Lesbian Identity Management at Various Stages of the Coming Out Process: A Qualitative Study

This qualitative study is designed to explore how women at various stages of lesbian identity development make decisions about managing their identities. Management of identity was studied in terms of how women came out or stayed hidden and how they made decisions both to disclose and to conceal. The Cass (1984) Stage Allocation Measure was used as a means to categorize women at various stages of lesbian identity development. Twenty-five adult women were individually interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. A journal was kept by each woman for one month. The major findings indicated that women at different stages of lesbian identity development use both disparate and similar identity-management and decision-making strategies. Underlying and connecting lesbian identity management and development was the need to maintain self-esteem and safety.     

Managing urban wetlands for multiple use: research,restoration, and recreation

Conservation of urban wetland habitat is challenging, because multiple uses must coexist. We use examples from California and Wisconsin to describe potential synergies among recreation, restoration and research activities (the 3 R's). Allowing passive recreation is often essential to garner public support for habitat protection, restoration, and research. In turn, restoration activities can improve the appearance of degraded sites, and designing the work as a research experiment can serve the scientific community. Two projects at Tijuana Estuary support the 3 R's. (1) Oneonta Tidal Linkage is a 0.7-ha tidal channel and salt marsh that was excavated from disturbed upland to bring wetland habitat closer to the Visitor Center (thereby reducing visitor intrusion into natural marsh habitat, where endangered species would be disturbed). It supports an ambitious field experiment that is testing the importance of species diversity in restoration; it also includes a bridge that serves the interpretive program, and it adds 0.7 ha of wetland habitat that helps restore regional biodiversity. (2) A larger excavation (8 ha) of former tidal wetland will soon add wetland habitat, while testing the importance of tidal creek networks in ecosystem functioning and offering views and interpretive opportunities. A third situation, at the 485-ha University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum, concerns restored wet prairies, which provide habitat for native species and serve many hikers. Urban stormwater flows into and degrades the Henry Greene Prairie, allowing aggressive plants to invade. Research and restoration efforts are planned to sustain the habitat and recreation functions. These three models suggest that recreation, restoration, and research are compatible uses of urban wetland habitats.     

Indiana bat roosting behavior differs between urban and rural landscapes

Urban Ecosystems - Urbanization may negatively affect forest obligate bat species. We compared the roosting behavior of federally endangered Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) in a fragmented site,...     

Assessment in Adult Protective Services: do multidisciplinary teams make a difference?

This study compared 2 approaches to the assessment of Adult Protective Services (APS) cases. Using administrative data from 869 cases in 2 counties in Maryland, the differences between a nurse/social worker team and a lone social worker in case disposition, risk reduction, recidivism, and cost effectiveness were examined. Lone social workers were significantly more likely to confirm financial exploitation, physical abuse, and neglect by others; while the team approach resulted in significantly greater risk reduction. No differences were observed in relation to recidivism, self-neglect and cost savings. Given limited resources, research that examines optimal staffing patterns in APS agencies is warranted.     

Making Black Lives Matter in academia: A Black feminist call for collective action against anti‐blackness in the academy

In this article, as have many Black women scholars in the past, we again call for collective action against anti‐blackness and White supremacy in the academy. Drawing from black feminist theory, we discuss the long history of Black women academics' activism against anti‐black racism and introduce the current movement: Black Lives Matter (BLM). Although BLM is often construed as resisting anti‐black violence outside the academy, it is also relevant for within the academy wherein anti‐blackness is likely to be manifested as disdain, disregard, and disgust for Black faculty and students. We discuss some of the ways in which anti‐blackness and liberal White supremacy are manifested in the lives of Black faculty and students, and propose that non‐Black allies have key roles to play in resisting them. Like second‐hand cigarette smoke that harms everyone in proximity, anti‐blackness and White supremacy harm us all, and a shared movement is needed to dismantle them.