Breast Self-Examination in the Personal Health Course

Abstract

Female college students (N = 105) were surveyed regarding their acceptance of instruction concerning breast self-examination (BSE) in a film format and the frequency of personal performance of BSE. Factors which served to explain variation in acceptance scores were related to instruction, performance, conservatism, and perceived threat. Factors related to frequency of BSE performance included conservatism, close friend or relative with breast cancer, confidence, and previous instruction in BSE.

“Effect of Alcohol Intake on High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels in Runners and Inactive Men,” G. HARLEY HARTUNG, et al. Plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) level was measured before and after alcohol abstinence and after resumption of a controlled alcohol dose in 16 marathon runners, 15 joggers, and 13 inactive men. A three-week period of abstinence resulted in a significant decrease in HDLC concentration in the inactive men (49.8 to 41.8 mg/dL). Three weeks of alcohol consumption (1,065 ml of beer per day) produced a significant increase in HDLC level to 50.9 mg/dL. No change in HDLC level was found for the marathon group or the joggers during abstinence or three weeks of alcohol intake. The consumption of alcohol in moderation seems to be associated with increased HDLC levels in inactive men but not in men who engage in regular running or jogging.     

Fight Club and the World Trade Center: On Metaphor,Scale, and the Spatio-temporal (Dis)location of Violence

In this essay we examine the metaphorical rendition of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, which took place on 11 September 2001, as attacks on “civilization.” Our principal aim is to understand how it has proven to be as affective as it seems to have been thus far. We do so by turning to film, a medium that is quintessentially metaphorical and whose own affective power rests on the reconfiguration of time and space. More specifically, we do so by turning to David Fincher's Fight Club (1999). In contrast to the textual approach offered by Slavoj [Zbreve]i[zbreve]ek (2002), we explore how the formal play of different temporal and spatial scales, which would articulate a trenchant critique of alienation, in fact reproduces an understanding of the subject that is deeply complicit with capital. The play of time and space, on which the affective power of the film rests, articulates a rejection of the fundamentally schizophrenic nature of the subject of capital. Our claim is that this exploration of time, space, and political critique illuminates how the elisions of the historical and geo-political that characterize the metaphorical rendition of the attacks on New York and Washington might easily be overlooked. This essay also advances our more general understanding of both the articulation of time and space within the dominant form of metaphorical representation and how this enacts and consolidates a particular politics.     

A Psychometric Analysis of Field Evaluation Instruments Designed to Measure Students’ Generalist-Level Social Work Competencies

ABSTRACT

There is a dearth of research on the evaluation of the psychometric performance of instruments designed to measure students’ generalist-level social work competencies. There is also uncertainty on the performance of various response option formats used to measure students’ competencies in assessment instruments. Using a sample of 198 master of social work students and 198 field instructors, the current study employs confirmatory factor analysis to assess the psychometric performance of a field evaluation instrument designed to measure students’ generalist-level social work competencies. The results provide evidence to support the validity and reliability of the instrument. The results also highlight nuances associated with a 5-point response option format for items used to measure competency indicators. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Adult Attachment and Stepparenting Issues: Couple Relationship Quality as a Mediating Factor

Using a sample of 390 stepparents, we assess the influence of insecure attachment and couple relationship quality on stepparenting issues. We also examine the extent to which relationship quality mediates connections between attachment and stepparenting issues. Results from ordinary least squares regression and Sobel tests indicate greater levels of attachment avoidance and anxiety are associated with greater levels of stepparenting issues. Results also indicate greater levels of relationship satisfaction and stability are associated with less stepparenting issues. Relationship satisfaction and stability significantly mediate the influence of attachment anxiety on stepparenting issues. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.     

What’s a Parent to Do? How Parents Respond to Notification of a Child’s Police Detention

The current qualitative study involved in-depth semistructured interviews with parents whose children had been taken into custody. Their initial emotional reactions, cognitive processing, and behavioral responses to their child’s detention were examined. Five themes emerged from the data: (1) Parents try to defer immediate interactions with the child rather than react out of emotion; (2) Parents feel anger toward their child, but disappointment and shock are more strongly expressed emotional responses; (3) Parents do not accept the behavior but do not reject their child; (4) Police behaviors communicate the seriousness of the act; and (5) The entire family suffers consequences from the child’s act. Findings highlight the experiences of the parents as they interacted with the juvenile justice system.     

Childhood Sexual Abuse Severity Reconsidered: A Factor Structure of CSA Characteristics

To address the lack of empirically grounded measures of childhood sexual abuse severity, a survey of self-report items was developed following a thorough review of the childhood sexual abuse literature. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted using data collected from a convenience sample of college students that included 275 females and males with a history of childhood sexual abuse. The solution produced seven factors interpreted as the following: (a) less intrusive forms of childhood sexual abuse (e.g., sexual invitations, kissing), (b) more intrusive forms of childhood sexual abuse (e.g., oral sex, intercourse), (c) humiliation/fear, (d) childhood sexual abuse involving photography, (e) familiarity with the perpetrator, (f) physical force/rape, and (g) active digital penetration. Correlations among these factors further suggested the existence of two relatively independent second-order factors, one based on the levels of physical intrusiveness and the other composed of the psychological/emotional factors. While arguably the most common measurement of severity, physical intrusiveness had little association with critical factors such as humiliation, fear, and association with the perpetrator. Consequently, physical intrusiveness appears to be an inadequate stand-alone measure of childhood sexual abuse severity. These results are proposed to lay the groundwork for an improved, more comprehensive measure of childhood sexual abuse severity.     

Reo fortune (1903-1979)

Aletta Biersack (ed.). Clio in Oceania: toward a historical anthropology. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1991. vii, 383pp., maps,figures.US$37.50.ISBN087474 3044.     

Too close to home? The relationships between residential distance to venue and gambling outcomes

Although gambling accessibility is generally viewed as a multidimensional construct, few studies have successfully untangled the specific role of spatial accessibility in determining gambling outcomes relative to other forms (i.e. temporal, social and psychological). In this paper, we explore the association between gambling outcomes and the distance travelled from a person's home to their most-frequented gambling venue. To this end, we conducted a geocoded mail survey of 7044 households in the Northern Territory of Australia. We employed a geographic information system to calculate the network distance from each household to all visited electronic gaming machine (EGM) venues (n = 64). Multivariate regression modelling revealed that, when adjusted for individual and neighbourhood-level characteristics, frequency of venue visitation and gambling participation were inversely related to residential distance from venue. There was no additional distance effect for problem gambling. Spatial accessibility of EGMs is an important determinant of gambling risk and should be explicitly considered by regulators.