Research Note: The LIVITY study: research challenges and strategies for engaging with the black caribbean community in a study of HIV infection

There is an increasing incidence of new HIV‐1 diagnoses among black Caribbeans in the UK, but there has been limited research in this area. The LIVITY study is the first in‐depth epidemiological and behavioural study to examine the impact of HIV among black Caribbeans in the UK. The UK black Caribbean community has traditionally been regarded as less likely to participate in clinical research and surveys. We identified three major challenges to recruitment to the LIVITY study: general distrust of the research process; the considerable stigma surrounding HIV in the black Caribbean community and the sensitivity of obtaining detailed sexual histories. The strategies devised to help overcome these barriers to optimise recruitment included: the establishment of a black Caribbean Community Advisory Group to facilitate communication between the community and the researchers and assist in questionnaire design to improve acceptability to the participants; use of healthcare practitioners as gatekeepers; extensive piloting and modification of the questionnaire among black Caribbean patients; reassurances of confidentiality during recruitment; and ethnic matching between interviewer and study participants. Another challenge was the high rate of loss to follow‐up among eligible patients, potentially compromising the study’s generalisability. Nevertheless, use of the above strategies resulted in a satisfactory enrolment rate of 57%, who were representative of all eligible patients.     

Student Views on Good Practice in Social Work Education

This article focuses on the delivery of a social work degree programme in England, one of the constituent jurisdictions of the United Kingdom, and explores student perceptions of their learning experience and what constitutes effective teaching. The data are drawn from a larger research project which is ongoing and focuses upon the specific ways in which the BSc Hons Social Work degree at a university in the East Midlands prepares students to meet the demands of employers. Linked to the national evaluation of the new social work degree, social work academics at the university worked with final year social work degree students as co-researchers to evaluate student views on the quality of teaching practices across the teaching team.     

Forecasting environmental migration to the United Kingdom: an exploration using Bayesian models

Over the next 50 years, the potential impact of environmental change on human livelihoods could be considerable, with one possible consequence being increased levels of human mobility. This paper explores how uncertainty about the level of immigration to the United Kingdom as a consequence of environmental factors elsewhere may be forecast using a methodology involving Bayesian models. The conceptual understanding of forecasting is advanced in three ways. First, the analysis is believed to be the first time that the Bayesian modelling approach has been attempted in relation to environmental mobility. Second, the paper considers the expediency of this approach by comparing the responses to a Delphi survey with conventional expectations about environmental mobility in the research literature. Finally, the values and assumptions of the expert evidence provided in the Delphi survey are interrogated to illustrate the limited set of conditions under which forecasts of environmental mobility, as set out in this paper, are likely to hold.     

Redefining Success: A Qualitative Investigation of Therapeutic Outcomes for Noncompleting Drug Court Clients

ABSTRACT

Utilizing a convenience sample from a drug court program, the authors investigated the benefits of treatment for noncompleting drug court clients (n = 30). Using an as-treated design, the qualitative investigation assessed whether noncompleters received any benefit from their drug court experience. In-depth interviews were conducted to determine both benefits gained and reductions in harm that occurred as a result of drug court participation. Data analysis was guided by the grounded theory method. Outcomes of coding indicated that participants' motivation and self-efficacy were enhanced through the intervention. Further, participants reported that their relationships with family, therapists, or peers were improved as a result of their involvement with drug court. Individuals in the study sample reported abstinence or decreased substance use, as well as improvements in employment and/or educational attainment. Participants’ perceptions of barriers to program completion were also noted. Study outcomes suggest that expansion of a harm reduction approach in social service practice may have utility for drug-abusing populations. Limitations of the research, including lack of generalizability, are discussed. Further research of harm reduction effects with a larger, heterogeneous sample size is recommended.     

Exploring the Nature of Same-Sex Relationships

This study explored the relationship structure and experiences of 145 people in the United States, aged 50 and above, in long-term, same-sex relationships. A survey assessed relationship satisfaction and roles, caregiving, shared assets, and relationship protection and support. The ENRICH couple scales revealed high scores in communication, conflict resolution, and couple satisfaction. Most participants had taken steps to protect shared assets and assign legal authority to their partners. Participants expressed differing views regarding marriage. This study reveals distinctions based on gender and age that will inform practice with this population.     

Rhetoric and Reality in European Co-operation with Third Countries: A Case Study

This case study illustrates the reality of trying to achieve the European Commission objective of fruitful international research co-operation with Third Countries. The process of responding to an EC research call, preparing a proposal and negotiating a contract are explored with areas of general applicability being highlighted. The case study is drawn from the Avicenne Initiative in the area of health systems research. The difficulties and inequality of access to information, administrative research support and resourcing are explored as both issues for individuals and institutions and also as part of the difficulties of developing south-north or east-west research partnerships. The backstage of research is explored in order to highlight issues of discourse, practice and procedure which, if tackled, could provide a more level playing field for researchers from a wide range of institutions and countries.     

MAX WEBER, FORMAL RATIONALITY, AND HEALTH LIFESTYLES

Max Weber's concept of formal rationality and ideas about lifestyles in general are applied to current trends in health lifestyles. The central contribution of Weber's thinking is recognition of the dialectical interplay between formal versus substantive rationality, consumption versus production, choice versus life chances, class similarities versus distinctions, and self-control versus conformity in shaping health life-styles and the reality of their operationalization in the postmodern world. In a largely applied subdiscipline like medical sociology, Weber's work offers a theoretical background on which to enrich our understanding of health lifestyles and grapple with the initial theoretical challenges posed by lifestyle research.     

Pro‐family Organizations in Calgary, 1998: Beliefs,Interconnections and Allies*

Dans cet article, nous comparons les convictions des différents groupes pro‐famille de Calgary et nous préscntons la structure des liens qui unissent ces groupes. Les données, recueillies en 1998, proviennent de documents et d'entretiens semi‐structurés avec les chefs de file de ces groupes. Nous abordons ici trois problèmes de recherche. Tout d'abord, nous examinons la teneur des relations entre groupes pro‐famille et pro‐vie. Tous les groupes pro‐famille, même ceux qui se prononcent résolument contre l'avortement, se dis‐tinguent des groupes pro‐vie sur le plan tant organisational que politique. Ensuite, nous nous penchons sur le rôle des croyances chré‐tiennes au sein du mouvement. Nous affirmons que, bien que les groupes chrétiens aient été dominants en 1998, la promotion, de la famille hétérosexuelle nucléaire, et non les questions de doctrine, a été fondamentale pour le mouvement. Enfin, nous examinons si le mouvement s'est scindé entre socioconservateurs et centristes, les centristes étant peu représentatifs en 1998. En outre, l'un des groupes présentant un profil centriste, la National Foundation for Family Research and Education, a tout fait pour légitimer du point de vue scientifique les arguments moraux des socioconservateurs en faveur de la famille. En conclusion, nous soutenons que le mouvement pro‐famille à Calgary s'est éloigné de sa vocation initiale de contre‐mouvement antiféministe. Dans l'avenir, la popularité du mouvement pro‐famille au Canada dépendra peut‐être des valeurs postféministes qu'il affichera. This paper presents a comparative study of the beliefs of pro‐family organizations in Calgary and a structural mapping of organizational ties. Data were gathered in 1998 from documents and semi‐structured interviews with group leaders. Three research problems are addressed. The first concerns the closeness of the relationship between pro‐family and pro‐life groups. We find that all pro‐family groups, even those with strong anti‐abortion convictions, were organizationally and politically distinctive from pro‐life groups. The second problem considers the role of Christian beliefs in the movement. We ascertain that although Christian groups were dominant in 1998, promotion of the heterosexual nuclear family, not doctrinal issues, was fundamental to the movement. The third problem concerns whether the movement was bifurcated between social conservative and centrist segments. The centrist segment was quite weak in 1998. Furthermore, one of the groups with a centrist persona, the National Foundation for Family Research and Education, strove to supply scientific legitimation for social conservatives' moral claims about the family. In conclusion, the article argues that the pro‐family movement in Calgary has broken free of its initial phase as an anti‐feminist countermovement and suggests that the future popularity of pro‐family advocacy in Canada will be proportional to the degree that it is couched in a post‐feminist framework.