Welfare recipients’ quality of life: lessons from the United Nations’ Human Development Index for the US welfare policy La calidad de vida de las beneficiarias del bienestar social: lecciones del Indice de Desarrollo Humano (IDH) de las Naciones Unidas para la política de bienestar social de los Estados Unidos de América

This article is part of a study on single mothers who were welfare recipients in Georgia, US (n?=?53,323) in the year 2000 which used the Human Development Index (HDI) to measure their quality of life (QOL) and that of the overall Georgia population by race. The United Nations created the HDI in 1990 to compare QOL across nations, but the HDI has also proved to be suitable for sub-populations within countries. Based on the QOL study in Georgia, the first one to use the HDI to measure QOL of women on welfare, this article discusses lessons derived from the use of the HDI that can be drawn for the US welfare policy. Specifically, the discussion focuses on: (1) the role of health coverage; (2) the role of infant mortality rate; (3) the role of maternal mortality rate; (4) the mismatch between education and standard of living; and (5) the need for a welfare policy with a human development approach. These issues are also relevant to other welfare nations where their restructuring, especially welfare-to-work policies, have most affected lone mothers.

Este artículo es parte de un estudio sobre madres solteras beneficiarias del sistema de bienestar social en el estado de Georgia, Estados Unidos de América (n?=?53,323) en el año 2000, el cual utilizó el Indice de Desarrollo Humano (IDH) de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) para medir su calidad de vida (CDV), así como la de la población general de Georgia según su raza. La ONU creó el IDH en 1990 para comparar la CDV entre naciones, pero el IDH también ha demostrado ser útil para sub-poblaciones dentro de las diferentes naciones. Basado en el estudio sobre CDV en Georgia, el primero en utilizar el IDH para medir la CDV entre beneficiarios/as del bienestar social, este artículo discute las lecciones derivadas del uso del IDH que pueden aplicarse a la política de bienestar social de los EUA. Específicamente, la discusión se enfoca en: (1) el papel que desempeña la cobertura en salud; (2) el papel de la tasa de mortalidad infantil; (3) el papel de la tasa de mortalidad maternal; (4) la disyunción entre nivel de educación y estándard de vida; (5) la necesidad de una política de bienestar social enfocada en el desarrollo humano. Estos temas son igualmente relevantes para otras naciones bienestaristas en donde las reestructuraciones, en particular las políticas de transición de bienestar a trabajo obligatorio, han afectado especialmente a las madres solteras/solas.     

The age of skin cancers

Cancer affects two major cell types in the human skin: epithelial cells and melanocytes. Aging and a previous history of ultraviolet light exposure are major risk factors for skin cancers, including basal and squamous cell carcinomas and melanomas. However, melanomas, which are the most deadly of the skin tumors, display two intriguing characteristics: The incidence is increased and the prognosis is worse in males over 60 years as compared with females of the same age. This Perspective discusses possible reasons for age and gender as melanoma risk factors, as well as the need for studies aimed at unraveling the molecular mechanism of such puzzling events.     

Healthy Bodies Versus Diseased Bodies: Romance as a Trope of Social Order in Kenyan HIV/AIDS Fiction

Abstract

This paper looks at how romantic discourses have been appropriated and employed as avenues for imagining and suggesting a particular kind of social order in the context of HIV/AIDS in Kenya. Most romance stories can be seen as dealing with emotions but in the texts discussed here, the writers' main focus is on the bodies of the characters. It is those people who carry healthy bodies who eventually succeed in their romantic pursuits while the ill experience failed romance. Individuals who are HIV-positive are represented as “polluting” the social order while those who are HIV-negative are seen as upholding the social order by maintaining a “clean” and healthy nation-state. The paper proposes that romantic relationships are used by the writers selected as strategies of ordering and selecting the healthy from the diseased, consequently proposing some form of containment and maintenance of social order. However, it has to be noted that this representation is framed within ideas that stereotype people as HIV-positive and HIV-negative. In addition, I argue that this ideology can be read as conservative and entrenching certain traditional notions of romance that have come to be associated with control, discipline and therefore setting the limits of sex and sexuality in society.     

Writing ‘Conflict’: Whispers as a ‘Restorative’ Narrative

Abstract

This paper examines contemporary Kenyan popular fiction as a site of cultural production, where the contradictions of African modernity are played out. The paper focuses on one of Kenya's oldest popular fiction columns, Whispers, published in local newspapers since 1983. Constructed around a Kenyan family, which is deployed as an allegorical trope to read modern Kenya, the paper explores how the column introduces us to the anxieties that define life in contemporary Kenya. Although the narrative comprises many thematic concerns, reference is particularly made to the restive masculinity threatened by social change. The paper also provides a discussion of the constant ‘backward glance’, an attempt to look for stability in the past, part of the society's relentless search for models that could help Kenyans make sense of an uncertain present, and an even more doubtful future. The paper also engages with the narrative mode of this fiction, examining how humour, satire and parody deceptively make light of what are important issues affecting society.     

From Rights to Responsibilities: Identity Politics and Ethnographic Methodology,Dialogues with South African Musicians

Abstract

The ethnographic endeavour is often riven by a tension between two claims to the ‘right’ to research asserted either on the basis of identity claims or professional expertise. A closely associated debate within the academy is characterised by an oscillation between concern about uneven power relations and the desire to maintain effective research practice. Attempting to address the absence of voices of ‘subjects’ in this debate, I discuss the issue with musicians who critique both notions of identity and academic expertise as providing ethnographic authority, and propose a shift in discourse from rights to responsibility. This progresses beyond essentialism but insists that structural power inequalities between researchers and researched be accounted for, thus moving towards more situated, responsible ethnographic theory and practice.     

Youth-Driven HIV Prevention Programmes in South Africa: Social Capital,Empowerment and Conscientisation

Abstract

The community-level attributes of two youth HIV prevention initiatives in a single community are examined using the concepts of social capital, empowerment and critical consciousness. The school-based peer education programme and youth-initiated public clinic ‘add-on’ facility for the treatment of adolescent sexually transmitted diseases had differing experiences in terms of implementation, community acceptance, sustainability and achieving their goals. By examining the role of conscientization, networks for accessing resources and power, and community acceptability of adolescent HIV prevention, this paper describes the differing experiences of these two programmes. The paper indicates the need for true adolescent agency in challenging the social constructions of adolescent HIV risk at the social and community levels.     

Alcohol Measures and Terms: A Perfect Storm for Chronic Confusion

Abstract

Members in the prevention and treatment fields continue to examine how to most effectively assess and label high volume alcohol consumption. Terms such as “binge” drinking have resulted in considerable controversy and debate. Conventionally the criteria for assessing high-risk drinking includes: five or drinks for men and four or more drinks for women during a sitting/event/occasion within the previous two weeks. Several standardized instruments simply use the cut off for high-risk drinking as five or more drinks and do not include the gender variable when defining this behavior. Both of these measures have undergone criticism for not including a more specific time element. Yet asking respondents to recall specific time frames from a night of heavy drinking may also compromise validity. Further the 5+/4+ or 5+ drinking criterion does not adequately assess intoxication levels or more extreme levels of alcohol consumption. A variety of special measures and terms have been created to capture heavy drinking behaviors and ritualistic behavior. Researchers and practitioners may benefit by using different measures and terms based on context and their specific prevention goals.     

Efficacy of a Web-Based,Tailored, Alcohol Prevention/Intervention Program for College Students: Initial Findings

Abstract

Objective: Reduce college student at-risk drinking (ARD) using a Web-based brief motivational alcohol prevention/intervention called Michigan Prevention and Alcohol Safety for Students (M-PASS). Participants: Participants included 1,137 randomly sampled first-year college students, including 59% female, 80% white, and averaged age 18.1 years. Methods: Intervention group participants (n = 616) attended 4 online M-PASS sessions, receiving feedback tailored to individual drinking patterns and concepts from 4 behavior change theories. Control group participants (n = 521) completed a mid-phase survey, and both groups were surveyed at baseline and posttest. Results: Evidence of M-PASS's efficacy was found. The intervention was associated with advanced stage of change, lower tolerance of drinking and drink/driving, fewer reasons to drink, and use of more strategies to avoid ARD. Preliminary evidence of behavioral change was also found. Efficacy was greater for women than men. Conclusions: Web-based programs may be useful in reducing alcohol-related risk among college students. Further evaluation is needed.