Respite and family support services: Responding to the need

Increased focus on the needs of parents and guardians for structured opportunities for temporary relief from care of disabled persons has stimulated policy and implementation initiatives at the state government level on behalf of these families. This article presents qualitative and quantitative data on the need for respite services not only in terms of relief, but as a positive, supportive force in the prevention of permanent placement outside the home. Current services are outlined and issues important to clinicians and managers working with such families are discussed.Planning and Development     

Minimizing stress in the workplace: Whose responsibility is it?

Work-related stress is pervasive in today's society. Its far-reaching effects on worker health, productivity, and organizational commitment have caused legislators and researchers alike to rethink stress prevention strategies that will best serve all systems involved. This article identifies the issues limiting the development of primary stress reduction programs in the workplace and provides insight as to the emerging global legislative initiatives that support this issue.     

The sample size debate: response to Norman Blaikie

In his detailed response to our paper on sample size in qualitative research, Norman Blaikie raises important issues concerning conceptual definitions and taxonomy. In particular, he points out the problems associated with a loose, generic application of adjectives such as ‘qualitative’ or ‘inductive’. We endorse this concern, though we suggest that in some specific contexts a broad categorization may be more appropriate than a more nuanced distinction – provided that it is clear in which sense the terms are employed. However, other concepts, such as saturation, do not lend themselves to generic use, and require a more detailed conceptualization. Blaikie’s analysis also makes it clear that meaningful discussion of sample size in qualitative research cannot occur with reference to an undifferentiated conception of the nature of qualitative research; clear distinctions need to be made within this approach in terms of methodology, ontological and epistemological assumptions and broader research paradigms.     

Enemies of abortion

Throughout history various religious groups have worked to impose their moralistic view on others, and now the Catholic church in their Right to Life movement is focusing on dramatically exploiting the abortion issue with the use of inflammatory rhetoric, lurid propaganda and outright political blackmail. In 1972 the organized efforts of the New York Right to Life Committee brought about the repeal of that state's liberal abortion bill which was only saved by Nelson Rockefeller's veto. And, the movement has gained momentum since the Supreme Court decision in January 1973 in support of a woman's right to the decision of whether to terminate or continue a pregnancy. In pursuit of their current goal of reversal of the Supreme Court decision by a constitutional amendment, they swarmed into Washington on the anniversary of the decision to rally support for Rep. Lawrence J. Hogan's (Maryland) constitutional amendment which supports the concept of the fetus as a person from the moment of conception of life. Another bill is Senator Buckley's which grants protection to the fetus from the time a biologically identifiable being comes into existence and also allows for pregnancy termination if continuation would result in the death of the mother. Buckley's amendment has the support of some protestants, a few orthodox rabbis, the most conservative branch of the Lutheran church and members of some fundamentalist Christian sects. The National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws has been the only organization devoted to the single purpose of supporting legal abortion and the only one utilizing militant tactics to do so. The case for support of legal abortion is clear in that maternal deaths have declined from 35 per 100,000 in 1970, the year the abortion law was liberalized in New York, to 27 per 100,000 in 1972. Also, the number of admissions to Harlem Hospital for botched abortions dropped from 1,054 in 1965 to 292 in 1971, and the city's birthrate has declined 12%. Yet, the enemies of abortion gained a victory in December when the Senate passed the Buckley amendment which would ban Medicaid payments for abortion and again thereby would make legal abortion only available to the rich. Victories such as this can only be considered the beginning to the passage of a constitutional amendment, but the Right to Life movement must be recognized as the real threat that it is or women will lose their right to decide whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy before they even realize that this right is endangered.