Learning from genocide? A study in the failure of Holocaust education

The importance of learning lessons from the Holocaust and from the mass slaughter in Rwanda was recognised in the theme underpinning Britain's Holocaust Memorial Day in 2004. This article is principally concerned with the lessons learnt from the Holocaust by a culturally diverse group of students aged 14 to 16. They all attended schools in an outer London borough and were interviewed after taking part in a local event held to mark the 2004 commemoration. The article concludes with a discussion of the main findings of the investigation.     

Local Understanding of Fish Consumption Advisory Risks in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: The Role of Structure,Culture, and Agency*

Abstract Fish consumption advisories fail to adequately help communities address the benefits and risks of eating potentially contaminated fish. We engaged community members and relevant institutions in identifying and implementing more effective risk communication in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula. In 2004–2005, we collected data in four Michigan counties through focus groups, community dinners, public meetings and angler interviews. Residents express a strong affinity toward eating Great Lakes fish, though a minority of participants have read the official fish advisory. Participants lack an understanding of how bioaccumulation affects consumption risk depending on the type of contaminant. We attribute the situation to conditions of post‐normal risk that emerge through interaction of the structural dimensions of science and bureaucracy with a strong natural resource‐based culture that affects the agency of residents. The implications loom large as Michigan's Department of Community Health no longer distributes hard copies of the Michigan Fish Advisory.     

Change and Paradox in Family Therapy

This paper shows that when the interpersonal context in a family alters, solutions which have previously been successful may paradoxically increase the family's difficulties rather than resolve them. Therapy minors this process, in that when the family system is flexible, “commonsense” interventions may be effective, whereas with a rigid dysfunctional family system therapeutic interventions may be necessary which, among other things, paradoxically imply that no change is required. Some concepts derived from Watzlawick, Weakland and Fish are redefined and the mathematical group theory used by these authors is replaced by system theory in combination with the theory of logical types. A “behaviour disorder” family is used to illustrate the paradoxical mode of symptom development and also the use of a number of paradoxical therapeutic interventions. Possible reasons for the therapeutic power of these interventions are discussed; the concept of first and second order therapeutic paradoxes is introduced.     

Friendships in late life: A rural-urban comparison

This study examines the friendship patterns of older adults living in rural and urban areas. The sample consisted of 132 urban adults and 126 rural adults, 65 years of age and older. Respondents were randomly selected and interviewed in their own homes. While both groups were involved in joint social activities and helping behaviors with their friends, there was a distinction in the type of involvement according to geographical location.Karen Roberto is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Gerontology Program at the University of Northern Colorado. Her current research interests include women's health issues in aging and older people's involvement with informal support networks. Dr. Roberto holds a Ph.D. in Human Development from Texas Tech University.Jean Pearson Scott is Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Texas Tech University. Dr. Scott earned her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is currently conducting research on Alzheimers Disease in the family and the rural elderly.This is a revised version of a paper presented at the Families and Close Relationships: Individuals in Social Interaction Conference, Lubbock, TX, February, 1982.This study was supported by a grant from AARP Andrus Foundation and the Institute for University Research, College of Home Economics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409.     

Project LIFE: a partnership to increase physical activity in elders with multiple chronic illnesses

The authors describe a medical center-based randomized trial aimed at determining the feasibility and effectiveness of partnering patients and primary-care providers with an exercise health counselor. Study participants included 165 veterans age 70 years and older. The primary end point was change in physical activity at 3 and 6 months comparing patients receiving high-intensity physical activity counseling, attention control counseling, and usual care after receiving standardized clinic-based counseling. We noted a significant Group x Time interaction (p = .041) for physical activity frequency and a similar effect for caloric expenditure (p = .054). Participants receiving high-intensity counseling and usual care increased physical activity over the short term, but those with usual care returned to baseline by the end of the study. The intervention was well received by practitioners and patients. We conclude that partnering primary-care providers with specialized exercise counselors for age- and health-appropriate physical activity counseling is effective.     

Looking Inwards,Looking Outwards: Dismantling the “Berlin Wall” Between Health and Social Services?

This paper argues that at a time when policy guidance urged closer collaboration and joint working between health and social services, the long-established cultural and professional gaps were widening and deteriorating. Drawing on data from four research sites, the paper argues that the deterioration was rooted principally in practitioners' preoccupations with changes within their own organizations and daily work, resulting from a major period of change in both health and social services, which, ironically, was at the expense of the joint working which the "Caring for People" reforms required. As the policy environment changes again, under the Labour government, it is likely that health and social care practitioners will be working within further organizational turbulence and change. It will be crucial that those changes are managed in such a way that they avoid the very real danger of compounding the problems which our respondents identified.