Professional development opportunities need to be created for academics to rethink their pedagogical intent regarding international experiences. Immersion in culture is not, on its own, an assurance of intercultural learning. Providing international experiences without a pedagogical framework that helps students to reflect on self and others can be a wasted opportunity and runs the risk of reinforcing stereotypical thinking and racist attitudes.     

The Production of Erotica: Photobooks of Teenage Models in Hong Kong

This article examines the production of erotica in a Chinese cultural context. It takes the photo books featuring teenage models published in Hong Kong in 2010 as case studies in which a total of 2,205 photographs of teenage models were analyzed. In-depth interviews were conducted with six producers of these images. It was found that the set of erotic pictures was characterized by three distinctive features. First, they emphasized a look of innocence that suggested purity, fragility, and delicacy. Second, albeit being sexy and desirable, the girls were often presented as if they were unaware of their sexiness. The implication was that their sexiness was unintentional and, thus, the girls were not to blame. Finally, a sense of intimacy was purposefully built between the models and readers by constituting a direct gaze and presenting models as ordinary “girls next door.” All these echoed the emphasis of female chastity in Chinese culture. It appears that in Hong Kong, where sexuality issues often provoke debates, the producers of sexy images have benefited from media controversies. By heightening expectations of potential customers, they fuel the “erotic” imagination of the readers. The production of erotica is, hence, completed through a collaboration between teenage models, producers, marketers, and consumers.     

“Some of My Children Are Worth More Than Others”: Perceptions of Nonresidential Fathers with Second Families as to the Fairness of the Australian Child Support Agency's Handling of First Family Child Support Financial Arrangements

One in three Australian marriages end in divorce, and over half of such divorces involve children. Research indicates that men tend to repartner within 1 to 2 years of a divorce and women within 3 to 5 years. A significant issue for repartnered men is the provision of financial support for children from both their first and second families. Although only 6% of all Australian first family children spend near/equal time (shared care) after divorce with both parents, fathers in Australia are mandated under child support legislation to provide financial support for their first family children, whether they reside with them or not. However, it is argued by this study's nonresidential fathers that the Child Support Agency, when considering the level of financial support for first family children, tends to overlook the needs of second family children, thus creating an advantaged and disadvantaged set of siblings. This finding is reviewed through a distributive justice theory lens. Finally, some future directions for research aimed at exploring the impact of Child Support Legislation on second families are suggested.     

The vital few foster mothers

Many foster parents serve only briefly, and foster and adopt few children. Anecdotal reports suggest that a small percentage of foster parents provide a disproportionate amount of care; however, we know virtually nothing about these parents. This study applied the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80–20 rule or Vital Few, as a framework to conceptualize these foster parents. Using latent class analysis, two classes of mothers were identified: one accounted for 21% of mothers and the other 79%. We refer to the former as the Vital Few and the latter as the Useful Many. Vital Few mothers fostered 73% of foster children — 10 times more than Useful Many mothers although only fostering three times longer. They adopted twice as many foster children while experiencing half the yearly rate of placement disruptions. Vital Few mothers were less likely to work outside the home, had better parenting attitudes, more stable home environments, more time to foster, and more professional support for fostering, but less support from kin. Further, they were as competent as the Useful Many on numerous other psychosocial measures. Understanding characteristics of these resilient Vital Few can inform recruitment and retention efforts and offer realistic expectations of foster parents.     

Using cosmetics: The social construction of a consumer object

In this study, the consumption of cosmetics is examined as a social construction. Methods industry uses to sell cosmetics, including advertising and personal demonstrations; ways that consumers decide whether to purchase cosmetics; and the ways in which users actually use cosmetics are discussed. Rather than the structural view of consumers as passive victims of the marketing process, consumers are seen as active decision makers who, jointly with the messages they receive, construct the meanings of products.