Prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in women

Osteoporosis affects one in three women. There has been some confusion among women and health professionals about the management of osteoporosis since the publication of the Women's Health Initiative and Million Women studies. This guidance regarding estrogen-based and non-estrogen-based treatments for osteoporosis responds to the controversies about the benefits and risks of individual agents. Treatment choice should be based on up-to-date evidence and targeted to individual women's needs.     

The development of a rubric for peer assessment of individual teamwork skills in undergraduate midwifery students

BackgroundPoor teamwork is cited as one of the major root causes of adverse events in healthcare. Bullying, resulting in illness for staff, is an expression of poor teamwork skills. Despite this knowledge, poor teamwork persists in healthcare and teamwork skills are rarely the focus of teaching and assessment in undergraduate health courses.AimTo develop and implement an assessment tool for use in facilitating midwifery students’ learning of teamwork skills.MethodsThis paper describes how the TeamUP rubric tool was developed. A review of the literature found no research reports on how to teach and assess health students’ teamwork skills in standing teams. The literature, however, gives guidance about how university educators should evaluate individual students using peer assessment. The developmental processes of the rubric were grounded in the theoretical literature and feminist collaborative conversations. The rubric incorporates five domains of teamwork skills: Fostering a Team Climate; Project Planning; Facilitating Teams; Managing Conflict and Quality Individual Contribution. The process and outcomes of student and academic content validation are described.ConclusionThe TeamUP rubric is useful for articulating, teaching and assessing teamwork skills for health professional students. The TeamUP rubric is a robust, theoretically grounded model that defines and details effective teamwork skills and related behaviours. If these skills are mastered, we predict that graduates will be more effective in teams. Our assumption is that graduates, empowered by having these skills, are more likely to manage conflict effectively and less likely to engage in bullying behaviours.     

Research ethics committees: values and power in higher education

The rise of research governance structures in universities has created huge disquiet amongst academic researchers. The unquestioning adoption of a medical model of ethical review based upon positivist methodological assumptions has created for many a mismatch between their own ongoing ethical research practice and the process of obtaining clearance from Research Ethics Committees (REC). This paper examines the issues that have contributed to dissatisfaction with the ethical review model that is prevalent within the modern university. Using examples from the authors’ own experiences, the dynamics of values, interests and power in research governance is examined from multiple perspectives including that of REC member and applicant; lecturer/student supervisor; researcher; and university administrator. The paper reveals a rift between the values and objectives of the key players in research governance within the modern university and concludes by asking whether differences can be resolved so that a collaborative approach to ethical review may be incorporated into a renewed academic research culture. It is suggested that the alternative is increasing alienation from anything to do with ‘ethics’, with potentially serious consequences for the ethical standards of social research.     

Still face,moving face

The article examines two sets of photographs of the face: first, a set of images by Suzanne Opton of soldiers returned from tours of duty in Iraq/Afghanistan and second, Robert Lyons’ portraits of Rwandans. In conclusion, it looks briefly at Alfredo Jaar’s The Eyes of Gutete Emerita. It explores what pictures of the face can do. Responses to Opton’s images from passers-by who saw them mounted on huge billboards, as well as the photographer’s account of what she thought she was doing, and Lyon’s motives and reactions to his work are examined. Drawing in part on Ariella Azoulay’s political ontology of photography and Jacques Rancière’s notion of the distribution of the sensible, the article asks what it is that these images of the face do, politically, and whether there might be a way in which the face, or its still image, and the event of photography in which the face is embedded, escapes the dominant regime of signification. The article argues that despite its widespread use in practices of biopolitical control, the face, or in some cases its still image, can prompt or generate action and challenge the dominant regime of signification and visibility.     

The Nature of Women's Rape Fantasies: An Analysis of Prevalence,Frequency, and Contents

This study evaluated the rape fantasies of female undergraduates (N = 355) using a fantasy checklist that reflected the legal definition of rape and a sexual fantasy log that included systematic prompts and self-ratings. Results indicated that 62% of women have had a rape fantasy, which is somewhat higher than previous estimates. For women who have had rape fantasies, the median frequency of these fantasies was about 4 times per year, with 14% of participants reporting that they had rape fantasies at least once a week. In contrast to previous research, which suggested that rape fantasies were either entirely aversive or entirely erotic, rape fantasies were found to exist on an erotic–aversive continuum, with 9% completely aversive, 45% completely erotic, and 46% both erotic and aversive.     

Children with disabilities in out-of-home care: Perspectives on organisational collaborations

Many contemporary support services for children and young people (CYP) in out-of-home-care have adopted a collaborative approach to service provision in order to best meet the complex needs of clients. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the perceptions of Evolve Behaviour Support Services (EBSS) frontline and managerial staff delivering services to CYP in out-of-home-care with disability and complex behaviours regarding interagency/stakeholder collaboration. Views about the number and nature of collaborative partnerships, factors which facilitate or hinder effective relationships and advantages (including unintended benefits) of collaboration were sought. Qualitative interviews with 21 participants highlighted issues around: (1) general and agency/stakeholder specific issues and barriers, and (2) benefits of collaboration. The collaborative approach to service provision was seen as greatly enhancing the effectiveness of EBSS' response and ability to meet the range of CYP's complex needs, as well as having benefits for carers and service providers. Nevertheless, difficulties with collaboration were also encountered. Frequently identified challenges included reduced stakeholder engagement, differences in professional backgrounds and practice frameworks, unequal initiation of contact and follow-up, organisational disparities, communication and information sharing problems, frequent stakeholder turnover and geographical barriers in rural/remote areas.     

Abstracts

This paper describes a design for a course which aims to develop advanced practice skills in supervision and consultation for qualified social workers. The course model is based on an understanding of reflective learning developed chiefly by Donald Schon and recently discussed in this journal by Nick Gould. Some of the processes, risks and dilemmas for course members, course tutors and seconding agencies that are inherent in the course are explored through examples of reflection-in-action drawn from recent courses. Implications for the use of this approach with social workers' managers operating within a hierarchical organisational structure are explored.

The experiential element of the course, based on course members' work as consultant and consultee with another course member, will be developed more fully in a subsequent paper.

The potential usefulness of the course is discussed in relation to developing advanced practice in professional supervision, accrediting experienced practice teachers and, in an adapted form, enabling social work practitioners to develop a range of advanced practice skills.     

BEYOND THE BIBLE AND THE CROSS: A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF CHINESE ELDERS' PARTICIPATION IN CHRISTIAN CONGREGATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

Mainland Chinese elders constitute a unique group in popular Christian participation and conversion. This work aims to explore the social contexts and cultural facets of Mainland Chinese elders' Christian practice in the United States. Based on face-to-face, in-depth interviews with 20 Mainland Chinese elders as well as participant observation at selected congregational settings, this study suggests that the existing theories on aging and religion as well as religious practice among immigrants are inadequate to explain Chinese elderly immigrants' participation in Christian congregations in the U.S. Instead, social isolation and lack of social support system resulting from immigration and aging process serve as the major drive for the elders to pursue social and cultural recognition from Chinese Christian gatherings. Besides religious services, social service functions of churches and opportunities for fellowship are other factors that explain Chinese elders' church involvement. In conclusion, we argue that social and cultural services are needed to particularly assist Chinese seniors to adjust and adapt to their elderly lives in the host country.     

Necessary Steps in Designing a Successful Contract

Abstract

Parents with a history of serious mental illness are vulnerable in many ways and are therefore likely to be accessing services from a range of government and community agencies. The use of multiple services, sometimes with conflicting practice frameworks, can result in sub-optimal management of these families. This study surveyed 77 service providers from a range of government and non-government agencies targeting their views regarding parents with a serious mental illness (specified in this study as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and psychotic depression). They were asked what they perceived were difficulties for this population, interventions required to meet the needs of this group and finally, barriers to effective service delivery. We found that service providers reported that current services were inadequate for these parents. Parent-based interventions were seen as being more beneficial than those targeting children. Lack of liaison between agencies and lack of coordinated service provision were seen as the greatest barrier to effective service delivery. The results highlight the need for policy planners and service providers to develop strategies to ensure effective coordination between services that work with this population.     

What Is “Elder Abuse”? Voices From the Margin: The Views of Underrepresented Canadian Older Adults

We know relatively little about the definitions and perceptions of elder abuse held by marginalized groups of older adults in Canada. The current study used focus group methodology to explore perceptions of elder abuse among marginalized groups such as Aboriginal persons, immigrants, refugees, and lesbians. We found both similarities and differences in perceptions of elder abuse across groups. Groups identified traditional forms of elder abuse (i.e., physical, sexual, psychological/emotional, financial abuse, and neglect) as well as less frequently identified types of abuse such as disrespect and government or systemic abuse. Groups also discussed issues related to immigrant sponsorship arrangements and abuse in nursing homes.