'Being there': multidimensionality, reflexivity and the study of emotional lives

Emotional lives tend to be untidy. Yet despite a growing recognition of this, sociological research designs rarely mirror the multidimensionality they are striving to represent. This article takes as its starting point a recent study of beliefs and practices about emotional support and emotions talk in Britain, to illustrate how a methodologically mixed approach offers particular purchase on what passes between us in our everyday emotional lives and in research about these lives. The notion of 'being there' is drawn on to help make this argument. Moving between 'being there' as topic, a form of emotional support, and 'being there' as a methodological resource, the article concludes that the analytical claims we make about our emotional lives are strengthened through a methodologically mixed - and by necessity, reflexive - approach which explores, rather than smooths out, the ragged, sometimes indeterminate, edges between methods.     

Diagnosis and medication overload? A nurse review of the psychiatric histories of older youth in treatment foster care

Prior research has raised concern about the appropriateness of psychotropic medication use and the validity of psychiatric diagnosing for youth in child welfare but has lacked in-depth case information. This study reports results from a psychiatric nurse review conducted with eight youth entering a foster care intervention using case records and multiple key informant interviews. Results revealed extensive histories of unique (nonoverlapping) psychiatric diagnoses (M = 8, range 7-9) and past psychotropic medications (M = 13, range 9-21). The findings highlight the need to improve assessment practices and to create mechanisms that promote greater continuity of psychiatric care.     

Mediated Knowledge: Reexamining Six Classic Community Studies from a Woman's Point of View

Six studies published in the 1940s have become classics in the analysis of rural community and change: the community stability/instability studies. One of their less recognized features is that their analyses included women. This article revisits these six studies, but from a different vantage point. As a socially constructed enterprise, the community studies can be seen as a product of human agency. Examining how these researchers saw and included women, this analysis examines the historically embedded mediating impact of the research producers' positionality on the knowledge they produced. In particular, this analysis examines how women came to be included in the studies, how these researchers interpreted women's roles, and how gendered assumptions affected the conclusions they reached regarding the communities' stability or instability.     

Action-oriented evaluation of an in-home family therapy program for families at risk for foster care placement

The purpose of this study was to conduct an action-oriented evaluation of an in-home family therapy program serving families deemed at risk for the placement of children in foster care. In this study, feedback was solicited from both clients and therapists. Results indicate "duality" associated with several aspects of in-home family therapy, including the opportunity to observe families in their own homes versus the vulnerability some families feel when therapy is conducted in-home; therapists suggesting that sufficient training is required for in-home family therapy to be effective versus clients' opinions that therapists' lived experiences are more relevant; and the importance of the therapeutic alliance versus feelings of abandonment upon termination. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

Trauma-Informed Treatment for Disenfranchised Urban Children and Youth: An Open Trial

Community outreach and focus groups were conducted in an impoverished multi-cultural urban neighborhood to develop a local, culturally-sensitive and community-responsive adaptation of Greenwald’s (Child trauma handbook: A guide for helping trauma-exposed children and adolescents. Haworth, New York, 2005) phase model of trauma-informed treatment. Fifty-nine children with a wide range of presenting problems were referred for treatment. Outcomes included 87% retention rate of participants treated to successful termination, as well as clinically significant reduction of post-traumatic stress symptoms. This project demonstrates that hard-to-reach disenfranchised urban children can benefit from trauma-informed treatment when it is appropriately adapted and presented.     

Labor force exit decisions of new mothers

Using unique administrative data from the state of Georgia, this paper investigates women’s decisions to exit the labor market upon the birth of a child. Exits rates and their changes over time varies dramatically between married and single women giving birth. Only the pattern among single, less educated women can be considered consistent with changing labor force participation rates of women over the period of analysis. Potential policy implications of these changes are discussed.     

Child Safety in Grocery Stores: The Impact of Verbal Prompts and Reinforcement on Safety Strap Use in Shopping Carts

Head and face injuries requiring a hospital visit are a consistent problem for young children shopping with their caregivers. Falls from shopping carts are the most common cause of such injuries. Using a reversal design with a 2-month follow-up, research assistants verbally prompted caregivers with small children seated in a shopping cart to put a safety strap on their child when entering a grocery store. Compliance resulted in the child receiving a gold star sticker. The sticker was used to identify participants for subsequent data collection when exiting the store. Verbal prompts and stickers increased safety belt use, and most children (95%) remained strapped in during their entire visit. A 2-month follow-up showed the effects to be short lived.     

Gender preference and birth spacing in matlab,Bangladesh

Gender preference, particularly son preference, is believed to sustain high fertility in many Asian countries, but previous research shows unclear effects. We examine and compare gender-preference effects on fertility in two otherwise comparable populations in Bangladesh that differ markedly in their access to and use of contraception. We expect, and find, stronger effects of gender preference in the population that has more access to contraception and higher levels of contraceptive use. Thus gender preference may emerge as a significant barrier to further national family planning efforts in Bangladesh. We find that if a woman has at least one daughter, the risk of a subsequent birth is related negatively to the number of sons. Women with no daughters also experience a higher risk of having a subsequent birth; this finding suggests that there is also some preference for daughters. Son preference is strong in both the early and later stages of family formation, but women also want to have at least one daughter after having several sons.