由卡特琳娜和丽塔飓风引发的灾难人类学思考

新奥尔良市在2005年所遭受的卡特琳娜和丽塔飓风和水灾袭击,为美国数十年来最大的自然灾害之一。这两次飓风也唤醒了学者对灾难研究的注意力。灾难不仅冲击了社会结构,造成了不同群体聚合或边缘化,也作为一种显示器,昭示在灾难过程中最为脆弱的是穷人群体。人类学家不仅要研究灾难的影响与结果,也应该联合起来,参与救灾活动,直接为受害群体提供援助。     

Women's sexual desire: a feminist critique

This paper offers a critical feminist analysis of the biomedical conceptualization of women's sexual desire. The five major features of the biomedical model of female sexual desire examined and critiqued are: 1) use of the male model as the standard, 2) use of a linear model of sexual response, 3) biological reductionism, 4) depoliticalization, and 5) medicalization of variation. A "New View", an alternative to the biomedical model, is offered for reconceptualizing women's sexual problems. This analysis concludes with recommendations for feminist-based biopsychosocial research.     

Jocks, gender, race, and adolescent problem drinking

Alcohol remains the drug of choice for many adolescents; however, the nature of the relationship between athletic involvement and alcohol misuse remains ambiguous. In this article, we used a longitudinal sample of over 600 Western New York adolescents and their families to explore the gender-specific and race-specific relationships between identification with the "jock" label and adolescent alcohol consumption, specifically problem drinking. Operationalization of problem drinking included frequency measures of heavy drinking, binge drinking, and social problems related to alcohol (e.g., trouble with family, friends, school officials over drinking). Self-identified adolescent "jocks" were more likely to engage in problem drinking than their non-jock counterparts, even after controlling for gender, age, race, socioeconomic status, physical maturity, social maturity, and frequency of athletic activity. Jock identity was strongly associated with higher binge drinking frequency in Black adolescent girls. This study underscores the need to distinguish between objective and subjective meanings of athletic involvement when assessing the relationship between sport and adolescent health-risk behavior.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Rugel, R. P. (1977). Husband-ocused marital therapy: An approach to dealing with marital distress .
Selekman, Mathew D. (1997). Solution-focused therapy with children: Harnessing family strengths for systemic Change .
Taibbi, R. (1996). Doing amily therapy: Crat and creativity in clinical practice .
Bagarozzi, D. A. (1996). The couple and family in managed care: Assessment, evaluation, and treatment .
Friedman, S. (Ed.). (1995). The reflecting team in action: Collaborative practice in amily therapy .     

Nonverbal intimacy,sex, and compliance: A field study

The present study was designed to explore further the effects of nonverbal behaviors and sex on compliance. Male and female subjects who had just found a dime in a phone booth were approached by a male or female experimenter and were asked to return the dime that the experimenter had supposedly just lost. In the Eye Contact condition, the experimenter gazed at the subject as the request was made, whereas in the No-Eye Contact condition he/she did not. In addition, the experimenter lightly touched half of the subjects while making his/her request, but did not touch the other half. Replicating previous findings, it was found that both eye contact (significantly) and touching (marginally) produced increased rates of compliance. Extending prior results, these effects were obtained for male experimenters. Furthermore, a Sex of experimenter times Sex of subject interaction effect was obtained, such that subjects were much more willing to comply with the request of an opposite, rather than same sex experimenter. Questionnaire data suggested that: 1) subjects were aware of the touch, but not of the eye contact variable, and 2) the requesters were perceived as much more attractive when they were of the opposite, rather than the same sex as the subjects.     

Keeping rail on track: preliminary findings on safety culture in Australian rail

'Safety culture' is identified in the literature as a critical element of healthy and safe workplaces. How can rail organizations ensure that consistently effective work health and safety cultures are maintained across the diversity of their operations? This paper reports on research that is currently underway in the Australian rail industry aimed at producing a Model of Best Practice in Safety Culture for the industry. Located in rail organizations dedicated to the mining industry as well as urban rail and national freight operations, the research examines the constructs of organizational culture that impact on the development and maintenance of healthy and safe workplaces. The research uses a multi-method approach incorporating quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus groups, interviews and document analysis) methods along with a participative process to identify interventions to improve the organization and develop plans for their implementation. The research uses as its analytical framework the 10 Platinum Rules, from the findings of earlier research in the New South Wales (Australia) mining industry, Digging Deeper. Data collection is underway at the time of writing and preliminary findings are presented at this stage. The research method may be adapted for use as a form of organizational review of safety and health in organizational culture.     

Using human factors engineering to improve patient safety in the cardiovascular operating room

Despite significant medical advances, cardiac surgery remains a high risk procedure. Sub-optimal work system design characteristics can contribute to the risks associated with cardiac surgery. However, hazards due to work system characteristics have not been identified in the cardiovascular operating room (CVOR) in sufficient detail to guide improvement efforts. The purpose of this study was to identify and categorize hazards (anything that has the potential to cause a preventable adverse patient safety event) in the CVOR. An interdisciplinary research team used prospective hazard identification methods including direct observations, contextual inquiry, and photographing to collect data in 5 hospitals for a total 22 cardiac surgeries. We performed thematic analysis of the qualitative data guided by a work system model. 60 categories of hazards such as practice variations, high workload, non-compliance with evidence-based guidelines, not including clinicians' in medical device purchasing decisions were found. Results indicated that hazards are common in cardiac surgery and should be eliminated or mitigated to improve patient safety. To improve patient safety in the CVOR, efforts should focus on creating a culture of safety, increasing compliance with evidence based infection control practices, improving communication and teamwork, and designing better tools and technologies through partnership among all stakeholders.