Barriers to Implementing a Mentoring Program for Youth in Foster Care: Implications for Practice and Policy Innovation

The aim of this article is to report on the findings of an evaluation of a youth in foster care mentoring pilot program and the difficulty that arises when a program is not well implemented. The pilot program and evaluation of its effectiveness were mandated by the Texas 80th Legislature through the passing of HB 3008. Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas implemented the pilot to match youth in foster care age 14 years and older, who participate on a voluntary basis and who have been screened for participation by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) with an adult mentor. As part of the pilot, youth were to receive 8 h of face-to-face time, and at least 1 h of phone, email, or text contact with their mentor. Though there were problems with implementation of the mentoring pilot, responses on the confidential youth survey suggest that those who did participate had positive experiences. Based on responses on the survey from the youth and based on the existing empirical literature on the benefits of mentoring programs for trouble youth and following the recommendations presented in this article the mentoring programs should be encouraged for youth aging out of foster care.     

A move to universal OR start times. A case study of leading change in an academic anesthesia department

Learn how leaders at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center successfully implemented universal operating room start times and the impact it had on patient flow.     

Competencies and problem behaviors of children in family foster care: variations by kinship placement status and race

Formal kinship foster care is an increasingly common form of out-of-home placement, and several important distinctions between kinship care and non-relative foster care have been identified. The present study evaluated the behavior of kinship foster children in comparison to non-relative foster children and children in the general population. A geographically and ethnically diverse sample of foster children (N=240) was assessed for competence and problem behaviors using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL: Achenbach, 1991). Kinship foster children closely resembled children in the general population but differed significantly from their counterparts in non-relative foster care, who consistently scored lower on competence and higher on problem behaviors. Substantial proportions of non-relative foster children were in the clinical range on most CBCL measures, but kinship foster children were no more likely than children from the general population to score above clinical cut-offs. Differences between kinship and non-kinship foster children became less dramatic after accounting for child race and gender, which were both associated with kinship status. Child race had a strong main effect for almost all types of problem behaviors, with children of color showing significantly less problematic behavior. Discussion of these results centers on potential explanations for the observed variations in child behavior by kinship status and race.     

The effectiveness of medical interventions aimed at preventing preterm birth: a literature review

Background

Preterm birth is a significant global health problem with serious short and long term consequences. This paper reviews the research literature to answer the question how effective are the medical interventions that aim to reduce the rates of preterm birth?

Methods

A systematic search was carried out in CINAHL, Cochrane, Medline and Embase in relation to following medical treatments aimed at preventing preterm births: anti-infective medications, tocolytics, progesterone and cervical cerclage. The research underpinning each type of intervention is critically analysed in order to establish the validity of knowledge claims that are made for each type of intervention.

Findings

In relation to reducing the rates of preterm births, anti-infectives are only effective in the presence of known infection. Screening for infections during pregnancy is ineffective. Tocolytic agents are not effective in decreasing the preterm birth rates. Progesterone seems to be effective in a select group of pregnant women at higher risk of preterm birth. Cervical cerclage plays a small and an occasional role in preventing some preterm births.

Conclusions

This literature review demonstrates that medical interventions aimed at preventing, not just delaying, preterm birth, are not effective at a population level. Providing holistic, antenatal midwifery care for women living in socio-economic disadvantage and/or with an increased risk of preterm birth seems to be a promising strategy to address the negative effects of the social determinants of disease and thus to reduce the rate of preterm births at an individual and a population level.     

The Variable Nature of the Gender Gap in Political Knowledge

ABSTRACT

Previous research demonstrates that long-standing gender gaps in political knowledge are often a function of measurement artifacts. This article examines two potential measurement issues – question content and format – to determine whether gender differences in knowledge are sensitive to decisions we make when choosing and constructing knowledge measures. Using an original survey from the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), we demonstrate that, while expected gender differences exist when we ask traditional knowledge questions, these gender gaps are ameliorated when we employ items that measure knowledge about women in politics. We also examine gendered response patterns regarding “don’t know” responses, which can deflate women’s knowledge levels. Finally, we examine the determinants of political knowledge for women and men, and uncover an important role for political interest in shaping women’s knowledge levels. These results suggest that scholars should take steps to create political knowledge measures that can most accurately gauge the political capacities of women and men.     

No Place Like Home: A Qualitative Investigation of Social Support and Its Effects on Recidivism

This study explores the relationship between social support and recidivism. Although the support system for the ex-felon has many beneficial aspects, it can do very little to counter the institutional barriers and deficiencies that exist with the present penal system. Recommendations are offered to enhance the transition from prison to public life.     

Nasality of Infant Vocalizations Determines Gender Bias in Adult Favorability Ratings

Adults rate vocalizing 3-month-old boys as more socially favorable (pleasant, friendly, fun, likeable, cuddly, cute) than girls when they are producing syllabic sounds. Is the preference due to gender bias or to actual sex differences in the acoustical quality of early vocalizations? In Experiment 1, 59 adults rated videotaped segments of 4 vocalizing boys and 4 vocalizing girls who were dressed identically in white gowns, and labelled with a name representing their sex or a name of the opposite sex. Two infants of each sex produced syllabic sounds, and 2 produced vocalic sounds. Adults rated boys producing syllabic sounds more favorably even when the boys were labelled with the names of girls. Therefore, the preference was not due to gender bias. In Experiment 2, 3 groups of adults (N = 50, 49, and 50, respectively) each viewed and rated 1 of 3 different sets of videotaped infants. The videotapes contained segments of 8 infants (4 boys, 4 girls, 2 of each producing syllabic sounds, and 2 producing vocalic sounds); infants appeared dressed in identical white gowns and were identified only by number, not by name or sex. In addition to the social favorability ratings, adults guessed the sex of the infant. Adults rated syllabic boys more favorably even though gender was disguised, and even though their guesses of gender were no better than chance. In Experiment 3, the vocalizations of the infants who were heard in the 3 videotapes were subjected to spectrographic acoustic analysis. The acoustic quality of boys' syllabic sounds differed from that of girls' only on the feature of nasality. As expected, syllabic, as compared with vocalic, sounds of both boys and girls were similarly longer in duration and differed in frequency characteristics, but these differences were related only to sound category and not to sex. The variance in adult social favorability ratings due to sex of infant was explained by the less nasal acoustic quality of the boys' voices. These results have implications for early socialization, because we know that mothers respond more to less nasal vocalizations. These results parallel the less nasal quality of men's voices as compared with women's voices, and suggest continuities from early vocalizations to speech.     

The Role of Sampling in Mixed Methods-Research

The purpose of this article is to emphasize the importance of sampling in all mixed methods research studies. Effective meaning making in mixed methods research studies is very much dependent on the quality of inferences that emerge, which, in turn, is dependent on the quality of the underlying sampling design. Further, these inferences are only of a quality nature if interpretive consistency occurs, which represents the justifiableness of the type of generalization made, given the sampling design. In an earlier work, we identified six sampling-based considerations that all mixed methods researchers should make at the four broad stages (i.?e., research conceptualization, research planning, research implementation, and research dissemination stages) of the mixed methods research process: emtic orientation, probabilistic orientation, abductive orientation, intrinsic versus instrumental orientation, particularistic versus universalistic orientation, and philosophical clarity. Building on this six-element framework, we outline how focusing on sampling considerations at the four stages of the mixed methods research process, which includes the dissemination stage of reporting the mixed methods research findings to stakeholders, enhances significantly the process of meaning making. We believe that addressing these sampling considerations at each of these stages will increase the likelihood that the mixed methods researcher will uphold interpretive consistency during the meaning-making process.